Director of Country Expansion

At Lafiya, we’re on a mission to make contraception accessible to anyone who needs it and wants it, no matter where they live. Through our network of dedicated female health professionals, our Lafiya Sisters, we provide information and deliver contraception directly to communities that need it most. Our approach is cost-effective, community-based, and deeply rooted in respect and agency. We operate in hard-to-reach communities that otherwise do not have access to contraceptive products and information. We currently run our core programme across four states in northern Nigeria, managing 500 Lafiya Sisters. In addition to our direct community-based work, we are partnering with the government to co-create sustainable financing models for contraception procurement and to address critical data and delivery gaps. To date, we have supported more than 500,000 women through our innovative last-mile approach.

We’re a fast-growing nonprofit in the middle of a transition from a start-up to a scale-up. Our focus is on impact, cost-effectiveness, and ensuring our work enhances the dignity and agency of those we serve.

Position overview

Lafiya is transitioning from a single-country operation to a multi-country, mature scale-up. We are seeking a proactive and resilient Director of Country Expansion to lead this expansion.

The primary mandate for this role in the first 12 months is to lead Lafiya’s country expansion, adapting our established model to a new geography. You will outline the pilot and learning agenda, oversee the initial rollout, and manage this launch as a replication of the Lafiya model in a new environment. After the expansion, this role will evolve into leading our internal pilots and iterations of the model, such as introducing blended training models or layering other maternal health interventions onto the main service. It is a unique opportunity for an operationally savvy problem-solver. Based on desk research and feasibility scoping, we have considered Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin, Senegal, Mali, Uganda, Rwanda, Madagascar, Zambia, Guinea and Mozambique for expansion. We are currently still considering the following five  countries: Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Benin and Senegal. Final selection will happen in collaboration with the chosen candidate based on projected impact.

What You’ll Do

1. Country Expansion with Established Model (Priority focus for the 1st year)

• Spend your first few months embedded in our Nigerian operations to get onboarded. This deep immersion will include shadowing Lafiya Sisters to understand the core model at the community level, observing how various roles function across the organisation, and closely studying our existing partnership with the Nigerian Ministry of Health.
• Conduct deep-dive research into the health landscape to identify hurdles, navigate power structures, and define the partner landscape, working directly with the CEO to synthesise findings and create the operational blueprint for launch.
• Relocate to the first expansion country for a 3-6-month scoping period to lead high-level negotiations with the Ministries of Health. You will secure buy-in to start the pilot and lead the effort to get financial buy-in from governments from the beginning.
• If a market presents insurmountable barriers, you advise the Lafiya leadership on re-scoping and entry in a new country.
• After securing necessary government approval and passing Lafiya’s internal feasibility criteria, you will lead the pilot launch. This involves building the initial operational team and providing strategic oversight as they train the first group of health workers, manage the initial 6-month learning agenda, and conduct rigorous monitoring and evaluation.

2. Internal Venture Building (2nd year onwards)

Building on the deep operational and strategic understanding gained from leading the country expansion, this role will likely transition in the second year to focus on improving, refining, and testing new iterations of the Lafiya model and internal pilots within existing geographies.

• Dive deep into potential new verticals (for example, routine immunisation integration or electronic family planning tools). You will conduct the technical research required to determine how best to serve our users while prioritising lasting impact and cost-effectiveness.
• For the most promising new initiatives, you will develop the full pilot documentation. This involves drafting a lean pilot plan, a transparent budget, and a rigorous learning agenda that clearly defines what success looks like. The technical execution roadmap should be built on a ‘gated’ approach, giving you the flexibility to pivot or discontinue a project if it is not achieving its intended goals.
• Partner closely with the Programmes and Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) teams to leverage existing lessons learned, guide all pilots with high-quality evidence, and ensure that successful initiatives are seamlessly integrated into the core Lafiya model.