The World Health Organization projects a global shortfall of 11 million health workers by 2030, increasingly concentrated in the African region. This includes a shortage of nearly 900,000 midwives (Nove et al., 2021) and a similar gap in children's nurses, who make up only around 2% of the nursing workforce in several African countries, despite children comprising up to half the population (North et al., 2019). These shortages are closely linked to preventable maternal, newborn, and child deaths and high under-five mortality. WHO Afro modelling estimates that health workers required a $36.3 billion wage bill in 2022, against an available financing envelope of just $20.85 billion—a 43% workforce financing gap across the region's 47 countries. This constrained fiscal space is prompting governments and partners to rethink traditional workforce approaches, including how new technologies, such as AI-enabled tools for training, clinical decision support, and workflow efficiency, can extend the reach and impact of a limited workforce, while keeping health workers and human connection at the centre of care. In May 2026, African governments adopted the Accra Declaration at the Africa Health Workforce Investment Forum, committing to concrete action on planning, training, and retaining the continent's health workforce.

Against this backdrop, a multi-country health workforce initiative is being set up to strengthen the availability, quality, distribution, and retention of primary health care and maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) workers across the Africa region. The initiative will support government-led efforts to close these gaps — including shortages in nursing, midwifery, MNCH specialists, allied health cadres, and community health workers — that limit access to quality primary MNCH care.

The initiative will be informed by a country-led planning process, partnering with governments, training institutions, and implementing organizations to strengthen health workforce policy, planning, and financing systems; expand and improve training capacity; support the equitable distribution and retention of health workers; and address gaps in medical equipment and facility infrastructure that limit health worker effectiveness and retention.

A secretariat is being set up at CHAI Ghana to provide technical, programmatic, and financial management assistance to participating governments and partners, including workforce planning and training design, monitoring and evaluation, and alignment with the initiative's technical framework and country priorities.

Position Overview

The Program Manager provides direct day-to-day programmatic and administrative grant management for all grantees within an assigned portfolio of 3–4 countries, across the full life of each investment from planning through close-out. The Program Manager serves as the primary point of contact for grantees in their portfolio, executing processes, problem-solving with implementers, and escalating technical, financial, or compliance issues to the appropriate lead.

This role can also be offered at a Senior Program Manager level, commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate in alignment with the needs of the program.

Country planning and due diligence

• As needed, support development of grant management tools and materials, including budget templates, financial reporting templates, and the initiative administration manual.
• Coordinate closely with country-level planning partners to guide the planning process, ensure alignment with funding parameters, and track progress.
• Coordinate due diligence processes for proposed implementers, managing document collection and supporting preparation of due diligence reports.
• Review draft concept notes and provide technical and strategic input; track donor feedback and coordinate revision cycles with country partners.
• Hold routine check-in meetings with country-level planning partners as recommended implementers develop work plans and budgets in parallel with due diligence.
• Support compilation of investment recommendations for review and approval, including implementer work plans, budgets, theory of change, and results framework.
• Track all planning processes; anticipate potential delays and work proactively to resolve bottlenecks.

Implementation

• Serve as the day-to-day point of contact for all grantees in their portfolio, conducting routine check-ins with implementers, reviewing incoming reporting and resolving issues with grantees or escalating when necessary.
• Monitor grantee work plan and budget execution against approved terms, collect and review narrative and financial reports from grantees, and maintain portfolio-level tracking dashboards for visibility across assigned countries.
• Flag technical implementation issues to the appropriate Director(s); problem-solve with implementers, and support corrective action plans where issues are identified.

Close-out

• Confirm that grantees in the portfolio have met all contractual obligations; compile final narrative and financial reports and deliverables.
• Compile lessons learned and outstanding issues from the portfolio for the Secretariat's initiative-wide close-out and learning processes.

• 5+ years of experience in program/grant management, ideally in global health, international development, or donor-funded programs.
• Expertise in managing multiple concurrent workstreams and country relationships, including relationships with government and partner stakeholders, and serving as the primary point of contact for grantees.
• Familiarity with due diligence processes, grant documentation, and budgeting and/or financial reporting.
• Strong organizational and tracking skills, problem-solving skills.
• Expertise in health systems strengthening, public health, community health, health workforce, PHC, MNCH, and/or related area(s).
• Knowledge of health workforce and health systems programming in East, West, and/or Southern Africa.
• Experience working with private philanthropies, grant-making, and donor reporting.
• Knowledge and understanding of the cultural, political, and economic context in African countries; lived experience preferred.
• Advanced degree in nursing, midwifery, medicine, public health, community health, health policy/systems/financing, or a related field preferred.
• Willingness to travel regularly internationally.
• English fluency required. Working French or Portuguese is an advantage.

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