Company Description
The Beginnings Fund
Reports to: Program Director
Location: Proximate to the Beginnings Fund focus countries: Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe
Status: Full Time
Salary: $90-100k (commensurate with experience)
Who We Are
In Africa, every year over 182,000 mothers die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth,950 thousand babies are stillborn, and there are 1.2 million newborn deaths. Global progress against maternal and newborn mortality has stalled in recent years, and most African countries are not on track to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals related to maternal and newborn survival.
The Beginnings Fund is a philanthropic initiative to accelerate maternal and newborn survival and prevent stillbirths in Africa by investing – in partnership with governments – in the products, people and systems required to sustainably improve care at scale. During its first five years, (2025-2030), Beginnings Fund will focus on Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Ghana, Lesotho, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Investments are developed and managed by an Africa-based Investment Team, led by a Nairobi-based CEO, who reports into an Investment Committee made up of the founding investors in Beginnings Fund.
The Beginnings Fund is fiscally sponsored by Global Impact.
Position Overview
Reporting to the Program Director, the Senior Program Officer will play a critical role in the identification, design, co-creation, management, and monitoring and evaluation of programs supported by Beginnings Fund. This will include working closely with Ministry of Health technical leads, national experts, and implementation partners to develop a suite of investments over a four-five year period, to help scale up priority interventions in districts with the highest burden, such as point of care ultrasound, the WHO post-partum haemorrhage bundle, Level 2 newborn care, and address critical gaps in the maternal and newborn health (MNH) workforce, availability of quality MNH commodities, and key system enablers including data systems, infrastructure development, and emergency transport and referral. Led by the Program Director, the Senior Program Officer will work within a diverse investment team to support development of country investment plans and lead development of investment recommendations for potential grantees, including universities, professional associations, and NGOs. In addition, the Senior Program Officer will help manage approved investments and support course correction as needed and engage in strategic partnerships with global, regional, and national stakeholders.
Job Description
What You’ll Do
- Support the co-design and development of Beginnings Fund country investment plans, and underlying investments, working closely with country technical leads, the Program Director, and the broader investment team, including the M&E and Finance leads.
- Work closely with the Finance and Legal leads to conduct thorough grantee due diligence, including critical analysis of proposals, budgets, organizational strengths and weaknesses, and external risk factors.
- Lead development and writing of concise, high quality investment recommendations for grantee partners, including appropriately structuring investments and working closely with partners to design program frameworks with clear objectives, activities, budgets, and measures of success aligned to the Beginnings Fund overall impact measurement framework.
- Develop strong mutually accountable relationships with grantee partners, encouraging and demonstrating transparency, respect, and shared goals.
- Support the building of partner consortia in-country to help foster collaboration.
- Engage other donors and implementing partners to help identify areas for co-investment by government and grantee partners, and complementary investments underway.
- Critically monitor programmatic effectiveness and grantee’s financial management of funds through review of periodic reports and grantee site visits. Identify and mitigate key organizational and programmatic risks. Identify areas for improvement or course correction.
- Refine and ensure high-quality grantmaking processes incorporate learnings from regional, national, and sub-national implementing partners.
- Provide technical guidance and support on key areas of expertise in maternal and newborn health, including commodities and supply chain, health workforce, and best practices and innovations in antenatal, intrapartum, post-partum and newborn care.
- In collaboration with the Program Director, represent the Beginnings Fund with donors and grantees.
- Collaborate with the Measurement and Evaluation team to measure the effectiveness of product-related investments on maternal and newborn health outcomes.
- Coordinate and analyze grantee narrative and financial reporting and impact measurements and prepare documentation to facilitate timely grant payments and other grant actions.
- Provide data analysis and other input on the Beginnings Fund annual report prepared for its donors and partners.
- Diligently manage all relevant aspects of grants administration
- Contribute to organizational learning and strategy development
- Other duties, as assigned
Qualifications
What You’ll Bring
- Minimum 8-10 years of experience working in program management, design, grant making, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation
- Advanced degree in public health, Global Health, International Relations, or related field.
- Demonstrated understanding of maternal and newborn health interventions and best practices
- Proven ability to manage complex partnerships, projects, and budgets effectively
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and financial analysis skills
- Proficiency in data analysis, including excellent Excel skills and ability to analyze and present data in a highly organized manner
- Familiarity with the Global Health architecture and its operational frameworks including key regional, multilateral and bilateral institutions and financing mechanisms
- Knowledge of health systems and key players in Beginnings Fund focus countries and maternal and newborn health programming
- Exceptional interpersonal and cross-cultural skills with experience working with African governments, nongovernmental organizations, multilateral organizations, and other implementing organizations, preferably in maternal and newborn health and ability to collaborate on internal teams of diverse backgrounds
- Excited to work in a startup environment and ability to work non-traditional hours and travel locally and internationally as needed (30-50% of the time)
- Collaborative and team-driven mindset with a strong work ethic and ability to prioritize and multi-task
- Fluency in English and excellent oral and written communication skills
Additional Information
Physical Requirements and Work Environment
The physical demands and work environment described below represent the activities and surroundings of the positions. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.
To perform the job, the employee is frequently required to talk and listen on the telephone, and verbally communicate in person with individuals and groups. The position requires frequent keyboarding. The incumbent may occasionally reach with hands and arms and carry materials weighing up to 20 lbs. The incumbent is required to read and respond to documents in electronic form.
The work is typically performed in a home office environment. Frequent travel more than 25% of the time may be required.
The Beginnings Fund is an EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER committed to providing a non-discriminatory and inclusive environment for its employees. We are committed to diversity and consider all applicants for all positions without regard to color, ethnic background, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, age, or disability status.
