ACSM Officer (Consultant) Kano at JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc

Duration: 6 Months

GENERAL INFORMATION:

JSI Research & Training Institute, Inc. (JSI) is a public health management consulting and research organization dedicated to improving the health of individuals and communities throughout the world. JSI is currently implementing the Routine Immunization Project. The project’s overarching goal is to strengthen routine immunization programs to 1) sustainably overcome the entrenched obstacles contributing to stagnating and declining immunization rates in the supported states, and 2) address the barriers to reaching zero-dose and under-immunized children with life-saving vaccines and other health services. 

The Project is providing technical assistance to support routine immunization strengthening in 9 states, applying a co-creation approach to improve equitable coverage with a focus on identifying, understanding, and reaching zero-dose and under-immunized children. 

ACSM is one of the key strategic objectives of the project, aimed at strengthening community trust, improving caregiver engagement, and ensuring operational reliability to close immunization equity gaps in underserved settlements. 

JSI Nigeria requires the services of a short-term consultant to support ACSM activities in Kano.

Position SUMMARY:

The State ACSM Officer (Consultant) will support implementation of advocacy and demand generation activities, ensuring alignment with JSI’s operational framework.

Scope of Work: 

The Consultant will be responsible for:

Advocacy & Stakeholder Engagement

• Lead state-level advocacy engagements with government agencies, traditional institutions, and community linkage structures to strengthen accountability and operational reliability.
• Build and sustain partnerships with influential state actors, professional associations, and community accountability structures to reinforce immunization equity and demand generation 
• Provide oversight in mapping and engaging community linkage and accountability structures for collaboration in identifying zero-dose/unimmunized children.
• Support the identification and documentation of success stories, and program progress.

Demand Generation & Community Mobilization

• Lead implementation of community mobilization activities at the last mile to strengthen JSI supported outreach vaccination teams.
• Support the pretesting, collation and deployment of community mobilization messages in local language across all ACSM related platforms and groups to the last mile.
• Promote gender-sensitive messaging that empowers mothers while engaging fathers and male community figures.
• Use infographics to simplify messages for caregivers
• Train and mentor mobilizers on community mobilization, interpersonal communication, and male engagement.

Operational Reliability

• Support outreach planning, especially in hard-to-reach or insecure areas.
• Ensure timely reconciliation of reports and community mobilization data.
• Monitor mobilizer performance, address or escalate bottlenecks and emerging challenges through consistent supervision.

Monitoring & Reporting

• Support the collection and collation of community mobilization data
• Provide weekly updates to the JSI Senior ACSM Advisor on outreach activities, caregiver feedback, and trust-building efforts.
• Use dashboards and infographics to simplify data for stakeholders.

Deliverables

• Detailed map of community linkage structures and accountability platforms in the state.
• Weekly reports/ updates on advocacy and mobilization activities.
• Weekly deployment of state approved community mobilization messages.
• Activity based reports within 5 working days post implementation
• Monthly reconciliation of community mobilization data.
• Documentation of caregiver engagement and trust-building outcomes.
• Human interest stories. Success stories. Case studies.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Public Health, Social Sciences, Communication, or related field (Master’s preferred).
• Native Hausa speaker with strong communication skills in Hausa and English.
• Resident in the state of assignment, with deep familiarity of local terrain and culture.
• Minimum of 8 years’ experience in advocacy, social mobilization, or community health programs.
• Proven ability to work with grassroots structures 
• Strong interpersonal communication background with experience in stakeholder engagement, strategic communication and capacity building.
• Competence in digital communication tools for mobilization.

Duration of Assignment: 6 months with possibility of extension based on performance and program needs.

JSI is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer committed to workplace diversity. We are committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all qualified applicants and employees without regard to age, race, color, national origin, ancestry, creed, religion, gender, disability, marital status, gender identity, sexual orientation, sexual preference, genetic information, political affiliation, or protected veteran status in an employment decisions. Women are encouraged to apply.