Community Mobilization Officer at Jhpiego - John Hopkins University

Locations: Niger and Ondo
Supervisor: TBD
Reports to: Malaria Technical Advisor
Slot: 2

Background

• Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria during pregnancy (IPTp) with sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine is one of the key interventions recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) for preventing malaria among pregnant women living in high malaria transmission countries including Nigeria.
• Despite the availability of this affordable intervention and medicines, a high proportion of pregnant women do not have access to them. Unitaid is funding Jhpiego - An Affiliate of Johns Hopkins University and her partners to implement a five- year project - "Transforming Intermittent preventive treatment of malaria for optimal pregnancy” (TIPTOP) in four African countries - Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); Madagascar; Mozambique and Nigeria. In Nigeria the project will be implemented in Ebonyi, Niger and Ondo States.

Overview

• Community Mobilization Officer needed to build capacity of facility-based personnel at the Local Government level for UNITAID project to expand access to preventive chemotherapy for pregnant women in Nigeria.
• This project aims to scale up an innovative, community- based approach to expand coverage of intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp), with quality assured sulfadoxine pyrimithimine (SP), for pregnant women.
• The Community mobilization Officer will mentor and build capacity of Community Health Workers (CHWs) on IPTp at the Local Government Area (LGA) level as well as supporting ANC providers on the most up to date guidance on IPTp.
• S/he will ensure adherence to antenatal care protocols for malaria case management and malaria in pregnancy (MIP).

Required Qualifications

• Minimum requirement of a B.Sc. degree in Social Science, but a degree in Medical Sociology or Masters in Public Health is preferable
• At least a minimum of 8 years’ experience applying and implementing malaria in pregnancy programs
• At least 5 years’ experience in implementing $10M per year in donor-funded projects and in the design and implementation of overseas health projects; preferably in the West AfrIcan countries
• Qualification as a “master trainer”; experience training health workers on clinical aspects related to malaria case management
• Experience building capacity at individual and organizational levels
• Skill in at least two or more of the following technical areas: strengthening service delivery programs, training, performance and quality improvement
• Experience with a mix of practical technical skills in malaria necessary for strengthening malaria service delivery at the LGA, clinic and community-level
• The ability to liaise with senior MON officials and dignitaries, executives of NOOn, FBOs, CBOs, the for-profit business community, and senior members of the donor community
• Demonstrate in-depth understanding of Nigeria healthcare system, particularly the public health system, experience living and working in Nigeria preferred
• Strong presentations skills in English preferred
• Familiarity with UNITAID, management and reporting procedures and systems
• Ability to work in a complex environment with multiple projects/tasks, short deadlines, competing deadlines and intense pressure to perform
• Appreciation for socio-cultural differences in countries, preferably having lived and worked in one or more low resource settings Ability to speak the local language and dialect of the people of project location as may be required in working with the community people and volunteers
• Awareness of, sensitivity to, and experience in working in multiple socio-economic settings and with multi-cultural staff and groups
• Ability to develop productive working relationships with counterparts in other agencies and organizations worldwide
• Ability to work effectively with diverse international teams
• Proficiency in word processing and Microsoft Office
• Fluent in written and spoken English
• Excellent facilitation, oral and written communications skills
• Ability to travel nationally.