Program Officer at Heartland Alliance

Location: Eket, Akwaibom State

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Serves as Prevention focal point for HALG activities in the state and ensures compliance with national guidelines for basic Minimum Prevention Package Intervention (MPPI) and Behavior Change Communication (BCC).
• Prepare periodic project work plans and budgets in conjunction with the State Team Lead and other Unit heads to ensure appropriate utilization of project resources.
• Responsible for creating demand for services in the community and ensuring the functionality of the community center.
• Support the clinical team with innovations for follow-up and ensuring retention in care at the One-Stop-Shop (OSS).
• Serves as the Gender and Human Rights Focal person in the zone and is responsible for the implementation of gender and human rights-based activities.
• Responsible for coordinating, documenting, and reporting GBV and human rights violations in the state.
• Coordinates, supports and builds the capacity building of CBOs under the “Greenhouse” capacity building model at the state level using the approved modules.
• Provides assistance to sub-grant partners on a range of program management issues including work plan and budget development, program reporting, and sub-recipient monitoring.
• Coordinates and supports HALG direct implementation at the state level, ensuring the recruitment of local community staff for implementation.
• Ensure that activities listed in grant recipients’ sub-awards are implemented.
• Support the State Team Lead in responding to HALG and donor requests and assist in preparing state-level reports including work plans.
• Liaise and consult regularly with the relevant local authorities, community leaders, civil society/nongovernmental, organizations, collaborating/implementing partners, and other stakeholders where appropriate, in conjunction with the State Team Lead to ensure a friendly environment for program implementation.
• Responsible for routine advocacy and community engagement of program gatekeepers.
• Accompany other program and M&E staff for site visits to ensure program implementation and compliance at the state level.
• Support the training of field-level staff and volunteers.
• Represent HALG as requested in meetings with donor representatives, government, partners, sub-grantees, applicants, and the public as required in the state.
• Keep abreast of developments in the HIV/AIDS field; document methodologies and results, develop best practice papers that can inform the wider HALG community.
• Assist with the preparation and delivery of external evaluations, visits, and audits.
• Preparation of work plans, program reports, concept papers, and other programmatic documents.
• Support the process of documenting best practices, success stories, challenges, and lessons learned and shared with relevant stakeholders and policymakers.
• Support HALG’s research efforts and contribute to abstracts and journal publications.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or competency required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

Education and Experience:

• First degree in social science, public health, or another relevant discipline.
• At least 3 years of relevant work experience in international development. Experience working in an HIV prevention and care program will be an added advantage.
• Demonstrated skills in training and capacity building through technical assistance and mentoring.
• Demonstrated commitment to gender-responsive programming.
• Willingness to travel within Nigeria.

Preferred Skills:

• Ability to work effectively with government and civil society partners and communities as well as transfer knowledge to diverse audiences through workshops, training, and meetings using participatory methods and adult learning principles.

Other Competencies:

• Time Management – Ability to prioritize tasks, manage time, and complete projects in a fast-paced, changing environment with minimal supervision.
• Quality Management - Looks for ways to improve and promote quality; demonstrates accuracy and thoroughness.
• Written Communication - Writes clearly and informatively; edits work for spelling and grammar; varies writing style to meet needs; presents numerical data effectively.
• Adaptability - adapts to changes in the work environment; manages competing demands; changes approach or method to best fit the situation; able to deal with frequent change, delays, or unexpected events.
• Cultural Sensitivity – Respect the cultural environment in which a person is working and does not act in a manner that is outwardly offensive to the local community.
• Non-discriminatory- Does not discriminate against persons based on sexual orientation or gender identity, age, preferred jobs, or behavioral habits.

Language Skills:

• Excellent oral and written English communication skills.
• Knowledge of Local Language preferred.
• Demonstrated competency in public speaking.

Computer Skills:

• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, Outlook/Exchange, Windows operating systems, PowerPoint.
• Other software routinely used by Heartland Alliance.

Work Environment:

• The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
• The employee will be required to co-locate with local partners usually in the same office.
• The employee is required to travel regularly to often insecure and limited resource environments.