Health & WASH Program Manager 565 views0 applications

Duration: 3 months

Reports to: Emergency Response Director

About RI: Relief International specializes in relief and development programs that benefit people in acute distress. A registered non-profit in the US, UK, France and Belgium, our work targets those fragile countries or communities that suffer from recurrent man-made or natural crises that impede human development. The people that we serve live in seventeen countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Asia where the debilitating effects of political instability, forced displacement, and natural disasters are pervasive. Often, RI is the only organization providing healthcare, education, logistics, energy, capacity building, economic development, sanitation, and many other forms of assistance to these highly vulnerable communities.

Position Summary: The Health & WASH Program Manager is responsible for overseeing all of RI’s health and WASH programs in SW/NW Cameroon. The Health & WASH PM will lead the design of all health and WASH programs, negotiate with donors throughout the program development process, lead on mobilisation and oversee project implementation, ensure quality assurance and timely monitoring and reporting. He/she will be key in driving the growth and expansion of RI’s health and WASH portfolio. This position requires an individual who is accustomed to the pace of first-phase emergency response programming, has experience in successfully leading a diverse team, does not require close supervision or direction, is flexible and highly responsive with a “can-do” attitude, and excels at building and strengthening relations with donors.

Position Responsibilities and Duties:

Program Management

· Overall supervision and successful implementation of health and WASH portfolio

· Kick start activities, which includes: hiring and training a team, procuring necessary program supplies, developing a spend-down plan and work-plan on the offset, and coordinating with other support departments for timely implementation.

· Directly manage program budgets, forecast procurements, and human resource needs and work with finance, HR, and operations to prevent gaps in services.

· Monitor program expenditures and regularly liaise with finance staff to address any spending issues

· Manage his or her teams to complete program goals on time and on budget

· Capacity building of his or her team members

· Evaluate activity progress and determine necessary actions to course correct in collaboration with team leader, technical leads, support departments and M&E.

· Represent RI, in coordination with the technical leads, at relevant stakeholder or coordination meetings, as needed, and maintain a positive, continuous and visible presence for RI

· Manage donor requirements for data collection and reporting

· Develop and establish a work plan for carrying out program deliverables and required activities

· Develop and maintain strategic relationships with local partners, donors, and vendors

· Spend significant time at field sites to ensure quality, where accessible

· Work constructively with support teams to ensure sound administrative practices with regards to record keeping, compliance with donor regulations, communications, etc.

· Organize and lead program kick off meetings, grant review meetings and grant closeout meetings and lead in the development and oversight of the RI Mobilization plan for the first few months of program implementation.

· Work closely with the Finance Team to ensure timely payment of health and WASH incentive-based workers and community volunteers

Program Development

· Lead or actively contribute to needs assessments in populations affected by the SW/NW to identify new program opportunities

· Stay up to date with all regional and country-specific response plans by the U.N., donors active in the relevant clusters, and other key actors, and ensure that RI activities and strategies are as closely aligned as possible

· Interface with the Global Support Office (GSO) Health and WASH Directors, as well as donors in Cameroon on all aspects of health and WASH portfolio

· Represent RI at the local, national, and regional levels, including attendance at high-level meetings, with clusters and working groups, and in donor meetings

· Lead health and WASH proposal development and expansion efforts in country

Program Quality: Health

• Oversee weekly training sessions for nurses and health staff conducted by RI’s CHW/Nurse Manager
• Provide remote management support to CHWs and nurses by establishing a system of regular supply/stock verification, and by building the capacity of staff delivering clinical care in inaccessible, hard-to-reach communities.
• Identify gaps and make adjustments to programming to ensure RI is meeting targets and being responsive to new health needs in the area.
• Establish strong links with community leaders and local authorities
• Improve the quality of primary health care (PHC) and reproductive health (RH) services delivered at supported facilities and via mobile health workers throughout through priority setting, on-the-job training, and continuous program monitoring
• Ensure the diagnosis and treatment of patients are based on standard procedures (national and international guidelines) and provide regular refresher trainings
• Ensure that community-based activities, such as EPI, nutrition screening, health education, and case tracing are properly conducted

Program Quality: WASH

• Conduct supervisory visits to field to ensure WASH construction and activities meet agreed standards and correspond to contracted work
• Oversee WASH data collection, ensuring pre- and post- sanitary surveys are conducted before/after latrine construction and borehole rehabilitation.
• Ensure proper documentation of construction works is collected and stored (e.g. GPS coordinates and photographs)
• Support WASH team through WASH and household non-food item (NFI) distributions, ensuring adequate volunteers are hired and risk management procedures are followed throughout distributions.
• Work with WASH engineers to ensure community feedback and inputs are continually incorporated into WASH activity planning and latrine designs.

Qualifications & requirements

This position demands a dynamic individual with a demonstrated ability to achieve results in a demanding and fast paced environment.

• Clinical degree or Master’s degree in public health or equivalent preferred.
• Experience in implementing emergency health programming and managing ‘remote’ activities
• Some experience in overseeing elements of integrated or stand-alone WASH programs
• Minimum 5 years of experience in health program management; at least 2 years of experience working with an international health NGO. Experience working in similar first phase emergency response contexts is desirable.
• A dynamic individual with a demonstrated ability to perform in a demanding, fast paced environment.
• Experience and ability to implement full project management cycle (proposal and logical framework, work plans, budget management, reporting, monitoring, evaluation and accountability)
• Substantive experience managing, supervising, and mentoring clinical or health staff.
• Ability to creatively solve complex and sudden clinical and / or medical logistics challenges with limited support.
• Takes initiative and ability to multi-task.

Relief International’s Values:

We uphold the Humanitarian Principles: humanity, neutrality, impartiality and operational independence. We affirmatively engage the most vulnerable communities.

We value:

· Inclusiveness

· Transparency and accountability

· Agility and innovation

· Collaboration

· Sustainability