Project Director - Jhpiego

Jhpiego is an international, non-profit health organization affiliated with the John Hopkins University.  For 50 years and over and in over 155 countries, Jhpiego has worked to prevent the needless deaths of women and their families. Jhpiego works with health experts, governments and community leaders to provide high-quality health care for their people.

Jhpiego develops strategies to help countries care for themselves by training competent health care workers, strengthening health systems and improving delivery of care. Jhpiego designs innovative, effective and low-cost health care solutions to ensure a level of care for women and their families. These practical, evidence-based interventions are breaking down barriers to high-quality health care for the world’s most vulnerable populations.

Job Description

Project Overview

Breast cancer is the most frequent cause of cancer death in women across Africa. In Ghana, breast cancer has the highest incidence and mortality of all cancers. Jhpiego is partnering with the Pfizer Foundation on Breast cancer End-to-end care from Assessment to Treatment (BEAT) Breast Cancer in Ghana —a transformational initiative aimed at reducing mortality among women with Breast Cancer through stage-shifting, early diagnostics, and timely treatment.

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This partnership seeks to reduce the symptomatic period of breast cancer in Ghana from the current 12 months to less than three months by rooting the intervention in innovations, women-centered care, and patient navigation pathways to saturate PHC capacity for early detection by clinical breast exam (CBE), institutionalize breast health awareness interventions in social behavior change communications (SBCC) platforms, ensure timely diagnosis by decentralizing diagnoses at the secondary level, and facilitate access to multimodality treatment.  

Jhpiego aims to strive towards creating strong, innovative, and sustainable implementation models integrated into Ghana’s health system and grounded in a woman-centered approach to ensure respectful and responsive services for all women with breast cancer. 

The project will be implemented across selected districts in the Ashanti, Greater Accra, and Northern regions of Ghana over a 3-year period. 

We are currently looking for suitable professional to fill the following position:

• Job Location: Accra, Jhpiego Office 
• Position Reports to: Country Director 
• Position Supervises: Technical Advisor, Program Officers, MER Advisor

Job Overview

The Project Director (PD) will serve as the main point of contact for the BEAT Breast Cancer project. The PD will oversee, manage, and support the implementation of activities. Responsibilities include developing and overseeing work planning, leading the design, implementation, and reporting of project activities, and representing Jhpiego to the MOH, GHS, donors, and other key partners. 

The PD will provide technical guidance and assistance in ensuring project activities are aligned with global best practices and technical evidence; representing the project in technical working groups; and communicating progress and updates to key stakeholders.  S/he will provide technical leadership in the development of annual workplans and budgets to ensure program design is in line with the project and Ministry of Health (MOH) strategies and international best practices.

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S/he will also work closely with program and technical staff to ensure excellence in technical implementation at targeted sites and communities. In addition, the PD will lead cross-cutting approaches, such as quality assurance and improvement, linkages and referrals among services and other relevant projects, and support M&E by using data for decision-making, as well as supervise other technical specialists and report to the Country Director.  

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and strategic direction to ensure the programmatic and financial integrity of the project and to achieve rapid and sustained project goals, objectives, and targets
• Provide overall oversight of the project and maintain effective and regular communication with the core team, implementing partners, and government entities
• Ensure that the project is technically sound, evidence-based, and responsive to the needs of Ghana, its people, and donors
• Advise national counterparts on technical issues and participate in relevant advisory and/or technical working groups with counterparts and partner institutions in the development, adaptation, and operationalization of national guidelines and policies
• Participate in the design, adaptation, finalization, and revision of national training packages and corresponding technical updates 
• Collaborate with Ghana Health Service (GHS) staff to strengthen quality improvement and supervision systems for breast cancer
• Work closely with a core team to ensure effective, timely, and coordinated project implementation 
• Coordinate and monitor human, financial, and material resources of the program to ensure successful implementation 
• In collaboration with the project program and finance team, develop project work plan and budget and ensure performance indicators and targets are met, and timely completion of activities against work plan deadlines 
• Guide the analysis, synthesis, and reporting of outputs and results in close collaboration with the monitoring and evaluation Team. 
• Contribute to the development of programmatic reports and monthly progress updates for the project
• Assist the core team with the production and dissemination of knowledge products.
• Ensure the effective use and coordination of donor resources and the compliance of the financial systems and controls with donor standards 
• Ensure sound financial management including programmatic budgeting, spending projections, and monitoring of payments
• Maintain excellent relationships with donor and in-country stakeholders 
• Provide technical and strategic leadership to develop the project strategic plan, work plan, and project monitoring, in close collaboration with the Government of Ghana, donor, and other key stakeholders to ensure timely implementation and compliance with the requirements and regulations of the award
• Mentor, support, supervise, and manage a team of highly qualified staff and align their efforts to ensure rapid and sustainable results 

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Required Skills or Experience

Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• An advanced clinical degree, or a master’s degree in public health, social sciences, or a related degree.
• At least 10 years of experience managing or implementing donor-funded health projects of similar scope, preferably in Africa. 
• At least seven years of supervision experience.
• Experience and technical knowledge in non-communicable disease and programming especially women’s cancers.
• Knowledge in breast cancer prevention or care and treatment programs at a regional and national level, including planning, designing, budgeting, supervising, evaluating, and documenting results.
• Ability to interact with and lead a broad range of governmental and non-governmental actors and institutions across sectors.
• Ability to work in a complex environment with multiple tasks, short deadlines, and intense pressure to perform
• Excellent interpersonal and supervisory skills, inspiring teamwork and motivating staff and partners to achieve results
• Strong skills and experience in all aspects of program cycle management – design and development, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation.
• Demonstrated strong leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills. 
• Demonstrated experience working with the Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service.
• Willing and able to travel frequently to implementation regions, districts, and health facilities.  
• Familiarity and experience working with MS Suite, Zoom and other virtual platforms