Program Officer 252 views0 applications

Position Title:            Program Officer                                           

Location:                    Harare

Program Summary

The Zimbabwe HIV Care and Treatment (ZHCT) Mechanism will increase the availability and quality of care and treatment services for persons living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA), primarily through non-governmental organization (NGO) channels that complement the public sector as part of the multi-sectoral response led by the Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ). ZHCT’s goal is twofold: 1) to increase the number of PLWHA accessing critical care and treatment services as close to their homes, schools and workplaces as possible; and 2) to ensure they remain in long-term care and treatment with the support of their families, peers,  neighbours and existing community health structures within a strengthened continuum of care.

Position Summary

Reporting to the Chief of Party (COP) and in close liaison with the Country Director (CD) the Program Officer is a position that provides tactical support to the program. Specific roles will include supporting the CD, COP and TD in the development, technical, administrative and financial management support and oversight for the ZHCT project. Organising and prioritising critical issues and required information to facilitate efficient decision making and contributing to technical efficacy

Duties and Responsibilities

• Acts as the communication arm for the CD, COP and TD with all parts of the project and relevant stakeholders.

• Monitors and advises COP on issues of compliance with USAID contract and organizational policies.

• Coordinates Technical team meetings, including drafting agendas and meeting minutes.

• Overseeing Senior Management Team and Technical meetings for the project.

• Maintains an effective electronic filing and retrieval systems for the technical team for the CD and ZHCT program.

• Provides program administrative support tasks, including creation, typing and editing of program correspondence, purchasing documents and program deliverables including presentations.

• Assists in developing and monitoring annual work plans and budgets, as well as associated deliverables and results/outputs.

• Prepares, coordinates reviews, edit, and disseminate project-related reports and documents,

• Coordinates the timely identification and addressing of program implementation challenges.

• Coordinates appropriate program monitoring, accurate financial and programmatic reporting to Country office.

• Provides technical support for all ZHCT district and Provincial staff and ensure compliance with technical, programmatic and financial requirements set by FHI360 and its funders.

• Assists the CD to prioritize his time and appointments, i.e. administrative support focusing on organizing and maintaining his calendar, ensuring prompt and orderly communications, setting up meetings and assisting the CD to prepare to participate or officiate at these meetings and leadership attention to critical issues.

• Support the Senior Program Officer (SPO) to assess inquiries directed to the CD (internal and external)/ COP, determine the proper course of action.

• Support the CD and COP to coordinate the SMT, ESARO and HQ and high-level USAID and Ministry staff, including drafting agendas and meeting minutes.

• Support the SPO to monitor shared platform activities to effectively respond to project support needs and that they are served efficiently, on issues of non-compliance.

• Drafts and shares correspondence on behalf of the CD.

• Assist the CO’s business development and diversification (BDD) activities with the SMT and ESARO and HQ BDD units. This includes drafting terms of reference for consultants and tracks BDD activities on behalf of the SMT.

• Works with and develops capacity of (as needed) Program Assistant on specific project management functions for projects. This includes, but not exhaustive to, weekly track project budgets, coordinate and monitor activities monthly with the finance teams, monthly cashflows, project-specific systematic filing system for easy retrieval of documents on SharePoint; and USAID DEC, and be the SPO CO’s point of contact for information on staff whereabouts, project activities, project calendars or schedules etc., as required by the CD.

• Works with the units to develop country office-based job descriptions, staff requisitions, consultant scope of work and terms of reference.

• Supports projects’ event planning for high-level events.

• Makes travel arrangements for the CD, including requisition generation.

• Provides management support to field staff focusing on  work plans, sub agreement amendments, periodic fund requests, review of MFRs/SFRs, and reporting.

• Develops and oversees execution of systems for initiation, implementation, monitoring, amendment and close out of all partner sub agreements.

• Leads the development, testing, application and evaluation of Program Management tools for the project.

• Working closely with the Contracts and Grants team, manages the design of sub grant activities as directed including the preparation of budgets, implementation schedules, modifications, AOR requests and evaluation criteria

• Ensures appropriate monitoring of sub grants to achieve financial, administrative, and programmatic goals.

• Supports the communications person in identifying, analyzing and disseminating best practices in the project through the identification of project learning sites and technical support.

• Remain informed on the current programs in the HIV/AIDS fields by review of current literature and is alert to any implication of such strategic information for project activities.

• Performs other duties as assigned.

Knowledge and Skills

• Demonstrated knowledge of strategic planning, administrative, and financial management systems.

• Skill in organizing resources, establishing priorities and ensuring successful implementation of HIV programs

• Knowledge of HIV/AIDS, health systems, decentralization of services and related issues.

• Contribute, coordinate and ensure the quality of monthly/quarterly reports

• Ability to coordinate and organize meetings and/or special events.

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills

• Ability to gather and analyze statistical data and generate reports

• Computer literacy is a must.

• Excellent report writing, oral communication and interpersonal skills.

• Ability to manage tight deadlines and deliver high volumes of work with minimal supervision.

• Ability to travel to implementation sites within the province a minimum of 30%

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree in social science or related field, and a minimum of 3-5 years relevant experience working on HIV related interventions

• Experience of HIV/AIDS program planning and implementation at the community, provincial and district levels working with NGO sectors is required

• Extensive knowledge of health and development programming in a developing country is preferred

• Knowledge of major donor policies (USAID) as well as international not-for- profit organizations is a must.

•  Experience in designing and implementing of public health/international development programs funded by US government or other international donors is a distinct advantage

This job posting summarizes the main duties of the job. It neither prescribes nor restricts the exact tasks that may be assigned to carry out these duties. This document should not be construed in any way to represent a contract of employment. Management reserves the right to review and revise this document at any time.

FHI 360 is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer whereby we do not engage in practices that discriminate against any person employed or seeking employment based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, marital status, physical or mental disability, protected Veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law.

FHI 360 fosters the strength and health of its workforce through a competitive benefits package, professional development and policies and programs that support a healthy work/life balance. Join our global workforce to make a positive difference for others — and yourself.

Please click here to continue searching FHI 360’s Career Portal.