Senior Technical Specialist, Orphans & Vulnerable Children's Program at Catholic Caritas Foundation of Nigeria (Caritas Nigeria)

Location / Community: Umuahia, Abia
Job Category: OVC
Job Type: Full Time
Project: 4GATES PROGRAM
Program: Health

Program Background

• The Global Action Towards Epidemic control in Sub-national units in Nigeria (4GATES) program is a comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention, care, treatment program being implemented in Abia, Delta, Enugu and Imo States.
• It is a 5-year program (October 2017 to September 2022) implemented by Caritas Nigeria and its consortium partners; Catholic Relief Services (CRS), and Pro-Health International as the sole Implementing Partner for PEPFAR in these states.

Summary of Role

• Under the supervision of the Senior Technical Advisor, Orphans & Vulnerable Children’s Program, the successful candidate will be a member of the State Management Team and will primarily lead and supervise all OVC program activities across implementing entities.
• The successful candidate will articulate the priorities of the team to the SMT and cascade focus down through the Specialists, Officers, Associates and other staff to ensure efficient use of available resources towards achieving defined goals.
• S/he will ensure adherence to structured principles in the course of implementation of the Unit’s activities and provide required program reports within expected timelines to inform project planning, delivery and decision-making.
• The Senior Technical Specialist will build and sustain strategic relationships with key stakeholders and maintain an information flow to keep all stakeholders updated with project performance.
• The Senior Technical Specialist will serve as the 4GATES OVC program lead in the state.
• The incumbent will coordinate, supervise and provide support to the State OVC team in the implementation of the integrated OVC care and support program.
• S/he will help ensure that program quality standards and donor requirements are met.
• S/he will also provide technical assistance and training as appropriate to partners in order to ensure that high standards of program quality are established and maintained.

Description of Roles & Responsibilities

• Provide overall coordination and leadership for the OVC Team and CSO partners in the state to implement the 4GATES OVC program based on the project design and objectives.
• Facilitate a working environment of mutual trust, respect, and care among state project team. Encourage effective teamwork, with other 4GATES teams in the state and the CBOs.
• Act as primary contact for partner CBOs, strengthen partnerships and take responsibility for healthy and regular communication with partners.
• Coordinate support to partners based on identified gaps or requests from partners.
• Represent Caritas Nigeria at meetings with the State Ministry of Women Affairs, State Action Committee on AIDS, the State AIDS and STI Control Programs, other Implementing Partners and stakeholders.
• Conduct regular meetings to ensure issues are addressed and to encourage reflection on project progress and learning for improvement.
• Oversee the implementation of planned activities to ensure targets are achieved:
• Ensure that project activities are carried out in a timely manner per approved work plan, and that the project achieves results in line with its annual approved work plan as well as annual targets in each service area.
• Ensure each partner CBO has a clear weekly work-plan and that necessary resources are available for them to implement their responsibilities.
• Conduct monitoring visits to assess progress of project activities against targets and to provide coaching and direction for activities in areas where improvements are needed.
• Work with the Program Manager:
  • To support CBOs to develop annual budgets and agreements for every fiscal year.
  • Follow up to ensure that compliance issues raised during the liquidation process are closed.
  • Ensure that financial and programmatic reports are submitted on a timely basis.
  • Monitor CBOs budget spending closely and address issues of overspending or under spending as they arise.
  • Ensure partners remain in compliance with Caritas Nigeria and United States Government (USG) donor rules and regulations for management of resources.

Reporting & Supervision:

• The Senior Technical Specialist will report to the Senior Technical Advisor, OVC Program and the State Team Lead and work very closely with all Caritas Nigeria Program Area Leads, the Associate Director, Care & Treatment, the Business Official/Grants Manager, Program Director and the Chief of Party.

Additional Responsibilities:

• The Responsibilities (Above) are not all-inclusive. The employee will also perform other related tasks as required and will be responsible for reporting and communicating progress and achievement of the specific assigned tasks.

Desired Qualifications, Skills & Experience

• Master Degree in Public Health, or International Health or in Management or Social Sciences.
• Minimum of seven (7) years working experience in OVC Care and Support and at least four (4) years’ demonstrated experience in managing programs that address the needs of vulnerable children and adolescents, adolescents living with HIV, OVC, caregiver support, economic strengthening, child protection, violence against children, case management, early childhood development, OVC policy and advocacy.
• Experience and knowledge of ART Surge Response is a major requirement.
• Previous experience providing technical assistance and developing successful proposals for external donor funding is required.
• Demonstrated skills in project reporting, preferably for PEPFAR-funded OVC programs.
• Experience in business development, project design and proposal development in OVC programming, including technical writing.
• Experience in mentoring, coaching, facilitation and training applying adult learning principles and practices.
• Experience with OVC program monitoring and evaluation especially NOMIS, including applying data collection tools and methodologies, data analysis, and data presentation. Knowledge and practical skills in OVC care and support.
• Knowledge and understanding of pediatric home-based care, gender, stigma and discrimination.
• Demonstrated application of technical principles and concepts in OVC programming.
• General knowledge of other related disciplines to ensure proper cross-sectoral approach.
• Experience and skills in networking and relations with donors, peer organizations, and faith-based and civil society partners. Understanding of partnership principles.
• Proficient in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information and budget management systems, knowledge-sharing networks.
• Good verbal and written communication skills to manage project communications and disseminate project information are required.
• Demonstrated capacity to collaborate with colleagues, teams and partner organizations to achieve results.