Healthcare Quality Assurance Coordinator

Relief International (RI) is an international non-profit organization that partners with communities impacted by conflict, climate change and disaster to save lives, build greater resilience and promote long-term health and wellbeing.

Our team of more than 7,000 staff and local volunteers work in 15 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, providing Health and Nutrition, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), Education and Livelihoods programming that creates the foundation for community resilience.

We do this by working with local actors to develop safe and inclusive local programming that is evidence based, conflict sensitive, climate smart, and reaches those in need.

Relief International is an alliance of four organizations with one shared mission, comprised of Relief International, Inc., Relief International-France, Relief International-UK and Relief International-Europe, which operate under a one-team concept under a single senior leadership team.

1.            Job Profile

The Healthcare Quality Assurance Coordinator provides second-line technical quality assurance and holistic technical oversight of RI-supported healthcare services in Farah and Nimroz provinces.

Reporting directly to the Technical Health Specialist at Country Office level, the position serves as a field-based extension of RI’s country-level health technical leadership. The role is intended to ensure consistent, higher-level technical oversight closer to service delivery points and reduce the need for frequent deployment of senior technical staff from Kabul.

The coordinator independently assesses the quality, safety and compliance of healthcare services; conducts targeted technical reviews, clinical audits, quality assessments and service-line deep dives; identifies systemic clinical and service-delivery risks; supports evidence-based quality improvement; and verifies implementation and effectiveness of corrective actions.

The position provides holistic technical oversight across relevant clinical, public health and health-system functions, ensuring that technical components are not reviewed in isolation and that systemic weaknesses affecting service quality and patient safety are identified, analyzed and followed up.

The position is expected to allocate approximately 70% of its field effort to Farah and 30% to Nimroz, with flexibility to adjust this allocation based on emerging technical risks, serious incidents, quality concerns and priorities identified by the Technical Health Specialist.

2.          Key Responsibilities

• Healthcare Quality Assurance and Holistic Technical Oversight
• Provide independent technical quality assurance across RI-supported hospitals and health facilities in Farah and Nimroz.
• Assess healthcare services against applicable Ministry of Public Health, national, donor and RI technical standards, guidelines, protocols and SOPs.
• Provide holistic technical oversight across relevant areas including:
• reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health;
• emergency and inpatient services;
• communicable diseases;
• non-communicable diseases;
• immunization;
• mental health and psychosocial support;
• nutrition integration;
• infection prevention and control;
• pharmacy and medicines management;
• laboratory services;
• referral systems;
• HMIS and data quality;
• clinical documentation;
• patient safety; and
• other priority technical areas.
• Conduct structured, periodic and risk-based assessments of service quality and technical performance.
• Verify whether existing technical supervision, quality assurance and clinical governance mechanisms are functioning effectively.
• Assess compliance with technical and clinical standards through direct observation, patient-record review, case review, staff interviews, data review and other appropriate assurance methods.
• Identify recurrent, systemic or high-risk quality-of-care gaps and recommend practical corrective actions.
• Promote patient safety, accountability, evidence-based practice and continuous quality improvement.
• Provide the CO SMT with an independent overview of service quality, significant technical risks and priority areas requiring Country Office attention.
• Risk-Based Technical Assurance and Facility Risk Profiling
• Develop and implement a risk-based technical assurance workplan under the guidance of the Technical Health Specialist.
• Develop and periodically update technical risk profiles for priority health facilities based on factors including:
• service volume;
• morbidity and mortality patterns;
• quality indicators;
• adverse clinical events;
• supervision findings;
• complaints;
• staffing gaps;
• referral patterns;
• critical supply or equipment gaps;
• data anomalies; and
• unresolved corrective actions.
• Prioritize quality assurance activities and technical visits according to identified risk and quality concerns.
• Identify facilities or service areas requiring intensified technical follow-up.
• Periodically reassess technical risks and recommend adjustments to assurance priorities.
• Clinical Audits and Targeted Technical Reviews
• Conduct targeted clinical audits, technical reviews and deep-dive assessments in priority service areas.
• Undertake reviews in response to serious clinical incidents, maternal or neonatal deaths, unusual morbidity or mortality trends, complaints, repeated poor performance, recurring supervision findings, data inconsistencies or requests from the Technical Health Specialist.
• Conduct thematic or service-line technical reviews covering, as relevant:
• clinical processes;
• patient flow;
• staffing and staff competencies;
• documentation;
• medicines and supplies;
• equipment;
• referral systems;
• compliance with protocols; and
• patient outcomes.
• Review clinical case management and adherence to applicable clinical protocols.
• Assess the quality and completeness of patient records and clinical documentation.
• Document findings systematically and provide prioritized, evidence-based recommendations.
• Maternal, Newborn, Mortality and Adverse Event Review
• Provide enhanced technical oversight of maternal, newborn and other high-risk clinical services.
• Review the quality and completeness of maternal and perinatal death surveillance and response processes.
• Assess whether mortality reviews adequately identify clinical, system, management and service-delivery contributing factors.
• Verify implementation and effectiveness of corrective actions arising from mortality and morbidity reviews.
• Review significant adverse clinical events and support structured technical analysis where required.
• Identify recurring or systemic contributing factors and escalate significant concerns to the Technical Health Specialist.
• Support provincial teams to translate mortality and adverse-event findings into practical quality-improvement actions.
• Patient Safety, Clinical Incidents and Root-Cause Analysis
• Immediately escalate critical clinical and patient-safety risks to the Technical Health Specialist.
• Support structured root-cause analysis of serious or recurrent quality-of-care problems.
• Ensure analysis considers, as appropriate:
• clinical practice;
• staffing and competency;
• technical supervision;
• management arrangements;
• medicines and supplies;
• equipment;
• infrastructure;
• referral pathways;
• documentation; and
• other health-system factors.
• Promote organizational learning from incidents while maintaining appropriate accountability and confidentiality.
• Quality Improvement and Corrective Action Follow-up
• Work with Provincial Technical Managers and relevant teams to translate quality assurance findings into clear and measurable Quality Improvement Plans and Corrective Action Plans.
• Support prioritization of corrective actions based on patient safety, clinical risk and potential impact on service quality.
• Support establishment of measurable actions, responsible persons, timelines and verification indicators.
• Maintain a structured tracker of significant technical findings and corrective actions.
• Periodically verify implementation and progress against agreed actions.
• Assess the effectiveness of corrective actions rather than only confirming their administrative completion.
• Identify overdue, ineffective or repeatedly unresolved corrective actions and escalate as appropriate.
• Promote continuous quality improvement based on evidence from audits, supervision, mortality reviews and service outcomes.
• Verification of Provincial Technical Supervision
• Periodically review the quality, completeness and effectiveness of routine supportive supervision undertaken by provincial technical teams.
• Assess whether supervision identifies priority technical problems, provides appropriate recommendations, documents findings adequately and follows up previous recommendations.
• Conduct targeted verification visits to assess whether reported corrective actions have been implemented and have resulted in improvement.
• Technical Data, Quality Indicators and Evidence
• Review health-service and quality-of-care indicators to identify unusual trends, persistent weaknesses and emerging technical risks.
• Identify significant discrepancies between reported performance and observed service quality.
• Work with HMIS, MEAL and relevant technical colleagues to verify data where necessary.
• Track selected high-risk quality indicators and provide regular analysis to the Technical Health Specialist.
• Use technical and quality data to prioritize facilities and service areas requiring additional assurance.
• Technical Mentoring and Capacity Strengthening
• Identify technical competency and capacity gaps that may affect service quality or patient safety.
• Provide targeted technical coaching and mentoring to provincial technical teams, hospital teams and healthcare providers in identified priority areas.
• Support competency assessment in high-risk clinical areas where appropriate.
• Recommend targeted coaching, mentoring, refresher training or additional technical support where competency gaps are identified.
• Strengthen provincial capacity in healthcare quality assurance, clinical audit, patient safety, mortality review, root-cause analysis, continuous quality improvement and use of quality data.
• Cross-Functional Technical Assurance
• Identify operational, HR, supply-chain, infrastructure, administrative or management issues that materially affect healthcare quality or patient safety.
• Escalate significant cross-functional constraints to the relevant management functions and Technical Health Specialist.
• Track significant non-clinical constraints where these create ongoing clinical or patient-safety risks.
• Ensure technical quality reviews consider broader health-system factors affecting service delivery.
• Technical Standards and Standardization
• Support consistent application of current national, RI and relevant donor technical standards across Farah and Nimroz.
• Verify availability and appropriate use of relevant clinical guidelines, SOPs, protocols, quality-assurance tools, supervision tools and technical reference materials.
• Identify outdated, inconsistent, missing or conflicting technical guidance and escalate to the Technical Health Specialist.
• Promote standardization of clinical and technical practices across RI-supported health facilities.
• Cross-Province Learning and Performance Analysis
• Analyze and compare technical performance and healthcare quality trends between Farah and Nimroz.
• Identify effective practices that may be replicated across provinces.
• Identify recurring systemic weaknesses requiring broader technical action.
• Facilitate cross-province learning and exchange of quality-improvement approaches.
• Provide periodic analysis to the Technical Health Specialist on common and province-specific technical risks and priorities.
• Technical Reporting and Escalation
• Report directly to the Technical Health Specialist on significant healthcare-quality and patient-safety concerns.
• Prepare concise and evidence-based reports following technical audits, clinical reviews, deep dives, quality assessments, technical investigations and comprehensive provincial reviews.
• Maintain a tracker of significant findings, responsible persons, timelines and verification status.
• Provide regular updates on:
• major quality-of-care findings;
• clinical and patient-safety risks;
• recurrent technical weaknesses;
• implementation of corrective actions;
• unresolved issues; and
• emerging technical priorities.
• Immediately escalate issues involving:
• immediate patient-safety risk;
• potential loss of life;
• serious breach of clinical standards;
• repeated unresolved critical findings;
• suspected serious professional misconduct affecting patient care;
• significant discrepancies in clinical or health data;
• systemic failure affecting multiple services or facilities; or
• significant donor, MoPH, legal or reputational risk.
• Maintain appropriate confidentiality in handling patient information, investigations and sensitive technical findings.
• Coordination and Relationship Management
• Maintain close and constructive working relationships with the Provincial Technical Managers and the Project Managers in Farah and Nimroz.
• Coordinate planned technical assurance activities with provincial management while maintaining the independence of the assurance function.
• Work collaboratively with hospital management, Health Facility Managers and relevant technical departments.
• Coordinate with Country Office Health, Program, MEAL, HR, Supply Chain, Operations and other departments when technical findings require multidisciplinary action.
• Participate in relevant technical coordination meetings when requested or when required to address significant quality issues.
• Represent the Technical Health Specialist in agreed technical matters at provincial level when specifically delegated.
• Maintain professional communication and ensure that the quality assurance function supports improvement without creating parallel operational management structures.

Behavior and Conduct

·         Will ensure the highest standards of behavior inside and outside of work promotes the values in RI’s code of conduct and safeguarding policies

·         Will be a model for ethical conduct standards for other team members

·         Will ensure own actions and the actions of the teams members they manage do not impact the safety of the RI team and the vulnerable communities we serve

·         Will ensure external stakeholders are aware of RI conduct and reporting mechanisms

·         Report any concerns

1.            Person Specification

Skills, knowledge and expertise required for the role.

Essential criteria

·         Medical degree from a recognized medical faculty.

·         Master of Public Health (MPH) or equivalent postgraduate qualification.

·         Minimum 8 years of progressively responsible professional experience in clinical services, public health, and healthcare quality

·         Substantial experience in healthcare quality assurance, technical supervision, clinical audit, quality improvement or health systems strengthening.

·         Strong understanding of the BPHS/EPHS systems.

·         Demonstrated experience assessing healthcare quality against national and/or international technical standards.

·         Strong understanding of patient safety, clinical risk management, clinical audit, mortality review and root-cause analysis.

·         Demonstrated ability to analyze complex clinical and service-delivery problems and identify systemic causes and solutions.

·         Experience reviewing health-service data, clinical indicators and quality information and using evidence to guide technical priorities.

·         Strong analytical, report-writing and communication skills.

·         Strong facilitation, mentoring and interpersonal skills.

·         Demonstrated ability to provide constructive technical challenge while maintaining effective professional relationships.

·         Ability to work independently and exercise sound professional judgement.

·         Strong organizational, prioritization and planning skills.

·         Good command of English and fluency in Dari and/or Pashto, both verbally and in writing.

·         Good computer skills, including Microsoft Office applications.

·         Ability and willingness to travel regularly between Farah and Nimroz and to Kabul when required.

·         Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.

·         Commitment to professional ethics, confidentiality, patient-centered care and safeguarding.

Desirable criteria

·         Formal training or certification in healthcare quality improvement, clinical governance, patient safety, clinical audit or related areas.

·         Experience in maternal and newborn health, emergency care, IPC, mortality review or other high-risk clinical services.

·         Experience conducting technical investigations, clinical reviews, structured quality assessments or facility accreditation processes.

·         Experience supporting or supervising multidisciplinary healthcare teams.

·         Experience developing or using healthcare quality dashboards, risk registers and corrective-action tracking systems.

RI Values

Guided by the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, as well as “Do No Harm,” Relief International Values:

·         Integrity

·         Adaptability

·         Collaboration

·         Inclusivity

·         Sustainability