Program Officer - IYCF Implementation Learning (Private Sector), Alive & Thrive at FHI 360

Requisition: 2018202539
Location: Lagos
Supervisor: Lagos State Team Lead
Job Type: Full time

Project Summary

• Alive & Thrive is an initiative to save lives, prevent illness, and ensure healthy growth and development through improved breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices. In its first five years (2009 to 2014), A&T demonstrated that innovative approaches to improving feeding practices could be delivered with impact and at scale in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Viet Nam.
• Alive & Thrive continues its work there and is supporting others to scale up nutrition by applying and adapting tested, proven approaches and tools in Burkina Faso, India, Southeast Asia, and Nigeria
• Alive & Thrive is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the governments of Canada and Ireland.

Program Summary

• The Nigeria A&T IYCF social and behavior change program focuses on improving rates of early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, timely introduction of complementary feeding, and minimum dietary diversity for infants over 6 months old
• A&T will work across the public, commercial/private, and NGO sectors to improve IYCF through A&T’s four components: advocacy, interpersonal communication and community mobilization, mass communication, and strategic use of data
• At the national level, A&T will predominantly work with its public, private/commercial, and NGO sector partners (Scaling Up Nutrition and other national IYCF initiatives) to improve the implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of key IYCF policies (Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes; maternity entitlements; work place policies; breastfeeding-friendly health care and delivery facilities)
• A&T will also work in two states—Lagos (metropolitan) and Kaduna (urban and rural)—to apply the four components to reach households, communities, and facilities with targeted, age-appropriate social and behavior change communication (SBCC) messaging on IYCF practices.
• A&T is scaling up proven interventions in Nigeria while generating new evidence by testing innovations. One of the innovations is the delivery of an IYCF counseling package for private health facilities.  In Nigeria, a substantial number of women attend ANC and delivery services in private facilities (e.g. 56% in Lagos state, DHS 2013), yet there is not a standard package of care provided by private practitioners. Young children are also brought to private facilities for treatment of illnesses but counseling on IYCF that can help recovery from illnesses is not a standard practice
• Therefore, A&T plans to document the feasibility of delivering a standardized package of IYCF counseling and support in private health facilities located in urban Lagos, with a focus on breastfeeding
• A separate external evaluation of this program will generate evidence on the impact of implementing the IYCF package on exclusive breastfeeding practices
• The final package of IYCF services is expected to be scaled up through the network of private health facilities and medical/nursing associations in Nigeria.

Essential Job Functions

• With supervision from the State Team Lead, provide technical oversight to Implementation Partner staff conducting the implementation research study and other project activities
• Coordinate and provide technical assistance to Research Assistants and assigned support staff as needed
• Provide TA to IYCF A&T sub-grantee in Lagos state to improve the quality of Implementation Research to track the inputs, processes, outputs, and outcomes of the supervisor - health care worker, community volunteer connection to the community and households. This may include TA to develop work plans, including suggesting indicators and proposing data collection strategies, activities, analysis and reporting formats.
• Provide input on the design and implementation of qualitative studies and quantitative surveys for IYCF, including sampling strategies, survey instruments, survey implementation, data analysis, report writing, and dissemination of results.
• Actively participate in designing and conducting short, focused evaluation exercises, operational research at designated sites, with topics determined in cooperation with public, private/commercial, and NGO sectors at national and/or state level; and A&T country office to shed light on operational issues concerning implementation research and overall project activities in Lagos state.
• Share data and lessons learned from these exercises with local, national, and regional partners to continue to build the knowledge base of IYCF.
• Keep abreast of international developments concerning Implementation Research strategies for IYCF programs and share state-of-the-art information, and approaches with A&T Nigeria and partners.
• Participate in various state working groups and task forces related to Implementation Research for IYCF and overall project activities.
• Other duties as assigned.

Required Skills and Qualifications
Education:

• Bachelor's Degree in Public Health, Nutrition, Demography, Statistics, or related field, with emphasis on quantitative analysis. Master’s preferred.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of IYCF Program and M&E experience in Nigeria (similar global experience may be acceptable) required with at least 1 year in a role providing technical input to a large-scale nutrition or public health/development project.
• Public health/nutrition field experience in designing, implementing, monitoring and reporting on various types of service delivery platforms (i.e. interpersonal communication, community mobilization and mass communication).
• Experience in analysis and interpretation of quantitative data, including experience drafting reports based on quantitative data
• Experience working with routine health facility and community reporting tools and the District Health Information system

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Knowledge of health and development programming in a developing country.
• Working knowledge of major donor policies (USAID, Global Fund) as well as international not-for-profit organizations.
• Proven ability to coordinate a multi-sectoral development project.
• Ability to organize systems to monitor administrative and implementation results.
• Basic budget tracking or financial management skills.
• Previous experience with website content development, success story writing, or social media a plus.
• Training and presentation skills would be an added advantage.
• Ability to work independently with initiative to manage high volume work flow.
• Cultural sensitivity and diplomacy.
• Excellent written, oral and interpersonal communication skills with ability to work as a team member.
• Ability to plan and prioritize own work under tight deadlines, as well as to work on own initiative and as a member of a team.
• Computer proficiency in Word, Excel, Internet and other relevant software.
• Ability to travel up to 50% of the time.
• Competency in survey design and implementation and experience in data analysis using Stata, SAS, EpiInfo, or SPSS strongly preferred.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English; fluency in Yoruba strongly preferred.

Remuneration
The following is a summary of fringe benefits provided by FHI 360 to eligible employees:

Core benefits:

• Comprehensive medical plans (PPOs)
• Dental insurance
• Vision coverage
• Group life and AD&D insurance
• Health savings account
• Long-term disability
• Medical and dependent care flexible spending accounts (FSAs)
• Dependent life insurance
• Business travel insurance
• Supplemental personal accident insurance
• Supplemental disability
• Life insurance
• Paid vacation, sick and parental leave
• 403(b) retirement plan
• Pension plan

Other benefits (will vary depending on work location):

• Public transportation program
• On-site fitness center
• Local credit union membership
• Health and wellness program
• Employee assistance program
• Qualified tuition programs (529 plans)
• Bicycle subsidy
• Legal assistance plan
• Pet insurance.