Job Description

Organization Overview

 Kybele is a non-profit 501(c)3 humanitarian organization dedicated to improving childbirth safety worldwide through educational partnerships. The role of Kybele is to bring professional medical teams into host countries, to work alongside doctors and nurses in their home hospitals, and to improve healthcare standards.

 In Ghana, Kybele has been working with regional hospitals such as Ridge Hospital in Accra and Tamale Teaching Hospital to create a platform of change to reduce maternal and newborn mortality. Kybele’s approach involves building clinical, operational and leadership capabilities to address the special complex challenges faced by hospitals that take care of high risk referrals from other regional facilities.

 Initiative Overview

 The “Making Every Baby Count Initiative” (MEBCI) is funded by the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). The goal of MEBCI is to contribute significantly to improvement in quality, availability and accessibility of essential newborn care and appropriate interventions to address asphyxia, infection and prematurity according to the government guidelines. The specific objectives of the program are to strengthen national and regional leadership and action in quality delivery of newborn care at hospitals and health centers in four regions of the country from 2013-2017.  The primary recipient of the grant is PATH, an international non-profit organization. Kybele’s role in the MEBCI project is to focus on regional hospitals and to create the capacity in these hospitals to take appropriate action to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality for the complex cases that are seen by these hospitals.

 Position purpose

 Based in Accra, the Project Manager will serve as the local eyes and ears for the Kybele team, as well serve as the point of contact for the MEBCI program staff from PATH, and liaison to the Ghana Health Service as needed. The Kybele project team will travel to Ghana at least four times a year to undertake clinical, operational and leadership improvement activities as specified by the project plan in conjunction with hospital staff. At the end of each visit, local hospital staff will be responsible for carrying on mutually agreed upon quality improvement projects. The Project Manager will be responsible for ensuring that the project continues to proceed smoothly even when the project team is not present. Finally, s/he will document progress, successes, and barriers for PATH/CIFF reporting, as well as, for Kybele’s monitoring of the project between visits. 

Key Responsibilities

•  Ensure that the key activities of the project are completed on time with the appropriate level of quality.
• Provide advice and support to local staff where appropriate to move projects forward.
• Liaise with Kybele leadership and clinical experts if additional expertise is required.
• Inform Ridge and Kybele leadership if there are barriers to successful progress.
• Collect performance data based in protocols and templates developed by Kybele and Ridge staff on particular aspects of the project.
• Interact with PATH to ensure Kybele project activities are aligned with the larger MEBCI project.
• Interact with the Ghana Health Service to communicate about Kybele’s activities as necessary.
• ·       Write monthly progress reports to update Kybele/PATH leadership regarding successes and barriers.
•  

Required Skills or Experience

 Desired Skills  

•  Demonstrated ability to advise, lead and manage projects and to interact with multiple stakeholders.  
• Ability to work in coordination with international NGOs and with Ghana Health Service.
• Well balanced professional able to see the big picture and keep track of necessary details.
• Critical thinker with flexible and innovative problem solving skills.
• Proven ability in problem-solving, capacity to collect and analyze data, monitor progress, and recommend necessary recourse for maximizing program progress and impact.
•  Strong interpersonal skills.
• Fluency in English required including speaking, reading and writing skills.
• Fluency in multiple local languages is desirable
• Ability to travel up to 25 percent in-country.

Desired Education and Experience

•  Degree in medicine, nursing, midwifery or public health.
• Minimum of five (5) years experience and demonstrated practical skills in managing health programs for domestic or international NGOs or the government of Ghana
• Knowledge of maternal, newborn and child health issues in Ghana.
•  Knowledge and experience of GHS health systems
• Fluent in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint platforms and ability to communicate readily by email.
• Experience leading project activity in implementation and proven ability to advise on project management, and to motivate and mentor staff at key positions in order to create a positive team environment.
•  Knowledge of Quality Improvement methods and Monitoring and Evaluation is a plus.