About the Project
The Partnership for Education of Health Professionals (PEP) is a multi-country initiative aimed at strengthening institutional capacity for education on cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs) across East Africa. Implemented in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Ethiopia, the programme equips health training institutions with the systems, tools, and competencies needed to develop a health workforce skilled in CMD prevention and care.
In Ethiopia, the project supports CMD integration into pre-service and in-service education, strengthens faculty and preceptor capacity, promotes digital and blended learning and simulation, and supports educational research. Implemented over 36 months in collaboration with government institutions, universities, and professional associations, the initiative focuses on preparing nurses, health officers, and medical doctors to deliver effective CMD services, particularly at the primary health care level.
Job Purpose
The Curriculum Development Officer provides technical and operational support for the review, integration, implementation, and evaluation of competency-based health professions curricula under the PEP project. The role focuses on embedding CMD prevention, screening, diagnosis, management, referral, and follow-up competencies into existing medicine, nursing, and health officer programmes, in line with each cadre’s scope of practice.
Working with the Health Professions Education Specialist, institutional curriculum committees, faculty, clinical preceptors, and subject matter experts, the Officer translates assessment findings into curriculum improvements, aligned teaching resources, and assessment tools. The role supports institutional review and approval, faculty preparation, and monitoring of curriculum delivery and learner competency development.
Position Summary
The position plays a central role in:
- Mapping existing curricula and identifying CMD competency and content gaps.
- Integrating measurable learning outcomes into courses, modules, and clinical placements.
- Aligning teaching methods, learning resources, and assessments with required competencies.
- Supporting faculty and preceptors to implement and assess revised curricula.
- Monitoring implementation quality and documenting improvements and lessons.
Key Responsibilities
Programme Implementation and Coordination
- Translate assigned curriculum activities into practical workplans with clear deliverables, timelines, responsibilities, and review milestones; track progress and escalate delays or resource gaps.
- Coordinate curriculum reviews, consultations, and validation workshops with partner institutions and project staff; maintain action logs and follow up agreed decisions.
- Use training and capacity needs assessment findings and institutional evidence to prioritize curriculum strengthening activities and align them with approved PEP workplans.
Curriculum Review and Integration
- Support systematic review of medicine, nursing, and health officer curricula and map CMD competencies across courses, modules, teaching methods, assessments, and clinical learning experiences.
- Identify content gaps, duplication, sequencing problems, and differences between the written curriculum and actual delivery; prepare curriculum mapping matrices and actionable recommendations.
- Support integration of priority CMD competencies into existing curricula without introducing stand-alone courses or additional credit hours unless formally approved by the relevant institutions and authorities.
- Support the alignment of proposed revisions with national competency frameworks, applicable education and accreditation requirements, current clinical guidance, and cadre-specific scope of practice.
- Participate in curriculum review workshops, technical working groups and community of practice.
- Prepare revision packages, change logs, and validation records of the curriculum;
- Support institutional curriculum committees through review and approval and maintain a record of decisions.
Competency-Based Curriculum Development
- Work with faculty and subject matter experts to define measurable learning outcomes covering knowledge, clinical and practical skills, communication, and professional attitudes.
- Support faculty and subject matter experts to align competency and learning outcomes with teaching strategies, practice opportunities, assessment methods, and progression expectations; ensure appropriate sequencing across programme years.
- Assist faculty and subject matter experts in developing learning modules, study guides, practical exercises, and case-based learning materials that integrates prevention, early detection, risk assessment, patient counselling, referral, and continuity of care alongside disease management, with attention to primary health care realities.
- Promote integration of patient-centered care, interprofessional learning, evidence use, and appropriate simulation and clinical practice within revised modules.
- Support incorporation of evidence-based and guideline-driven CMD content.
Assessment Blueprint and Tool Development
- Support institution in the development of CMD assessment blueprints with faculty and assessment committees under the technical guidance of the Health Professions Education Specialist.
- Support institutions in the development of matrices linking competencies and learning outcomes to assessment methods, content coverage, cognitive level, weighting, and timing, including knowledge, skills, and professional behaviours.
- Support development of assessment tools including multiple-choice, short-answer questions, Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) stations, workplace-based assessments, skills checklists, and scoring rubrics.
- Support assessor orientation, moderation, standard-setting, and review of assessment results to improve validity, reliability, fairness, and consistency; retain institutional authority for assessment approval and progression decisions.
- Promote timely learner feedback and remediation linked to identified competency gaps, while protecting assessment materials and confidential learner records.
- Promote use of competency-based assessment approaches across participating programs.
Educational Resource Development and Digital Integration
- Coordinate development and adaptation of facilitator guides, learner materials, clinical cases, practical exercises, and job aids aligned with approved learning outcomes and CMD guidance.
- Work with the Online and Blended Learning Officer to translate curriculum requirements into digital and blended learning activities, including links to face-to-face teaching, simulation, and clinical practice.
- Ensure educational resources are evidence-based, learner-centered, and aligned with competency requirements.
- Provide curriculum and assessment inputs for innovative methods, including virtual patient cases and AI-assisted resource development; ensure expert review of accuracy, relevance, bias, and alignment before use.
- Maintain an organized repository of curriculum and assessment resources with references, permissions, version control, review dates, and appropriate access restrictions.
Faculty Engagement and Capacity Building
- Orient faculty, department heads, and clinical preceptors to curriculum changes, learning outcomes, teaching resources, and assessment requirements.
- Support practical workshops and coaching on competency-based education, curriculum alignment, case-based teaching, clinical learning, and assessment blueprinting.
- Facilitate consultations with department heads, curriculum committees, and educators during curriculum implementation.
- Gather feedback from faculty, preceptors, and learners and support resolution of implementation challenges through agreed institutional channels.
Curriculum Quality Assurance and Implementation
- Support institutions to develop implementation plans covering teaching schedules, faculty preparation, learning resources, clinical practice opportunities, and assessment arrangements.
- Support institutions in applying agreed quality assurance criteria to curriculum documents and resources; support review of implementation using teaching plans, course records, assessments, and stakeholder feedback.
- Monitor whether CMD content and learning activities are delivered as intended; identify gaps in coverage, practice opportunities, and assessment and follow up corrective actions.
- Contribute to periodic curriculum reviews and improvement cycles, drawing on learner performance and institutional feedback.
Research and Knowledge Management
- Support education research and evaluations related to curriculum integration, assessment, and implementation in collaboration with research and monitoring staff.
- Document best practices, challenges, and lessons; contribute to technical briefs, reports, and learning exchanges across partner institutions and PEP country teams.
- Synthesize relevant evidence for curriculum review and share findings through project learning forums and communities of practice.
Stakeholder Engagement and Partnerships
- Work with the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, universities, health science colleges, professional associations, regulatory bodies, and clinical training sites to support coordinated curriculum strengthening.
- Facilitate technical consultations and validation processes that include curriculum committees, faculty, preceptors, and learner representatives.
- Promote shared competency expectations across partner institutions while respecting institutional approval processes and programme-specific requirements.
Monitoring Evaluation and Reporting
- Work with the monitoring, evaluation, and learning team to track curriculum mapping, revisions, approvals, faculty orientation, adoption, and implementation against agreed milestones and indicators.
- Maintain accurate records and prepare curriculum review reports, workshop summaries, progress updates, and inputs to project and donor reports.
- Support baseline, midline, and end line assessments of curriculum implementation and competency outcomes, and use findings to recommend improvements.
- Contribute to project reporting requirements and donor deliverables.
Gender and Inclusion
- Integrate gender, equity, disability inclusion, and respectful care into learning outcomes, cases, teaching resources, and assessment design.
- Promote meaningful participation of women and underrepresented groups in curriculum consultations and faculty development activities.
- Review materials and assessment tools for bias and accessibility barriers, and support fair learning and assessment opportunities across institutional and clinical settings.
