Job Opportunity At Jhpiego- Capacity Building Specialist

About US:

Jhpiego is a US international non-profit health organization affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University. For over 40 years and in over 155 countries, Jhpiego has worked to prevent the needless deaths of women and their families. Jhpiego works with health experts, governments and community leaders to provide high quality healthcare to their people. Jhpiego also develops strategies to help countries care for themselves by training competent heath care workers, strengthening health systems and improving delivery of care.

Job Summary: The Capacity Building Specialist will provide technical and program oversight and direction in the areas of malaria prevention and treatment services for a USAID Uganda Malaria Action Program for Districts Activity. This Uganda PMI flagship program aims to centrally support the scale up of malaria prevention, diagnosis, and treatment within districts facilities in accordance with National Malaria Control Strategic Plan. The program operates in 47 districts in the Central, Mid-Western and West Nile regions. Responsibilities include providing leadership and technical guidance in the development and implementation of capacity building activities for malaria control and prevention under the leadership of the Senior Technical Advisor for Malaria and in coordination with other Jhpiego Technical Advisors. He/she will ensure the technical and methodological soundness of activities and, in collaboration with the project team and partners, support the design of service delivery strategies, based on sound and current scientific evidence.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Provide technical oversight, strategic direction and ensure appropriate support for the planning and implementation of program capacity building activities for malaria control and prevention at district level
Identify clinical training needs and assist in the design and implementation of measures to address those needs
Develop and implement a capacity building plan for local partners for malaria prevention and treatment
Collaborate with all local stakeholders and implementing partners, especially the Ministry of Health and other implementing partners, in order to ensure that all activities conform to the national requirements and regulations
Mobilize national level clinical/technical expertise to resolve clinical issues that affect local public policy or program design
Guide in development/review of evidence-based clinical training materials, job aids, and curricula, supervisory systems and other training materials and ensure their use for implementation of malaria control and prevention in line with the needs of USAID and the Government of Uganda
Provide mentoring and capacity building at the individual and organizational level in malaria control and prevention
Coordinate assessments, site strengthening, follow-up and supervision, advocacy, demand creation, policy support, capacity-building and M&E across program sites as required by program activities
Guide the integration of malaria services with maternal, newborn and child health, FP/RH, HIV and TB, and nutrition
Assist in sustaining and improving existing databases that monitor achievements in malaria control and prevention at district and contribute to regional and national level achievements
Advocate with national, regional, district and community-level health institutions to raise awareness about their role in improving health outcomes in malaria control and prevention
Develop and implement a capacity building plan for local NGOs, including but not limited to proposal development capacity, technical capacity, financial and administrative management capacity
Guide DHMTs, professional associations, other district stakeholders in the use of evidence-based standards for competency in malaria control and prevention
Lead “train the trainer” sessions, site strengthening, in-service and/or pre-service education, follow-up and supportive supervision to project-supported health facilities, as required by program activities
Work with health care providers, local authorities, community members and program team members to identify clinical, community-based service delivery issues that impede access to care
Identify appropriate facility- and community-based strategies to address service delivery gaps
Formulate and test sustainable solutions to service delivery gaps, utilizing cross-cutting approaches such as performance and quality improvement and in-service training/pre-service education
Contribute to development of the project strategic plan, work plan, and program monitoring, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health, USAID and other stakeholders
Contribute to policy support, capacity-building and M&E across program sites, in close coordination and collaboration with USAID, relevant ministries of health
Work with M&E staff to design, implement a plan to track data/results related to malaria control and prevention
Oversee data collection, analysis and development of conclusions and recommendations to further strengthen program implementation
Coordinate and monitor the efficiency and effectiveness of the work of short-term consultants as required

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

The ideal candidate for the Jhpiego Capacity Building Specialist job placement must hold a medical degree (doctor or nursing) or Master’s in Public Health or other relevant degree.
Seven years’ experience applying maternal, newborn and child health program activities.
Qualification as a “master trainer”; experience in training health workers in capacity building for malaria control and prevention or related health disciplines
Experience in curricula development for health personnel/ experience building capacity at individual and organizational levels
Skill in at least two or more of the following technical areas: strengthening service delivery programs, training, pre-service/in-service education, performance and quality improvement, monitoring and evaluation
Experience with a mix of practical technical skills in malaria program implementation necessary for strengthening malaria service delivery at the regional, national, clinical and community-level
The ability to liaise with senior MOH officials and dignitaries, executives of NGOs, FBOs, CBOs, the for-profit business community, and senior members of the donor community;
Demonstrated in-depth understanding of Ugandan healthcare system, particularly the public health system, experience living and working in Uganda preferred
Strong oral and written communication and presentations skills in English
Strong skills in word processing and Excel spread sheets
Familiarity with USAID or other USG administrative, management and reporting procedures and systems
Proven track record managing a project team composed of several technical experts and fostering team work and ability to coach, mentor and develop technical capacity in national programs and technical staff in the areas
Excellent written, presentation, communication and organizational skills in English
Ability to travel up to 50% time