Programme Officer

Sightsavers implements projects in over 30 countries in Africa and South Asia working to eliminate avoidable blindness and promote the rights of people with disabilities.

Contract: 12-month fixed term contract

Salary: Local Terms and Conditions apply

About the role

The Program Officer will play a crucial role in ensuring the successful implementation of NTD projects in Benin. This position is responsible for managing projects within budget and on schedule, collaborating closely with partners to meet agreed timelines and project documentation requirements. Your expertise will help drive impactful change and support the elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases in the region.

Principle Accountabilities

• Assist staff seconded to government to manage effective implementation of planned activities, including adherence to timelines and coordinating review and feedback from technical teams.
• Monitor programme activities against project goals and donor commitments, identify operational bottlenecks or weaknesses, and work collaboratively with country-based and global teams to achieve exceptional results on aggressive timelines.
• Provide direct support to surveillance and analytics work streams, including the formulation and conducting of high-quality epidemiological analyses to evaluate the effectiveness of current interventions, understand disease patterns, and inform strategic planning related to neglected tropical diseases.
• Monitor, evaluate, and improve the performance of NTD intervention processes and platforms, and contribute to the formulation of surveillance guidelines, SOPs, and training materials.
• Support the development and integration of data collection tools and dashboards.
• Support the integration of data use and analysis in routine programmatic activities at all levels of the health system.
• Support the design and routine implementation of monitoring and evaluation of Sightsavers and governmental programmes.
• Organise, clean, and integrate datasets from different sources to aid programme monitoring and evaluation and larger analyses.
• Formulate and deliver national and sub-national level training technical materials.
• Promote the routine use of epidemiological, entomological, and programmatic data and analysis to inform country strategy planning and programme implementation.
• Review and contribute to surveillance and analytics components of annual country work plans to ensure they meet strategic goals.
• Synthesise and disseminate findings through high-quality presentations, reports, and scientific publications.
• Represent Sightsavers at external technical meetings with international and local academic and technical partners.
• Manage relationships with subcontractors, ensuring compliance with organisational policies and work with technical teams to ensure the delivery of timely and high-quality work.
• Support the national programme in reviewing their operational budget and fund requests and contribute to joint monitoring with the finance team at the partner level.

This is a highly varied and involved role and the above is not an exhaustive list of duties or required professional skills. Please see the Job Description for full details.

About you

The Programme Officer will be a highly skilled professional with a strong background in planning, monitoring, and coordination. They will assist staff seconded to government to manage the effective implementation of planned activities, ensuring adherence to timelines and coordinating review and feedback from technical teams.

Job Requirements:

Essential:

• Master’s Degree in a relevant field or a bachelor’s degree with exceptional experience. If you do not have these qualifications, relevant experience will be considered.
• Demonstrable work experience with increasing levels of responsibility and leadership.
• Exceptional written and oral communication and presentation skills, including effective communication of results through data visualisation to audiences of varying technical backgrounds.
• Knowledge of PC neglected tropical diseases, disease elimination, digital health, and/or other major global infectious disease problems.
• Experience in strategy development, planning, and project implementation.
• Experience in capacity building.
• Experience working and communicating with government officials and multilateral organisations.
• Demonstrated analytical, quantitative, and problem-solving skills.
• High levels of proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Ability to work independently in unstructured settings and to adapt to new environments and challenges.
• Experience in research project management.

Desirable:

• Proficiency in written and verbal communication in French and professional skill in English.