Technical Officer – Child Health & Nutrition

Overview

The AFGHS- Jhpiego project is funded by the U.S. Department of State (DoS) to support the delivery of lifesaving, comprehensive maternal, newborn and child health (MNCH) and malaria services across Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. It aims to improve service and data quality, strengthen health-system integration and resilience, facilitate effective transition, and promote local ownership and accountability for sustained health outcomes.

Jhpiego works closely with the Ministries of Health in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, the Reproductive and Child Health Section (RCHS), the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), the Zanzibar Malaria Elimination Programme (ZAMEP), and Regional Administration and Local Government (RALG) structures to align implementation with national priorities and strengthen locally led implementation and oversight.

The Technical Officer – Child Health & Nutrition (TO-CHN) provides field-level technical and implementation support for child health, immunization, and nutrition services, and related service quality improvement activities under the project’s MNCH component. The role supports quality service delivery, adherence to national technical guidance and standards, and routine use of service delivery data to identify gaps and improve performance. Key technical areas include Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI), Emergency Triage, Assessment and Treatment (ETAT), immunization services including Reaching Every Child (REC) and Periodic Intensification of Routine Immunization (PIRI), and nutrition services including growth monitoring, MYICAN, and Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM).

Supervised by the Field Team Leader, with technical oversight from the Technical Advisors for Child Health & Nutrition and Immunization, the TO-CHN serves as the field-based counterpart to relevant Regional and Council Health Management Team (R/CHMT) counterparts. The role operationalizes approved technical guidance and child health, immunization, and nutrition approaches at regional, council, facility, and community levels through planning, implementation support, mentorship, follow-up, and identification and resolution of service delivery gaps. The TO-CHN works with R/CHMTs to set regional and district priorities, participates in regional RMNCAH policy and strategy discussions, planning and progress reviews, and supports development of regional quarterly and annual reports. The TO-CHN contributes to achievement of approved milestones and measurable improvements in quality of services and program performance.

The TO-CHN supports the progressive transition and institutionalization of project-supported child health, immunization, and nutrition approaches within routine government systems. Working with regional and council counterparts, the role strengthens local capacity and ownership, integrates supported activities into government plans, budgets, supervision, data, and accountability mechanisms, and identifies and addresses gaps that may affect continuity of services. The TO-CHN supports government counterparts to increasingly lead, manage, monitor, and sustain quality child health, immunization, and nutrition services beyond direct project support.

This position will be closed on October 12, 2026.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical support for facility- and community-based child health, nutrition, and immunization services, including IMCI, ETAT, growth monitoring, MYICAN, IMAM, Reaching Every Child (REC), and Periodic Intensification of Routine Immunization (PIRI) across project-supported geographies in the region.
• Support service delivery assessments, structured mentorship, supportive supervision, and follow-up to strengthen quality of child health, nutrition, and immunization services.
• Strengthen adherence to national child health, nutrition, and immunization guidelines, protocols, standards, and approved quality improvement approaches.

• Provide technical support and ongoing mentorship to regional and council health teams and health workers to strengthen quality and consistency of child health, nutrition, and immunization services.
• Support assessment of training and capacity-building needs and implementation of training, mentorship, and technical review activities in collaboration with R/CHMTs and relevant national programs.
• Support R/CHMTs to strengthen and maintain pools of trainers and mentors for IMCI, ETAT, IMAM, MYICAN, growth monitoring, immunization, and other priority interventions.
• Support regional and council teams to plan, implement, and monitor quality improvement actions based on identified service delivery and performance gaps.

• Work closely with the M&E team to support collection, analysis, interpretation, and use of routine child health, nutrition, and immunization data.
• Support regional and council health teams to use service delivery and performance data for planning, targeting, quality improvement, and decision-making.
• Support routine monitoring of child health, nutrition, and immunization interventions and contribute to tracking progress against approved project indicators and milestones.

• Document implementation experiences, challenges, adaptations, and lessons learned related to child health, nutrition, and immunization interventions.
• Identify and contribute to dissemination of effective tools, approaches, best practices, and technical strategies.
• Support preparation of technical inputs for quarterly and annual reports, presentations, learning products, and success stories.

• Coordinate closely with the Field Team Lead and Technical Advisors for Child Health & Nutrition and Immunization to align technical activities with approved regional and council implementation plans and priorities.
• Work closely with R/CHMTs to support joint planning, implementation, monitoring, and review of project-supported child health, nutrition, and immunization activities.
• Participate in relevant regional and council RMNCAH technical coordination, planning, and performance review meetings and forums.
• Coordinate with project partners, CSOs, and other stakeholders to strengthen linkages across child health, nutrition, immunization, community, and facility-based services.

• Provide regular technical updates and reports to the Field Team Lead, Technical Advisors for Child Health & Nutrition and Immunization, and relevant government counterparts.
• Flag technical risks, implementation challenges, service quality gaps, and performance issues, with proposed corrective or mitigation measures.
• Support compliance with national policies and guidelines and applicable donor and Jhpiego technical and operational standards.

• Support progressive integration of project-supported child health, nutrition, and immunization approaches into routine regional and council plans, budgets, supervision, data, and performance monitoring systems.
• Strengthen the capacity of R/CHMTs and facility teams to increasingly lead, manage, monitor, and sustain quality child health, nutrition, and immunization services.
• Support institutionalization of project-supported training, mentorship, supportive supervision, and quality improvement approaches within routine government systems.
• Identify and support resolution of capacity, system, and service delivery gaps that may affect continuity and sustainability of priority child health, nutrition, and immunization services.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in nursing, medicine, or related field. MPH is an added advantage
• Minimum of 5 years of work experience in Child health and Nutrition programmes.
• Be an excellent classroom and clinical trainer with at least two years’ experience in clinical training on, IMCI, ETAT, IMAM, MYICAN
• Strong mentoring and coaching skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to manage multiple tasks and meet deadlines under pressure.

Preferred Qualifications

• Team players are flexible, dependable, and self-motivated.
• Proactive, self-motivated, and able to work with minimal supervision.
• Experience in training facilitation, supervision, and quality improvement.
• Proficiency in MS Office applications.
• Strong teamwork and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English and Swahili

Jhpiego offers competitive salaries and a comprehensive employee benefits package.

Please apply at www.jhpiego.org/careers

Applicants must submit a single document for upload to include cover letters, resume, and references.

For further information about Jhpiego, visit our website at www.jhpiego.org

Note: The successful candidate selected for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation.

Jhpiego is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer

Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins University affiliate, is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of gender, marital status, pregnancy, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, other legally protected characteristics or any other occupationally irrelevant criteria. Jhpiego promotes Affirmative Action for minorities, women, individuals who are disabled, and veterans.

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