Program Officer - Provider Behaviour Change at Breakthrough ACTION

Background

Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria is a five-year, USAID-funded project. The goal of Breakthrough ACTION-Nigeria is to increase the practice of 17 priority individual and household level behaviours and five provider targeted behaviours in the areas of malaria; maternal, new-born, child health and nutrition; family planning and reproductive health (RH); and tuberculosis, while increasing the capacity of national and sub-national entities to coordinate and oversee quality social and behaviour change (SBC) programming.

The five provider priority behaviours are: adherence to national malaria case management (diagnosis and treatment) guidelines; adherence to national malaria in pregnancy guidelines; providing comprehensive, quality family planning counselling and services to all clients, regardless of age, marital status, religion, etc.; offering postpartum FP counselling and services as part of Postnatal Care appointments; and providing respectful maternity care (RMC).

Job Summary

The Provider Behaviour Change State Officer will work in close collaboration with the State Coordinator and with technical guidance from BA Senior Technical Adviser-PBC to implement provider-focused SBC interventions within the state. S/he will also ensure that BA provider behaviour change activities adhere to the state-specific priority provider behaviours and link to broader integrated program thematic areas.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Coordinate and collaborate closely with service delivery partners, government partners, and provider associations in the state to drive and support SBC activities for providers in the specific health area implemented in the state.
• Represent BA-N at relevant coordination meetings organized by the State Ministry of Health or partners.
• With the support of the Senior Technical Advisor for Provider Behaviour Change and the State Coordinator, drive the implementation of provider behaviour change activities in the state.
• Support providers via supportive supervision, mentoring and coaching. Identify issues affecting providers’ motivation, opportunity and ability to practice the above behaviours and develop tailored support plans in collaboration with the relevant authorities.
• Conduct advocacy visits to medical professional bodies and facilitate discussions to address barriers to providers’ behaviour change.
• Work with the State Coordinator to link provider behaviour change activities with community mobilization and mass media activities, and other SBC thematic are activities ongoing with the state as applicable. S/he will support other SBC activities intended to strengthen the relationships between facilities and communities.
• Facilitate interactive sessions with providers and supervisors especially at the LGA level.
• Provide technical guidance and identify unique opportunities and major events that can be leveraged for promoting provider behaviour change activities in each state.
• Participate in initiatives that apply human-centred design, behavioural economics and other methods for deepening stakeholder involvement, questioning assumptions, generating new insights, and testing new approaches.
• Develop activity budgets and travel plans and work closely with Abuja and field staff to ensure sound stewardship of project funds in compliance with donor (USAID) regulations.
• Assist and coordinate ongoing state level integrated program activities with other state team members as assigned.
• Assist with the development and writing of timely program reports on a quarterly and annual basis and disseminate program success stories, and other reporting duties as assigned.
• Other duties as assigned by the Project Director.

Minimum Qualifications & Competencies

• Degree in Medicine (MBBS, MBChB)
• Advanced university degree in public health and experience in any of the health area programme management highly desirable.
• Minimum of 5 years of work experience in public health programme development and implementation, particularly in Nigeria.
• Experience with SBC, especially programs with providers as target audiences highly desirable
• Fluency in written and spoken English required.
• Demonstrated ability to prioritize and meet deadlines in a high demand work environment
• Proven teamwork and facilitation skills
• Excellent writing and oral communication skills
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to work in a rapidly evolving environment
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc)

Note: Qualified female applicants are strongly encouraged to apply