State Community Services Advisor at Project Hope

The State Community Services Advisors will work at the State level and will be responsible for leading Community HIV Care and Support services to projects target population and provide technical assistance for community systems strengthening. S/He will provide oversight and ensure coordination of project CBOs and community resource persons engaged to deliver quality community HIV Care and support services.  In collaboration with the M&E and quality assurance team of the project, she/he will be engaged in improving data quality and quality improvement interventions related to community HIV care and support activities. Overall, this position will play a role supporting achievement of the “95-95-95” targets.

As technical lead on State-level community HIV Care and Support activities, S/He will:

• Coordinate with State, LGAs and Community stakeholders on Community Care and Support activities as required
• Provide oversight to project CBOs and community resource persons on implementation of HIV care and support activities including PMTCT, EID, OVC and AGYW programming
• Serve as the primary representative of project community mobilization activities within focus State and implementing LGAs
• Lead the development of State and CBO work plans, ensuring that targets are met and project outcomes are achieved
• Leverage support for Rapid Test Kits (RTKs) for testing from State and other stakeholders including private sector
• Liaise with relevant donor and government officials as required
• Work with health facilities to ensure the ART and PMTCT clinics are used as screening hub for WLHIV using Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA).
• Facilitate the optimization of maternal retesting to close gaps for missed opportunities.
• Strengthen referral mechanism for Community PMTCT, ART and OVC service delivery

Specific Responsibilities

• Liaise with the facility and community teams to strengthen tailored/differentiated community-based HIV care and support services
• Provide mentorship and supportive supervision for Community HIV care and support activities
• Facilitate the adoption of a cluster-based approach to facilitate HTS at TBA/Faith-based centers for all registered pregnant women.
• Build capacity of CBOs and Community resource persons to implement Community care and support activities (PMTCT, ART, OVC and AGYW)
• Support the coordination of OVC Case-management and case conferencing for project beneficiaries
• Support training facilitation of health care providers on cervical cancer prevention program and build the capacity of the health facility staff and service providers on cervical cancer screening, documentation, data collection and analysis.
• Provide oversight for effective referral systems and community facility linkages for HIV care and treatment services
• Build the capacity of health care workers and facilitate access of women living with HIV for cervical cancer screening
• Prepare monthly and quarterly reports of all activities & forward the same to Lead CSA
• Perform any other duty assigned by the Supervisor

Minimum Qualifications

• Minimum of bachelor’s degree in health or relevant social sciences and Master’s degree in Public Health
• Minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible, relevant experience working with communities on HIV care and support activities
• Minimum of three years of experience with PEPFAR-funded HIV projects (preferred)
• Demonstrated ability to design and implement strategies that employ evidence-based approaches to meet project targets, especially under rigorous timelines.
• Experience working and collaborating with diverse sets of stakeholders, including local partners, government officials, donor representatives, and CBOs

 Required Experience and Skills:

• The applicant must have 5 – 7 years of professional experience in an integrated HIV Care and treatment, PMTCT, Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment Program.
• Demonstrated experience with community based programs
• Familiarity with Nigerian public sector health systems and NGOs and CBOs is highly desirable
• Ability to work in a complex environment with multiple tasks, short deadline, and intense pressure to perform and timely target achievement is required for this position.