Country Lead – Midwife-Led Enterprises Assessment (Sydani Group)
Salisu Iliyasu
Position: Country Lead - Midwife-led Enterprises Assessment
Reports to: Management
Job type: Contract
Location: Kenya, Bangladesh, Uganda, Senegal, and Nigeria (one position per country)
Duration: 12 months (Start date: September 2025)
Role description
We seek experienced health systems researchers to serve as Country Leads for a study examining private midwifery enterprises in Nigeria, Kenya, Bangladesh, Uganda, or Senegal (one position per country). The Country Lead will oversee all in-country stakeholder engagements, research activities, and compliance with ethical and regulatory requirements. This role is ideal for professionals with deep national networks, demonstrated research leadership, and a passion for shaping maternal and newborn health systems.
Responsibilities
Stakeholder Engagement
- Conduct comprehensive stakeholder mapping across government, private sector, and civil society
- Facilitate engagements with the Ministry of Health and regulatory bodies; professional midwives' associations; development partners and implementing organizations
- Build relationships and maintain relationships with enterprise owners to ensure participation and data access
- Facilitate policy dialogues and technical roundtables
- Lead national dissemination workshops and policy dialogues
Research Leadership
- Oversee identification and selection of 2-3 midwifery enterprise archetypes for detailed investigation
- Secure ethical approval from relevant national institutions and ensure compliance with national research regulations
- Lead all research activities within the assigned country
- Ensure adherence to research protocols, ethical standards, and quality assurance procedures
- Coordinate with the global research team to maintain consistency across countries
- Lead country-level synthesis of qualitative and quantitative findings
- Contribute to cross-country comparative analysis and global synthesis
Team Management & Capacity Building
- Recruit and manage a multidisciplinary country research team
- Provide technical supervision and mentorship to data collectors
- Participate in training sessions on research protocols and data collection tools
- Ensure quality control and consistency in data collection processes
Data Collection and Management
- Coordinate and support mixed-methods data collection, including facility surveys and quality audits; financial and costing data collection; Key informant interviews and focus group discussions; Discrete choice experiments; Midwife workforce surveys
- Ensure data quality through regular audits and validation procedures
- Manage secure data storage and transfer according to the data management plan
Administrative Management
- Prepare country-specific progress reports and deliverables
- Coordinate logistics for international team visits and workshops
Required Qualifications and Competencies
- Advanced degree (Master's minimum) in public health, health economics, health policy, midwifery, or related field
- PhD in a relevant field, would be a significant advantage
- Minimum 7 years of experience in health systems research
- Demonstrated experience leading multi-site research studies
- Established relationships with national health stakeholders
- Track record of successful stakeholder engagement with government and private sector
- Experience with mixed-methods research implementation, including KIIs and FGDs
- Knowledge of national health policies and regulatory frameworks
- Additional training in health systems research or implementation science
- Ability to translate research findings into policy recommendations
- Experience with health economics research methods, including costing studies
- Proven ability to lead and motivate multidisciplinary teams
- Excellent written and verbal communication in English (and French in Senegal)
- Strong presentation skills for policy and academic audiences
Application Requirements
Note: Only candidates from the listed countries are eligible to apply. Candidates should merge all the documents as one document and upload with cv, or zip all the documents to enable the attachment to come as one.
- Detailed CV including publication list
- Cover letter addressing qualifications and country-specific expertise
- Two writing samples demonstrating research and policy communication skills
- Three professional references
- Brief concepts note (1 page) on private midwifery models, key opportunities and challenges, and how midwife-led enterprises could strengthen maternal and newborn health in the country of application.
For full job details and requirements, please check the link below:
