The Health and Nutrition Officer will play a key role in coordinating, implementing, reporting, and monitoring the health and nutrition project in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and local stakeholders. This role carries significant responsibility for ensuring the timely delivery of results and effective project implementation and coordination with the county government, partners, and community stakeholders at the sub-county level to establish a coherent project model on the ground.
Key Areas of Accountability
Program Implementation and Delivery
- Ensure effective delivery of community-based health and nutrition interventions at community and facility levels in collaboration with Community Health Promoters (CHPs) and facility-level health care workers.
- Ensure the promotion of healthy behaviours and care-seeking through community radio and other community platforms.
- Ensure Capacity Enhancement for Frontline Health Providers and Community Health Promoters.
- Regularly report to the Health and Nutrition Coordinator with monthly field updates.
- Undertake regular analysis and use project/field data to improve project implementation strategies.
- Provide effective on-spot coaching to facility health workers and community health promoters to build their capacities for quality child health service delivery.
- Organize and roll out training for community health promoters, community health committees, religious leaders, mother-to-mother support groups, and facility health workers.
- Strengthen facility and community-based data review for decision making.
- Facilitate logistical support for project delivery implementations and supplies distribution.
- Generate evidence and develop project case studies and human stories to voice and showcase project impact and achievements.
- Contribute and actively participate in project review meetings and monthly Awards planning and review meetings (APRMs).
Capacity building of health workers for quality health service delivery
- Contribute to the development of training materials and tools.
- Co-facilitate project trainings for CHPs and health care workers – Helping Babies Survive, Community Scorecard, and other areas that address gaps in staff capacities.
- Provide operational and logistical support for the trainings at county and sub-county level.
- Liaise with the department of health and partner agencies in selecting participants for trainings.
- In collaboration with County Health Management Teams (CHMTs) and Sub-County Health Management Teams (SCHMTs), identify training gaps and participate in refresher training sessions, post-training follow-up, and on-job training/mentorships.
- In consultation with CHMTs and SCHMTs, plan for CHPs and community-based trainings.
Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL)
- Participate in the design, development, and implementation of an M&E framework for the project.
- Contribute to the planning and execution of baseline and endline surveys.
- Participate in data quality assessments in all project support health facilities and community units.
- Make regular field visits, and document such visits, to review and support the creation and strengthening of community-based structures and mechanisms needed for the process of social behaviour change, and to monitor project activities.
- Coordinate data analysis and review meetings on a quarterly basis at the sub-county level and provide technical support in the development of strategies to address the identified gaps.
- Submit reports to document the process of implementation, lessons learnt, and good practice and ensure information is widely disseminated.
- Prepare monthly activity reports as well as quarterly donor reports.
Supportive Supervision
- Jointly develop a comprehensive plan/checklist for supervision for the project-supported health facilities and community units.
- Coordinate supportive supervision to the project target sub-counties.
- Mentor the health facility in-charges and Community Health Assistants (CHAs) to ensure that they support and supervise facility-linked community units.
- Supervise and mentor CHPs / CHAs in promoting the uptake of community-level health services.
- Document and share feedback in a comprehensive and detailed manner to enable track trends on changes on a timely basis.
Advocacy, communication and social mobilization
- Contribute to the development of guidelines and social mobilization materials for Social Behaviour Change (SBC) plan delivery.
- Participate in community level program sensitization to ensure GESI (Gender Equality and Social Inclusion) is well incorporated.
- Train CHPs on key health messages to support community level social behaviour change activities.
- Train community leaders on community engagement and mobilization to strengthen their capacity to facilitate community dialogue on health promotion and early health-seeking behaviors.
Coordinate with the partners in implementing health activities at community level
- Coordination with relevant partners within and outside the health sector; come up with a comprehensive plan of activities within the identified areas of synergy with the actors working in the project thematic area.
Competencies
Leading
- Delivering Results
- Developing Self and Others
- Leading and Inspiring Others
Thinking
- Problem Solving and Decision Making
- Applying Technical Expertise
- Innovating and Adapting
Engaging
- Working Effectively with others
- Communicating with Impact
- Networking
Collaboration
- Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, and external partners and supporters.
- Values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength.
- Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.
Integrity
- Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity.
Qualifications and Experience
Essential:
- Bachelor degree in health sciences or equivalent.
- At least five years’ work experience in Reproductive Maternal, Newborn, Child & Adolescent Health (RMNCAH).
- Understanding of community engagement and community mobilisation strategies.
- Excellent understanding of Data Quality Assessments (DQAs) and Kenya Health Information System (KHIS).
- Experience of working with CHMTs and SCHMTs in a devolved system.
- Proven capacity to supervise, train and coach local staff and community workers.
- Experience in organizing and executing community level service interventions like outreaches, Community dialogues, community score card, and community health committees.
- Excellent communication skills and a willingness to be respectful, kind, sensitive and empathise with children and their carers.
- Willingness and capacity to be flexible and accommodating when faced with difficult and frustrating working conditions.
- Prepared to live and work in an uncertain security environment.
- Ability and willingness to frequently travel and stay at the field with limited social amenities.
- Strong report writing and computer skills.
- Fluent in written and spoken English and Kiswahili.
- Commitment to and understanding of Save the Children’s aims, values and principles.
Desirable:
- Experience in implementing child health intervention in hard-to-reach populations.
- Experience in rolling out social behaviour change strategy in vulnerable populations.
- Understanding the local language is an added advantage.
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