Senior Health Manager - Reproductive Health (Re Announced)

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity, and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.
The IRC opened the country program in Afghanistan in 1988. Our programs span the range from humanitarian relief to early recovery and development activities, focusing on child protection, education, economic wellbeing, and health. 

The Senior Health Manager Reproductive Health (RH) is a senior programme management position responsible for providing strategic, technical, and operational leadership for IRC Afghanistan's Reproductive Health Programme across the target provinces. The position ensures high quality programme implementation, effective team performance, strong government engagement, and compliance with donors and organizational requirements. Working in close collaboration with the Senior Health and Nutrition Advisor, the Senior Health Manager provides substantive technical and operational leadership, enabling the Advisor to delegate key responsibilities, including business development, technical proposal development, budgeting, strategic planning, and external representation. The position holder is expected to progressively assume independent leadership of resource mobilization, donor engagement, and the development of high-quality concept notes, technical proposals, and programme budgets in response to funding opportunities. This is a female designated position, reflecting the programmatic requirement for female senior leadership to support women centered integrated health programming, particularly reproductive health services, in culturally sensitive and access constrained communities across Afghanistan.

1. Programme Leadership, Business Development, and Strategic Representation

·       Provide strategic, technical, and operational leadership for the Reproductive Health Programme across all target provinces, ensuring

·       timely, high quality, and cost-effective implementation in compliance with IRC and donor requirements.

·       Lead programme planning, workplan development, budget management, financial forecasting, procurement, partner and contract

·       management, donor reporting, and performance monitoring to achieve programme objectives and deliver results.

·      Representing IRC at national coordination forums, maintaining strong partnerships with the Ministry of Public Health, donors, UN agencies, humanitarian partners, and other key stakeholders.

·       In close collaboration with the Senior Health and Nutrition Advisor, progressively assume independent responsibility for business

·       development, including identifying funding opportunities, conducting context and needs analyses, and leading donor engagement and strategic positioning.

·       Lead the development of high-quality concept notes, technical proposals, log-frames, workplans, budgets, and budget narratives for

·       reproductive health and integrated primary healthcare funding opportunities, ensuring alignment with donor requirements, national

·       priorities, and global technical standards.

·       Prepare donor briefings, programme updates, advocacy materials, and evidence products that showcase programme achievements,

·       strengthen IRC's technical leadership and support resource mobilization efforts.

2. Service Delivery Quality, Community Engagement, and Demand Generation

·       Oversee the establishment, rehabilitation, and operationalization of all service delivery points, ensuring Community Health Shura endorsement, deployment of qualified staff, and readiness for service delivery prior to launch.

·       Ensure all health facilities and Family Health Houses deliver the full integrated package of reproductive health, maternal and newborn health, nutrition, and basic MHPSS services in accordance with IRC and national standards.

·       Monitor and improve the quality-of-service delivery through routine oversight of service delivery along with implementing corrective actions where required.

·       Lead and oversee community engagement and demand generation strategies by strengthening Community Health Shuras, Family Health Action Groups, and Community Health Workers, ensuring effective community dialogue, behavior change interventions, and sustained community support for reproductive health services.

·       Monitor key community engagement and demand generation indicators, including community participation, client satisfaction, RH knowledge, and service uptake, using programme data to continuously strengthen community-based interventions and improve access to services

3. Health System Strengthening, Team Leadership, and MEAL

·       Lead government engagement and health system strengthening initiatives, including coordination with the Ministry of Public Health and Provincial Public Health Directorates, implementation of project agreements, integration of project data into national health information systems, and strengthening the institutionalization and sustainability of project interventions.

·       Representing IRC in strategic coordination and advocacy with government counterparts and partners, facilitating joint review meetings, supporting integration of project outcomes into provincial planning, and advancing sustainability initiatives, including transition planning and resource mobilization.

·       Provide leadership, performance management, mentoring, and capacity strengthening to project staff, fostering a high performing, collaborative, and learning oriented team culture while promoting staff wellbeing, safeguarding, and duty of care, particularly for personnel working in remote and high-risk settings.

·     Actively engaging in monitoring and supportive supervision activities by overseeing routine performance monitoring, data quality, programme reviews, baseline and endline assessments, client feedback mechanisms, and learning events, ensuring timely analysis and use of evidence to strengthen programme quality, inform adaptive management, and support donor and government reporting.

·       Medical Doctor (MD or MBBS equivalent) is required and Postgraduate degree in Public Health (MPH or equivalent) is strongly prefferred.

·       Additional training or certification in Reproductive Health in Humanitarian Settings (RHS), MISP, or Family Planning programme management.

·       Minimum of five - Six years of progressive programme management experience in reproductive health, MNCH, or integrated PHC in humanitarian or fragile-state contexts, with at least three years in Afghanistan.

·       Demonstrated experience in reproductive health programming including MISP, SRH, community-based healthcare, and integrated PHC service delivery.

·       Demonstrated experience leading technical proposal development, concept note writing, log-frame design, and budget development for bilateral and multilateral donors.

·       Direct experience working with FHHs, CHWs, FHAGs, and Community Health Shuras in Afghanistan.

·       Experience in government liaison and health system coordination including MoPH CBHC, PPHDs, and Health Cluster.

·       Experience managing and mentoring multidisciplinary programme teams across multiple provinces.

·       Experience in budget management, financial forecasting, and grant compliance.

·       Experience with donor engagement and positioning with ECHO, USAID/BHA, FCDO, UNFPA, or comparable donors.

·       Strong technical knowledge of MoPH BPHS, CBHC national framework, FHH model, and Community Health Unit transition.

·       Understanding of MISP, SRH global standards, WHO and SPHERE technical guidelines for reproductive health in emergencies.

·       Solid understanding of DHIS2 national HMIS platform, MIAR reporting processes, and data quality assurance.

·       Strong analytical skills with ability to synthesize programme data, evidence gaps, and context analysis into compelling proposal narratives.

·       Strong written and oral communication skills in English is required for donor reporting, proposal writing, and external representation.

·       Demonstrated ability to represent an organization in government, donor, and coordination forums with confidence, diplomacy, and cultural sensitivity.

·       Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite including Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint.

All qualified candidates are required to apply through the official IRC Workday recruitment system using the link provided below:

https://theirc.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/External_Careers/job/Kabul-Afghanistan/Senior-Health-Manager---Reproductive-Health_JR00004362 

Please note that only applications submitted through the official online recruitment system will be considered. Applications submitted through other channels or without completing the online application process will be disqualified.

Shortlisted candidates will be contacted directly and invited to participate in the next stage of the recruitment process, which may include a written test and/or an interview. If you do not hear from us within two to four weeks after the application closing date, please consider your application unsuccessful for this position.

Professional Standards: 

• Compliance with the IRC WAY (our standards for professional conduct) is a responsibility shared by all involved in delivering on the IRC’s mission. We must abide by the IRC Way and Safeguarding Policies all the time. 
• The IRC has zero tolerance approach to the IRC Code of Conduct including safeguarding violations being committed by its staff, consultants, contractors, volunteers, interns, suppliers, vendors, sub-grantees/partners, implementing partners or any other associate.