Main purpose of the role

CIFF’s Africa strategy, envisages an Africa where children and girls have the health, economic opportunity and agency to contribute to a thriving and self-determining Africa. To do so, the strategy takes an integrated portfolio approach that addresses root causes through integrated delivery while prioritising sustainability, execution excellence and localization. The CIFF Africa structure is designed to meet the demands of this ambition and is anchored to three strategic pillars: 1) For Africa, by Africa; 2) Resilient Communities; and 3) Girl Capital. Across all three pillars, our investments are impact-driven, evidence-based and focused on CIFF Africa’s priority geographies (Ethiopia, Kenya, Burkina Faso and Nigeria).

The Director, Child Health and Development (CHD) will lead CIFF Africa’s efforts in Child Health and Development under the Resilient Communities Pillar in Africa. As a strategic and visionary leader, The CHD Director is charged with building a compelling portfolio and communicating CHD priorities to key audiences including CIFF’s Executive team, Programme Investment Committee and Board, as well as external stakeholders. This includes translating Pillar and portfolio goals into an executable measurable plan, for which they will be held accountable. They will also be responsible for managing and building a high performing team and ensuring effective collaboration with other teams both within the Pillar, across Africa and globally.

As the leader of one of the portfolios under Resilient Communities, the CHD Director will work closely with the Director and Pillar Lead, as well as other Directors in the pillar – NTDs, WASH and Climate to deliver an integrated vision to ensure children are born healthy and can thrive in communities and systems that are equipped to prepare, adaptively respond to, and recover from shocks and threats. A major priority under the pillar is to integrate delivery by focusing on impactful investments at the nexus of maternal and child health, NTDs, WASH and Climate by addressing root causes in a holistic manner, strengthening systems to maximize and sustain our impact, and building resilience in our priority countries.

As a member of the CIFF Africa Leadership team, the CHD Director will work closely with all other Directors and other members of the management team to actively contribute to Africa leadership decision-making including setting direction at portfolio level, establishing operational systems and processes to boost effectiveness, and maintaining the welfare and morale of the team.

Role’s responsibilities

As a member of the Resilient Communities Africa Management Team, you will:

• Lead on the review and execution of the CHD Strategy for implementation in CIFF Africa priority countries, in alignment with the Resilient Communities Pillar priorities and the Africa Strategy.
• Take full and collective accountability for the development and implementation of CHD priorities and plans.
• Provide compelling, consistent and united leadership across the Pillar which creates clarity for all staff and builds a sense of shared accountability for the Pillar success and that of the organisation.
• Foster collaboration and synergy between sectors within the Resilient Communities pillar, helping to improve and adapt plans in a rapidly changing environment.
• Develop and maintain excellent external relationships within the sector, acting at all times as a corporate ambassador for CIFF, to help build the organisation’s reputation and profile as a professional, visionary and collaborative philanthropy.
• Stepping up to deputise the Pillar Lead as one of the Directors within the Resilient Communities Pillar.

Strategy & planning

• Responsible for CHD strategy review, portfolio development and programme management of investments, ensuring they are aligned to the Foundation’s principles, Africa Strategy and Resilient Communities Pillar
• As a specialist in Health, collaborate with broader CIFF teams to identify intersectional, sustainable approaches to delivering outcomes for children.
• Lead the development and implementation of the team’s annual CHD Executable Plan, identifying short, medium and long term ambitions, and distilling these into annual objectives, key results and investment pipelines.
• Drive and influence key strategic technical relationships with governments, regional bodies, and partners to shift policy and deliver CHD strategic goals.

Portfolio design, delivery & performance management

• Build a pipeline of innovative, evidence-based and/or evidence-generating investments that further the aims and ambitions of CHD in transforming the design, delivery, and support of investment in Africa priority geographies.
• Provide coaching, specialist guidance and mentoring support to colleagues (within and beyond the team) to deepen the skills, capability and professionalism of the organisation.
• Proactively seek out investment opportunities that integrate CHD with other Resilient Communities portfolios and CIFF Africa pillar priorities, in support of shared higher-level outcomes.
• Oversee the design of CHD investment proposals, approval and implementation with managers and analysts.
• Actively contribute to integrated design of investments that incorporate other sectors.
• Conduct regular reviews of investment proposals under development and programmes in delivery, to monitor compliance with agreed due diligence and risk management protocols, ensuring the interests and reputation of CIFF are appropriately and proportionately protected. Intervene to take corrective action where necessary.
• Ensure all investment proposals and programmes are underpinned by appropriate monitoring and evaluation processes and procedures, in accordance with the frameworks and guidance of the EME Team, to enable the development of rigorous evidence and analysis that supports CIFF’s advocacy, scaling-up and mainstreaming agendas.
• As a recognised subject-matter expert, provide advice, specialist guidance and mentoring support to colleagues (within and beyond the team) to deepen the skills, capability and professionalism of the organisation.
• Allocate and monitor achievement of individual and team performance targets including but not limited to, new investment design, programme management (forecasting accuracy and disbursements), investment performance, personal development and progression.
• Seek out leveraged and co-funding to support the scale up of successful programmes in collaboration with the Co-Funding and Partnerships (For Africa By Africa) pillar team.

Sector knowledge and profile-building

• Drive Thought Leadership on CHD within CIFF and externally by adding value to the wider ecosystem.
• Leverage global and continental influence of CIFF for actionable advocacy wins for the pipeline and CIFF Africa’s agenda overall.
• Lead the generation and consolidation of CHD learnings for dissemination as global goods aimed at advancing the field.
• Ensure CHD work is shaped by up-to-date insights and evidence by proactively maintaining extensive external networks with experts and opinion-formers within the sector and continent.
• Undertake or commission sector-relevant research and analysis to inform the effective development, delivery and evaluation of programmes and initiatives.

Stakeholder and partner management

• Develop and maintain excellent external relationships, acting at all times as a corporate ambassador for CIFF, helping build the organisation’s reputation and profile as a professional, visionary and collaborative philanthropy.
• Advise and support more junior colleagues in identifying, negotiating with and managing appropriate programme partners (as required), to enable CIFF to maximise its philanthropic impact through effective collaboration.
• Proactively contribute to growing CIFF Africa’s strategic grantee and partner base with a view to growing the proportion of local grantees within the portfolio

Leadership of the team

• Offer inspiring and motivational leadership that role models CIFF’s values and leadership behaviours and empowers and enables staff to deliver excellence.
• Adopt a coaching approach with colleagues, instil a culture of openness and trust, embrace diverse thinking, and encourage continuous improvement and learning.
• Provide ongoing support to all CHD team members and ensure high performance is enabled through objective setting, clear accountabilities and regular reviews.
• As a member of the CIFF Africa Operations Leadership Team: provide high level programmatic updates; participate in troubleshooting Africa-wide portfolio challenges; contribute to decision making on improved ways of working, staff welfare and boosting and maintaining morale.

Requirements

Skills & Experience

• Educated to post-graduate degree level, or equivalent by experience – preference for specialization in medical sciences, public health & epidemiology, nutrition & food systems, health systems or related areas.
• Recognized as a subject-matter expert (as evidenced via publications and/or previous programme delivery) in medical field/ global health/ public health & epidemiology/ nutrition/ international development with an extensive track record working in one or more of CIFF’s priority geographies.
• Detailed knowledge and understanding of the African context, international development and global health.
• Track record of developing and executing strategies with measurable impact.
• Understanding of using cost-benefit and ROI methodologies and metrics to inform strategy and business planning – preferably within international development or foundation setting.
• Ability to think critically and analytically to draw sound conclusions on the basis of complex data.
• High-level of financial literacy – financial modelling is a plus.
• Demonstrated experience delivering large programmes/initiatives in at least one of the priority countries.
• Demonstrated experience making course corrections/improvements to programmes/initiatives with results.
• Proven track record of building and maintaining strategic relationships and working in partnership.
• Experience advocating decision-makers at the highest level, including ministers, heads of state, and leadership of international organizations.
• Excellent people leadership skills and proven ability to motivate, develop and hold to account a small- to medium-sized teams of professionals.
• Highly developed communication and presentation skills.
• Shows high resilience and strong ability to have vision, drive progress, promote innovation, and display ownership in ambiguous, dynamic and fast-paced environments.