Program Specialist (Lead - Perinatal Mental Health)

Position: Program Specialist (Lead - Perinatal Mental Health)

Duty Station: Kathmandu with frequent travel to project sites

Job Responsibilities and Main Duties

The Program Specialist will be responsible for the implementation of the Perinatal Mental Health project, ensuring coordinated, timely, and high-quality implementation of all program and research components. The role oversees planning, execution, monitoring, and reporting of activities related to intervention package development, capacity building, community engagement, and health-facility strengthening. The program lead will directly work with a multidisciplinary team including program, research, and field staff, ensuring effective teamwork, performance, and accountability across all levels. S/he will serve as the primary coordination point with respective areas' government counterparts, technical experts, and partner organizations and ensure activities are aligned with national priorities and integrated into existing health-system structures.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

• Review the existing maternal health protocols, training package and take a lead to prepare a perinatal mental health integrated package for continuum of care by adapting from mhGAP, Thinking healthy program and PM+ modules.
• Review existing training curriculum for FCHV and nurses and support to update it to integrate the perinatal mental health care component based on need. 
• Support in program design of the perinatal mental health project and ensure proper implementation in field level.
• Review and update assessment tools, prepare community-level orientation package, and facility readiness. 
• Lead annual and quarterly planning, forecasting, budgeting, and preparation of technical progress reports and deliverables.
• Lead learning reviews, adaptive management, and evidence generation processes, ensuring research findings inform program adaptation and policy influence
• Oversee planning, coordination, and implementation of program activities at community, facility, district, and provincial levels, ensuring timely and high-quality execution.
• Lead and participate in national technical working groups, thematic subcommittees, and coordination platforms on perinatal mental health.
• Ensure program teams are adequately resourced, trained, and supported to meet performance targets and adapt to emerging needs
• Facilitate consultations with local, provincial and federal government stakeholders.
• Develop a contextual guideline for local-level perinatal mental health, incorporating the proper supply chain mechanism.
• Support for development/revision of contextual IEC/BCC materials.
• Support and organize consultative meetings, co-creation workshop with government and non-government stakeholders.
• Review and support in developing data collection tools and reporting templates.

The above list of responsibilities is not comprehensive, and the Program Lead may be required to take on additional responsibilities, as assigned by the Line Manager or other team members, to meet activity/organizational needs and requirements.

Job Specifications (minimum job requirements):

Academic qualification and work experience: 

• Master’s degree in Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology or related field 
• At least 5 years of working experience in mental health, preferably in perinatal mental health.

Skills and abilities:

• Demonstrate expertise in mhGAP, Thinking Healthy Program and PM+modules
• Strong technical writing and curriculum development skills
• Familiarity with government health systems and maternal health programs
• Ability to contextualize global models for local use
• Excellent communication, facilitation skills and problem-solving skills.

WHAT WE VALUE

At OHW, we value diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we understand the value of developing a team with different perspectives, educational backgrounds, and life experiences. We prioritize diversity within our team, and we welcome candidates from all gender identities, castes, religious practices, sexual orientations, and abilities – among many others. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply for positions at OHW.

Application Procedures:

Interested candidates who meet the above requirements are requested to visit the Application link and submit their application through the online portal by March 29, 2026.

OHW reserves the right to cancel, postpone, or modify the whole recruitment process and reject any/all applications without specifying any reasons whatsoever.