Project Summary:
Alive & Thrive is an initiative to save lives, prevent illness, and ensure healthy growth and development through improved breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices. In its first five years (2009 to 2014), A&T demonstrated that innovative approaches to improving feeding practices could be delivered with impact and at scale in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Viet Nam. Alive & Thrive continues its work there and is supporting others to scale up nutrition by applying and adapting tested, proven approaches and tools in Burkina Faso, India, Southeast Asia, and Nigeria. Alive & Thrive is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the governments of Canada and Ireland.
POSITION SUMMARY:
Under the supervision of the Kaduna/Lagos State Associate Director, and with input from the A&T technical team, the Program Officer performs functions related to planning, design, implementation, monitoring and reporting of activities for the Alive & Thrive Project in Nigeria.
PROGRAM SUMMARY:
The Nigeria A&T IYCF social and behavior change program focuses on improving rates of early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, timely introduction of complementary feeding, and minimum dietary diversity for infants over 6 months old. A&T will work across the public, commercial/private, and NGO sectors to improve IYCF through A&T’s four components: advocacy, interpersonal communication and community mobilization, mass communication, and strategic use of data. At the national level, A&T will predominantly work with its public, private/commercial, and NGO sector partners (Scaling Up Nutrition and other national IYCF initiatives) to improve the implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of key IYCF policies (Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes; maternity entitlements; work place policies; breastfeeding-friendly health care and delivery facilities). A&T will also work in two states—Lagos (metropolitan) and Kaduna (urban and rural)—to apply the four components to reach households, communities, and facilities with targeted, age-appropriate social and behavior change communication (SBCC) messaging on IYCF practices.
- Specifically in metropolitan Lagos, the Nigeria program (as an example only) might work with the State Primary Health Care Board, proprietary and patent medicine vendors, licensed traditional birth attendants, major public and private maternity centers, social franchise-oriented private organizations, faith- and community-based organizations, and related on-going projects to improve advocacy; interpersonal behavior change communication (counseling), and community mobilization efforts to reach pregnant women and new mothers; and use mass communication (through broadcast and digital channels) to further extend the reach of IYCF messages, provide follow-up counseling, and improve the social norm around IYCF practices.
- In rural and urban Kaduna, the Nigeria program (as an example only) might work with the State Ministry of Health, the Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria, the Market Women Association, and related health initiatives by the Dangote Foundation, USAID, Clinton Health Access Initiative, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Primary Health Care initiative to improve advocacy, interpersonal behavior change communication and community mobilization; and use mass communication (through broadcast and digital channels) to improve the social norm for IYCF among stakeholders and public and private frontline healthcare providers.
At both the national level and in the two states, while the emphasis will be to build the capacity of the public sector to improve IYCF practices, the involvement and resources from the private and commercial sectors will be pursued to advance IYCF policies, expand the promotion of positive social norms, and extend timed and age-appropriate behavior change messaging through private and commercial facilities to households and communities. Formative research will be conducted to further understand target populations and audiences (stakeholders, providers, beneficiaries), and monitoring systems will be established to ensure that program inputs, outputs, and outcomes are tracked and fed back into improving the program.
ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:
Duties and Responsibilities:
- Assist the State Associate Director in assuring effective planning, implementation and management of assigned projects for Alive & Thrive Nigeria.
- Assist the State Associate Director in strengthening systems for reporting on program progress against stated objectives and monitoring, according to Alive & Thrive and donor guidelines.
- Work with program staff to prepare, monitor, and revise A&T Nigeria work plans and budgets, strategies and sub-project documents, coordinating input from various technical and program staff.
- In coordination with finance and admin staff, develop and review activity budgets, procurement plans and tracking systems for A&T Nigeria activities.
- Provide content for project website, working with the program officer in Abuja and the communications team at headquarters to keep content current. This will include drafting content, interfacing with staff members to develop progress/success write-ups, sharing A&T Nigeria photos and even summaries as needed.
- Support the provision of programmatic assistance to A&T partners in implementing their sub-agreements, as needed.
- Remain informed on current programs and research in the health and development field; improve skills by working closely with technical specialists.
- Perform other duties as assigned.
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The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this job. They are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills, efforts, or working conditions associated with a job.
Knowledge, skills and abilities:
- Knowledge of health and development programming in a developing country.
- Working knowledge of major donor policies (USAID, Global Fund) as well as international not-for-profit organizations.
- Proven ability to coordinate a multi-sectoral development project.
- Ability to organize systems to monitor administrative and implementation results.
- Basic budget tracking or financial management skills.
- Previous experience with website content development, success story writing, or social media a plus.
- Training and presentation skills would be an added advantage.
- Ability to work independently with initiative to manage high volume work flow.
- Cultural sensitivity and diplomacy.
- Excellent written, oral and interpersonal communication skills with ability to work as a team member.
- Ability to plan and prioritize own work under tight deadlines, as well as to work on own initiative and as a member of a team.
- Computer proficiency in Word, Excel, Internet and other relevant software.
- Excellent written and oral communication skills in English; fluency in Hausa/Yoruba strongly preferred.
- Ability to travel up to 25% of the time.
Qualifications and requirements:
- BS/BA in public health, health sciences, behavioral sciences or its recognized equivalent with 5 – 7 years of relevant experience with international development programs.
- MS/MA degree in public health, health sciences, behavioral sciences or its recognized equivalent with 3 – 5 years’ relevant experience with international development programs strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated success in multicultural environments is an advantage.
Special Requirements: This job will require a criminal background check.
This job description 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.
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More Information
- Job City Kaduna, Lagos
