Health Systems Strengthening Officer – Kaabong (Open to Ugandan Nationals Only) 178 views0 applications

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible.
In disaster, in hardship, in more than 40 countries around the world, we partner to put bold solutions
into action — helping people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities from within.
Now, and for the future.

Program / Department Summary

In October 2017, Mercy Corps was awarded a 5 year USAID/ Food for Peace- funded program working in 4 districts in Karamoja, the Apolou Activity. The Activity has four purposes with cross cutting themes of gender and youth and resilience: 1) Inclusive and effective governance contributes to food and nutrition security, 2) Improved health and nutritional status of pregnant and lactating women, children under five, and adolescent girls, 3) Improved WASH conditions and 4) Adolescent girls, adolescent boys, women and men access diverse and secure livelihoods through improved capacities and strengthened market systems. Apolou is implemented by a consortium of actors led by Mercy Corps, including Save the Children, Whave Solutions, four local partners (KAPDA, AIDI, NARWOA and Riam Riam) and Tufts University’s Feinstein International Centre (FIC).

General Position Summary

The primary focus of the Health System Strengthening Officer (HSSO) will be to improve coordination of service provision for food and nutrition security. The HSSO will implement and support a program that improves the organizational performance of HC III and HC II-level facilities with emphasis on the Health Unit Management Committees (HUMC) which is in line with government standards and priorities. Support will be strongly focused on the management of facilities, with less support on the technical skills of facility staff. This will include a focus on advocacy for accountability of health resources and improving the communication between the facility and the community it serves. This will be achieved by strengthening the governance of HUMCs. The HSSO will work in coordination with the Senior Health System Strengthening Officer, MCHN manager and MCHN program team leads (Mother Care Group and Community Behavior Change) and all health staff working to achieve Apolou Purpose 2.

Essential Job Responsibilities

Program Implementation

● Work with HSS Senior Officer to identify gaps in regulatory compliance at the lower health facilities, and design training initiatives depending on identified gaps.

● Advocate for oversight at district and sub-county level through continuous advocacy for support to Health Unit Management Committees.

● Partner with MoH to refine HUMC guidelines to simplify roles and responsibilities of HUMC members and ensure that youth and women are represented.

● Support mechanisms for targeted and age specific educational trainings around SHR to VHTs to include a clear referral pathway for SGBV into the health system, strengthen coordination mechanisms by HUMCs.

● Assist the local government in the development of health facility capacity building plan.

● Work with Senior HSSO to define, design, implement and monitor a health social accountability platform.

● Recommend program priorities and explore, evaluate and present new opportunities that leverage impact and/or complement core program activities related to governance, gender and social accountability.

● Collaborate with district-level HUMC focal person to improve government led mentorship of the committees, strengthen their understanding of roles, responsibilities and community linkages.

● Offer onsite technical support supervision to health facilities by supporting the development and implementation of health facility capacity building strategies for health centers that are 1) systemically targeted and 2) sustain impact avoiding direct provision of materials/equipment to health facilities and should reflect the priorities identified under the local government.

Monitoring and Evaluation

● Under guidance of Senior HSSO take responsibility for district data gathering and documentation of program activities.

● Comply with M&E systems that will be established to measure program impacts and desired results include writing most significant change stories.

● Analyze project implementation strategies to identify constraints to program success and provide timely recommendations.

● Submit to the Senior HSSO timely weekly, monthly, and quarterly report that will be indicative of program progress during implementation.

● In collaboration/consultation with MCHN Manager and BCC Save staff periodically supervise various activities implemented on the ground by the partner.

● Where needed support external evaluations by research partner Feinstein International Center and other organizations.

● Documentation of key lessons learnt and sharing with key stakeholders for improved service delivery.

Influence and Representation

● Coordination of factivities with other NGO and government partners to avoid duplication of services and support an enabling environment for health promotion and health systems strengthening.

● When needed, support visits from district and sub-county government, regional and HQ based staff and external visitors, such as donors and media, in collaboration with MCHN Manager and DCoP.

● Support APOLOU activities with key stakeholders, ensuring collaboration with counterparts in partner organization Save the Children in relevant meetings, internal and external.

● Where needed support ongoing Apolou assessments in development, gender, conflict and governance & facilitate the integration of health related economic opportunities in all Apolou program objectives.

● Conduct oneself professionally and with sensitivity, awareness and respect when working with diverse groups of people, including Mercy Corps staffs, beneficiaries and partner agencies.

● Adhere to Mercy Corps policies and procedures and any other duties as assigned by the line manager

● Other duties as assigned

Security

● Ensure data protection policies are adhered to, establishing security controls for software, hardware and archive beneficiary databases.

Organizational Learning

● As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

Accountability to Beneficiaries

● Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Supervisory Responsibility

Health Systems Strengthening Officer

Accountability

Reports Directly to: Senior Health Systems Strengthening Officer

Works Directly with: MCHN Manager, CBC Manager, MGC Manager, Save the Children team, Purpose 1, 3 and 4 sector leads, MEL Manager, Advisor and officers, CBCAs, Gender Manager and Officers, DCoP, CoP, Economic Development and Governance Officers, Whave community development staff other Mercy Corps program, finance and operations staff

Ethics and Integrity

All Mercy Corps staff are expected to behave ethically and demonstrate highest integrity in their professional and personal life. Mercy Corps has zero tolerance to any form of fraud, corruption, abuse, harassment or exploitation. Any breach of our policies or misconduct will lead to disciplinary action or may lead to termination

Knowledge and Experience

● A Degree in Public Health, Nursing or a related field

● At least 3 years of professional experience working with the government health system is desirable.

● Experience in delivering capacity building programs especially on organizational capacity of health facilities and establishing support programs.

● Intimate knowledge of Uganda’s public health environment and strong familiarity with the publicly funded Health Center system, particularly in the context of rural areas like Karamoja.

● Demonstrable writing and analytical skills.

● Demonstrable quantitative skills, including familiarity with financial accounting

● Proven skills in networking, collaboration, community consultations and organizational development

● Excellent reporting, communication and representation skills

● Fluency in Nga’Karimojong desirable.

● Ability to ride a motorcycle and he/she should be in possession of a valid driving/riding license

● Proven knowledge and capacity in using computer basic applications MS Word, Excel and internet

Success Factors

The successful candidate is to innovatively and effectively further strengthen HUMCs and increase their sustainability of which district level advocacy will be the position’s main success factor. The second success factor will be strengthening structures of governance at the lower-level facilities through comprehensive mentoring, successful advocacy and inclusion of national level gender guidelines. Lastly, success will be measured by the degree to which he/she drives results, making critical decisions and producing scheduled outputs at deadline and to expected quality.