ILRI vacancy: community health worker

Vacancy Number: CHW/BIOTECH/03/11
Department: People, Animals and Their Zoonoses (PAZ)
Location: Busia District, Kenya
Duration: 1-year contract

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI): The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) works at the crossroads of livestock and poverty, bringing high-quality livestock science, communications and capacity building to bear on poverty reduction and sustainable development. ILRI is one of 15 centres supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). ILRI has campuses in Kenya (headquarters) and Ethiopia, with other offices located in other regions of Africa (Mali, Mozambique, and Nigeria) as well as in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka), Southeast Asia (Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam) and East Asia (China).

ILRI seeks to recruit a Community Health Worker to work within the project, People, Animals and Their Zoonoses (PAZ) which is based in Kenya’s Busia District, which sits on the country’s western border, with Uganda.

Responsibilities

• Represent the project with residents in the study area, and maintain good relations with participating study subjects;

• Assist the project clinical officer in undertaking clinical examinations of adults and children participating in the study and record clinical and questionnaire findings in electronic forms, according to project protocols;

• Take responsibility for labeling and securing samples taken from study subjects according to project protocols;

• Deliver samples to the laboratory staff at the project’s regional laboratory and process them according to project protocols for analysis (under the direction of senior project staff)

• Maintain records of the homes and animals visited using a digital data input device

• Take care of the project resources;

• Any other duties that may be assigned by the senior project staff;

• Willingness to spend sometimes long days in the field (returning daily to the central laboratory).

Skills and Qualifications

• Certificate or Diploma in Community Health and Development (or equivalent;

• Minimum 1 year (preferably at least 2 years) of field experience in community-based studies;

• Ability to work well in a multidisciplinary team;

• Ability to maintain good relations with the participating study subjects;

• Possess a valid driver’s license (preferable, but not required);

• Skilled at field preparation of blood and faecal samples for laboratory processing;

• Skilled at maintaining accurate records, including undertaking questionnaire-based surveys

• Ability to work with minimum supervision;

• Willingness to learn new field techniques where appropriate and conform to project protocols;

• Excellent communication skills and good command of English

• Fluency in any of the following: Bukusu, Teso, Luhya, Samia or Dholuo

• Some previous experience of working in a laboratory is desirable;

• Previous use of GPS for field mapping is desirable.

Terms of appointment: This is Nationally Recruited Staff (NRS) position based at Kenya’s Busia District and is on a 1 year Fixed term Salary and benefits will be in line with those provided within ILRI’s NRS scheme.

Job level and salary: This position is job level 1B and starting salary is KES.32,833.00. This is exclusive of other benefits provided by ILRI.

Applications: Applications addressed to the Human Resources Director, a cover letter, curriculum vitae and the names and addresses (including telephone and email) of three referees who are knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience should be emailed to: recruit-ilri-Ken@cgiar.org by 13th April 2011.

The position title and reference number “COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKER: CHW/BIOTECH/03/11” should be clearly marked on the subject line of the email applications. Only short listed candidates will be contacted.

To find more about ILRI, visit our Website at www.ilri.org

ILRI is an equal opportunity employer.