Case Management and Referral Technical Specialists at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Background
4Children will implement a two year project focused on providing technical assistance to PEPFAR OVC implementing partners (IPs), Government of Nigeria entities and networks to graduate and transition OVC households and children from care and support. To support these efforts, the project will strengthen programming around sustainability planning, case management and referral of OVC and vulnerable households to health facilities, household economic strengthening activities parenting, and youth/adolescent girl programming, as well as supporting the development of a HIV-sensitive social service system.

Job Summary

• The Case Management and Referral System Technical Officer will support Case Management and Referral System Technical Advisor by providing training, accompaniment and technical support to PEPFAR OVC IPs focusing primarily on case management, but also referral networks.
• S/he will support IPs, particularly during the improvement collaborative to refine their approaches to case management. S/he will liaise with relevant government ministries and programs, schools of social work, and other programs and facilitate learning among IPs pertaining to case management, but also referral networks.
• The Case Management and Referral System Technical Officer will also undertake regular mentoring and visits to the field to review case files and provide supportive supervision of the CSOs with the IPs, documenting promising practices and promoting shared learnings across IPs and other actors.
• The Case Management and Referral System Technical Officer will report to the Case Management and Referral System Technical Advisor.

Specific Responsibilities

• Support the Case Management and Referral System Technical Advisor to identify successful case management and referral models within Nigeria, developing and providing training in relevant guidance, delivery mechanisms, and promising practices.
• Support the Case Management and Referral Technical Advisor to roll out and disseminate updated guidance, standard operating procedures and other job-aids to facilitate case management and referral at the household and community levels to health and social services.
• Conduct training needs and learning assessment for PEPFAR OVC IPs; co-facilitate trainings on case management and referrals.
• Support and accompany OVC IPs to operationalize trainings related to case management and referral networks for sustained linkages among providers.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of tools, approach and strategies that will strengthen case management and referral networks among SMWASDs, SACAs, PEPFAR OVC IPs, health facilities and their partner CSO/CBOs
• Support PEPFAR OVC IPs to oversee quality improvement initiatives and learning exchanges related to case management and referral networks among partners
• Facilitate learning among OVC IPs, government ministries and schools of social work on case management and referral systems.. 
• Support the Case Management and Referral System Technical Advisor to provide technical guidance to strengthen referral networks/mechanisms amongst social service providers and between social service providers and health facilities.
• In collaboration with PEPFAR OVC IPs, undertake regular mentoring and visits to the field to review case files and provide supportive supervision to the CSOs documenting promising practices and promoting shared learnings across IPs and other actors.
• Collaborate with the Case Management and Referral System Technical Advisors to develop and roll out procedures related to graduation and transition of OVC and their households as it pertains to case management, referrals and linkages.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):
These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results:

• Serves with Integrity
• Models Stewardship
• Cultivates Constructive Relationships
• Promotes Learning

Additional Competencies:
These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each Technical Advisor to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results:

• Sets clear goals and manages toward them
• Collaborates effectively with staff and stakeholders
• Manages financial resources with integrity
• Applies program quality standards to project design and organizational learning

MEAL Competencies:
These are rooted in CRS MEAL Policies and Procedures and used by each program staff to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results:

• Evaluation: Supporting project and program evaluations and reviews by ensuring the quality of evaluation methods, tools, and data and facilitating the use of evaluation results to inform decision-making and enhance learning.
• Learning: Promoting excellent knowledge management and collaborative learning processes at the project, program and institutional levels, generating robust evidence for project and programmatic learning that leads to action.
• Analysis and Critical Thinking: Engaging with data, challenging biases and assumptions, posing thoughtful questions, pursuing deeper understanding of evidence through reflection and perspective-taking, and making informed programming decisions.
• ICT for MEAL: Applying knowledge on information and communication technologies (ICT), both hardware and software, for opportune and accurate data collection, database management, conducting analyses, and making information easily accessible.

Supervisory Responsibility:

• None.

Key Working Relationships

• Internal: 4Children Core Leadership and Technical Advisors; 4Children Nigeria Technical and Zonal Staff; CRS Nigeria Programming, Finance, Procurement, and HR/Administration.
• External: Donors, 4Children consortium members, government ministries/institutions at the National, State and LGA levels, UN agencies, other PEPFAR implementers including UGM partners, LOPINS and all other PEPFAR OVC IPs, Child Protection and OVC Networks, CSOs, research institutions, and relevant private sector entities.

Personal Skills:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English
• Excellent organizational skills
• Strong analytical and negotiation skills.
• Strong interpersonal, cross-cultural and training/mentoring skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a team-oriented environment

Qualifications

• Advanced university degree required, preferably in social work or public health.
• Minimum three years of professional experience working on HIV care and treatment and/or OVC programming, including expertise in case management system and referral network design, assessment, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Minimum four years of professional experience working in both healthcare and community-based programming.
• Demonstrated ability to plan and deliver trainings.
• Familiarity with quality improvement science at the health facility and community levels.
• Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office suite, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook; familiarity with network analysis software a plus.

Travel:

• The Case Management and Referral Technical Officer will be expected to travel within Nigeria and potentially outside of Nigeria to attend conferences, workshops or other activities related to the project.