SMC LGA Field Officer at Management Sciences For Health - MSH

MSH is currently a sub-recipient to Catholic Relief Services for the implementation of the Global Fund Malaria Grant (2021 to 2023) in Nigeria, which aims to implement and support malaria control activities in 11 states, including implementation of Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) in 2 states, Taraba and Katsina States.

The LGA Field Officer will support the implementation of SMC at the LGA/community levels by overseeing all aspects of SMC activities at the LGA, health facilities, and community levels. She/he is responsible for planning, implementation, and coordination with local government representatives and community-level stakeholders, as well as reporting. The LGA Field Officer will ensure quality implementation/delivery of SMC services by health facility workers (HFW)/supervisors and Community Drugs Distributors (CDDs) at the community level through the timely delivery of SMC commodities and supplies, provision of supportive supervision, training, and documentation of program activities. She/he provides supportive supervision and supports the training of the above actors and ensures respect of SMC administration protocols. She/he interacts with the state team and LGA management team, keeping them updated on the program progress and ensuring a high-quality SMC implementation.
The Officer shall have essential skills in the use of Microsoft Suite applications, drug/commodity supply management, M&E, and logistics and should be able to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences including LGA staff, HFW, and community leaders.
Due to the peculiarity of the roles of this position, only persons who are either indigenes or residents of Katsina/Taraba State and are not blacklisted by the Global Fund should apply.

Description of Services to be performed
Program implementation, treatment tracking, and management;

• Monitor the implementation of all SMC activities in assigned LGA, including timely implementation of the work plan, planning meetings, commodity distributions, community mobilization activities, supervision, and reporting.

• Ensure accountability of received commodities and supplies through tracking of consumption levels and review of reconciliation reports at the LGA level.

• Responsible for the coordination of capacity building for other field workers (Supervisors, HFW, CDDs, community mobilizers, etc) through training, on-the-job support, and quality supervision in assigned LGA.

• Track progress towards achievement of SMC targets in assigned LGA and ensure timely implementation of planned activities to meet targets.

• Review all reports from the LGA team and HFW for accuracy and completeness prior to submission to the state level.

• Manage stakeholder relationships with all partners involved in the implementation of SMC in assigned LGA.

Coordination and Representation;

• Responsible for overall planning and coordination of all LGA and community level activities in assigned LGA.

• Liaise with key partners including LGA administrators, State MOH, Community leaders, other stakeholders (as necessary).

• Attend data validation and review meetings at the LGA level and as directed by LGA Supervisor.

• Establish and maintain links with health and other nutrition services with special attention to referral cases.

Administrative and other Duties;

• Ensure the development of individual and team action plans to ensure role complementarities in achieving the set treatment target.

• Participate in the follow-up of supplies consumption.

• Overall planning of stock level, making sure they are sufficient for the operations at SMC sites.

• Ensure that all HF conduct a physical inventory of all SMC commodities supplied at the end of each cycle.

• Coordinate and oversee the overall collation of retirement documents for all activities conducted in their assigned LGA for submission to the state finance team

• Any other duties as assigned by the Line Manager.

Finance documentation

• Ensure all forms and documents are filled in correctly

• Review and collect payment supporting documents from field workers and vendors for submission to the LGA Supervisor

• Arrange and sort documents for ease of review and processing. (LGA per LGA, activities per activities)

• Confirm validity of payments documents received from participants (e.g Receipts, Hotel bills, attendance, Timesheets)

• Resolutions of issues and follow up with participants

• Coordinate and ensure movement of payment documents from Field/LGA to MSH state offices for processing

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Support data retrieval and review at the facility and LGA and monitor their entry into a database. Follow-up with sites for missing data

• Support all data quality improvement activities including data validation and Lot Quality Assurance survey

• Support coordination of meetings to promote learning, feedback, and adoption of best practices

• Keep track of availability and use of M&E tools at health facilities and LGA during SMC implementation.

• Support the State M&E Specialist in updating SMC databases and Performance Framework

Qualifications
Essential;

• Minimum ND or equivalent qualification. Clinical Officer, Nurse, Public Health, or other relevant qualifications.

• At least 2 years of field experience in a related field.

• Fluency in English, Hausa, and/or other local languages is required.

• Experience working in drug/commodity supply management, M&E, and logistics.

• Ability to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences including LGA staff, HFW, and community leaders.

• Experience in conducting quality supportive supervision and data use.

Desirable;

• A broad range of experience including logistics, training, and capacity building ability.

• Experience in managing teams.

• Experience of working at the LGA level.

Work-based Skills

Essential;

• Good planning and organizational skills.

• Basic computer skills particularly Microsoft Office and Excel.

• Flexible ability to work both as an individual and as a team member and under stress in what can be a harsh environment

Desirable;

• Ability to find solutions to complex problems in a challenging environment.

• Ability to speak and understand English Language.

• Previous experience in SMC implementation

Deliverables

• Support Planning and coordination of LGA level SMC activities – LGA level Microplanning, LGA level Training, LGA level MDA & EoC activities, Recruitment of LGA Level Personnel

• Coordinate and provide oversight for Workshop assistants assigned to support LGA level training

• Preparation of all LGA field activity reports, following collation from the LGA administrators, proving feedback on areas that need correction, and submission of the final hard copy report for assigned LGA to the Technical Manager after approval.

• Assist the MSH State Staff (M&E/CM/PSM) on data quality issues/queries and ensure identified issues are rectified in time.

• Ensure submission of End of Cycle (EoC) report, success stories, trip reports, etc.

• Collation and review of LGA level retirement documents as well as support finance/admin Adhoc assigned to LGA in ensuring timely review of payment documents for processing