Career Jhpiego for Technical Advisor, Key Populations

Jhpiego, an Affiliate of Johns Hopkins University is implementing a 3-year Bill and Melinda Gates funded project in Nigeria and Kenya. The Nigeria project is being implemented in Nassarawa State. The project proposes to develop a group care model for ANC appropriate to the Nigerian contexts that will support the MOH to operationalize its guidelines and test whether this alternative model of ANC is more effective, feasible, and acceptable than the current standard of care at achieving better coverage and quality of ANC services.

The project is designed for high-volume government health facilities and will explore the opportunities and challenges of different settings (urban, pert-urban, and rural) to inform scale-up. The Group ANC study is designed to evaluate the effectiveness, acceptability and feasibility of Group ANC as compared to traditional ANC. This study introduces a group care model in two phases: – Improve the quality of facility based ANC, Increase retention in care and the use of key services during pregnancy, childbirth and the year following birth among women over the standard care available.


Job Title: Technical Advisor, Key Populations

Job Description
Overview:
The Key Populations Technical Advisor will provide technical and program oversight and direction in the areas of HIV prevention for key and vulnerable populations, including integration of MNCH and TB, for a CDC-funded HIV prevention, care and treatment (comprehensive services) project in Nigeria. It is anticipated that the position will be based in Abuja. Responsibilities will include providing leadership and technical guidance in the development and implementation of HIV prevention health activities and contributing to cross-cutting approaches, such as in-service and pre-service training, quality improvement and gender integration. This position 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. This position is contingent upon award. Nigerian nationals are strongly encouraged to apply.
Responsibilities:
·         Provide technical oversight, strategic direction and ensure appropriate support for the implementation of program activities in HIV prevention for key and vulnerable populations, including integration of TB/HIV services for co-infected patients.
·         Lead the design of structural interventions to prevent HIV among key populations, including those that address gender inequalities, stigma and discrimination and the legal rights and status of key populations, and economic barriers
·         Develop new/Review evidence-based clinical training materials, job aids, and curricula, supervisory systems and other training materials needed for implementation of the program to meet the needs of USAID and the Government of Nigeria
·         Provide mentoring and capacity building at the individual and organizational level in specific areas of expertise including but not limited to:
·         guiding the integration of HIV services with maternal and newborn health, family planning and TB
·         promoting and supporting couples counseling;
·         expanding community based HTC, task shifting and demand creation, especially aimed at key and vulnerable populations;
·         increasing the percentage of persons tested and counseled for HIV;
·         increasing knowledge and positive attitudes of community and health care providers toward HIV services to encourage counseling, testing and referrals;
·         increasing knowledge and positive attitudes of patients toward HIV services to expect counseling, testing and referrals;
·         increasing the number of HIV-infected adults with key and vulnerable populations who access CT services
·         facilitating the scale-up of routine, confidential CT services;
·         training lay counselors in household CT and deploying lay counselors in hard-to-reach areas;
·         formulating locally appropriate IEC/BCC strategies using a mix of effective communication channels, based on national models, templates, and standards based on local analyses;
·         liaising with local media organizations, telecommunications companies, and musical and artistic organizations in developing mass media;
·         guiding local implementation of IEC/BCC activities in both public and private sectors based on demonstrated good practices; and
·         supervising/supporting local NGOs in promoting community participation in HIV prevention for key and vulnerable populations as part of integrated community interventions.
·         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
·         Lead the formulation of approaches for scale up of key and vulnerable population HIV prevention services
·         Actively participate in all Technical Advisory Group Meetings, and represent Jhpiego in professional forums by participating and presenting in pertinent meetings and conferences, as well as technical working groups
·         Analyze potential key and vulnerable population HIV prevention strategies within the context of the program and explain these, as necessary, to policymakers, funding agencies, and/or program staff
·         Work with health care providers, local authorities, community members and program team members to identify clinical and community-based service delivery issues that impede access to care for key and vulnerable populations
·         Identify appropriate facility- and community-based strategies to address key and vulnerable population HIV prevention service delivery gaps
·         Identify clinical training needs and assist in the design and implementation of measures to address those needs
·         Advocate with national, district and community-level health institutions to raise awareness about their role in improving health outcomes in HIV prevention for key and vulnerable populations
·         Guide MOH, professional associations, other national stakeholders in the revision/development of evidenced-based standards for competency in HIV prevention for key and vulnerable populations
·         Mobilize international level clinical/technical expertise to resolve clinical issues that shape or effect local public policy or program design.
·         Contributes to strengthening the referral system.
·         Document and maintain an inventory of successful tools and approaches for HIV prevention for key and vulnerable populations
·         Contribute to the development of business proposals, technical reports and publications as they relate to HIV prevention for key and vulnerable populations
·         Author and co-author abstracts and presentations for journals and conference
·         Work with M&E staff to design, implement a plan to track data/results related to HIV prevention for key and vulnerable populations
Required Qualifications:
·         Degree in social sciences, health sciences, nursing required. Master’s degree in relevant field preferred
·         At least five (5) years’ experience applying community outreach approaches
·         At least five (5) years’ experience training community health workers and/or CBOs in HIV interventions for key and vulnerable populations
·         Experience building capacity at individual and organizational levels
·         Skilled in at least two or more of the following technical areas: strengthening service delivery programs, performance and quality improvement, psychosocial support, monitoring and evaluation
·         Demonstrated knowledge of gender inequalities, stigma, economic barriers, discrimination and the legal rights and status of key populations in Nigeria
·         Demonstrated in-depth understanding of the Nigeria healthcare system
·         Ability to liaise with MOH, NGOs, FBOs, and CBOs
·         Ability to coach, mentor and develop technical capacity in national programs and technical staff
·         Strong oral and written communication and presentations skills in English
·         Computer literacy including strong skills in word processing and Exce
·         Familiarity with CDC and PEPFAR administrative, management and reporting procedures and systems
·         Proven track record managing a project team and fostering team work
·         Ability to travel unrestricted within Nigeria and internationally
·         Nigerian nationals encouraged to apply

How to Apply

Click Here to Apply Online

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