The West African Health Organization (WAHO) is the health institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) charged with leadership and coordination of health improvement programs across the ECOWAS region. WAHO is seeking applications from suitably qualified candidates to fill the underlisted vacant position: Healthcare Standards and Quality Programme Officer

Role Overview

• Under the supervision of the Directorate’s Director, the incumbent shall be responsible for ensuring health facilities quality assurance, patient safety, risk management programmes and systems-level outcomes within the organization.
• He/she shall direct the efforts of all the performance improvement initiatives to ensure
compliance with all regulatory standards. S/He shall focus on quality systems, patient experience and
management of clinical risks.
• This role shall involve working independently and collaboratively with other Programme Officers to ensure the establishment of quality healthcare standards and effective functioning of clinical risk frameworks.

Role and Responsibilities

The incumbent shall:

• Advocate and establish a culture of safety and quality standards throughout WAHO’s programmes;
• Plan and create a Regional Standards and Quality Procedure Manual;
• Review quality assurance standards in the ECOWAS region;
• Develop training material and practice guidelines and other decision-making tools in Healthcare Services;
• Coordinate the development of strategic work-plans with clear objectives and achievement benchmarks, short and long term priorities, implementation plans and tools for evaluation;
• Monitor Healthcare Service performance by gathering relevant data and produce statistical reports;
• Provide technical assistance to countries in using relevant quality tools to ensure that managers and other staff understand how to improve their work;
• Identify technical assistance on needs assessment when needed;
• Coordinate and manage relationships with partner organisations, Ministries of Health and other relevant
regulatory bodies to foster solid cooperation;
• Coordinate the training of health personnel on health care standards and quality;
• Provide technical assistance to Member States in setting up and maintaining Healthcare Service controls and documentation of procedures;
• Provide technical assistance to countries to regularly update existing policies and procedures of health
facilities;
• Perform other related duties as might be assigned by supervisor.

Qualification Required & Experience

• A minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in Medicine or Pharmacy or Nursing or Medical Science or any of the Allied Health Sciences from a recognised university.

Experience:

• At least 5 to 7 years of progressive responsible experience in the implementation of healthcare programs;
• Knowledge of quality assurance standards in the ECOWAS region and Non Communicable Diseases strategy;
• Ability to manage relationship with partner organizations, Ministries of Health and other relevant regulatory bodies to foster solid cooperation.

ECOWAS Key Competencies

• ability to persuade/influence others to consider a certain point of view, adopt a new idea or implement new methods and practices;
• ability to lead a team of trainees/junior staff and instill a spirit of teamwork to engage employees and achieve a well-defined set of activities;
• ability to respect chain of command in an appropriate manner;
• ability to resolve challenges that occur with minimal direction and/or to recommend and explain solutions or alternatives for approval;
• ability to utilize the Code of Ethics to manage self, others, information and resources;
• ability to mentor others and create feedback loops with supervisors, colleagues and the subordinates to build strong working relationships and improve performance;
• contribute to maintaining organizational unit’s performance goals and standards.

Location: Accra