JOB DESCRIPTION/SCOPE OF WORK
Position Title: Project Lead – Nigeria MNCH Community of Practice (CoP)
Organization: TAConnect, Nigeria
No. of Positions: 1
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
The scope of work (SOW) sets forth the services to be provided by the Project Lead to Technical Advice Connect LTD/GTE (TAConnect), a non-profit organization registered and based in Nigeria to bring innovative solutions to the provision of Technical Assistance (TA) services to states in Nigeria.
Background
TAConnect, with support from the Gates Foundation, is establishing the Nigeria Maternal, Newborn, Child Health and Nutrition (MNCHN) Community of Practice (CoP) as a nationally coordinated platform for institutional learning, evidence synthesis, knowledge translation, and policy engagement.
The CoP is designed to strengthen collaboration among government institutions, academic and research institutions, healthcare providers, development partners, professional associations, and implementing organizations to accelerate evidence-informed decision-making and improve maternal and newborn health outcomes in Nigeria.
The platform will support:
- National coordination of MNCH learning and evidence generation
- Implementation research and cross-site learning
- Evidence synthesis and policy translation
- Institutional capacity strengthening
- Mentorship of early-career researchers
- Government stewardship and sustainability
- Uptake and scale-up of proven MNCH innovations
The CoP is intended to evolve into a nationally recognized and government-owned learning and evidence platform embedded within Nigeria’s MNCH governance architecture.
TAConnect seeks an exceptional senior leader to serve as Project Lead for this flagship initiative.
Purpose of the Role
The Project Lead will serve as the strategic and technical steward of the Nigeria MNCH Community of Practice (CoP), leading the development of a nationally coordinated platform for institutional learning, evidence synthesis, and policy translation in maternal, newborn, child health and nutrition (MNCHN).
The role will provide intellectual, strategic, and institutional leadership to strengthen alignment between research institutions, government systems, development partners, and implementing organizations around a shared national MNCH learning agenda.
The Project Lead will guide the CoP’s evolution into a sustainable national mechanism for connecting data, implementation learning, research evidence, and policy action to improve MNCH outcomes in Nigeria.
This is a high-level leadership role requiring exceptional technical credibility, strategic vision, stakeholder influence, and systems leadership capability.
He/she will also ensure adherence to TAConnects’ policies and donor regulations.
Principal Duties and Responsibilities (Essential Functions):
1. Strategic and Institutional Leadership
The Project Lead will:
- Provide overall strategic leadership for the establishment, implementation, institutionalization, and sustainability of the MNCH CoP.
- Lead development and execution of the CoP’s strategic vision, implementation roadmap, and institutionalization framework.
- Position the CoP as a nationally recognized platform for MNCH evidence generation, implementation learning, and policy translation.
- Ensure alignment of CoP activities with national RMNCAH+N priorities, FMoH systems, and government-led coordination mechanisms.
- Guide the phased transition of the CoP toward government stewardship and long-term sustainability.
- Provide leadership on systems strengthening, institutional embedding, and integration of learning systems into national processes.
- Drive strategic engagement with national, regional, and global MNCH learning and research platforms.
- Represent the CoP at high-level technical, policy, donor, and scientific forums nationally and internationally.
2. Research Leadership and Evidence-to-Policy Translation
The Project Lead will:
- Lead the CoP’s implementation research, evidence synthesis, and knowledge translation agenda.
- Provide technical oversight for research coordination, implementation learning, and cross-institutional evidence generation.
- Guide development of national MNCH learning priorities and implementation research themes.
- Strengthen linkages between researchers, policymakers, implementers, and technical partners to improve evidence-informed decision-making.
- Lead synthesis of learning emerging from MNCH innovations, implementation experiences, and operational research activities.
- Oversee production of high-quality evidence briefs, synthesis reports, policy notes, learning products, and implementation guidance.
- Support translation of research evidence into policy recommendations, implementation frameworks, and quality improvement approaches.
- Promote harmonization of indicators, learning systems, and evidence-sharing mechanisms across participating institutions.
- Facilitate comparative learning, peer exchange, and cross-site synthesis across institutions and states.
- Support dissemination of research findings through national platforms, conferences, technical publications, and policy engagement processes.
- Promote a culture of implementation science, adaptive learning, and data-driven decision-making within the CoP.
3. Government Engagement and Policy Influence
The Project Lead will:
- Serve as the senior liaison with the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), State Ministries of Health, Technical Working Groups (TWGs), and national coordination structures.
- Lead high-level stakeholder engagement and relationship management across government, academia, development partners, donors, and professional associations.
- Lead stakeholder mapping at national and subnational levels to identify key policymakers, technical actors, implementation partners, and potential barriers to policy uptake and implementation.
- Ensure all government engagement activities comply with applicable donor advocacy and anti-lobbying requirements, including Gates Foundation grant conditions and TAConnect compliance policies.
- Facilitate structured policy dialogues and technical engagements to strengthen uptake of evidence into national and subnational planning processes.
- Support integration of CoP outputs into government review cycles, implementation frameworks, strategic plans, and technical guidance documents.
- Strengthen institutional ownership and stewardship of the CoP within government systems.
- Guide development of mechanisms for tracking policy uptake and utilization of CoP-generated evidence.
- Promote alignment between CoP outputs and national MNCH reform priorities.
4. Learning Systems and Knowledge Management
The Project Lead will:
- Provide oversight for establishment and institutionalization of the CoP learning and knowledge management architecture.
- Guide development of systems for evidence curation, knowledge synthesis, dissemination, and institutional learning.
- Oversee establishment of structured learning cycles linking data review, implementation learning, action planning, and reassessment.
- Promote peer learning, collaborative problem-solving, and cross-institutional exchange.
- Guide establishment and optimization of digital collaboration and knowledge-sharing platforms.
- Ensure production and dissemination of periodic learning reports, policy updates, evidence summaries, newsletters, and technical products.
- Strengthen systems for documentation and institutional memory across the CoP.
5. Institutional Capacity Strengthening and Mentorship
The Project Lead will:
- Lead institutional capacity strengthening initiatives for participating organizations and researchers.
- Support strengthening of research systems, implementation science capability, knowledge translation functions, and institutional governance systems.
- Guide development of mentorship structures for early-career researchers, particularly women researchers.
- Promote leadership development and succession planning within the MNCH research ecosystem.
- Support capacity strengthening in:
- grants management
- evidence synthesis
- policy engagement
- data use and interpretation
- adaptive learning systems
- financial and fiduciary oversight
- Promote locally led research leadership and sustainable institutional ownership.
6. Program Oversight and Coordination
The Project Lead will:
- Provide executive oversight for implementation of all CoP activities and workstreams.
- Oversee performance of the CoP Secretariat and technical teams.
- Ensure effective coordination of technical, operational, and stakeholder engagement functions.
- Guide implementation planning, milestone monitoring, risk management, and performance oversight.
- Ensure quality assurance across technical outputs, reports, learning products, and stakeholder engagements.
- Provide oversight for the establishment and operationalization of the National MNCH Data Hub, including coordination of technical hosting arrangements, institutional access, and data governance mechanisms.
- Oversee implementation of quarterly CoP convenings, thematic webinars, structured mentorship activities, and national learning forums.
- Support effective coordination of subawards and institutional partnerships.
- Ensure compliance with donor requirements, governance structures, and accountability mechanisms.
7. Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL)
The Project Lead will:
- Provide strategic oversight for implementation of the project’s MERL framework.
- Ensure effective monitoring of institutional performance, learning systems, policy uptake, and implementation outcomes.
- Guide development and use of dashboards, tracking systems, and performance analytics.
- Lead periodic strategic review and reflection sessions to support adaptive management.
- Ensure systematic documentation of implementation lessons, institutional improvements, and policy influence outcomes.
- Support preparation of donor reports, technical reports, and strategic updates.
Deliverables/Performance expectations
The Project Lead will be responsible for delivery of:
- Strategic implementation and institutionalization plans
- Functional CoP governance and coordination systems
- National MNCH learning and evidence frameworks
- Research synthesis and evidence translation products
- Policy briefs and implementation guidance documents
- Quarterly and annual CoP convenings
- Institutional capacity strengthening and mentorship frameworks
- Learning and dissemination products
- Sustainability and government transition plans
- Donor and stakeholder technical reports
- Policy uptake and learning system performance reports
Job Qualifications
Education:
- Advanced degree in Public Health, Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Epidemiology, Health Policy, Implementation Science, or related discipline.
- PhD, DrPH, Fellowship, or medical specialization (Public Health, Paediatrics, O & G) is strongly required.
- Additional training in implementation science, research methods, leadership, monitoring and evaluation, or health systems strengthening is an advantage.
Experience:
- Minimum of 12–15 years of progressively responsible experience in implementation research, public health research, MNCH systems strengthening, health policy, evidence-to-action programming, or large-scale health systems initiatives.
- At least 7 years in a senior leadership role managing complex, multi-partner national or regional health programs.
- Demonstrated leadership in implementation research, operational research, implementation science, health systems research, or evidence translation initiatives.
- Strong track record coordinating multi-institutional research collaborations, Communities of Practice, learning platforms, or technical consortia.
- Demonstrated experience translating evidence into policy recommendations, implementation frameworks, or health systems improvements.
- Proven experience engaging senior government stakeholders, policymakers, academic institutions, development partners, and donors.
- Demonstrated scholarly and technical leadership, including peer-reviewed publications, technical reports, policy briefs, implementation learning products, or leadership of nationally recognized research or learning platforms.
- Strong understanding of Nigeria’s MNCH, research, and health policy ecosystem.
- Experience supporting institutional strengthening, government ownership, and sustainability initiatives.
- Experience managing donor-funded programs supported by organizations such as the Gates Foundation, WHO, UNICEF, USAID, FCDO, NIH, Wellcome Trust, Global Fund, or similar institutions.
- Strong experience mentoring researchers and strengthening institutional research capacity.
Core Competencies
Strategic Competencies
- Systems thinking and institutional leadership
- Strategic influence and stakeholder diplomacy
- Political and contextual intelligence
- Change management and adaptive leadership
- Evidence-informed decision-making
Technical Competencies
- MNCH systems strengthening
- Implementation science and operational research
- Evidence synthesis and knowledge translation
- Learning systems and adaptive management
- Policy engagement and uptake
- Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning (MERL)
Leadership Competencies
- Executive leadership and team management
- High-level stakeholder engagement
- Partnership and coalition building
- Technical communication and facilitation
- Negotiation and consensus building
Preferred Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate is likely to be:
- A respected implementation scientist, public health researcher, or health systems leader with strong national credibility.
- Well-networked within Nigeria’s academic, research, policy, and MNCH ecosystem.
- Experienced in bridging research, implementation, and policy systems.
- Comfortable engaging both senior policymakers and technical research audiences.
- Passionate about strengthening locally led evidence generation, institutional ownership, and sustainable learning systems.
- Recognized for strong convening power, strategic thinking, and technical leadership.
Supervision
The Project Lead will report to the Executive Director, TAConnect.
How to Apply:
Qualified candidates should apply by sending their updated Resume, and their Cover Letter detailing their interest in the position to [email protected] using the Job Title “Project Lead, MNCH-COP” as the subject. All applications should be sent on or before 11:59 PM Nigerian Time, 6th June 2026. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
