Child Health-Nutrition Technical Advisor

The Reaching Impact Saturation and Epidemic Control (RISE) program is saving lives and improving health by controlling the HIV pandemic and strengthening global health security to limit the spread of deadly disease outbreaks. RISE uses evidence-based practices from over 20 years of PEPFAR implementation to address critical HIV priorities along with global health security (GHS), maternal, newborn, and child health and Nutrition (MNCH-N), tuberculosis (TB), Malaria, data systems, supply chain and commodity management, and other cross-cutting areas. In Burundi, Jhpiego is recruiting for the new MNCH-N project supporting Burundi’s lifesaving CH-N services. 

The CH‑N Advisor will play a central role in leading and coordinating all technical aspects of child health, immunization, and nutrition programming, ensuring alignment with national priorities, RISE’s phased implementation approach, and cross-program synergies with key national players.  The Child Health & Nutrition (CH-N) Technical Advisor is responsible for providing strategic, technical, and programmatic leadership for the implementation of high‑impact child health, immunization, and nutrition interventions under the RISE Burundi MNCH‑N project. The Advisor ensures that interventions are evidence-based, integrated across the continuum of care (household–community–facility–referral), and aligned with national policies and global standards. The CH-N Technical Advisor will lead technical design, quality assurance, capacity strengthening, and data-driven adaptive management in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MOH), RISE regional teams, RISE HIV colleagues, and key partners such as REACH Malaria and Data.FI, etc. The role includes overseeing provincial technical staff, coordinating technical working groups (TWGs), supporting supply chain readiness for lifesaving child health commodities, and ensuring strong community–facility referral linkages.

Technical Leadership

• Lead design and implementation of child health, immunization, and nutrition interventions.
• Ensure integration of CH-N with ANC, intrapartum, PNC, HIV/PMTCT, and newborn services.
• Apply updated national and global standards (IMNCI, iCCM, EPI, newborn care, SAM, MAM).

Rapid Needs Assessment & Adaptive Planning

• Lead CH-N components of rapid facility and community assessments.
• Identify gaps in service readiness, commodities, staffing, cold chain, and community systems.
• Use findings to update the workplan, targets, and priority inputs.

Quality of Care & Facility Readiness

• Lead QAQI efforts focused on IMNCI, emergency pediatric care, and nutrition.
• Strengthen readiness for pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, malnutrition, and neonatal infection management.
• Oversee onsite training, mentorship, simulation, and LDHF approaches.

Community Health & Referral Systems

• Lead community-level programming (iCCM, MUAC screening, home visits, danger-sign detection).
• Strengthen bi-directional referral pathways (CHW ↔ facility ↔ hospital).
• Align with national community health strategy and its updates.

Immunization Leadership

• Guide routine immunization, zero-dose strategies, and catch-up activities.
• Strengthen cold chain, vaccine forecasting, and integration with growth monitoring.
• Collaborate closely with EPI teams and REACH Malaria.

Supply Chain & Commodity Readiness

• Ensure availability of key child health and nutrition commodities (ORS/Zinc, antibiotics, MUAC, RUTF, vaccines).
• Support last-mile distribution, stock monitoring, and redistribution.
• Integrate commodity readiness checks into supervision visits.

Data Systems & Use

• Strengthen HMIS/DHIS2 data quality and use at facility, district, and community levels.
• Collaborate with MEL and Data.FI for dashboarding, GIS mapping, and performance reviews.
• Lead routine data-driven decision-making for CH-N activities.

Coordination & Representation

• Represent RISE in national CH-N, Nutrition, iCCM, and EPI technical working groups.
• Coordinate with RISE HIV, REACH Malaria, Data.FI, MIHR, and other USG partners.
• Work closely with MOH central and subnational leadership.

Capacity Building & Supervision

• Provide technical supervision and mentoring to regional CH-N staff.
• Strengthen MOH trainer and mentor pools for child health, immunization, and nutrition.
• Lead integrated supervision with RISE HIV and REACH malaria field teams.

• Advanced degree (MPH, MD, or equivalent) in Public Health, Medicine, Nursing, or a related field;
• Minimum of 6 years of progressively responsible experience in designing, implementing, and coordinating CH-N programs, preferably in Burundi or similar low-resource settings;
• Demonstrated experience in providing technical assistance and on-the-job training to healthcare providers on CH-N related topics;
• Proven experience in supervising or managing technical staff, particularly in a decentralized program structure;
• Experience working with government health structures, health facilities, and local partners. 

• Deep technical knowledge of evidence-based CH-N interventions across the continuum of care (including postnatal care, child health and integrated child illness management); 
• Proficiency in developing and delivering training and quality improvement programs for health care workers; 
• Strong understanding of data utilization for program monitoring, quality improvement, and informed decision-making in CH-N; 
• Knowledge of strengthening referral systems within health facilities and between facilities and communities
• Deep understanding of the continuum of CH-N, including postnatal, IMNCI, and immunization
• Expertise in nutrition programming, including SAM treatment, IYCF, and micronutrient supplementation.