Fatima Balarabe Umar

Public Health and Development professional with over 8 years of progressive experience in programme design, multi-state coordination, partnership management, field supervision, research, and MEAL systems across Northern Nigeria. Demonstrated expertise in leading donor-funded programme implementation under the Gates Foundation, Global Fund, FCDO, and DFID frameworks, with deep hands-on experience in Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC), HIV, nutrition, family planning, and community health delivery programmes. Strong track record in field-level quality assurance, digital data collection, partner capacity building, government engagement, and adaptive programme management.

Fluent in Hausa with intimate knowledge of the Northern Nigeria operating environment.

Program Coordinator at Lafiya Nigeria (2025-11 – 2026-06)

Provide strategic and operational programme leadership across a multi-state Gates Foundation-supported programme focused on closing the family planning data and delivery gap in Nigeria, supporting the Director of Programs on programme design, partner management, and performance accountability.

• Lead programme portfolio management — consolidating performance data across states, tracking workplan delivery against key indicators, and providing adaptive management recommendations to senior leadership.
• Oversee MEAL systems at zonal level: coordinate cross-state learning sessions, manage programme knowledge repositories, and ensure consistent application of MEAL frameworks across partner teams.
• Manage implementing partner relationships — provide capacity building, conduct quality assurance, and ensure alignment of partner activities with programme strategy and donor standards.
• Drive programme expansion into new states (Kwara and Rivers), including partner identification, programme design, and onboarding support.
• Champion gender inclusion, safeguarding, and locally-led programming approaches across all partner operations.
• Conduct field visits and spot checks to verify reported outputs against actual delivery on the ground and address implementation bottlenecks.

Consultant — LQAS Data Collector at Malaria Consortium (2025-08 – 2025-08)

Engaged as research personnel to carry out data collection, analysis, and interpretation for an End-of-Round (EoR) evaluation of the Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) programme based on the Lot Quality Assurance Sampling (LQAS) approach.

• Supported the training of data collectors on electronic data collection platforms and oversaw field data collection processes to ensure adherence to LQAS methodology and data quality standards.
• Contributed to data analysis and interpretation to assess SMC coverage and programme performance across designated lots in Jigawa State.

Program Advisor at Samu Lafiya Initiative for Development (2024-11 – 2025-10)

Provided strategic and operational advisory support to Co-Executive Directors across Jigawa, Kano, Sokoto, and Kebbi — translating organizational strategy into programme quality improvement and partnership development.

• Led donor engagement preparation, contributed to fundraising and proposal development, and strengthened internal policies, operational guidelines, and programme management frameworks.
• Managed payroll, HMO enrollment, and coordinated major organizational engagements including annual staff retreats.

Program Officer at Samu Lafiya Initiative for Development (2023-11 – 2024-10)

Led field implementation across project sites — conducted supportive supervision, ensured adherence to data collection and reporting standards, and tracked workplan delivery against donor targets.

• Trained healthcare providers and field teams on electronic data collection systems (SurveyCTO, ODK) and provided ongoing technical assistance on data quality and reporting.
• Contributed to annual work planning, budget tracking, and MEL activities; supervised staff and volunteers as operations expanded.

Program Manager at Achievers Improved Health Initiative (AIHI) (2021-01 – 2023-06)

Led end-to-end design and delivery of multiple donor-funded public health programmes including HIV and key population projects across Kano, managing multidisciplinary teams and maintaining accountability to Global Fund and government partners.

• Developed funding proposals, managed partnership and sub-recipient relationships, and produced timely monthly, quarterly, and annual donor reports ensuring compliance and programme quality.
• Facilitated government, partner, and community coordination platforms to drive programme coherence and shared ownership.
• Designed new programmes aligned with organizational strategy and donor priorities.

Program Officer – Global Fund Key Population Project at Achievers Improved Health Initiative (AIHI) (2020-06 – 2020-12)

Led implementation of the 'Optimizing HIV Investment for Impact' project in compliance with Global Fund standards — developed work plans, conducted advocacy and policy dialogues, built community worker capacity, and managed SR reporting.

Training & Technology Administrator — SMC Digital Implementation at Malaria Consortium / SFH / NMEP (2022-01 – 2025-12)

Provided ICT4D implementation support for Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) campaigns across Kano — trained Community Drug Distributors (CDDs) and health facility staff on digital data tools (OneApp, RedRose) and supervised campaign data quality.

• Used digital monitoring platforms to track CDD sync rates, coverage data, and SPAQ administration figures; conducted spot checks to verify reported outputs against field realities and generated end-of-day reconciliation reports.

Team Lead — Nigeria AIDS Indicator & Impact Survey (NAIIS) at Maryland Global Initiative Corporation (MGIC) (2018-07 – 2018-12)

Supervised field teams across survey operations; enforced quality control of HIV testing protocols, confidentiality standards, and data integrity across survey sites.

Research & Field Engagement Roles at Multiple Organizations

Engaged across multiple public health surveys and development programmes including COVID-19 Sero-prevalence Survey (MGIC), WACPHD, TEP Centre Africa, Women for Health (W4H/FCDO), LINKS/DFID, MAFITA/DFID — in roles spanning field supervision, data quality assurance, ICT support, community facilitation, and agricultural livelihood programming across Northern Nigeria.

Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health Education & Promotion – College of Education Azare (Affiliated to University of Maiduguri) (2020)

B.Sc. in Geography – Kano University of Science & Technology (2014)

Certificate in Information Technology – KERD, Kano