🇸🇱 Job Vacancies @ Hellen Keller International – 6 Positions
Hellen Keller International is recruiting to fill the following positions:
1.) Programme Coordinator (Food Systems & Nutrition)
2.) Field Officers (x3)
3.) Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager
4.) Family Planning Officer
See job details and how to apply below.
1.) Programme Coordinator (Food Systems & Nutrition)
Job Announcement –Internal / External
Programme Coordinator (Food Systems & Nutrition)
Job Type: Full time
Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone
Start Date: 1st February, 2023
End Date: 31st January, 2024; Annual contract (renewable)
Reports to: Program Director
Open to Expatriates: No
Grade: J
Helen Keller International is a global health organization dedicated to eliminating preventable vision loss, malnutrition, and diseases of poverty. Helen Keller Intl partners with communities that are striving to overcome longstanding cycles of poverty and is devoted to scaling up evidence-based, cost-effective solutions to improve care practices and ensure that basic health and food and nutrition security interventions reach vulnerable people, with a focus on women, youth, and children.
Helen Keller Intl has been operating in Sierra Leone for nearly 20 years in support of the Nutrition and Neglected Tropical Disease (NTDs) components of the National Health Development Plan of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, as well as food security component of the ministry of Agriculture.
Food security and nutrition is a core focus for Helen Keller. Today over 10% of the global population go to bed hungry and over 45% of deaths of children under 5 is attributable to malnutrition. The Program Coordinator (Food Systems and nutrition) will help translate Helen Keller’s new strategic plan’s component related to this focus area into programmatic design and activities. The Coordinator will lead identifying funding opportunities in the sector, carry out analysis, lead and coordinate research as well as liaising with various external partners.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead strategic planning and design of food systems initiatives of Helen Keller Intl’ Sierra Leone
- Ensure compliance of programs/activities in terms of achieving commitment to the donors
- Oversee all aspects of program implementation – technical, financial and operational in collaboration with other key members of the team and the country office, as needed
- Lead the quality assurance of all program activities
- Plan, conduct and implement associated surveys and/or assessments with support from the M&E lead in the Country Office
- Lead/support proposal development, as needed
- Ensure production of timely and high quality workplans and narrative and financial reports of the food systems programs
- Monitor expenditure to ensure accountability including leading/co-leading routine budget versus actual meetings/analysis
- Track program progress using mutually agreed indicators and targets and by organising regular update meetings
- Participate in and contribute to all relevant meetings, platforms, workshops in the country and represent Helen Keller at these platforms
- Establish and maintain good relationship with Government counterparts key amongst these being the Ministry of Agriculture
- Manage staff for the food systems team/programs, as needed
- Draft, revise and review research papers/abstracts and submit for international presentations
- Carry out additional tasks, as delegated by the Program Director and/or Country Director.
Qualification and experience
- A master’s degree in a relevant field – agriculture, nutrition, related social sciences, etc.
- At least 5 years’ of proven in managing/implementing agriculture and nutrition programs in an international organization
- Must possess highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiating and coaching
- Willingness to travel to the field frequently
- Must be able to work in a dynamic and complex environment
- Ability to carry out responsibilities independently with minimal guidance
- Must be able and willing to work in a diverse office in terms of language, culture, etc. Proven experience in research, analysis and publication an added advantage
- Excellent written and verbal English language skills
To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to
or hand-deliver to: Helen Keller Int Office at 16H James Macarthy Drive, off Spur Road, Wilberforce, Freetown.
Please mark your application as per the references stated in the position above (referencing the SUBJECT heading)
Closing date for the receipt of applications for the above vacancies is 17:00hrs on Monday 23rd January, 2023
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
“Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply”
2.) Field Officers (x3)
Job Announcement – External
Field Officers x 3 (Nutrition)
Job Type: Full-time (One year)
Location: Falaba, Bombali and Tonkolili Districts, Sierra Leone
Start Date: 1st February, 2023
End Date: 31st January 2024; Annual contract (renewable)
Reports to: Program Coordinator (Nutrition)
Open to Expatriates: No
Grade: F
Helen Keller International is a global health organization dedicated to eliminating preventable vision loss, malnutrition, and diseases of poverty. Helen Keller Intl partners with communities that are striving to overcome longstanding cycles of poverty and is devoted to scaling up evidence-based, cost-effective solutions to improve care practices and ensure that basic health interventions reach vulnerable people, with a focus on women, youth, and children.
Helen Keller Intl has been operating in Sierra Leone for nearly 20 years in support of the Nutrition, Reproductive, and Child Health Services and Neglected Tropical Disease (NTDs) components of the National Health Development Plan of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, as well as the food security component of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Sierra Leone has the worst maternal and child mortality rates worldwide, at 717 per 100,000 live births and 122 per 1,000 live births respectively. Infant and neonatal mortality stood at a rate of 75 and 31 per 1000 live births respectively. Maternal deaths accounted for 23% percent of all deaths among women aged 15-49. The lifetime risk of maternal death indicates that one in 31 women in Sierra Leone will have a death related to maternal causes. Of the total maternal deaths in the country, 20 % are adolescents. The adolescent birth rate was reported to be 105 births per 1000 women aged 10-19 years (SLDHS 2019).
In Sierra Leone, between 2017 and 2021, Helen Keller and UNICEF supported the Ministry of Health & Sanitation (MoHS) to transition from a campaign-based to a routine approach to Vitamin A supplementation delivery. Routine VAS is part of a package of services that include immunization, provision of deworming tablets, growth monitoring, weekly demonstrations of the preparation of nutritious complementary food (for children 6-23 months of age), and routine quality counseling of all mothers on modern contraception. In addition, VAS is delivered by health workers in the peripheral health units (PHUs) and outreach services coupled with defaulter tracing by community health workers (CHWs).
The Field Officer (Nutrition) will be responsible for planning, implementing, and monitoring Helen Keller nutrition activities in their designated district.
Key Responsibilities
- Support implementation of the six-monthly contact point program in your respective district with a special focus on strengthening the integrated platform on routine VAS, deworming, counseling on IYCN, and food demonstration and family planning at health facilities;
- Lead the coordination of relevant program activities in your respective district;
- Attend district monthly in-charges meetings and other coordination meetings, as needed;
- Support the planning, training, and reporting on all training done at the district level;
- Monitor monthly health facility data and provide the support needed before submission to the M&E at the district level;
- Establish and maintain good working relationships and regular communication with DHMTs, transitioning from mass VAS to routine 6MlyCP in your respective district;
- Support the communications team by updating FAQs, planning, and reporting on radio panel discussions, as needed;
- Support any planning, and logistics arrangements, as needed, for any field trips to your district;
- Carry out additional tasks, as delegated by the Program Coordinator.
Qualification and experience
- A certificate in a relevant field – Nutrition and or public health etc.
- At least 3 years of proven health facility-level implementation
- Willingness to travel to the field, especially hard-to-reach community
- Excellent written and verbal English language skills
- Resident in the district operational area
To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to
or hand-deliver to: Helen Keller Int Office at 16H James Macarthy Drive, off Spur Road, Wilberforce, Freetown.
Please mark your application as per the references stated in the position above (referencing the SUBJECT heading)
Closing date for the receipt of applications for the above vacancies is 17:00hrs on Monday 23rd January, 2023
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted (preferably candidates from the above locations).
“Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply”
3.) Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager
Job Announcement – External
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Manager (Re-advertisement)
Job Type: Full time
Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone
Start Date: 15th February, 2023
End Date: 14th February, 2024; Annual contract (renewable)
Reports to: Program Director
Open to Expatriates: No
Grade: K
Helen Keller International is a global health organization dedicated to eliminating preventable vision loss, malnutrition, and diseases of poverty. Helen Keller Intl partners with communities that are striving to overcome longstanding cycles of poverty and is devoted to scaling up evidence-based, cost-effective solutions to improve care practices and ensure that basic health interventions reach vulnerable people, with a focus on women, youth, and children.
Helen Keller Intl has been operating in Sierra Leone for nearly 20 years in support of the Nutrition and Neglected Tropical Disease (NTDs) components of the National Health Development Plan of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, as well as food security component of the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) Manager will provide leadership to the HKI Sierra Leone Country Office (CO) to meet its monitoring, evaluation and learning commitments as per our internal strategy and donor agreements. The MEL Manager will lead the M&E team in the CO, support harmonization of M&E efforts ongoing in HKI, contribute to evidence-based program design and build a culture of data for decision making in the CO as the main responsibilities.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead development of all new MEL related initiatives for the CO;
- Establish and rollout a common M&E approach across the different programmatic areas in the CO;
- Ensure proper monitoring of all programs including but not limited to donor commitments;
- Ensure high quality (complete, accurate, consistent and regular) data collection and analysis across the CO portfolio;
- Encourage and support use of technology driven tools and systems for MEL;
- Develop and roll-out KPIs for CO performance in consultation with program leads and senior management;
- Lead on planning, implementing and managing all program evaluations, impact studies, lessons learned, etc.;
- Contribute to the proposal and program design, as needed;
- Lead development of program logframes, indicators, M&E tools, etc.;
- Manage the M&E team by supervising and mentoring direct reports following internal HR guidance for managers;
- Actively collaborate with the region and global counterparts, as needed;
- Serve as CO focal point for all M&E initiatives;
- Carry out additional tasks, as delegated by the Program Director/Country Director.
Qualification and experience
- A bachelors’ degree in a relevant field – social science, statistics, international development, etc. A post-graduate degree will be an add on
- Minimum of 5 years’ of proven experience in monitoring and evaluation of multi-program portfolio in an office of similar size
- Strong measurement, analytical and data skills including demonstrated experience in developing both quantitative and qualitative data collection tools;
- Excellent skills in data visualization, information management systems including different software;
- Experience in managing staff and teams
- Must be able to work in a dynamic and complex environment
- Ability to carry out responsibilities independently with minimal guidance
- Must be able and willing to work in a diverse office in terms of language, culture, etc. Proven experience in research, analysis and publication an added advantage
- Excellent written and verbal English language skills.
To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to
or hand-deliver to: Helen Keller Int Office at 16H James Macarthy Drive, off Spur Road, Wilberforce, Freetown.
Please mark your application as per the references stated in the position above (referencing the SUBJECT heading)
Closing date for the receipt of applications for the above vacancies is 17:00hrs on Monday 16th January, 2023
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
“Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply”
4.) Family Planning Officer
Job Announcement – External
Family Planning Officer.
Job Type: Full time
Location: Freetown, Sierra Leone
Start Date: 1st February, 2023
End Date: 31st January 2024; Annual contract (renewable)
Reports to: Program Coordinator (Nutrition)
Open to Expatriates: No
Grade: I
Helen Keller International is a global health organization dedicated to eliminating preventable vision loss, malnutrition, and diseases of poverty. Helen Keller Intl partners with communities that are striving to overcome longstanding cycles of poverty and is devoted to scaling up evidence-based, cost-effective solutions to improve care practices and ensure that basic health interventions reach vulnerable people, with a focus on women, youth, and children.
Helen Keller Intl has been operating in Sierra Leone for nearly 20 years in support of the Nutrition, Reproductive, and Child Health Services and Neglected Tropical Disease (NTDs) components of the National Health Development Plan of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, as well as the food security component of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Key Duties and Responsibilities:
- Will lead technical advice on family planning for all relevant country office (CO) projects with the aim to increase FP services at primary healthcare and community levels
- Lead/co-lead introduction of new FP initiative in the relevant districts
- Ensure donor commitment and compliance are met for all FP components of the program(s)
- Actively participate in all relevant technical committees/meetings as needed and contribute actively to the discussion on family planning
- Work with the Program Coordinator to contribute to meeting the objectives and targets of the program effectively and efficiently
- Work closely with the Communication team to develop relevant communication materials as needed
- Co-lead the FP related trainings for healthcare workers with the relevant Ministry officials
- Work closely with different teams in the CO for proper implementation of FP activities
- Conduct field/monitoring visits to do post training follow up and provide supportive supervision for the delivery of quality FP services
- Collaborate with MoHS and the DHMTs during implementation of the FP activities
- Carry out additional tasks, as delegated by the Program Coordinator and/or the Program Director.
Qualification and experience
- Nurse/midwife with recent experience in maternal health particularly family planning
- At least 5 years of proven health facility-level implementation
- Experience in conducting community-based interventions
- Demonstrated proficiency in competency-based clinical training
- Willingness to travel to the field
- Must be able to work in a dynamic and complex environment
- Excellent written and verbal English language skills
- Good computer skills, including competence in word processing, internet/e-mail
- Women are encouraged to apply
To apply, please send your CV and cover letter to
or hand-deliver to: Helen Keller Int Office at 16H James Macarthy Drive, off Spur Road, Wilberforce, Freetown.
Please mark your application as per the references stated in the position above (referencing the SUBJECT heading)
Closing date for the receipt of applications for the above vacancies is 17:00hrs on Monday 23rd January, 2023
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
“Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply”