MAMA Network is hiring: Program Coordinator Self-Care Access!

Download the Job Description as a PDF file here

We are also hiring a Program Coordinator SMA Knowledge & Community Training (details here). Feel free to review both roles and decide which one is more suitable for you.

About MAMA Network

Mobilizing Activists around Medical Abortion Network (MAMAnetwork.org) is a collaboration of grassroots activists and feminist groups based in Sub-Saharan Africa, seeking to expand access to safe self-managed abortion (SMA).

MAMA is a regional movement working to share evidence-based and stigma-free information about self-managed medication abortion and sexual and reproductive health and rights directly with women at the community level. MAMA membership is currently 74 groups in 24 African countries, with plans to deepen our impact and expand our reach over the next years. 

We are feminist activists, trained counsellors and researchers based across the African continent who have a strong focus on supporting self-managed abortion, especially in places where abortion is restricted by laws, stigma, and lack of access. MAMA strategies include (a) Hotlines that provide information (b) Community outreach programs (c) Pharmacy and healthcare provider collaboration (d) Advocacy for decriminalisation of abortion and (e) partnerships with feminist groups around the world to support increased access to abortion pills.

To support the successful implementation of our Strategic Goals and Plan, we are building out our coordination team, our networks, internal systems and capacities to take MAMA Network to greater heights.

About the Role

All MAMA Program Coordinators lead the planning, implementation, reporting and improvement of our strategies and programs and contribute to the building and administration of the movement.

You will lead our Self-Care Access program, which supports our members in expanding women’s access to SMA in their countries. The role is responsible for creating, coordinating and driving creative and effective strategies to meet program goals. You will plan, execute, coordinate, evaluate and report on all activities under this program.

You will use various approaches to build capacity in the MAMA Network members to work towards our shared goals, including one-on-one support, peer linking and learning and provision of trainings and helpful materials. This role also oversees partnerships with distributing organizations. 

Your Responsibilities will include:

Lead Self-Care Access Strategy Execution (70%)

• Lead the development of MAMA’s Selfcare Access work ensuring alignment with our ambitious strategic goals, building out current strategies (referral partnerships, pharmacy strategy, hotlines, community provision, etc) and creating new ones as needed 
• Work closely with MAMA Coordinators leading related strategies and activities, e.g. hotline coordinator.
• Develop and oversee work planning and budgeting for all our selfcare access initiatives and goals ensuring timelines and milestones are achieved
• Work with members to understand the legal and regulatory framework in their country, map existing actors and consider safety-relevant and logistical issues relating to SMA access before creating innovative selfcare access strategies for their context
• Support members working in the same geography to coordinate their strategies and work
• Spearhead member adoption of innovative selfcare access strategies
• In developing all access strategies and initiatives, liaise with security and legal coordinators to ensure all relevant guidelines are followed
• Review and update our Pharmacists & Service Provider strategy ensuring we are tapping on feedback and past learnings to take the most effective approaches 
• Support MAMA members in executing the Pharmacists and Service Provider strategy, where we engage pharmacists and service providers in the field to ensure provision of stigma-free non-judgemental services. This includes ensuring and providing mentorship of members in executing the Pharmacist and Service Provider strategy and coordination of linking and learning initiatives on access and pharmacists strategies across MAMA network members 
• Support members in creating and implementing direct Community Provision strategies
• Oversee our partnerships in this program. Manage existing partners to grow the engagement (e.g. sharing latest research, invite for trainings, make pricing agreements, strengthen referral mechanism, data collection, feedback). Map partnership needs and opportunities, then build new partnerships and support members in tapping them.

• Program M&E

• Create clarity on what outputs and outcomes you want to measure in your program.  Reach out to M&E lead for the design of M&E tools.
• Use the quarterly data and analysis shared by M&E for program learning and drawing insights
• For special data collection needs arising outside the usual cycle, work with members to collect data directly. 

 Provide supervisory support to junior Program Coordinators (20%)

• Play a supervisory role to two junior Program Coordinators, working towards building their soft skills to work in a fully self-driven way within the MAMA horizontal working environment in the future.
• Spearhead Performance Management for the Program Coordinators (goal setting, training needs and development opportunities, appraisals), working closely with HR.
• Run weekly check-ins on work goals and provide mentorship, coaching and advice so staff carry out their responsibilities effectively.

 Support development and growth of MAMA Network (10%)

• Participate in the reviews of the strategic plan
• Ensuring implementation, compliance and reporting on grants (as assigned)
• Create learning content in your program area for MAMA university, our member’s online  learning platform
• Facilitate the creation and running of working groups in the program area, as need and opportunity arises
• Spearhead implementation of all organizational policies in the program areas 
• Share ideas, feedback and insights that contribute to growth of the network
• Collect impact stories from the program and contribute content for various communications (annual report, newsletters, social media, etc)
• Represent MAMA Network and the programs externally 

Who we are looking for:

• You consider yourself a feminist activist, working boldly on advancing abortion rights. 
• You are passionate about and deeply committed to MAMA’s mission of building a movement to advocate and bring transformative change in SRHR in Africa 
• Excited to support grassroot activists and organizations who have varying realities, stages of organizational development, cultures, languages, etc.
• A deep understanding of guidelines & policies on SRHR and specifically self-managed abortion (SMA) across the African continent
• Proven results in working to expand access to SMA and SRHR commodities at the community level 
• A strong-willed, bold personality with ability to navigate complex and ambiguous environments gracefully
• An innovative thinker with proven experience in using out of the box strategies to achieve ambitious goals
• Proven Strong Coordination Skills: Keeping deliverables moving that require input from various busy parties.
• Past experience overseeing key strategic outcomes and achieving incredible results, including leading and overseeing work planning 
• A natural relationship builder who is able to create and maintain win win partnerships 
• Ability to relate and work effectively with people from diverse cultural backgrounds 
• You are comfortable working with people of diverse genders and apply the principle of non-discrimination in your work.
• High personal effectiveness in remote working 
• Strong strategic and analytical skills
• Strong ability to troubleshoot and come up with creative solutions
• Strong project management skills
• Strong attention to detail & organizational skills
• Bilingual ability of French and English is highly desired, either Francophone with strong working proficiency in English, or Anglophone with strong working proficiency in French.

Why work with us

• Join our mission to continue saving lives, contributing to autonomy in reproductive health decisions and shifting power away from the formal medical system to women and other pregnant people.
• Be part of a skilled multinational feminist team that values power-sharing and applies a horizontal working model 
• We develop and implement cutting edge strategies to put abortion and contraception access and support directly in the hands of those in need
• Collaborate with and support feminist activists across Africa

Other information and How to Apply

This is a full-time remote-working role. The ideal candidate is based anywhere in Africa. 

Submit your application by filling the form below.

Recruitment is carried out in collaboration with edge, our talent partner based in Kenya. All communication regarding this recruitment will come from email addresses in the domain  @edgeperformance.co.ke