Family Planning Advisor at Pathfinder International

Program Overview

Pathfinder is seeking a Senior Family Planning Advisor candidate for the USAID Integrated Health Program. This program is intended to contribute to state-level reductions in under-five mortality and maternal mortality, and to increase the capacity of health systems (public and/or private) to sustainably support quality primary health care services:

Position Purpose

The Sr. FP Advisor contributes to the global effort of Pathfinder International to improve the health and well-being of women, newborns and children through the promotion of healthy behaviors, increasing access to FP and RMNCH services, and fostering more gender equitable and RH supportive community norms. The FP Advisor will support the high-quality technical implementation of Pathfinder’s project.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide technical assistance to Federal, State and Local Governments to develop and roll-out a national FP and RMNCH Strategy and Guidelines.
• Support Federal, State and Local Governments to develop/finalize national training curricula for FP and RMNCH services, including adding content related to married adolescents, and coordinate national training of trainers.
• Provide technical assistance to Federal Ministry of Health in Nigeria to tailor national and community health worker strategies to reach young married women and their partners with FP and RMNCH information and services.
• Facilitate training of community-based distribution agents in healthy timing and spacing of pregnancy and effective communication and counselling around contraception and fertility for young women and their partners.
• Support facility refurbishment, commodity procurement and supply chain management.
• Develop guide for engaging male partners of young women via small groups and household visits using existing Pathfinder resources and other partner resources.
• Provide technical support to local partners to tailor community outreach strategies to address community norms around FP, RMNCH, gender, and fertility.
• Monitor implementation of activities and data collection by local partners and provide supportive supervision to improve quality of program activities.
• Maintain communication with Pathfinder Headquarter technical advisors to build skills in FP and RMNCH, discuss and address challenges, and ensure that Pathfinder resources and approaches are being applied throughout the project.
• Represent Pathfinder International in technical working groups, meetings, and other forums.
• Participate in project quarterly and annual review meetings as well as report writing.

Basic Requirements

• Master’s degree in health, population, demography, social sciences or related field is preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in implementation of FP and RMNCH programs tailored to women, newborns and children.
• Technical knowledge of contraception and gender and other FP and RMNCH issues facing young people, and particularly young married women and first time parents, in Nigeria.
• Proven ability to provide technical assistance and support to Federal, State and Local Governments and local partners in the areas of FP and RMNCH.
• Experience training health care providers, outreach workers, or peer educators.
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to think creatively and broadly to envision, create and implement a program.
• Client-focused, with the ability to facilitate strong working relationships between colleagues, donors, government officials and community members.
• Strong organizational and administrative skills; emphasis on priority setting and completion of simultaneous tasks.
• Computer literacy (Word) and email (Outlook) required.
• Fluency in English required.
• Ability and willingness to travel In-county.
• Familiarity with the political, social, economic and cultural context of working in Nigeria.