Technical Advisor I - Continuous Quality Improvement at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Through the anticipated CDC-PEPFAR health systems strengthening project, you will deliver expert guidance and hands-on support to government ministries, departments, and agencies to strengthen health systems through continuous quality improvement (CQI) processes. This includes facilitating and coaching facility-based quality improvement teams, driving rapid learning cycles, supporting the development and implementation of effective measurement strategies and change packages, and fostering collaborative learning environments that advance high-quality health outcomes within Nigeria’s health sector.  

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Support the development and contribute to the implementation of strategies, standards, tools, and best practices for improving operational processes, whilst effectively engaging partners, donors, and governments. Help ensure a cross-sectoral approach integrating gender, protection mainstreaming, and disaster risk reduction.
• Provide advisory support to strengthen the capacity of facility-based teams by offering targeted coaching, delivering practical tools, and facilitating both on-site mentorship and supportive supervision. Through a combination of remote and on-site engagement, guide teams in strategic planning and the effective application of standards, best practices, partnership principles, and tools to ensure the delivery of high-quality services.
• Support stakeholders in lean measurement by ensuring efficient systems that track waiting time from arrival to consultation, on-time patient refills, viral load sample turnaround, stock-out days for key commodities, and missed appointment rates with return-to-care, providing coaching and actionable data for continuous quality improvement.
• Support capacity strengthening by developing learning strategies that facilitate harvesting proven changes into a local change package by documenting what worked, why, and how. Facilitate collaborative learning by organizing regular sessions across facilities to share results, troubleshoot challenges, and set aims for improvement.
• Lead rapid learning cycles by guiding teams to identify a root cause, design and test a simple change over one to two weeks in a limited setting, assess impact with run charts and feedback, and support scaling effective interventions.
• Contribute to maintaining relationships with donors, peer organizations, research, and other institutions, participate in forums in health systems strengthening to collect and share best practices, and promote CRS’ work. 

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Proficient in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information and budget management systems, knowledge-sharing networks.
• Knowledge of technical principles and concepts in continuous quality improvement. General knowledge of other related disciplines to ensure a proper cross-sectoral approach.
• Experience in project design and proposal development. Experience in writing content for proposals.
• Knowledge of capacity-strengthening best practices.
• Experience with program monitoring and evaluation and analysis.
• Experience and skills in networking and relations with donors, peer organizations, and faith-based civil society partners. Understanding of partnership principles. 
• Strong relationship management skills with ability to influence and get buy-in from people not under direct supervision and to work with individuals in diverse geographical and cultural settings
• Good strategic, analytical, problem-solving and systems thinking skills with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment
• Good technical writing skills
• Presentation, facilitation, training, mentoring, and coaching skills
• Proactive, resourceful and results-oriented

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Public Health, Health Services Management, or related health sciences is an advantage. 

Supervisory Responsibilities: Yes

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: Project Team and other CRS staff 

External: Donor, partners and Government of Nigeria 

Basic Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in public health, Health Services Management, or related health sciences required.
• Minimum of eight to ten relevant work experience with progressive responsibilities, ideally with an international NGO, with a minimum of five years of relevant field-based experience in continuous quality improvement.