Hours: Regular Full-time, 40 hours per week; Not Eligible for
Overtime
Location: Based in Gulu, Amuru, Pader, Omoro, Agago, Nwoya and
Lamwo Office with frequent travels to the field.
Salary: Commensurate with required experience and qualifications
Reports to: Cluster Manager
University Research Co., LLC (URC)
URC is a global company dedicated to improving the quality of health care, social services, and health education worldwide. With a non-profit affiliate, the Center for Human Services (CHS), URC manages projects in over 45 countries, including the United States.
Established in 1965, URC offers a range of technical assistance to strengthen health and social systems and service quality by empowering communities and health workers to identify and scale up locally appropriate solutions to critical problems. Internationally, we expand access to and improve the quality of services addressing maternal, newborn, and child health; infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria; reproductive health and family planning; food and nutrition; and vulnerable children and families. In the US, we focus on improving communication related to issues like substance abuse, with a particular focus on reaching underserved populations.
URC’s mission is to provide innovative, evidence-based solutions to health and social challenges worldwide. Please join us in carrying out our mission (http://www.urc-chs.com/).
Project Overview:
URC has implemented quality improvement and operations research programs in health care since 1981 and continues to be at the cutting edge of health care improvement work in countries around the world.
With the RHITES-N Acholi Project (Regional Health Integration to Enhance Services in Northern Uganda – Acholi), USAID will continue its support of the Government of Uganda’s (GOU) efforts to improve access to and use of health services in the country’s post-conflict northern region. RHITES-N Acholi Project activities will build on USAID investments and national advances to increase access to and use of high-quality integrated services that accelerate the ability and capacity to respond to the specific health needs of residents in the Acholi sub-region, leveraging the URC-ASSIST project successes.
Job Summary:
The Program Officer will lead the planning and implementation of the integrated family health program activities in the districts of support. She/he will coordinate with the family health team, Cluster manager and Technical Advisors to ensure that all technical guidance is incorporated into the district work plans to increase the availability, accessibility, and quality of integrated health services including maternal, neonatal and child health, family planning, Nutrition &WASH and other primary care services. She/he will work closely with the District Health Department to regularly assess the needs, adequately plan, timely implement and effectively monitor the execution of the project activities while ensuring adherence to available MOH set standards; and incorporating lessons learnt over time to improve systems and process for enhanced service delivery.
Roles and Responsibilities:
- Provides technical guidance and lead the implementation process of the integrated health program in the supported districts assigned.
- Improves the quality of and access to MNCH, Family Planning, and Nutrition services in project-supported sites by adopting and institutionalizing quality improvement and Site Improvement and Systems Monitoring (SIMS) approaches
- Assists in setting up and running special clinical services and track progress at individual sites through site visits and district reports, in collaboration with MOH and the RHITES-N, Acholi program team.
- Coordinates and participates in capacity building of district and site teams through organizing and conducting mentoring and coaching; CMEs and occasionally formal trainings.
- Provides technical guidance to the district teams for annual and quarterly work plan development
- Manages project finances and other resources related to implementation of activities in the assigned district in line with the Foundation finance guidelines.
- Prepare monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual programmatic district performance reports and their submission in stipulated deadlines
- Strengthens the quality of health services and data through supportive supervision and monitoring visit to the supported health facilities.
- Participate in process of data auditing and verification to assure internal consistency and validity of project activity monitoring data reported by all districts, through quarterly data verification and auditing visits.
- Facilitate the interpretation and use of M&E data, through the quarterly district level and facility level review meetings between the project, the district health team and health care workers; guide the identification of performance gaps and development of remedial actions.
- Assists in identifying, documenting, disseminating, and scaling up best practices in MNCH, Family Planning, and Nutrition
- Coordinates with the district health departmental leadership and other relevant implementing partners in the districts of support to ensure smooth implementation of project activities.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required:
- The qualified candidate will have a Diploma in related medical field, Degree in social science and/or a master’s degree in Public Health is added advantage with at least:
- 5 years of professional experience working in MNCH, Family Planning, and Nutrition programs.
- Hands-on knowledge and skills in designing, planning, implementing and monitoring Malaria, MNCH, family Planning and Nutrition programs.
- Good understanding of the quality improvement framework of MOH and quality improvement principles
- Good knowledge of the decentralized health system and community structures
- Practical experience in managing MNCH, FP, and Nutrition services at district levels.
- Sound understanding of current issues and developments in the field of MNCH, FP& Nutrition
- Strong skills in teamwork and networking.
- Excellent verbal communication and writing skills.
Please note: Only candidates who are eligible to work in Uganda for an indefinite period without a need for sponsorship will be considered for this position.
To Apply:
For immediate consideration, please visit URC’s Career Opportunities page at www.urc-chs.com/careers.
You must upload your CV/Résumé and your Cover Letter where indicated by 8th October 2021. Also, please complete your application form and attach a completed USAID Form 1420 Contractor Employee Biographical Data Sheet as well.
Due to the large number of inquiries we receive, only candidates who have met the required experience & qualifications for this position will be contacted. No phone calls please. However, since we are active around the world in the field of public health, we may wish to retain your CV in our database for other/future opportunities, unless you direct us otherwise. Thank you very much for your interest.
URC is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer.
We value and seek diversity in our workforce.