Senior 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 Senior Program Officer 1-Provider Behaviour Change Officer will work with technical guidance from the Senior Technical Adviser-PBC as a part of the Abuja technical team for provider-focused SBC interventions on the Breakthrough ACTION -Nigeria project.  S/he will have the primary responsibility for day-to-day coordination with state level Provider Behaviour Change officers, service delivery and government partners, the US HQ-based Senior Program Officer-Provider Behaviour and the Abuja technical teams.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Assist with close coordination, and collaboration with service delivery partners, government partners, and provider associations to drive and support SBC activities for providers in the all  health areas implemented by the project.
• Assist with representation at government and partner meetings and initiatives involving provider behaviour and related issues.
• Provide technical assistance to the state provider behaviour officers in implementing provider behavior change activities. This may take the form of training, mentorship, supervision visits and the facilitation of weekly coordination meetings.
• Assist to review and provide feedback on reports and other deliverables produced by the state teams.
• In collaboration with the Abuja technical team, identify problems affecting providers’ motivation, opportunity and ability to (a) adhere to service delivery guidelines and (b) provide quality interpersonal communication and counselling.
• Work closely with the Senior Technical Advisor-PBC to identify potential strategies, develop related implementation tools, and monitoring activities.
• Participate in weekly planning and monitoring calls
• Contribute to quarterly activity reports, success stories and annual work plans.
• 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.
• Fellowship of National Postgraduate Medical College or equivalent highly desirable.
• Minimum of 7 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)