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Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an International
non-governmental organization supporting relief and development
work in over 99 countries around the world. CRS programs assist
persons on the basis of need, regardless of creed, ethnicity or
nationality.
CRS works through local church and
non-church partners to implement its programs, therefore,
strengthening and building the capacity of these partner
organizations is fundamental to programs in every country in
which CRS operates. CRS re-established presence in Nigeria in
2000 and currently focuses on agriculture, HIV and health
extractives and governance, and peace building programming.
CRS is recruiting to fill the position of:
Job Title: Technical Advisor – HIV Prevention, Care
& Support
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Department: Programming
Reports To: Program Technical Director
Band: E-1
Project Background
CRS Nigeria leads the USAID-supported SMILE (Sustainable
Mechanisms for Improving Livelihoods and Household Empowerment)
consortium consisting of ActionAid Nigeria and Westat designed
to scale-up care and support services for orphans and
vulnerable children in FCT, Benue, Kogi, Edo, and Nasarawa by
strengthening the capacity of government, civil society
organizations (CSOs) and communities.
SMILE seeks to improve the wellbeing of 500,000 OVC and 125,000
caregivers and will be implemented through an umbrella grants
mechanism (UGM) whereby CSOs receive sub-grants to support
capacity strengthening and program implementation at the
community level.
The project will also strengthen the Nigerian Orphans and
Vulnerable Children (OVC) response by strengthening the
organizational systems and technical capacity of the five
SMWASDs and targeted Local Government Areas (LGA).The purpose
of this position is to coordinate the development and
implementation of technical program activities for community
based HIV Care and Support in the SMILE Program.
Under the direction of the Program Technical Director, s/he
will collaborate closely with the SMILE Senior Program managers
to foster an integrated and holistic community based response
to HIV/AIDS towards scaling up access to HIV prevention and
care services for vulnerable children and their caregivers.
General Function
- The Technical Advisor, HIV Prevention, Care and Support (TA
PCS) will be responsible for working closely with the SMILE
technical team to achieve the strategic objectives of the
program – focusing primarily on HIV prevention, Care &
Support but also supporting cross-cutting themes and
integration efforts across the project with other areas of OVC
programming including Household Economic Strengthening and
Nutrition.
- S/he will lead planning and capacity strengthening efforts
while putting in place operational strategies for achieving
project aims, results and performance expectations through
adherence to high standards of programmatic and management
quality.
Major Responsibilities
- S/he will provide technical and programmatic leadership
primarily in the areas of HIV prevention, Community based HIV
Care & Support for project beneficiaries affected by AIDS.
- S/he will be responsible for strengthening the linkages
between the community based care activities and health
facilities providing HIV care and treatment towards ensuring a
continuum of care.
- S/he will also support the strengthening of the capacity of
implementing CSOs in the area of HIV prevention awareness
creation, community mobilization for HIV counselling and
testing, PMTCT and Early Infant Diagnosis (EID), improving
referral and counter-referral systems between communities and
facilities.
- In addition S/he will support the implementation of
evidence-based interventions aimed at addressing HIV risk
behaviors, HIV transmission, and gender-based violence with a
focus on adolescent girls and young female caregivers.
- The TA PCS will utilize approaches that support integration
and maximize country and community-ownership.
Specific Responsibilities
Technical Leadership:
- Provide technical leadership for the development of
strategies for the design and implementation of HIV Prevention/
Care & Support activities by SMILE; ensure activities
improve access to HIV prevention and care services amongst
project beneficiaries and their caregivers.
- Direct CSOs towards overall technical quality – including
adherence to technical standards, best practices and donor
guidelines – for all HIV Prevention Care & Support
activities of the project.
- Ensure project activities are built on strong behavior
change principles, and builds the capacity of CSOs and relevant
GON staff in effective implementation and monitoring.
- Provide guidance for the liaison with USG and non-USG
funded projects and implementing partners providing and or
supporting HIV treatment services and fostering effective
working relations with these organizations towards achieving
the objective of creating an HIV-free generation in 2020.
- Develop/identify training modules and tools, and conduct
relevant trainings and workshops for CSO staff and GON in line
with identified capacity strengthening needs. Coordinate with
other USAID Implementing Partners with relevant experience and
training resources
- Identify technical support needs, develop scopes of work,
identify internal or external candidates, and monitor
TDYs/Consultants.
- Identify and build relationships with relevant private
sector partners, who can support project activities.
- Document and disseminate project efforts, achievements,
lessons learned and innovations within SMILE and to the larger
Nigerian and global technical community, as appropriate.
- Lead GON actors and CSOs in identifying and capitalizing on
leverage points for improved linkages and referral coordination
at the community level and for integration of HIV Prevention
Care & Support elements into other OVC areas project
activities and vice versa.
- Keep abreast of research and trends in effective behavior
change approaches HIV Prevention Care & Support and
engagement of Community Health Workers/Volunteers and ensure
project approaches remain in line with Quality Improvement
standards, evidence, best-practices and lessons learned.
- Ensure that project activities and approaches used by CSOs
are in line with relevant government policies; contribute to
the review, development and elaboration of new policies, as
appropriate.
- Identify opportunities for learning, formative, special
studies and operational research and work with M&E team,
SMILE technical team and external support (if needed) to
conduct research.
Project Design and Management:
- Contribute to the evaluation criteria for CSO expressions
of interest, concept notes and requests for applications.
- Develop the HIV Prevention, Care & Support components
of sub-recipient request for CSO applications; ensure
opportunities exist for integration with other aspects of the
SMILE program.
- Work with M&E team and other partners to develop
appropriate tools for monitoring and evaluation HIV Prevention
Care & Support including providing input into the design of
the baseline study, periodic annual reviews, and regular
monitoring tools.
- Monitor progress toward targets; identify and implement
approaches to overcome challenges.
- For HIV Prevention Care & Support, complete on time
required work planning, donor narrative reports, quarterly
reports and performance indicator tracking tables, baseline and
final evaluation reports and other reports needed/required by
the local government, donors, the region or headquarters.
- Travel to project targeted zones periodically to monitor
program activities and provide support to the SMILE team, CSO
staff, and relevant GON entities.
- Support the development of technically sound CSO proposals
that leverage existing materials and ensure an appropriate
behavior change communication strategy for priority HIV
Prevention Care & Support behaviors using existing change
agents.
- Oversee and ensure the successful implementation of HIV
Prevention Care & Support activities by CSO sub-grantees.
- Develop standard operating procedures for CSO implementing
HIV Prevention Care & Support consistent with the program
proposal, Nigerian OVC Service Delivery Standards, other GON
and evidence-based/promising approaches.
- Assure appropriate engagement with the formal and community
health systems and structures.
- Support the development of functional referral networks for
vulnerable groups.
- Use appropriate project management tools to plan, review
and track progress on implementation of HIV Prevention Care
& Support activities and use of project resources to
achieve expected results.
- Contribute to the development/update and monitoring of HIV
Prevention Care & Support indicators and tools particularly
those required by PEPFAR and the Nigerian OVC M&E Plan.
- Ensure the exchange of lessons learned and experiences and
promote coordination between SMILE sub-grantees, other donor
grantees and projects in the target States.
Representation:
- Represent the SMILE consortium in external technical
meetings, conferences and workshops related to HIV Prevention
Care & Support
- Participate on behalf of SMILE in strategic meetings with
USAID and GON.
- Liaise and coordinate with other HIV Prevention Care &
Support actors, including the government, the UN system, other
NGOs, learning institutions and civil society actors to promote
synergy, share lessons learned and avoid duplication.
- Link State, LGA, and CSO staff to relevant HIV Prevention
Care & Support technical and coordination forums.
Supervision and Mentoring:
- Support CSOs to develop appropriate job descriptions to
ensure staffing is appropriate for expected results.
- Ensure relevant GON entities have the knowledge, skills and
tools to provide technical oversight to CSO engaged in HIV
Prevention Care & Support interventions.
- Support CSOs and related GON entities to use quality
improvement science and methodology to enhance the quality of
HIV Prevention Care & Support interventions.
- Support the GON planning processes, particularly at the
state and local levels, HIV Prevention Care & Support as it
relates to vulnerable households.
- Provide regular supportive supervision to the CSO Care and
Support staff to ensure achievement of expected results.
- Support CSO staff professional development, including
identifying capacity building needs for CSO staff, providing
mentoring and training and linking staff to appropriate
external opportunities to in line with project needs.
Key Working Relationships:
- Internal: Chief of Party; Program Technical Director;
M&E Director; Grants Manager, Organizational Development
Director; other staff of SMILE
- These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding
principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his
or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.
- Serves With Integrity
- Models Stewardship
- Cultivates Constructive Relationships
- Promotes Learning
- External: SMILE Consortium team members; SMILE CSO
partners; USAID, Ministry of Health/Care and Support TWG; UGM
and LOPIN counterparts; UN and international community
representatives, and other stakeholders.
- Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)
Travel:
- Travel up to 50% of the time.
Qualifications and Skills
- MBBS/MD and/or MPH with a minimum of 5 years relevant
experience in implementing HIV Prevention, Care and Support
programs.
- Or BS/MA in a relevant health degree a plus a minimum of 7
years technical experience with community-level HIV prevention,
Care & Support programs.
- Experience with monitoring and evaluation and reporting
nutrition activities.
- Good knowledge of Government of Nigeria HIV Care and
Treatment guidelines (Paediatric & Adult)and experience
working with Ministry of Health and other relevant entities.
- Familiarity with OVC programming and principles.
- Excellent English oral and written communication skills
required.
- Excellent analytic, organizational and computer skills;
skilled in MS Office including Word, Excel, Outlook, and
PowerPoint. Experience with SharePoint a plus.
- Demonstrated ability to work effectively with government
and civil society partners and communities as well as transfer
knowledge to diverse audiences through workshops, training and
meetings using participatory methods and adult learning
principles.
- Proven leadership and inter-personal skills for effective
team work; as well as the ability to work independently on a
frequent basis, taking initiative, managing a variety of
activities concurrently, and delivering outputs on schedule.
- Demonstrated ability to support partners working at a
distance to achieve results against program objectives/targets.
- Successful experience in project design and proposal
development in the HIV/Health sector for USAID/PEPFAR
preferred.
Disclaimer Clause: This job description is not an exhaustive
list, rather it is intended to be indicative of the skills,
efforts, duties and responsibilities associated with the
position.
Method of Application
Interested candidates should:
"https://www.dropbox.com/s/2bp3tnxac2l56nj/CRS-%20Application%20Form.doc"
rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Click Here To Download
Application Form
Application form should be sent with their detailed resumes as
attached MS word documents to:
NG_HR@global.crs.org
"_blank">Click here to download Full Job Description
Here
Note:
- Only applications sent in the required format will be
considered.
- Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
- Qualified women are especially encouraged to apply.
- CRS does not accept any form of fees for recruitment.
- CRS is an equal – opportunity employer and does not
discriminate an the basis of race, color, region, etc.
Application Deadline Monday, 16th
March, 2015.