Company Overview

The Pharo Foundation (“the Foundation”) is a privately funded entrepreneurial organisation that runs philanthropic programmes as well as for-profit social ventures. The Vision of the Foundation is an economically vibrant and inclusive Africa. The Mission is to achieve the Vision by investing in the human and physical capital of Africa, with a strong focus on job creation.

Established in 2011 as a UK based non-profit, the Foundation has since made a strategic shift to directly design and implement its own programmes to ensure greater engagement with communities, better results and increased accountability. The Foundation has carried out numerous projects in East Africa, with a focus on Ethiopia and Somaliland and is now looking to further expand across East Africa. The key strategic pillars for the philanthropic side of the Foundation are education, health, water and agriculture. At the end of 2019, the Foundation also started its Social Ventures franchise to prioritise sectors where the Foundation believes a real impact can be made by establishing self- sustaining businesses, which focus on job and economic value creation.

Headquartered in London, the Foundation has an operational head office in Nairobi, Kenya with country offices in Ethiopia (Addis Ababa and Assosa) and Somaliland (Hargeisa) with further expansion plans in East Africa. 

Position Summary

Reporting to the Health Program Coordinator, the Health Program Officer (HPO) will be responsible for the implementation of the health component of the Social and Economic Empowerment Program(SEEP) that runs from 2020 to 2024 focusing on health, agricultural development, education and water supply themes. The officer will provide vital technical inputs and facilitation during the planning, implementation, reporting and evaluations of the health program initiatives. The main purpose of the Officer is to effectively implement the assigned program component activities. 

Key duties and responsibilities

• Play a key facilitative and technical role during the annual program plan developments.
• Provide critical technical and facilitation inputs into the setup, running and monitoring of the Pharo foundation owned health facility.
• Coordinate the initiatives to improve the knowledge, skill and attitude of health professionals in targeted districts and health facilities,
• Serve us a liaison for the foundation’s engagement to ensure Assosa Hospital ICU provides standard and quality service,
• Facilitate quarterly meetings with Assosa hospital to review the status of the quality of care at both ICU and NICU; generate meeting minutes and reports; keep track of service statistics,
• Monitor the inputs, processes and quality of the Services in the Assosa hospital NICU & ICU using standard monitoring tools,
• Take the lead for organising the efforts of the district based community facilitators for all activities related to health, sanitation and hygiene at respective Woredas (Homosha and Menge),
• Facilitate assessments, planning and implementation of health, sanitation and Hygiene programs including the formative research,
• Lead in service capacity building trainings targeted at health workers and health extension workers,
• Coordinate the planning, implementation and monitoring of CLTSH activity in the target districts,
• Oversee the technical backstopping to CHAST in program targeted schools,
• Coordinate identification/ organization of the sanitation businesses. Furthermore, in collaboration with the facilitators, conduct capacity building training and follow ups for sanitation businesses,
• Organise sanitation and hygiene promotion campaigns and events in communities,
• Organize the training of mothers on improved hygienic practices including hand washing, face washing, bathing, sanitary disposal of infant faeces and safe water transport and storage,
• Lead events and programmatic report generation; lead monthly and quarterly activity plans submissions. 

Job Requirements

Required Qualities and Skills

• A Master’s/ advanced/ degree in Public Health or related field is required.
• Minimum five years’ practical and hands on experience in the diverse settings mixing community health and clinical settings.
• Familiarity with the rural cultural, social and traditional contexts of program target districts.
• Ability to be creative and innovative in generating new ideas and putting them into practice.
• Good command of written and spoken English and Amharic. Ability to speak local language is a plus.
• High level of commitment and self-motivation.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.
• Proficiency in the use of basic computer software.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Good writing and reporting skills.
• Passion for improving health, hygiene and sanitation for rural Africans.
• Ability and willingness to travel often in the kebeles.

Behavioral Competencies

• Great attention to detail and a flexible approach to work. High professional and ethical standards.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, planning, coordinating and project management skills. Fluency in English and Amharic are required.
• Positive outlook and outgoing personality with solid interpersonal and diplomatic skills.
• Structured and process oriented. Excellent time-manager who can balance multiple priorities.
• Motivated to learn and perform and not afraid to ask questions.
• Willing to challenge status quo and add value by introducing positive change.
• Good communicator and comfortable to work in a team environment.

How to Apply

Review of complete applications will be on a rolling basis. In the event that we identify an outstanding early in the search process, we reserve the right to appoint before the deadline. For this reason, we encourage interested candidates to apply at the earliest possible time. Due to the high volume of applications, we regret that we will only be able to contact short-listed candidates.

Please send the information listed below, as a single PDF file, to the following email address:

addisoffice@pharofoundation.org. Please indicate ‘’Application for Health Program Officer’’ in the email subject line and application deadline 12^th November 2020.

1. A detailed CV and Covering Letter,

2. A 1,000-word essay on both of these:

a) What experience have you gained that makes you think that you are the most qualified candidate for the role?

b) What major Health related challenges do you envisage on a typical health centre and how will you resolve these using your experience?

3. A one-page list of five references with current addresses, phone numbers, and email contacts.