Innovation Officer at Living Goods

.Purpose of the Role: 

• The Innovation Officer supports the implementation and monitoring of innovation initiatives within Living Goods’ Technical Assistance (TA) model. The role serves as a key link between the Global Support Function and the Country Program Team, facilitating coordination and information flow to support effective implementation of innovation activities. 
• Working closely with the global innovation team and country program teams, the Innovation Officer supports the testing and adaptation of innovative approaches aimed at improving community health systems, service delivery, and program effectiveness. The role helps ensure that Living Goods’ third pillar innovation strategy priorities are translated into practical solutions within country programs while providing continuous feedback from the field to inform global learning and strategy. 
• The role contributes to identifying implementation challenges, gathering feedback from frontline workers and stakeholders, and supporting the development and refinement of practical, user-centered solutions. The Innovation Officer also supports documentation, learning, and knowledge sharing from ongoing innovation activities to inform continuous program improvement. 
• By strengthening the connection between innovation design and field implementation, the role helps ensure that evidence, learning, and digital tools are effectively integrated into program delivery to improve community health outcomes across counties. 

Roles and Responsibilities: 

  Innovation Design & Solution Development  

• Support the identification and documentation of priority challenges, inefficiencies, and opportunities for innovation within Living Goods’ TA model, county health systems, and program operations.  
• Participate in human-centered design and systems thinking approaches to support the development and refinement of practical solutions that respond to user needs and system realities.  
• Support the planning and facilitation of design workshops, user research activities, ideation sessions, and rapid prototyping exercises in collaboration with program teams, county counterparts, and partners.  
• Assist in translating innovation ideas into implementable pilots by contributing to the development of objectives, theories of change, success metrics, risk considerations, and learning questions.  
• Work closely with the Digital Health, Innovation team and PEI teams to support the testing and refinement of digital, data, and AI-enabled solutions that strengthen service delivery, supervision, performance management, and data use  

Pilot Implementation, Monitoring & Learning  

• Coordinate and support day-to-day implementation of innovation pilots, ensuring alignment with program priorities, implementation plans, and partner engagement.  
• Support monitoring of pilot activities by tracking progress against agreed milestones, timelines, and deliverables.  
• Work with Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) teams to support data collection, documentation, and analysis related to pilot performance.  
• Document implementation experiences, user feedback, and operational challenges, and contribute to adaptive improvements to pilots based on field learning.  
• Support field testing of new service delivery approaches, digital tools, operational processes, and program improvements.  

 Scaling & Program Integration  

• Support assessments of innovation pilots to identify opportunities for scale, integration, or adaptation within Living Goods’ Technical Assistance model.  
• Assist in integrating successful innovations into program tools, guidelines, and training materials in collaboration with relevant teams.  
• Engage with county governments and partners to ensure innovations are aligned with existing systems, policies, and implementation structures.  
• Facilitate cross-county learning exchanges and knowledge sharing to support replication and adaptation of tested solutions. 

Partnerships & Knowledge Management 

• Support engagement with innovation partners, research institutions, government stakeholders, and other collaborators involved in innovation initiatives. 
• Contribute to the preparation of concept notes, reports, presentations, and documentation related to innovation activities. 
• Support operational research, learning agendas, and documentation efforts in collaboration with MEL and research partners. 
• Assist in maintaining innovation knowledge resources, including repositories, tools, dashboards, and learning materials. 
• Participate in internal meetings, technical working groups, and learning platforms related to innovation and program improvement. 

Cross-Cutting & Other Duties 

• Support program planning, budgeting, and adaptive management processes by contributing insights and learning from innovation initiatives. 
• Support capacity strengthening of program and field teams on innovation methods, experimentation, and learning approaches. 
• Monitor emerging trends and best practices in community health, digital health, and development innovation and share relevant insights with internal teams. 
• Promote responsible and ethical innovation practices, including responsible data use, safeguarding, equity, and inclusion. 
• Perform other duties as assigned by the supervisor in line with the role and organizational priorities. 

Key Deliverables 

• Well-documented innovation pilots with clear implementation plans and learning objectives. 
• Regular monitoring and documentation of pilot performance, including lessons learned and recommendations for improvement. 
• Contribution to at least two innovation pilots per year, including testing, documentation, and learning outputs. 
• Knowledge of products such as learning briefs, case studies, presentations, or tools to support internal learning and program improvement. 
• Evidence-informed recommendations that contribute to improvements in program implementation, service delivery models, or operational processes. 

Core Competencies 

• Human-centered design and systems thinking 
• Innovation and project management 
• Stakeholder engagement and co-creation facilitation 
• Evidence generation and data-driven decision-making 
• Learning, adaptation, and continuous improvement 
• Strong collaboration, influence, and cross-functional teamwork 

Qualifications & Experience 

• Bachelor's degree in health-related discipline, Project Management, Design Thinking, Development Studies, Information Systems, or related field. 
• Minimum of five (5) years’ experience in program innovation, health systems strengthening, technology for development, or adaptive program delivery. 
• Proven experience designing, implementing, and evaluating pilots or user-centered interventions in complex, resource-constrained settings. 
• Experience working with government counterparts, digital health platforms, donors, or research institutions is a strong advantage. 
• Strong analytical, facilitation, synthesis, and documentation skills. 
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to translate complex technical ideas into practical, actionable insights.