Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent (MNCAH) Health Advisor at Save the Children Nigeria

Job ID: 190000DX
Location: Abuja
Employee Status: Fixed Term

Description

• Save the Children is looking for an experienced development professional to work within the Nigeria Country Programme
• This role will be critical for the delivery of results for children.

Child Safeguarding:

• Level 3- The responsibilities of the post may require the post holder to have regular contact with children or young people and, in the overseas context all posts are considered to be level 3 posts in view of potential situations which may allow staff unsupervised access to vulnerable children and young people.

Role Purpose
Breakthrough ACTION (BA) is a five-year cooperative agreement from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to lead USAID’s social and behavior change (SBC) programming around the world. Breakthrough ACTION/Nigeria (BA/N) focuses on malaria; maternal, newborn, and child health including nutrition (MNCH+N); family planning (FP); and tuberculosis (TB); and increasing the capacity of national and sub-national entities to coordinate and oversee quality SBC programming. BA/N will collaborate closely with the relevant USAID service delivery and commodities implementation partners from the outset to ensure seamless coordination between supply, demand, and quality of services.  BA/N will work at the national level and in 11 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Three states will implement an integrated SBC approach, seven states will implement a malaria-only SBC approach, and FCT will implement an FP-only SBC approach.
 
The Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (MNCAH) Advisor will provide technical leadership and advice to other programme staff on the Breakthrough-Action project, staff in the programme states and Ministry of Health officials at state and LGA level in the area of MNCAH. S/he is responsible for strategic planning, coordination and monitoring & evaluation of programme activities in relation to social and behaviour change for MNCAH and for supporting the state programme teams in strategic and operational planning and programme implementation. S/he works closely with the Community Health Director, the Sr. Advisors for MNCAH, Nutrition, and Community Health, and the Community Mobilization staff based in the field offices of Bauchi, Kebbi, and Sokoto.

Scope of Role

• Reports to: Head of Health
• Staff directly reporting to this post: None 
• Budget responsibility

Responsibilities
The MNCAH Advisor will:

• Take the lead in strategic planning, coordination and monitoring and evaluation of programme activities related to social and behaviour change for MNCAH under BA/N
• Write quarterly progress reports about the MNCAH component of the programme.
• Prepare and present presentations for review and planning meetings or any relevant programme dissemination events.
• Ensure that internationally agreed best knowledge and practice is brought into the programme.
• Provide mentoring and capacity-building for programme teams at state level and for implementing partners in relation to social and behaviour change for MNCAH.
• Support staff to prepare, implement, follow up and monitor plans for all training and capacity building efforts and to organise programme activities.
• Promote coordination among local stakeholders.
• Ensure that project activities are in line with the local law and international standards, laws, and policies, in all activities
• Ensure active collaboration, information sharing and joint meetings between the programme and local authorities and other stakeholders to identify and strengthen support for project activities and avoid duplication.

Skills and Behaviours (our Values in Practice)
Accountability:

• Holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves (and their team), takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages others to do the same
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• Future orientated, thinks strategically

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, members and external partners and supporters
• Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• Willing to take disciplined risks

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

Essential Skills Requirements

• At least 5 years of extensive experience implementing SBCC, health promotion, MNCAH or similar public health programmes in Nigeria
• Postgraduate qualification in Public Health, MNCAH, or a closely related field.
• In-depth knowledge and understanding of current evidence-based obstetric, paediatric and newborn care and internationally agreed global strategies and interventions for the reduction of maternal, child and newborn mortality and how to operationalize these
• In-depth knowledge of the state of the art of adolescent sexual and reproductive health programming, including best practices in social and behaviour change for adolescents and awareness of practices that are no longer considered “evidence-based” 
• Familiarity with existing national policies, guidelines and programs in the context of MNCAH in Nigeria
• Proven experience in SBCC strategy and materials development, implementation,  and monitoring & evaluation of SBCC interventions
• Experience in providing technical support to partners, particularly government at senior levels.
• Expertise in project leadership and management, including organizational development and staff management.
• Excellent reporting and analytical skills.
• Strong preference for Hausa speaker  
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and advocacy skills.
• Computer literate (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook)
• Ability to work in a team.
• Experience in quality assurance of MNCH services and in conducting maternal and perinatal death reviews (Audit) and Criterion Based Audit will be of added value.
• Willing and able to work in a challenging environment and have the ability to adapt to changing circumstances and to respond with flexibility and creativity.

Desirable Skills:

• Experience of working in Northern Nigeria will be of added value.  
• Experience in working with NGOs, CSOs, FBOs will be of added value.