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Job Title:    Health System Strengthening
Officer

Organization: Mercy
Corps

Duty Station:
Uganda

Reports to: HSS Team Leader

 

About US:

Mercy Corps has been
present in Uganda since 2006, focusing its interventions on economic and
agricultural development, maternal child health and nutrition, governance,
conflict management and humanitarian response. In 2017, Mercy Corps had an
impact on almost 1 million beneficiaries in Uganda through our work focusing on
building resilience and enabling economic growth, improving opportunities to
attain better health and nutrition, and improving governance and conflict
management. Common themes include community engagement, inclusive development,
gender, and working in partnership with local government, the private sector
and civil society actors.

 

Job Summary:  The primary focus of the Health System
Strengthening Officer (HSSO) will be to improve coordination of service
provision for food and nutrition security. The HSSO will implement and support
a program that improves the organizational performance of HC III and HC
II-level facilities with emphasis on the Health Unit Management Committees
(HUMC) which is in line with government standards and priorities. Support will
be strongly focused on the management of facilities, with less support on the
technical skills of facility staff. He/she will support nutrition governance
especially building the capacity of the sub county nutrition coordination
committees (SNCC) to budget, implement, monitor and document about nutrition
activities across all the district sectors. This will include a focus on
advocacy for accountability of health and nutrition resources and improving the
communication between the facility and the community it serves. This will be
achieved by strengthening the governance of HUMCs and SNNCs.. The HSSO will
work in coordination with the rest of MCHN team, District Implementation Team
and other MC team members.

 

Key Duties and
Responsibilities:

Program Performance
and Quality

·       
Work
with HSS Team Leader to identify gaps in regulatory compliance at the lower
health facilities, and design training initiatives depending on identified
gaps.

·       
Advocate
for oversight at district and sub-county level through continuous advocacy for
support to Health Unit Management Committees.

·       
Partner
with MoH to refine HUMC guidelines to simplify roles and responsibilities of
HUMC members and ensure that youth and women are represented.

·       
Support
mechanisms for targeted and age specific educational trainings around SHR to
VHTS to include a clear referral pathway for SGBV into the health system,
strengthen coordination mechanisms by HUMCS.

·       
Assist
the local government in the development of health facility capacity building
plan.

·       
Work
with HSS Team Leader to define, design, implement and monitor a health social
accountability platform.

·       
Recommend
program priorities and explore, evaluate and present new opportunities that
leverage impact and/or complement core program activities related to
governance, gender and social accountability.

·       
Collaborate
with district-level HUMC focal person to improve government led mentorship of
the committees, strengthen their understanding of roles, responsibilities and
community linkages.

·       
Offer
onsite technical support supervision to health facilities by supporting the
development and implementation of health facility capacity building strategies
for health centers that are 1) systemically targeted and 2) sustain impact
avoiding direct provision of materials/equipment to health facilities and
should reflect the priorities identified under the local government.

·       
Provide
technical and supervisory support to health staff and sub county staff while
implementing routine program activities like training and mentorship of health
and nutrition governance structures, Dialogue for Health (D4H) meetings,
learning visits among others.

Gender and Youth
Integration

·       
Ensure
that program activities apply gender equity and youth empowerment principles,
and meet the varying needs of men and boys; women and girls; and other
vulnerable groups

Monitoring and
evaluation:

·       
Under
guidance of HSS Team Leader take responsibility for district data gathering and
documentation of program activities.

·       
Comply
with M&E systems that will be established to measure program impacts and
desired results include writing most significant change stories.

·       
Analyze
project implementation strategies to identify constraints to program success
and provide timely recommendations.

·       
Submit
to the HSS Team Leader timely weekly, monthly, and quarterly report that will
be indicative of program progress during implementation.

·       
In
collaboration/consultation with MCHN Manager periodically supervise various
activities implemented on the ground by the partner.

·       
Where
needed support external evaluations by research partner Feinstein International
Center and other organizations. Documentation of key lessons learnt and sharing
with key stakeholders for improved service deliver

Representation and
Coordination

·       
Coordination
of activities with other NGO and government partners to avoid duplication of
services and support an enabling environment for health promotion and health systems
strengthening

·       
When
needed, support visits from district and sub-county government, regional and HQ
based staff and external visitors, such as donors and media, in collaboration
with HSS Team Leader, MCHN Manager and District Implementation Teams.

·       
Support
APOLOU activities with key stakeholders, ensuring collaboration with
counterparts in partner organization Save the Children in relevant meetings,
internal and external. Where needed support ongoing Apolou assessments in
development, gender, conflict and governance & facilitate the integration
of health related economic opportunities in all Apolou program objectives.

·       
Conduct
oneself professionally and with sensitivity, awareness and respect when working
with diverse groups of people, including Mercy Corps staffs, beneficiaries and
partner agencies. Adhere to Mercy Corps policies and procedures and any other
duties as assigned by the line manager

Coordination with
District Implementation Team

·       
Build
the capacity of the members of the implementation team on their particular
sector through orientations, one on one discussions and demonstrating in the
field.

·       
The
district implementation team after conducting a needs assessment will decide an
intervention to be layered. The district implementation team will require
support in developing a sector specific plan for a particular community. The
member of the technical team will support the district team to plan the
intervention that is related to the particular sector and purpose.

·       
The
district implementation team member will mobilize the extension service agents
which will go on to mobilize the community groups to provide the services to
conduct the activity in the field. The member of the technical team will
coordinate with the district implementation team to conduct the activities in
the field.

·       
The
technical team member will monitor the activities conducted in the field and
provide feedback to the technical extension service agents to improve the
quality of implementation of activities.

·       
The
technical team member will meet quarterly with the district implementation team
to review the activities conducted in the field and reflect with the team to
understand how the quality of implementation of activities would be improved.

·       
Collaborate
with the MEL team on the design and implementation of the Apolou CLA/Learning
Agenda

Ethics and
Integrity

·       
All
Mercy Corps staff are expected to behave ethically and demonstrate highest
integrity in their professional and personal life. Mercy Corps has zero
tolerance to any form of fraud, corruption, abuse, harassment or exploitation.
Any breach of our policies or misconduct will lead to disciplinary action or
may lead to termination

Security

·       
Ensure
data protection policies are adhered to, establishing security controls for
software, hardware and archive beneficiary databases

·       
Ensure
compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by country
leadership.

·       
Proactively
ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of
policies

 

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

·       
The
applicant for the Mercy Corps Health System Strengthening Officer job should
preferably hold a Bachelor’s degree in Public Health, Nursing or diploma in
related field.

·       
At least
two years of professional experience working with the government health system
is desirable.

·       
Experience
in delivering capacity building programs especially on organizational capacity
of health facilities and establishing support programs. Demonstrable writing
and analytical skills.

·       
Demonstrable
quantitative skills, including familiarity with financial accounting

·       
Proven
skills in networking, collaboration, community consultations and organizational
development

·       
Excellent
reporting, communication and representation skills

·       
Fluency
in Ngakarimojong desirable.

·       
Ability
to ride a motorcycle and he/she should be in possession of a valid
driving/riding license

·       
Proven
knowledge and capacity in using computer basic applications MS Word, Excel and
internet Intimate knowledge of.

·       
The
successful candidate is to innovatively and effectively further strengthen
HUMCs and increase their sustainability of which district level advocacy will
be the position’s main success factor.

·       
The
second success factor will be strengthening structures of governance at the
lower-level facilities through comprehensive mentoring, successful advocacy and
inclusion of national level gender guidelines. Lastly, success will be measured
by the degree to which he/she drives results, making critical decisions and
producing scheduled outputs at deadline and to expected quality.

 

How to Apply:

All candidates
should apply online at the link below.

 

Click
Here

 

Deadline: 27^th November 2020

 

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