Program Director – Maternal Anemia

Job Title: Program Director – Maternal Anemia

Location

Bihar

Band/Grade:

CTC: 

3 A

Department

Last updated on: 

Degree of Travel required to:

Min 7 days/month travelling to field on short notices will be a part of the role. Cost of travel will be sponsored by the organization as per norms of Band/grade structure

Purpose of Job

The Program Director will provide strategic leadership, technical expertise, and program implementation to address maternal anaemia through evidence-based interventions at the state level. This role will focus on supporting the state government in policy formulation, stakeholder engagement, productization, program implementation, and monitoring and evaluation, ensuring alignment with national and state health priorities and successful integration into the public health system.

Key stakeholders

External

Internal

• Government
• Partners and professional bodies
• All Departments and other Big Bets

Reporting structure

Role directly reports to

Positions that report into this role

• CTM
• Program Managers

Essential Qualifications

Master’s degree in Public Health, Health Administration, Social Sciences, or a related field.

Essential Experience

• Minimum of 5-10 years of extensive experience in maternal health, public health program leadership, government engagement, and large-scale intervention implementation.

• Strong understanding of health systems, policy formulation, and program implementation at the state and national levels.

• Demonstrated ability to lead large-scale maternal health programs with multi-stakeholder collaboration.

• Experience working with government nutritional programs (NHM, ICDS, RMNCH+A), NGOs, or international agencies.

• Expertise in M&E frameworks, research methodologies, and digital health interventions related to maternal anaemia.

• Excellent communication, leadership, and stakeholder engagement skills.

Essential Skills

• Proven ability to collaborate with government agencies and stakeholders.
• Strong expertise in program implementation, budgeting, and milestone tracking.
• Excellent leadership, problem-solving, and decision-making abilities.
• Strong understanding of government health policies and programs in India, especially in Bihar.
• Ability to work in low-resource settings and travel frequently to field locations.
• Proficiency in Hindi and English; knowledge of regional languages is a plus.
• Collaboration with multiple internal/external stakeholders (individual and teams)
• Experience working in dynamic work environments with substantive dose of ambiguity

Key Roles/Responsibilities:

Supporting Policy Formulation

• Engage with government agencies (e.g., NHM, State Health Society Bihar), donors, NGOs, and academic institutions to align nutrition initiatives with national priorities.
• Provide strategic support to NHSRC and the State Health Directorates and SHS in formulating policies, strategies, and guidelines for maternal anaemia programs.
• Support government plans for increased funding, policy support and integration of maternal anaemia interventions into state health frameworks.
• Contribute to policy briefs, reports, and case studies to inform decision-makers and strengthen evidence-based policymaking.

Government Liaison & Stakeholder Engagement

• Provide technical support to the Health Department to pursue its goals of departmental reorganization for greater effectiveness in attaining long term nutrition goals.
• Lead collaboration with state health authorities in co designing implementation approaches and technical interventions for various health priorities.
  • Develop and sustain high level strategic partnerships with key state-level officials, including:
  • Represent the project in state-level meetings, policy discussions, and technical working groups.
  • Advocate for the seamless integration of project interventions into state health programs, ensuring long-term sustainability.

•  
  • Executive Director, State Health Society Bihar (SHSB)
  • State Program Officer (SPO) – Maternal Health
  • State Institute of Health and Family Welfare (SIHFW)
  • Other key government stakeholders

Program Strategy and Implementation

• Design the overall strategy for the program to ensure effective screening, referral, treatment and tracking of anaemic pregnant and lactating women in the project area.
• Design and develop products for the service providers both in the outreach and at facilities; deliver the product through the government institutional mechanism.
• Lead the statewide rollout of project activities, ensuring alignment with agreed-upon objectives and strategies.
• Guide and mentor Program Managers and Field Consultants to ensure high impact implementation of maternal anemia interventions.
• Monitor adherence to project timelines, milestones, and deliverables as per donor and government expectations.
• Identify operational bottlenecks and risks, developing proactive solutions for smooth execution.
• Ensure programmatic and financial compliance with government regulations and donor requirements.

Technical Leadership & Decision-Making Support

• Provide technical leadership for development of strategies, policies, frameworks, processes/ protocols and best practices for maternal anemia management
• Provide technical and strategic guidance to district and field teams, ensuring programmatic coherence and coordination in maternal health efforts.
• Foster a collaborative, problem-solving team culture, encouraging knowledge-sharing and capacity-building.
• Assist the Core Team Member in high-level decision-making, risk mitigation, and adaptive strategies for project success.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Research

• Support the development of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) frameworks to track anaemia during the pregnancy and lactation period.
• Collaborate with RMLE team to conduct data driven program evaluations, impact assessments, data analysis, and research to assess the impact of interventions and identify areas for improvement.
• Promote the adoption of digital health technologies for real-time data collection, analysis, and evidence-based decision-making in maternal anaemia programs.