Opportunity International

Position: Health Program Technical Advisor

Location: Lilongwe

Overview

The Health Program Technical Advisor will provide overall technical and operational leadership for the design, implementation, and scale-up of the Health Leaders program in Malawi. The role coordinates end-to-end program delivery, including planning, training, digital health systems, monitoring and evaluation, budget stewardship, safeguarding, and partner engagement, to ensure high-quality, compliant, and timely results.

The role will work closely with government health systems, community structures, and Opportunity’s global health teams to strengthen primary health care outcomes, with a strong focus on RMNCAH, NCD prevention, nutrition, telehealth, and gender equality.

Responsibilities

include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

Program Planning and Delivery

1. Lead annual work planning and district-level micro-plans aligned to the program Logic Model and Performance Management Framework (PMF).
2. Coordinate recruitment, training, deployment, and supportive supervision of Health Leaders and Community Health Workers in collaboration with Health Supervisors, HSAs, and district health teams.
3. Ensure effective delivery of community health education, household visits, group sessions, school outreach, and community campaigns.
4. Operationalize telemedicine pathways and referral networks with health facilities, ensuring feedback loops and follow-through.
5. Oversee rollout and functionality of the electronic Health Information System (eHIS), including devices, user access, offline use, data validation, privacy, and SOP adherence.
6. Ensure implementation fidelity while adapting program approaches to the Malawi context.

Stakeholder Engagement & Government Coordination

1. Serve as the primary day-to-day liaison with the Ministry of Health, District Health Management Teams, Zonal Health Offices, CHAM, local authorities, and civil society partners.
2. Support development and management of MoUs, joint workplans, review meetings, and coordination platforms.
3. Ensure alignment of Health Leaders’ activities with national and district community health, RMNCAH, nutrition, NCD, and health promotion strategies.
4. Coordinate participation in national and district campaigns (e.g., EPI, Vitamin A supplementation, deworming, HPV).
5. Facilitate community scorecards, client feedback mechanisms, and social accountability processes.
6. Build and maintain strong relationships with community leadership structures and local institutions.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning & Reporting

1. Lead delivery of PMF-aligned baseline, routine monitoring, midline, and endline assessments (quantitative and qualitative).
2. Conduct monthly data reviews and quarterly reflection and learning meetings.
3. Contribute to organizational learning products, including Stories of Change, learning briefs, and adaptive management recommendations.
4. Ensure timely, accurate, and disaggregated data reporting (sex, age, disability).
5. Support continuous course correction based on data insights and field learning.

Financial Management & Compliance

1. Manage program activity budgets, ensuring value for money, compliant procurement, and accurate financial coding.
2. Oversee Health Leader stipends and performance-based incentives in line with approved SOPs.
3. Review and reconcile field advances to support complete and accurate documentation.
4. Ensure donor compliance, audit readiness, asset management, and ethical procurement practices.
5. Coordinate with finance and operations teams to ensure smooth program operations.

Safeguarding, Gender Equality & Social Inclusion

1. Implement safeguarding, child protection, and PSEA standards across all program activities.
2. Ensure training, reporting, and response mechanisms for safeguarding incidents are in place and functional.
3. Integrate Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) principles, including male engagement, adolescent girls’ safe spaces, disability inclusion, and norm-change SBCC.
4. Support linkages between Health Leaders and livelihoods or financial literacy initiatives in collaboration with microfinance partners.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY

Direct Supervision: Project Officers – Health

Indirect Supervision: Community Health Workers

Qualifications

1. Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health, Nursing/Midwifery, Health Management, Social Sciences, or a related field.
2. Minimum of 5–7 years’ experience coordinating community or primary health care programs in Malawi.
3. Strong experience in RMNCAH, NCD prevention, nutrition, SRHR, and community health systems.
4. Demonstrated experience in CHW supervision, mentoring, and performance management.
5. Proven capacity in monitoring, evaluation, and learning, including PMFs, routine data reviews, and surveys.
6. Experience deploying or managing digital health systems (eHIS, DHIS2, or similar).
7. Strong experience working with MoH, DHMTs, CHAM, health facilities, and community leadership structures.
8. Experience managing donor-funded programs, budgets, and compliance requirements.
9. An understanding of and a commitment to advancing the mission and core values of Opportunity International.

Language skills

Written and verbal fluency in English, along with proficiency in 1 or 2 additional local languages, are required. Must be able to attend & fully participate in meetings conducted in English.

Travel requirements

Frequent travel (30% – 50%) to project districts for stakeholder engagement, monitoring of MSMEs, financial institution coordination, and support to field officers.

Occasional travel to other districts or regions for cross-learning, multi-stakeholder platforms, training events, or project review meetings.

Contract Type

Fixed 3 Year Term

About Opportunity International

Opportunity International is a global nonprofit that has been equipping people to build sustainable livelihoods and educate their children for 55 years. Opportunity provides nearly 17 million people with innovative financial resources, training, and support to grow their small businesses and send their children to school. In 2025, Opportunity International and its partners released over $1.9 billion in capital, helping fund more than 17,000 schools that reached 5 million children and supporting 887,810 farming households. Committed to human-centered solutions for the most underserved, Opportunity’s Digital Innovation Group develops solutions that leverage cutting-edge tools like AI to expand access to financial services, agricultural support, and educational opportunity. Discover more at opportunity.org or join the conversation on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

Child protection commitment

Opportunity believes that all children have a right to protection from any form of abuse regardless of gender, culture, ethnicity, age, religion, sexual orientation, or ability. Opportunity operates in line with international best practices for child protection and recognizes its responsibility to ensure that all employees meet this requirement. This policy applies to anyone acting on behalf of Opportunity or is involved in its programs in any capacity. All employees are subject to background checks, which include criminal checks and sex offender list checks, as allowed by local law.

Apply now

https://opportunityinternational.applytojob.com/apply/jobs/details/xtXf3MsiSJ?&