Head of Programs

• Provide strategic, technical, and operational leadership across EMKF’s programs and projects.
  
• Translate EMKF’s organisational strategy into clear program priorities, annual plans, implementation frameworks, performance indicators, and resource requirements.
  
• Oversee the design, planning, implementation, coordination, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting of all programs.
  
• Ensure programs achieve approved objectives, outputs, outcomes, milestones, timelines, budgets, and donor obligations.
  
• Ensure all programs are aligned with EMKF’s strategic priorities, county and national health priorities, donor requirements, and relevant emergency healthcare policies and frameworks.
  
• Provide strategic advice to the Executive Director and senior leadership on program performance, implementation risks, research priorities, emerging opportunities, and organisational growth.
  
• Lead the development and review of program strategies, theories of change, implementation models, results frameworks, workplans, and sustainability plans.
  
• Support the development of proposals, concept notes, technical approaches, grant applications, and program budgets.
  

• Provide direct supervision, mentorship, and technical support to Program Managers and other designated program and research staff.
  
• Ensure Program Managers effectively supervise Program Officers, coordinators, research staff, and field implementation teams.
  
• Establish clear performance expectations, accountability mechanisms, workplans, and professional development plans for program staff.
  
• Conduct regular performance reviews and provide coaching, mentorship, training, and constructive feedback.
  
• Facilitate regular program review meetings, research meetings, planning sessions, and cross-program coordination.
  
• Promote a high-performance culture based on accountability, collaboration, scientific integrity, continuous learning, innovation, and delivery excellence.
  
• Support the recruitment, onboarding, development, and retention of competent program and research personnel.
  

• Lead the day-to-day oversight of the implementation and operational performance of all EMKF programs and projects.
  
• Monitor implementation progress and ensure that delays, risks, bottlenecks, and performance gaps are identified and addressed promptly.
  
• Establish and maintain effective systems for implementation planning, activity tracking, quality assurance, documentation, reporting, and performance management.
  
• Conduct or coordinate program reviews, site visits, partner assessments, implementation audits, and quality improvement activities.
  
• Ensure consistent application of approved policies, protocols, standards, tools, and operating procedures.
  
• Promote integration and collaboration across programs to reduce duplication and improve efficiency, learning, and organisational impact.
  
• Ensure programs comply with applicable laws, donor agreements, ethical requirements, organisational policies, safeguarding standards, and contractual obligations.
  

• Oversee the implementation and continuous strengthening of EMKF’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning systems, tools, frameworks, and processes.
  
• Ensure every program has an appropriate theory of change, results framework, indicators, monitoring plan, data collection tools, reporting structure, and learning agenda.
  
• Strengthen program indicators, data systems, reporting tools, and data-quality assurance processes.
  
• Oversee the collection, validation, analysis, interpretation, and use of quantitative and qualitative program data.
  
• Ensure meaningful measurement of program outputs, outcomes, impact, equity, sustainability, and health systems change.
  
• Lead program evaluations, baseline assessments, endline assessments, outcome studies, and implementation reviews.
  
• Promote routine use of data and evidence in decision-making, program adaptation, quality improvement, and organisational planning.
  
• Ensure lessons learned, challenges, innovations, and best practices are systematically documented and shared.
  
• Promote a culture of adaptive management, accountability, evidence-informed programming, and continuous learning.
  

• Lead the preparation of research reports, manuscripts, abstracts, conference presentations, policy briefs, learning briefs, case studies, technical reports, and other knowledge products.
  
• Serve as a first, senior, or contributing author on peer-reviewed publications arising from EMKF’s work.
  
• Coordinate manuscript development, internal review, journal submission, response to reviewers, revision, and publication processes.
  
• Translate research findings and program evidence into practical recommendations for program teams, policymakers, donors, partners, and healthcare stakeholders.
  
• Support the dissemination of evidence through conferences, stakeholder forums, publications, policy dialogues, webinars, and other relevant platforms.
  
• Ensure findings from research and evaluations are integrated into program design, implementation, policy engagement, advocacy, and organisational strategy.
  
• Maintain high standards of scientific integrity, authorship ethics, methodological rigour, and quality assurance.
  

• Oversee the preparation of high-quality donor reports, operational reports, program reports, impact reports, dashboards, presentations, and strategic updates.
  
• Ensure reports are accurate, evidence-based, submitted on time, and responsive to donor and stakeholder requirements.
  
• Consolidate program and research findings into organisation-wide performance and impact reports.
  
• Present program performance, evidence, risks, lessons, and recommendations to senior leadership, the Board, donors, government stakeholders, and partners.
  
• Strengthen organisational systems for documentation, knowledge management, learning, and evidence utilisation.
  

• Review and consolidate program and research budgets, ensuring alignment with approved workplans, donor requirements, and organisational priorities.
  
• Monitor expenditure and financial performance across programs and research activities.
  
• Work with Program Managers and the finance team to identify and address budget variances, financial risks, underspending, overspending, and inefficiencies.
  
• Lead program budgeting, financial forecasting, resource planning, and cost-efficiency processes.
  
• Ensure Program Managers understand and fulfil their budget management and financial accountability responsibilities.
  
• Provide technical and operational input into funding proposals, concept notes, grant budgets, procurement plans, and resource mobilisation strategies.
  
• Promote value for money, efficient resource utilisation, and responsible management of donor and organisational resources.
  

• Serve as a senior programmatic and technical focal point for government institutions, county governments, donors, research partners, academic institutions, implementing organisations, and other stakeholders.
  
• Build and maintain strong relationships with partners involved in program implementation, research, policy, training, and emergency healthcare systems strengthening.
  
• Support Program Managers in managing operational relationships with government, donors, partners, and communities.
  
• Coordinate multi-partner initiatives and ensure clear roles, responsibilities, deliverables, communication, and accountability.
  
• Represent EMKF in strategic, technical, research, policy, and coordination meetings as delegated by the Executive Director.
  
• Support the development and implementation of partnership agreements, research collaborations, memoranda of understanding, and joint workplans.
  

• Lead continuous improvement initiatives to strengthen program quality, efficiency, scalability, sustainability, and impact.
  
• Use research findings, monitoring data, stakeholder feedback, and implementation experience to identify opportunities for program improvement.
  
• Introduce and support appropriate tools, technologies, methodologies, and operational approaches.
  
• Ensure successful models, innovations, research findings, and lessons learned are documented, institutionalised, and scaled where appropriate.
  
• Support the development of sustainability, institutionalisation, transition, and government-ownership strategies.
  
• Monitor developments in emergency healthcare, public health, health systems, implementation science, digital health, and research methodology and assess their relevance to EMKF’s work.
  

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Public Health, Epidemiology, Monitoring and Evaluation, Statistics, Social Sciences, Development Studies, Project Management, or a related field. A Master’s degree is an added advantage.
  
• At least 5 years of progressive experience in program management, applied research, public health, or the development sector, including experience coordinating programs, research activities, multidisciplinary teams, and institutional partners.
  
• Demonstrated experience managing complex programs, research projects, grants, budgets, donor requirements, multidisciplinary teams, and institutional partnerships.
  
• Proven experience leading the full research lifecycle, including study design, protocol development, ethical approval, data collection, analysis, scientific writing, publication, and dissemination.
  
• Demonstrated authorship of at least three peer-reviewed publications as a first or senior author, with experience in health systems strengthening, implementation science, emergency healthcare, or related public health programming strongly preferred.
  

• Ability to provide strategic and operational oversight of multiple programs, ensuring quality, timely delivery, financial accountability, donor compliance, and measurable impact.
  
• Excellent scientific, technical, and donor-reporting skills, including the ability to prepare peer-reviewed manuscripts, research reports, abstracts, policy briefs, presentations, and other technical products.
  
• Strong ability to develop results frameworks, oversee data quality and evaluation, and translate evidence into programmatic, policy, and strategic recommendations.
  
• Demonstrated leadership, mentorship, communication, and stakeholder-engagement skills, with the ability to lead multidisciplinary teams and work effectively with government, donors, universities, research institutions, and implementing partners in a fast-paced environment.