Job Description

Scope

Job Profile

The MHPSS Coordinator is the direct technical line manager for MHPSS Officers and field technical teams in the assigned province. The position translates the approved programme design into safe, consistent and measurable services, including structured supervision, competency development, service mapping, referral pathways, quality monitoring and corrective action.

The Peshawar-based Coordinator covers Peshawar, Nowshera, Swabi, Mardan, Haripur and Lower Dir. The Head of Programs provides country-level technical oversight and support, while the respective Head of Office is responsible for operational and administrative management at provincial and district levels. 

The Coordinator must maintain clear professional boundaries: clinical assessment, diagnosis, treatment or case decisions may be undertaken only by appropriately qualified, competent and authorized personnel under approved protocols and supervision.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Leadership and Quality Assurance

• Lead provincial implementation of the approved MHPSS technical approach, workplan, service package and quality standards.
• Develop and maintain practical technical guidance, standard operating procedures, tools and minimum service standards consistent with company, IASC, WHO, government and donor requirements.
• Ensure that the programme uses an appropriate layered and stepped-care approach and that interventions match assessed needs, staff competencies and available referral capacity.
• Review service quality through field observation, case and record review, supervision data, referral completion, client feedback and outcome information; agree and follow up corrective actions.
• Ensure services are culturally appropriate, gender and disability inclusive, conflict sensitive, accessible in relevant local languages and adapted to low-bandwidth or remote settings where necessary.
• Provide technical input to assessments, activity design, proposals, budgets, procurement specifications, recruitment processes and donor modifications concerning MHPSS.

Program Planning and Delivery

• Convert the approved project design into provincial and district implementation plans, staffing schedules, supervision plans, training calendars and referral-strengthening actions.
• Coordinate MHPSS Officers/OICs and technical teams across assigned locations, monitor progress against targets and address delays or quality gaps with the Head of Programs and Head of Office.
• Ensure community outreach, focused psychosocial support, individual and group interventions, primary-care linkages and specialized referrals are delivered only as approved and within staff competence.
• Maintain an up-to-date map of public, private, community and specialist services, including eligibility, accessibility, capacity, safeguarding considerations and feedback on referral outcomes.
• Support responsible start-up, adaptation, handover and close-out of MHPSS activities, including continuity of care and safe transfer of records and referrals.

•  Set clear technical objectives, deliverables and performance expectations for direct reports and provide documented feedback and performance input.
• Maintain clear separation between technical line management and the operational/administrative authority of the Head of Office, resolving ambiguity through agreed written delegations.
• Promote collaboration, inclusion, respectful communication, accountability and learning across geographically dispersed teams.
• Identify staffing and succession needs and support timely recruitment, onboarding and responsible transition of positions.

Person Specification

Skills, knowledge and expertise required for the role.

Essential criteria

• Master's degree in clinical or counselling psychology, psychiatry, psychiatric nursing, mental health, clinical social work, public health with a substantial MHPSS specialization, or another directly relevant discipline. A highly relevant bachelor's degree with substantial additional specialist experience may be considered.
• At least six years of progressively responsible experience in MHPSS programming, including at least three years providing technical supervision or managing multi-location MHPSS teams in humanitarian or development settings.
• Demonstrated knowledge of community-based MHPSS, psychological first aid, structured psychosocial interventions, task sharing, clinical governance, case safety, referral systems and stepped-care approaches.
• Ability to distinguish technical supervision from clinical supervision and to arrange qualified clinical oversight for interventions or cases that require it.
• Proven experience developing and monitoring MHPSS workplans, supervision systems, competency-based training, referral pathways, technical tools and quality-improvement actions.
• Strong understanding of safeguarding, PSEA, child protection, GBV risk mitigation, suicide/self-harm risk escalation, informed consent, confidentiality and responsible data management.
• Experience with MEAL for MHPSS, including safe indicators, outcome measurement, data-quality review, accountability and learning.
• Experience coordinating with government, health facilities, specialists, UN agencies, technical working groups, local organizations and communities.
• Strong people-management, coaching, facilitation, problem-solving, report-writing and cross-functional coordination skills.
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Urdu, plus Pashto.
• Preference will be given to local candidates.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly within the assigned province and to other locations, subject to security and access protocols.

Desirable criteria

• Recognized training or certification in WHO mhGAP, Psychological First Aid, Problem Management Plus or another evidence-informed MHPSS intervention relevant to the approved service package.
• Professional registration or licensure in a relevant clinical discipline, where applicable.
• Familiarity with Pakistan's Hamdard MHPSS Model, national or provincial MHPSS arrangements and IASC MHPSS guidance.
• Experience delivering services for displacement-affected populations, vulnerable host communities, women, children, persons with disabilities or other underserved groups.
• Experience contributing to institutional donor proposals, budgets, reports, evaluations and programme modifications.
• Experience supervising digital, low-bandwidth or remote MHPSS and referral systems.