If you've spent several years working in Ghana's public health system and you're now trying to move into an international NGO, there's a specific moment that almost everyone describes the same way.
You open a job posting from IRC or CARE International or Jhpiego. You read through the duties. And you feel a quiet panic, because the language is unfamiliar. Results framework. Beneficiary outreach. Indicator tracking. Project cycle management. Log frame review.
You start to wonder whether you actually have this experience. Whether they're looking for someone different from you.
I want to address that feeling directly: you almost certainly have the experience. You just haven't been calling it what they call it.
Why the language gap exists
GHS operates within a government system. That system has its own vocabulary, its own reporting formats, its own way of describing work. When you write "implemented maternal and child health activities in collaboration with sub-district staff and community health volunteers," you're using GHS language — and it's accurate.
International NGOs operate within a donor-funded project framework. Their vocabulary comes from international development organisations — the World Bank, USAID, DFID, the Global Fund. When a GHS professional reads "supported the delivery of RMNCAH services in line with the project's results framework and indicator targets," the meaning is the same. The words are different.
NGO hiring managers — particularly those who have only worked in the INGO sector — often don't know what GHS language means. They're not trying to exclude you. They genuinely may not recognise that "district health programme coordinator" and "programme officer at field level" describe people doing the same work.
Your job in your CV is to do the translation for them.
The translation dictionary
Here are the most common equivalences I've worked through with GHS professionals:
| What GHS calls it | What INGOs call it |
|---|---|
| Catchment population | Beneficiaries |
| District health programme | Field programme / project |
| Monthly returns / routine data | M&E data / indicator tracking |
| Supervision visits | Field monitoring visits |
| Technical working groups | Multi-sectoral coordination mechanisms |
| ANC4+ coverage | Programme coverage indicators |
| CHV training | Community volunteer capacity building |
| MOH/GHS reporting line | Stakeholder coordination / government liaison |
| Sub-district activities | Last-mile service delivery |
| DHIMS2 data entry | HMIS data management |
This isn't about inflating your experience. It's about describing your real experience in the vocabulary that international hiring managers understand and their ATS systems are scanning for.
The before and after
Here is a real transformation from a CV I worked on with a GHS Programme Officer who had five years of experience in the Upper East Region. This is how she originally described her most recent role:
"Responsible for maternal and child health programme implementation in Bongo District, coordinating with sub-district staff and community volunteers to deliver health education and clinical outreach services."
Here is the same experience, rewritten for an INGO application:
"Led RMNCAH programme delivery across 8 sub-districts in Bongo District, reaching 4,200+ women and children with ANC, skilled delivery, and immunisation services. Coordinated a field team of 23 CHVs and 4 community midwives; achieved ANC4+ coverage of 78% in 2023 — the highest in the district — through targeted community mobilisation and provider capacity building. Managed programme data collection and reporting through DHIMS2, producing monthly performance reports for the District Health Directorate."
The experience is identical. The second version:
- Uses INGO vocabulary (RMNCAH, ANC4+, community mobilisation, capacity building, field team)
- Names the scale of the work (8 sub-districts, 4,200+ beneficiaries)
- Includes an outcome with a concrete number (78% ANC4+ coverage)
- Mentions data management — an M&E competency INGOs look for specifically
The four questions that unlock your rewrite
For every role you've held at GHS, sit down and answer these four questions before you write a single word of your CV:
- How many people were in the catchment area or programme area? Not "Kumasi North District" — how many people? District population data is available. Sub-district data is in your reports. Use it.
- What did you manage? Budget? Team size? Facilities? Supply chain? Community health volunteers? Number each one.
- What changed while you were there? Coverage rates, data quality scores, case detection rates, staff training completion — anything that was different because of your work specifically.
- Who did you coordinate with outside your immediate team? MOH, CHAG, international NGO partners, district assembly, community leaders? Each of these is a "stakeholder coordination" entry for your INGO CV.
The "no NGO experience" objection
The most common fear I hear from GHS professionals is this: "I don't have any NGO experience, so they won't consider me."
This is usually not true — but it depends on the organisation and the role. Some things to know:
Many INGOs specifically value government sector experience. IRC, Jhpiego, Amref, and Marie Stopes regularly hire from GHS because they need people who understand how the Ghanaian public health system works. A programme officer who has navigated GHS bureaucracy, coordinated with district health directorates, and worked within MOH policy frameworks brings something an INGO-only professional doesn't.
What they're actually evaluating is competence. When an NGO job posting says "3 years of NGO experience preferred," what they're really saying is "we want someone who can manage projects, track indicators, coordinate teams, and communicate results." GHS gives you all of those skills. Your CV needs to make that obvious.
Your first INGO role may not be your ideal one. Some professionals find it useful to target a national NGO or a Ghana-based INGO implementing partner first — organisations like Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana, Global Communities Ghana, or local implementing partners for USAID programmes. These organisations know the GHS system well and are often looking for people who do too. Getting one INGO role on your CV significantly improves your prospects for the next application.
The skills section: what to list explicitly
For an INGO application, your skills section should be a technical inventory, not a list of soft skills. Specifically:
If you're applying to M&E or data roles: List DHIMS2, KOBO Collect, ODK, CommCare, SPSS, Excel, Power BI — whatever you actually use. Name the specific data systems, not just "data management."
If you're applying to programme roles: List the specific health areas you've worked in (RMNCAH, malaria, nutrition, WASH, TB, HIV) and the specific interventions (ANC, EPI, CMAM, IMCI, PMTCT). INGOs search for these terms.
If you're applying to leadership or coordination roles: List the specific coordination mechanisms you've participated in (district health management team meetings, technical working groups, integrated supervision, CHPS coordination). These are "stakeholder coordination" experiences.
The cover letter as translation tool
For INGO applications more than any other, the cover letter gives you space to do the translation explicitly. Here is the framing that works:
"My five years at GHS gave me direct experience in exactly the kind of last-mile service delivery that [organisation's name] focuses on in Ghana. In Bongo District, I led a team delivering RMNCAH services to 4,200+ beneficiaries across 8 sub-districts — the same community-level work described in your programme officer role. I'm now looking to bring that field experience into an organisation where I can contribute to a broader programme with more structured M&E systems and international technical support."
Notice what this does: it names the specific work, it uses INGO vocabulary, and it explains why you're making the transition in a way that frames GHS as a strength, not a gap.
The GHS professionals I've seen make this transition successfully all have one thing in common: they don't apologise for their government background. They use it as evidence.
If you want help rewriting your GHS CV for an INGO application — or targeting a specific role and organisation — that's exactly what we do at MasterCV. It's one of the most common requests we handle, and usually one of the clearest transformations we can make.