Senior Technical Advisor, Orphans & Vulnerable Children at Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria (Caritas Nigeria)

Summary of Role:

• The incumbent will be responsible for providing technical leadership for Caritas Nigeria’s OVC HIV prevention, care, and treatment program.
• S/he will be a key representative of Caritas Nigeria in technical and programmatic meetings on OVC issues and provide technical guidance and leadership to Head Office and State OVC teams.
• S/he will provide management oversight and leadership for the ACCESS project OVC program, responsible for states’ performance on assigned targets and deliverables.
• Additionally, the STA will collaborate with other Implementing Partners, GON, and other agencies to advance Caritas Nigeria’s goals for children and adolescents, develop innovative approaches and good practices to build the capacity of partners and stakeholders and support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable program results’/he will also be responsible for providing leadership and guidance for the project’s gender program.

Description of Roles & Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership and Oversight:

• Provide overall technical guidance and direction for the Orphans and Vulnerable Children’s program, ensuring the program meets agency and donor standards and priorities.
• Lead the design and dissemination of Caritas Nigeria’s comprehensive OVC program framework including program implementation toolkits and performance indicator framework.
• Provide high-quality technical assistance in the design and implementation of the OVC program and or interventions across all service areas and priorities.
• Conduct ongoing needs assessment and advice the team on program enhancement and realignment, based on routine analysis of program data and implementation science.
• Lead the development of the OVC sustainability plan, Stigma and discrimination policy, guidelines, and SOPs and ensure dissemination to partners to guide implementation.
• Deepen the use of HIV data by program and partners’ teams to analyze gaps in adherence, and viral load suppression to tailor intervention strategies and rapid course corrections

• Provide guidance and technical oversight to the OVC program to ensure systems are in place for the effective transition of beneficiaries, uninterrupted service provision to existing beneficiaries and enrolment of new beneficiaries to meet targets, based on specific donor requirements.
• Coordinate the development, finalization, updating, and continuous review of project work plans, MEAL plans and reports.
• Assist in Target setting for the OVC program partners and states s in close collaboration with Strategic Information,
• Contribute to the development of systems, processes, procedures, materials and tools to support the implementation of the OVC program.
• Support review, interpretation, and monitoring of monthly and quarterly technical reports.
• Lead and facilitate Annual and Quarterly work planning processes.
• Lead OVC program-related quality improvement activities, provide training and mentorship to implementation teams across target states; this may include developing standard operating procedures, implementation and QA/QI tools that can be adapted by the OVC teams.

Support the project in leveraging resources, identifying, establishing, and building relationships with vulnerable children serving government agencies, CSOs, and national and international organizations.

Quality Assurance and Quality Improvement:

• Coordinate routine Head Office-led monthly/quarterly meetings with states, including documentation, synthesis, and follow-up of action plans with responsible staff.
• Support development and/or adaptation of tools and conduct regular service quality assessments using national and donor-specific tools to ensure effective service delivery at a household level, proper documentation of beneficiary records, ensure SOPs and other tools available at the site level to guide programming and reporting.
• Conduct desk reviews, develop and disseminate best practice reports, including quarterly quality improvement reports, lessons learned and success stories.
• Develop standard operating procedures, implementation guidelines and program tools that can be adapted by state teams.
• Support the review of training materials, job aides and other tools.
• Coordinate and conduct regular check-in meetings for designated activities and projects

Business Development and Fundraising:

• Support the conceptualization of new OVC project proposals as part of Caritas Nigeria’s business development initiatives including technical analysis of requests for funding applications, development of design matters and program logic models in liaison with other technical teams.
• Contribute to the proactive pursuit of opportunities for new funding or leverage resources to ensure the growth of the OVC, Gender and Child Protection portfolio in line with Caritas Nigeria’s strategic priorities.
• Provide innovative and responsive technical direction including skills development to increase ACCESS Project OVC portfolio.
• Write and/or contribute to the development of funding proposals, concept notes, PowerPoint presentations and other technical materials as requested by the donors to ensure quality proposals in OVC Programming per agency and donor standards.
• Contribute to budgeting and staffing plans and activities for proposals
• Facilitate resource mobilization efforts of supported Community Based Organizations to ensure tangible outcomes.

Desired Qualifications and Experience:

• A postgraduate degree in Medicine or a master’s degree in Social Sciences or Public Health or Sociology or any other related field.
• At least 10 years relevant experience in OVC programming, familiarity with HIV prevention, care and treatment programming at an Implementing Partner’s level and a good understanding OVC treatment collaboration

Desired Knowledge, Skills & Attributes:

• Comprehensive knowledge of the health context and health system in Nigeria
• Understanding of PEPFAR OVC programming priorities, strategies, monitoring and evaluation tools and National OVC Management Information Systems and OVC Case Management.
• Ability to lead teams and promote cross-learning.
• Ability to handle confidential information with discretion and make reasoned judgments in a timely fashion, committing to a course of action without undue delay or prevarication.
• Experience in dealing with difficult and sensitive situations in a professional manner.
• Broad knowledge of Gender integration in HIV and OVC programs.
• Understanding of the PEPFAR OVC _preventive models
• Experience in sexual and reproductive health programming for adolescents.
• Knowledge of global best practices in pediatric HIV prevention and care and treatment.
• Good interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate and negotiate clearly and effectively at all levels, considering cultural and language difficulties.
• Willingness to travel regularly and in difficult circumstances.
• Leadership qualities and ability to create synergies where applicable.
• Ability to manage tight deadlines and deliver high volumes of work with minimal supervision.
• Demonstrated success in multicultural environments is required.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work as part of a team.
• Excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications such as MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Demonstrated expertise in building effective relationships with key stakeholders.
• Diplomatic; demonstrated experience in undertaking high-level policy dialogue with different stakeholders.