JOB DESCRIPTION
TITLE: Senior Program Coordinator
PROGRAM/OFFICE RESPOND – West Africa
REPORTS TO: RESPOND Senior Technical Advisor for Capacity Development
Funding: This position is funded for 12 months from the date of hire.
EngenderHealth works to improve the health and well-being of people in the poorest communities of the world. We do this by sharing our expertise in sexual and reproductive health and transforming the quality of health care. We promote gender equity, advocate for sound practices and policies, and inspire people to assert their rights to better, healthier lives. Working in partnership with local organizations, we adapt our work in response to local needs.
Summary
The RESPOND Project:
The RESPOND Project—Responding to the Need for Family Planning through Expanded Contraceptive Choices and Program Services—is a five-year USAID/DC-funded Leader with Associates Cooperative Agreement that began in October 2008 and extends to 2013. RESPOND’s purpose is to provide support for high-quality family planning services, with a focus on the informed and voluntary use of long-acting and permanent methods of contraception (LA/PMs), and to provide global technical leadership to advance knowledge of and support for these services among leaders and program managers at the international, regional, and country levels. Kenya is one of twelve countries in four regions (in Africa and Asia) where RESPOND provides support for family planning programs through a mix of core and field support funds and Associate Awards.
RESPOND Project
Sr. Program Coordinator
Job Description
The IPPF Member Association Initiative to Strengthen Access to and use of
Long-Acting Methods (IUDs/Implants) of Family Planning
Background
Among contraceptive methods, LA/PMs are the most effective, and have the lowest discontinuation rates. They have great potential to respond to clients’ reproductive intentions, particularly to achieve healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies and/or to achieve desired family size. However, they remain underutilized for a variety of reasons, including lack of community awareness and support, provider biases, and clinical and health system challenges. This project provides specialized capacity to enable programs to address and overcome these issues for LA/PMs as well as to support the full range of family planning and other reproductive health services in a manner consistent with informed choice and client’s rights and with full attention to gender equity, quality and the fundamentals of care.
As part of its support to revitalizing and strengthening the provision of long-acting methods of family planning (IUDs and Implants) in West Africa, the RESPOND Project will provide technical assistance to selected IPPF Member Associations (MA) in West Africa to strengthen their capacity to program, manage and expand long-acting methods of contraception through their network of clinics. The priority countries for the RESPOND Initiative are within Francophone West Africa, including Benin, Cote D’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Mali.
RESPOND Support to strengthen capacity of IPPF Member Associations
1. Capacity Assessment: RESPOND will conduct a participatory capacity assessment exercise of the selected IPPF MAs which will examine their capacity to program, manage and expand long-acting methods of family planning within their network of clinics. The results of this capacity assessment will determine the focus of the regional workshop and the subsequent technical assistance strategy by RESPOND to support an uptake in the use of long-acting methods of family planning at the IPPF MAs clinics.
(–April - May 2011)
2. Regional Coordination: RESPOND will inform USAID Missions of its activities in support of IPPF MAs. RESPOND will coordinate its efforts in the sub-region with the USAID-funded AWARE II Project based in Accra. RESPOND will invite AWARE II staff to participate in regional workshops and, as appropriate, coordinate technical assistance to the MAs following the regional workshops.
RESPOND will also inform IPPF Regional Office of its progress in moving the Initiative forward including the organization of a regional workshop in the spring of 2011. The IPPF RO will explore their level of involvement and/or support with RESPOND for the regional Initiative.
(May - June 2011)
3. Regional Workshop Design/Planning: RESPOND will design a regional workshop to bring together MAs to initiate the process to strengthen their ability to program, manage and expand services for long-acting methods of family planning among their in-country clinics. RESPOND will provide international technical expertise and bring the latest contraceptive technology updates as well as state-of-the-art design and management approaches for increasing the use of long-acting family planning methods in West Africa. RESPOND will coordinate with individual MAs (including the host-country MA) in the planning and logistics of the workshop.
(June - August, 2011)
4. Regional Workshop: RESPOND will invite MAs to a Regional Capacity Building Workshop in West Africa to kick off the Initiative. The workshop will bring together technical and programmatic leaders from MAs to explore the latest technologies for planning, managing and expanding long-acting methods of family planning. Results of the individual country Capacity Assessments will also inform the design and content of the Workshop. By the end of the workshop, MAs will have developed action plans and RESPOND will have identified key points along the way to target its training and/or technical assistance support over the next 18 months.
(August – September, 2011)
5. Action Planning and Follow-up TA: RESPOND will support MAs to implement action plans to expand long-acting FP method programming. Support will consist of a variety of national, regional and distance capacity building approaches, including but not limited to:
• coaching and mentoring support for program design;
• training of trainers;
• training of clinical providers;
• organizing regional collective reflection meetings;
• providing technical resource updates;
• introducing planning, supervision and advocacy tools (e.g. COPE, Facilitative Supervision, Reality Check);
• providing distance email support;
• facilitating networking and coordination among long-acting FP method providers;
• on-the-job training
To ensure that capacity building efforts have the maximum impact, RESPOND support will be conducted in close consultation with individual MAs as well as with the AWARE II Project based in Accra. No support will be thrust upon any MA without joint planning and coordination. The capacity building efforts will be based on both the capacity assessments and the joint action planning that will take place during the Regional Workshop to kick-off the Initiative.
(August, 2011 – ongoing )
6. Monitoring and Evaluation: Current MA family planning service statistics will serve as an outcome baseline. Progress will be measured in terms of each MA’s performance in increasing access to family planning overall, and use of long-acting methods of family planning. It is anticipated that there will be an increase in the uptake of long-acting methods on a country level for each MA and that the percent share of the method mix held by long-acting methods may increase. Data collection will be done on a quarterly basis through existing MA reporting systems. In addition, in terms of capacity development, the initial capacity assessment will serve as a baseline for evaluating the Initiative. At the completion of the Initiative, participating MAs will be asked to complete the same capacity assessment to identify increases in human resources capacity (providers, counselors and outreach workers that begin to provide services or information to promote long-acting methods) and overall ability to program for long-acting methods.
Scope of Work
1. Act as point person in the sub-Region for this Initiative
2. Participate in the development of the workplan for the Initiative
3. Work closely and coordinate activities with RESPOND teams in Burkina Faso and Togo
4. Liaise with IPPF MAs in the sub-region to coordinate technical assistance being provided by RESPOND HQ
5. Organize and coordinate logistics for the Regional Workshop for IPPF MAs; participate in the design and planning for the Workshop
6. Ensure LA/PM capacity building activities (outlined during the Regional Workshop) are planned with the IPPF MAs and are implemented in a high quality and timely manner
7. Undertake site visits to prepare for training clinical training events
8. In consultation with RESPOND HQ, identify and engage senior consultants for technical assistance, and monitor their progress against consulting agreements.
9. Coordinate follow-up support (training and technical assistance) from RESPOND HQ to the IPPF MAs
10. Support the conduct of capacity assessments as needed
11. Collect data on technical assistance and training provided to IPPF MAs in the region as well as information on
12. Serve as resource for RESPOND Project in terms of revitalizing LA/PMs in the sub-region by providing access to information, attending meetings and conferences on reproductive health and family planning as needed
13. Serve as resource for RESPOND on new, Core-funded initiatives planned for the sub-region
Reporting
This position reports to the Sr. Technical Advisor for Capacity Development, based in New York. The position will also coordinate activities with the RESPOND Program Managers in Burkina Faso and Togo. Quarterly progress reports should be submitted on a timely basis, not later than 2 weeks following the end of the quarter.
Duration
May 1, 2011 – June 30, 2012
Location
This position will be based in Burkina Faso or Togo.
Qualifications:
Advanced degree in public health, international development, or related behavioral sciences
Minimum of 8 years’ experience in activities related to the design and implementation of development programs related to family planning and reproductive health
Demonstrated technical expertise in family planning programming, service delivery approaches and demand generation for improving reproductive health outcomes.
Experience with family planning programs, with an emphasis on long-acting and permanent methods of contraception
Knowledge and experience with IPPF structures and systems in West Africa
Knowledge of monitoring and evaluation of community-based programs
Experience in presenting findings, results and lessons learned to a variety of audiences
Willingness to travel within the sub-region 40% of the time.
Experience with USAID-funded programs preferred
Excellent writing and communication skills and abilities
Advanced fluency in French required, English preferred
To apply for this role, please visit our website at www.engenderhealth and click on the careers link. Then click on West Africa to locate the position.
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