State Programme and Data Coordinator at Centre for Newborn Health Research and Innovation (CeNHRI)

Purpose of the Role

• The State Programme and Data Coordinator will oversee CeNHRI’s assigned activities in participating health facilities within the state. The postholder will plan and follow up on facility activities, maintain working relationships with facility teams, identify implementation gaps and ensure that agreed actions are completed.
• The coordinator will also serve as CeNHRI’s state focal person for program data. The postholder will follow up on facility reporting, collate and verify data, analyse performance and present findings that help facility teams and programme leaders identify where support is needed.
• The role will work closely with the PMO. While the PMO will coordinate the integrated state workplan and activities across implementing partners; the CeNHRI Coordinator will be accountable for delivering and reporting on CeNHRI’s assigned work within that plan.

Scope of the Role

• The role combines state programme coordination, facility support, stakeholder engagement, routine monitoring, data management, analysis, reporting and data use. Its focus is the delivery and monitoring of activities that strengthen maternal and newborn care in participating health facilities.

Authority

The State Coordinator is authorised to:

• Prepare facility-level schedules and action plans for CeNHRI’s approved activities.
• Liaise with facility leadership and designated focal persons on CeNHRI implementation and reporting requirements.
• Request agreed activity updates and programme data from participating facilities.
• Conduct routine monitoring visits and data quality checks under approved procedures.
• Follow up on outstanding facility actions and routine reporting issues.
• Assign and review tasks delegated to the state assistant.
• Recommend practical adjustments to CeNHRI’s facility activities and escalate changes requiring approval.

Key Responsibilities

Facility Implementation and Follow-Up

Responsibilities

• Translate CeNHRI’s approved activities into practical facility schedules and action plans.
• Confirm facility readiness for planned activities, including staff availability, space, equipment, supplies and relevant documentation.
• Follow up with facility teams on training, simulation, mentorship, supportive visits and other activities assigned to CeNHRI.
• Coordinate the practical arrangements for CeNHRI-led facility visits with technical teams and facility focal persons.
• Document implementation progress, gaps, decisions and actions at each participating facility.
• Identify issues that require technical, operational or management support and refer them to the appropriate person.
• Share CeNHRI activity schedules and progress updates with the PMO state representative so they can be reflected in the integrated state workplan.

Expected outputs: Facility activity schedules, readiness updates, visit reports and current facility action trackers.

Facility and State Stakeholder Engagement

Responsibilities

• Maintain regular working relationships with participating facility leaders, clinical teams and data focal persons.
• Support CeNHRI’s engagement with relevant state health authorities, in coordination with CeNHRI leadership and the PMO state representative.
• Communicate agreed activity requirements and follow-up actions clearly to facility teams.
• Participate in state coordination and review meetings, providing updates on CeNHRI’s work and issues requiring joint action.
• Document commitments made by facility and state stakeholders and follow up on those relating to CeNHRI’s activities.

Expected outputs: Stakeholder meeting inputs, engagement records and updated action logs.

Routine Monitoring and Data Quality

Responsibilities

• Implement CeNHRI’s assigned monitoring activities in line with the approved programme monitoring framework and guidance from the MEL team.
• Orient facility focal persons on agreed indicators, definitions, reporting tools and submission timelines.
• Follow up with facilities to obtain timely and complete reports on agreed activities, service delivery and maternal and newborn health indicators.
• Collate facility submissions into approved state reporting tools or databases.
• Check data for missing values, inconsistencies, unusual changes and discrepancies with source records.
• Conduct routine data verification during facility visits and follow up with facilities to resolve identified issues.
• Maintain secure, organised data records in line with approved data governance procedures.

Expected outputs: Updated state dataset, facility reporting tracker, data quality log and verified routine reports.

Analysis, Reporting and Data Use

Responsibilities

• Analyse facility and state data to identify performance trends, variation between facilities, reporting gaps and areas requiring follow-up.
• Interpret data alongside observations from facility visits and discussions with clinical teams.
• Prepare concise performance summaries, charts and presentations for CeNHRI, facility and programme reviews.
• Discuss findings with facility teams and CeNHRI technical leads to identify practical improvement actions.
• Track agreed actions and review subsequent data to assess progress.
• Submit timely implementation updates and verified data summaries to CeNHRI’s programme and MEL teams.
• Provide the PMO state representative with CeNHRI progress updates, data summaries and issues requiring coordination across partners.
• Contribute state-level information to routine programme reports.

Expected outputs: State performance summaries, data visualisations, reporting inputs and documented improvement actions.

Supervision and Issue Escalation

Responsibilities

• Provide day-to-day direction to the assigned state assistant and review delegated work.
• Maintain implementation risks log, data issues and actions requiring follow-up.
• Refer clinical questions to CeNHRI’s technical leads and indicator or data quality questions to the MEL team.
• Escalate issues affecting CeNHRI’s delivery to the designated CeNHRI Programme Lead.
• Alert the PMO state representative to issues that affect the integrated workplan, other partners or programme-wide timelines.
• Document implementation lessons and share them during planning and review meetings.

Expected outputs: Assistant workplans and reviewed outputs, issue and risk log, and state learning updates.

Reporting Lines

The State Coordinator will report to the Programme Manager and in some cases to the Implementation Research and Learning Lead and work closely with the PMO, technical leads, participating facilities and relevant government stakeholders.

Qualifications & Requirements

Education

• A bachelor’s degree or equivalent professional qualification in public health, nursing, midwifery, medicine, health information management, epidemiology or another relevant health field.
• Additional training in monitoring and evaluation, data analysis, project coordination or maternal and newborn health is an advantage.
• Master’s degree is an advantage.

Experience

• At least 4 years of relevant experience supporting health programme implementation across multiple facilities or sites.
• Experience in maternal, newborn and child health programme delivery at facility or state level.
• Practical experience collecting, managing, checking and analysing routine health programme or facility data.
• Experience working with facility managers, clinical teams and government health structures.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong organisation, follow-through and ability to manage activities across several facilities.
• Proficiency in Excel, including data cleaning, summaries and charts.
• Ability to verify reported figures against source records and resolve data quality issues.
• Familiarity with routine health information systems and digital data collection tools.
• Ability to interpret data and identify practical actions for facility teams.
• Strong communication, stakeholder engagement and report writing skills.
• Sound judgment about when to resolve an issue directly and when to escalate it.
• Fluency in English. Ability to communicate in a language commonly used in the assigned state is an advantage.