Chief Impact Officer, Living Goods job in Nairobi

Chief Impact Officer

Reports to: CEO
Location: Ideally Nairobi, Kenya or Kampala, Uganda. Other locations possible with frequent travel
Direct reports: Functional leaders of Research, Health Programs and Analytics

About Living Goods
Living Goods works to reinvent how we improve the lives of the underserved. We use business practices to achieve social goals. We think big, but our operations are lean and nimble. We train and equip community health workers with the tools they need to bring life-saving products and health services to people’s doorsteps. The community health workers we support provide primary health care to 7 million people and have reduced under-5 child mortality in these communities by 27 percent, for a cost of less than $2 per person served.

Living Goods has grown 30 percent every year for the past 5 years. We now have a staff of 400 and over 8,000 community health workers. Our 2019 budget is $28 million and we plan to increase it by over 50% to serve 34,000 community health workers by 2021 - thanks to a recent $35 million challenge grant from the TEDx Audacious Ideas project.

Committed to Evidence
We’re growing because we have a winning model and mission: to ensure that every family has high quality health care in their community. No matter how dense the neighbourhood or how remote the village. We’re also growing because we measure what matters. We continuously analyze community health data and use it to hone programs and protocols. Every community health worker has a mobile phone using real time data to drive performance and impact delivered. Four years ago, MIT researchers conducted a randomized control trial of our work, validating our impact and helping us recalibrate programs to better achieve health targets.

Our growth is anchored in three S’s: scaling, strengthening and spreading. To scale we aim to increase the number of people served within our two operational countries, Kenya and Uganda, and to launch operations in two new countries by 2021. To strengthen, we will broaden and deepen our impact with new programs and make big leaps in our operational effectiveness. Finally, we will spread our impact in current and new countries by influencing community health policy. This CIO role drives our strengthening line of effort and works closely with the Chief Operations Officer on scaling and spreading.

The Opportunity
Creating impact is at the very heart of what Living Goods does, and deepening and broadening that impact is the focus of our 2019 strategic plan. While our community health expansion teams spread Living Goods to new countries and our operations and government relations teams scale up our work, this role is all about designing how to deliver our impact at scale. We need a global health champion to ensure that we strengthen our health programs, and it is for this reason that we’ve created the new executive-level role of Chief Impact Officer. We seek an individual who can set up and lead a team and help us explore moving into new health program areas. A researcher to track trends and evidence in community health. A strong communicator who can leverage our research to influence policymakers and ensures that our work transforms communities.

Key Responsibilities

Be the impact champion. Our CEO, Chief Development Officer, and Country Directors look to you as the keeper of evidence. We want you to keep up with the latest evidence on Living Goods’ programs and to have your finger on the pulse of community health programs worldwide. We want you to leverage the ample data we have to inform strategic decisions around scaling our impact.

Ensure program excellence. Learning from country data, you will advise health program staff on the best ways to deliver lasting results in community health. As we expand you will ensure that our research is rigorous and data reliable.

Spark innovation. You will lead health program innovations – prompting ‘out of the box’ thinking and health program experiments. Working with technical staff, you will also ensure that our health programs are cost effective, scalable, and replicable.

Coordinate research with rigor. You are curious, love data, and can ask the right questions. You will oversee operational research studies and impact evaluations. You will help analyze our data and ensure that we use it to improve programs. Your team will write articles in peer reviewed journals on community health topics and Living Goods’ innovative programs.

Develop a team. You will create and guide a new global impact team. Your team will share your commitment to evidence and technical excellence.

Guide country technical teams. You will assist country health directors adapt their programs to reflect the latest evidence of what works in community health.

Influence externally. Represent Living Goods at community health meetings, conferences, and global forums and contribute to global community health standards and protocols. You eloquently speak to what we do and how we do it. You build close relationships with other community health technical experts at foundations, academic institutes, the WHO, UN, and other global health organizations.

Essential Qualifications, Experience, & Attributes

Technical chops. You have experience as a public health technical lead in a global NGO or corporation, preferably reproductive health (RH), maternal and child health (MCHN) or community health specifically. You have deep expertise in program design and a strong understanding of research and evaluation methods. You have worked at least 5 years at the Senior Director level or above. MPH or equivalent experience preferred.

Strategic leader. You are able to develop and communicate a shared vision for Living Goods technical work in community health. You can infuse others with your passion for evidence.

Passion for Big Data. Terms like “regression analysis,” SPSS, and STATA excite you. You like asking tough questions and wading through information to answer them.
Writing & presentation skills. You have experience presenting at global conferences and contributing to peer reviewed articles. You can distill complex topics, effectively communicate to others, and teach others to do the same.

Community health curiosity. When it comes to public health, you’re a voracious reader. You are good at asking questions and helping your team design research protocols. Technical working group meetings and conference Q&As spark your creative juices. You believe in the disruptive power of mobile technology to improve community health.

Gravitas. Your commitment to technical excellence inspires others to have the same standards.

Diverse management experience. You’ve managed cross-cultural teams across many countries. You’ve lived or traveled extensively in Africa. You have an intuitive ability to connect with people from different backgrounds.

Leading leaders. We need you to be able to communicate a vision, build common understanding, work across Living Goods to build collaborative relationships, align resources to accomplish key objectives, build resources for the future, and lastly, inspire and motivate others to be the best they can be.

Collaborative spirit. You actively listen and communicate. You connect easily with your team and colleagues. You can roll up your sleeves and help others out in a pinch.

Understands our model. You have an appreciation for and understanding of our approach of using best practices from the private sector to achieve social goals. We’re a non-profit organization with a business minded approach.

Lives our values. You can thrive in our culture – you can demonstrate inclusion, integrity, innovation, quick footedness, collaboration, and accountability.

To Apply
Living Goods has retained Schaffer&Combs, a certified B Corporation, to support this high-priority search. In order to apply, please submit an updated resume and thoughtful cover letter that outlines how your skills and experiences meet the qualifications of the position to the attached link.
Please refrain from contacting Living Goods directly; all inquiries should be directed to Schaffer&Combs at LivingGoods@schaffercombs.com. We will be accepting applications on a rolling basis