Senior Child Health Advisor, DOS LEAP Global - Ethiopia

Global Solutions Ventures (GSV) – a joint-venture partnership between ZemiTek, LLC and Dexis Consulting Group – is implementing the Long-term Exceptional Technical Assistance Project (LEAP Global), a mechanism originally used by USAID to battle against infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, neglected tropical diseases, and pandemic influenza. As of July 1, 2025, LEAP Global transitioned to the U.S. Department of State (DOS). This initiative aims to address the complex human resource challenges faced by national infectious disease programs in the USA-supported countries.

The intervention of this project is to hire and embed technical expert advisors and subject matter experts within government entities. By directly embedding the technical expertise within the national programs, LEAP provides long-term, sustainable lifesaving support to empower host governments to lead and manage key aspects of their infectious disease portfolios and improve coordination between the U.S. Government and the host country.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) is committed to improving the health and survival of newborns and children through evidence-based, equity-focused, and sustainable interventions. To support this mission, the MoH is seeking a qualified professional to serve as a Senior Advisor to the Newborn and Child Health Desk under the MCAH Lead Executive Office (LEO). The position will provide high-level technical, analytical, and coordination support to ensure the effective implementation of the national Newborn, Child Health, and Development and immunization Strategy.  Familiarity with Department of State, Foreign Assistance programming expected to support the implementation of the Department of State MNCH portfolio.

The Senior Advisor will support the MoH in the implementation, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation of national newborn, child health and development and immunization including polio interventions. The role requires engagement with multiple stakeholders including MoH teams, regional health bureaus (RHBs), implementing partners, UN agencies, and other technical working groups. The Senior Advisor will support the MoH in carrying out life-saving humanitarian assistance (LHA) service delivery in full alignment with the new Presidential Executive Order (EO) directives. 

Planning and Coordination

• Support annual planning processes and execution for the child health program including immunization/polio and participate in planning harmonization exercises with stakeholders.
• Assist in the rollout and operationalization of flagship initiatives and implementation mechanisms.

Technical Support

• Provide high-level technical assistance to the newborn and child health program including immunization/Polio and contribute actively to the Desk and the LEO meetings.
• Assist in the design of contextualized strategies, including scale-up of integrated management of newborn and childhood illnesses (IMNCI), integrated community case management (iCCM), community-based newborn care and child health service and NICU levels expansion and the integration of immunization/Polio and newborn and child health services

Program Monitoring and Evidence Generation

• Conduct trend analysis using DHIS-2 and other national datasets (e.g, EDHS,)
• Participate in the development of evidence-informed strategies, guidelines, and policy briefs.
• Contribute to the coordination of operational research and new evidence generation in collaboration with academic institutions and partners.

Capacity Building and Supervision

• Capacitate and support the MOH / NCH staff differently in different areas, Innovations 
• Support the planning, organization, and delivery of all NCH & development training programs including NICU, IMNCI, ECD, ICMNCI and neonatal audit training.
• Engage in Newborn care, Integrated Mentorship (NIM) and knowledge transfer activities within the MoH.
• Participate in integrated supportive supervision and program-specific reviews at national and regional levels.

Health Commodities and Logistics

• Support quantification, forecasting, procurement, and distribution of life-saving newborn and child health commodities.
• Collaborate with EPSS and other stakeholders to strengthen logistics and local production efforts.
• Actively contributes to national logistics TWGs and commodity review platforms.

Stakeholder Engagement and TWG Participation

• Support the coordination of national TWGs focused on newborn, child health & development
• Facilitate regular communication and engagement with implementing partners, development organizations, and technical teams.

Document Review and Strategy Development

• Assist in developing and reviewing national guidelines, training materials, strategies, policies, MoUs, and project proposals.
• Contribute to updating major strategic documents such as the National Strategy for Newborn Child Health and development.

Cross-LEO Support

• Provide technical support to other MoH LEOs and EOs and agencies, including contributions like MPDSR initiatives, and clubfoot management programs etc,

Expected Deliverables

• Timely input into annual planning, program reviews, and TWG meetings.
• Regular technical reports and updates on key newborn and child health indicators.
• Updated training and strategy documents in collaboration with relevant teams.
• Grant and all types of proposal writing for international and national levels.
• Evidence-based recommendations and technical briefs to inform programmatic decision-making.

REPORTING:

• The Senior Advisor will be directly supervised by the Team Lead of the Newborn, Child Health and Development desk under the MCAH LEO.
• Regular updates and deliverables will be submitted to the NCH desk and MCAHS LEO as well.
• Additionally, the Senior Advisor will provide monthly report to the U.S. Department of State, submitted by the 5th day of the following month. Additionally, the Advisor will submit a weekly progress report to U.S. Embassy/Department of State (and participate in weekly calls) to include a short paragraph about main successes for that week. 

• Pediatrician, MPH, MSc in Child health and pediatrics, BSc in public health and neonatal nurse,  and related field or above.
• Minimum of  ten (10) years of experience in maternal, child health program and with RMNCH NCH and development focus partners, able to understands the national program.
• Strong technical understanding of newborn, child health and development service delivery and policy landscape in Ethiopia.
• Proven experience in training facilitation, program design, and coordination with multi-sectoral stakeholders.
• Excellent analytical, communication, and report writing skills.
• Maintain strict confidentiality overall project and institutional data.
• Follow applicable ethical and legal requirements.
• Safeguard institutional property and always uphold professional integrity.
• Any use or sharing of information outside approved project purposes shall require prior written authorization from the MoH officials.
• Technical expertise in RMNCAH programs.
• Strong teamwork and interpersonal skills.
• Demonstrated initiative and problem-solving skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office and data analysis tools.
• Fluency in English and Amharic (spoken and written).