Technical Malaria Specialist at Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Project Background

• CRS has a long and rich history of collaboration with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund). In Nigeria, CRS has been a Co-Principal Recipient (PR) for the Global Fund Malaria grant since January 2017.
• As a Co-PR, CRS partnered with the National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP), various state governments and malaria partners and stakeholders to coordinate and implement the 2017 Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) mass campaigns in 6 states. CRS also supervised and monitored an SR (Sub Recipient) and supported a range of malaria treatment and prevention services at the state level.
• For the 2018-2020 Global Fund Malaria grant, CRS remained a Co-PR with NMEP, strengthening the synergy and collaboration with NMEP to improve efficiency and impact. CRS worked closely with NMEP, Society for Family Health (SFH), Malaria Consortium, various state governments and other stakeholders to coordinate and implement the 2018-2020 Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) mass campaigns in 13 states. CRS provided oversight and ICT4D leadership for the ITNs campaigns and implemented directly in some of the states.
• In addition to SFH, CRS provided oversight to 2 other SRs (Management Sciences for Health and Malaria Consortium), in providing support to the 13 states supported by the Global Fund, for a range of malaria treatment and prevention services at the state level. These services included Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC) implemented by Malaria Consortium with oversight from CRS.
• For the 2021-2023 Global Fund Malaria grant, CRS will remain a Co-PR with NMEP and provide robust oversight to the 3 NGO SRs (Society for Family Health, Management Sciences for Health and Malaria Consortium). CRS will work closely with NMEP, 3 SRs and other partners, to scale up the implementation of life saving interventions and improve access to quality malaria services in the 13 GF supported states.
• These critical interventions include malaria treatment and prevention services such as Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention, ITN campaigns, Social and Behavior Change campaign, and testing and treatment interventions.

Job Summary

• The Technical Malaria Specialist (TMS) will support the Senior Program Manager (SPM) to provide oversight on the Quality of care for malaria case management, working closely with NMEP, SRs and other relevant stakeholders. S/he will monitor the implementation of Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention (SMC), Severe Malaria interventions, and community accountability on the GF Malaria grant.
• S/he will provide technical support to SR staff and liaise with stakeholders in Federal and State Ministries of Health to ensure adherence to national strategies and guidelines for malaria prevention, testing and treatment. In addition, s/he will track the implementation of grant activities as contained in the Detailed Implementation Plan (DIP), with emphasis on timely implementation, meeting targets and ensuring adherence to the approved budget and relevant guidelines.
• Also, support and conduct research focused on areas of public health, related to projects the team is working on.

Specific Job Responsibilities
Case Management:

• Work closely with NMEP and SRs to ensure improved quality of malaria case management practices (including but not limited to SMC and Severe Malaria)
• Work closely with NMEP, SMEPs and other relevant stakeholders in improving program quality
• Participate in Case Management Sub-committee and Malaria Technical Working group meetings with NMEP and partners
• Work closely with NMEP, SRs and CSOs to improve accountability on grant implementation
• Provide overall oversight roles to the SRs
• Under the supervision of the SPM, he/she will work closely with the SRs to implement Seasonal Malaria Chemoprevention in Katsina, Taraba, Kano, Kaduna, Niger and Jigawa states.
• Provide support in ensuring that SR program activities are implemented according to the approved work plan and budget, paying attention to agreed timelines.
• Participate in monitoring and supervision of grant activities implemented by the SRs, ensuring that activity reports are developed, and feedback provided to SRs
• Support in tracking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and other indicators on the grant

Budget Management:

• Support and participate in budget management activities (including but not limited to budget planning, financial reporting by SRs, forecasting and analysis of burn rates).
• Support and participate in reviewing actual financial performance against the budget for the various SR budgets and explain variances on a regular basis.
• Support and participate in activities to ensure sub-recipients remain in compliance with CRS and Global Fund donor rules and regulations for management of resources.
• Participate actively in the monthly CRS Budget Comparison Report (BCR)/budget review meetings

Partnership Management:

• Support the Senior Program Manager as the Case Management contact for CRS sub-recipients, including sharing new information and ensuring healthy relationships are maintained between the sub-recipients and the state governments
• Represent CRS at relevant meetings with other malaria partners as delegated by the SPM, DCoP or CoP.
• Carry out any other duties assigned by the supervisor

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL):

• With oversight from the SPM, collaborate and support the MEAL team to track progress towards relevant performance indicators, analyzing reasons for shortfalls and providing recommendations for improvement
• Provide support in the design and implementation of feedback mechanism for enhancing accountability on grant implementation
• In collaboration with other CRS and SRs staff, provide support and technical assistance to partners and other collaborating agencies to ensure that lessons learned and best practices for malaria programming are documented and disseminated
• Facilitate learning exchanges among SRs and between SRs and government ministries on malaria case management, and support quality improvement initiatives

Management and Administration:

• Support elaboration of Program Update/Disbursement Requests (PU/DR) in collaboration with other program staff
• Review SRs’ program reports and provide feedback on implementation progress and performance, identifying solutions to address challenges and weaknesses.
• Ensure implementation of activities in compliance with all CRS and Global Fund administrative and operational procedures and policies, as well as other applicable donor regulations

Other responsibilities include:

• Support and conduct research focused on areas of public health, related to projects the team is working on.
• Support and assist research on the use of digital health tools by public health officials in Nigerian health ministries, departments and agencies. This will involve some literature review, data analysis and data collection through interviews and other methods.
• Lead, support and assist the development of research papers and other research publications.
• Provide research assistance, as required.

Key Working Relationships:

• Internal: Global Fund Malaria Program Team, Deputy Country Representatives, Country Representative, Head of Operations, Finance, Procurement and Administration Staff, Regional and Senior Technical Advisors, Deputy Regional Directors for PQ and MQ
• External: Global Fund’s Fund Portfolio Manager and Nigeria Country Team, SRs, State Ministries of Health (SMOH), National Malaria Elimination Program (NMEP) within the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), Technical and Financial Partners, health facility workers, Local Fund Agent (LFA)
• Physical Requirements/Environment: Ability to travel frequently to the project sites in all GF supported states.

Basic Qualifications

• M.D / MBBS required with significant field experience in community-based and/or clinical malaria prevention, diagnosis, treatment, post graduate degree in public health or health management is an added advantage.
• At least 4 years of post NYSC relevant experience in public health with a strong preference for candidates with at least 3 years’ experience in malaria programming.
• Experience in malaria programming at the field level and providing technical assistance to partner organizations; knowledge and experience of programmatic and technical service delivery challenges highly desired.
• Ability to work both in a team and independently and ability to transfer knowledge through formal and informal training.
• Experience with, and a demonstrated commitment to, community-based approach to development.
• Experience with implementation of GF grant is a plus.
• Ability to interface with multiple stakeholders, representatives, and partners in a professional manner on an ongoing basis.
• Excellent analytical and information seeking skills, good decision-making skills.
• Experience with participatory planning and evaluation methods preferred.
• Must be familiar with and committed to gender equity in programming and management practices
• Strong inter-personal and public relations skills.
• Willingness and ability to travel regularly and at short notices.
• Excellent English language oral and written communication skills.
• Proficiency in MS Office, including Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):
These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Integrity
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation
• Builds Relationships
• Develops Talent
• Strategic Mindset
• Accountability & Stewardship.