Senior Project Coordinator

This role was posted on February 19, 2025. Please note that we will review applications on a rolling basis.

The Role

At Last Mile Health (LMH), we work to deploy a health worker within reach of everyone, everywhere. Are you a strong project manager with a deep understanding of Sierra Leone’s National Community Health Worker program?  If so then you may be our next Senior Project Coordinator in Sierra Leone.

The Senior Project Coordinator role is part of Last Mile Health’s (GlaxoSmithKline) initiative to integrate the malaria vaccine into community-based primary healthcare delivery in Sierra Leone. This role will be instrumental in ensuring that LMH collaborates closely with the Ministry of Health to accelerate the malaria vaccine rollout. The coordinator will support efforts to streamline implementation, provide technical assistance, and work with key stakeholders to enhance vaccine accessibility and coverage at the community level.  

The Senior Project Coordinator will also focus on identifying and implementing strategies to boost vaccine demand and uptake. This includes strengthening community engagement, improving data collection and reporting systems, and enhancing monitoring mechanisms to track progress and impact. By working across national and district levels, the role will contribute to the long-term integration of the malaria vaccine into routine primary healthcare services, ensuring sustained success in malaria prevention efforts.

About the GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) Project

Since the introduction of the malaria vaccine into Sierra Leone in April 2024, routine vaccination of children has been going on with over 12,364 children having received at least one dose of the malaria vaccine. Vaccine rollout has been channelled through the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) primary health care system, leveraging health facilities and staff, with overall management support from the District Health Management (DHMT), EPI, and relevant directorates and program units within MOH. 

Despite progress, Sierra Leone's malaria vaccine rollout faces challenges: declining subsequent doses, inadequate reporting and monitoring, and unclear CHW roles. This GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) funded activity leverages CHWs to accelerate rollout in the Kambia district, improving data collection, reporting, and CHW community engagement to boost vaccine uptake.

This position is project-funded, located in Kambia District in Sierra Leone and is open to Sierra Leone nationals. This position will be hired on a 1-year fixed-term renewable contract tied to project timelines.

What You’ll Do

Project Management

• Oversee the implementation and evaluation of key milestones and deliverables designed to improve or extend the uptake of Malaria Vaccine at the community level.
• Provide technical support to the MoH National Malaria Control Program (NMCP), Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI), and the Directorate of Primary Health Care (DPHC) to strengthen the delivery and increase the uptake of the Malaria Vaccine.  
• Coordinate a situation analysis and learning exercise on the malaria vaccine rollout in Sierra Leone, including identifying key priorities and activities to inform a detailed project plan.
• Work closely with the Monitoring and Evaluation team to track project progress, measure impact and conduct regular project reviews, using data to inform decision-making and adaptive programming.
• Develop clear and compelling project reports that highlight the outcomes, impact, and progress of the project for national and district stakeholders. 
• Develop briefs and presentations for project meetings and present at donor engagements,  timely reporting.
• Work in collaboration with the Kambia District Coordinator to ensure seamless district operations and malaria vaccine data integration into district and national health systems. 

Governance Systems and Government Engagement

• Organize consultative meetings/workshops at national and district levels with stakeholders on malaria vaccine integration with the National CHW Program
• Jointly with the CHW (Community Health Workers) HUB, NMCP, EPI, and DPHC team, provide technical support in the development/review of malaria vaccine training content for CHWs.
• Leverage LMH Kambia District implementation experience to inform national protocols on malaria vaccines.
• Work closely with MoH and other national health stakeholders to inform malaria vaccine policies.

Demand Generation

• Jointly with LMH Kambia Office and DHMT (Malaria, EPI, and CHW focal persons), conduct focus groups with community members to understand their attitudes towards the malaria vaccine, barriers and facilitators to vaccine uptake
• Collaborate with MOH NMCP, EPI, DPHC/CHW Hub, and Health Education units to develop, update, and roll out Information Education and Communication and Behavior Change Communication (IEC/BCC) materials for the malaria vaccine across districts, with a focus on health facilities and community outreach.
• Coordinate the training of CHWs to enable them to lead community engagements on malaria vaccine uptake, conduct risk communication activities, disseminate IEC/BCC materials in hard-to-reach areas, and implement community-level initiatives to enhance vaccine adoption
• Facilitate and technical support CHWs to conduct routine demand generation activities for malaria vaccine
• Leverage existing CHW structures, such as the National and District Technical Working Groups (TWG) and other partner forums to share and discuss materials and approaches related to Malaria Vaccine with partners working in other districts.

Strengthening Data Systems

• Collaborate with the NMCP, EPI, and relevant DHMT staff (M&E officers, CHW/Malaria focals, etc.) to determine malaria vaccine distribution, strengths, and limitations of data collection approaches used for malaria vaccine data collection.
• Work with DPPI, DHMT, Health Facilities, CHWs/Peer Supervisors and the CHW HUB to ensure integration of vaccine delivery data collection into CHIS and DHS2.
• Facilitate the development, procurement, distribution and training of vaccine reporting tools, particularly for Kambia health facilities.
• Collaborate with DHMTs, especially in Kambia to organize data review sessions with stakeholders; and facilitate malaria vaccine related actions.

Other District Coordination, Management, and Operational Support:

• Provide technical support to the DHMT to strengthen integration among CHW and disease programs/ focals in the district (foster collaboration with the CHW Hub, NMCP, and EPI)
• Work directly with the Operations and Finance Managers to manage and maintain sound financial and operational management systems that align with Last Mile Health and donor regulations through the grant period.

What You’ll Bring

• Bachelor's or postgraduate degree in a relevant field (e.g., public health, social science, community development).
• Progressive experience in coordination and project management within the Sierra Leone health sector.
• Experience collaborating with government bodies, international organizations, NGOs, and donors at various levels.
• Strong understanding of the National CHW Program.
• Experience in capacity building for frontline health workers and community-level program coordination.
• Proven experience in primary health care interventions, particularly working in districts and with DHMTs.
• Progressive experience navigating within MOH directorates and programs to ensure staff representation and participation in program implementation
• Excellent computer literacy and knowledge management skills, including proficiency in MS Office and Google Suite.

You’ll Impress Us If

• You have excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to communicate effectively both orally and in writing and operate in a multicultural environment
• You have knowledge of malaria vaccine rollout in Sierra Leone
• You have experience facilitating capacity building initiatives for DHMT and frontline health workers 
• You have proven knowledge of the National CHW Program 
• You have a comprehensive understanding of Sierra Leone health system 
• You are fluent in Krio and any other local languages in Sierra Leone
• You can ride a motorbike  

Compensation Information

At Last Mile Health, we strive to reward our employees equitably and transparently. This means that we pay our employees based on a clear and consistent methodology and without regard to their identity or personal relationships. We have made this model fully transparent so that everyone has access to all information related to compensation. We hope this helps you better understand Last Mile Health’s values and commitments to our employees. We look forward to answering any questions you may have during the hiring process.

Before applying to this role, please take a moment to learn more about our approach to compensation and how compensation works in each of the countries where we operate. Please find the link to our compensation model and benefits overview below:

OVERVIEW OF LAST MILE HEALTH’S COMPENSATION MODEL

Compensation for this position: 

The Band for this position: SLE-2

For Sierra Leone, the range is $8,917- $12,483 USD dependent upon experience doing an equivalent role. Please note that this compensation is subject to Sierra Leone taxes. Alongside the published salary range for this position, employees receive both government-mandated benefits (transportation & housing) and LMH benefits (paid time off, child school fee benefit, data/airtime benefits, health insurance, life insurance, and more).

About Last Mile Health

Last Mile Health partners with governments to design, scale, strengthen, and sustain high-quality community health systems, which empower teams of community and frontline health workers to bring life-saving primary healthcare to the world’s most remote communities. LMH is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. For more information, visit www.lastmilehealth.org.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at LMH. We do not discriminate based on race, religion, colour, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.