TAIS Child Survival Advisor

TAIS Child Survival Advisor
Basic Support for Institutionalizing Child Survival (BASICS)
Location: Timor-Leste
Last Date: May 28, 2008
Email: careers@basics.org

TAIS CHILD SURVIVAL ADVISOR JOB DESCRIPTION

Background
BASICS and IMMUNIZATIONbasics jointly implement TAIS (Timor-Leste Asisténsia Integradu Saúde or Timor-Leste Integrated Maternal and Child Health Care Project). Begun in mid-2005, TAIS provides technical support to the Ministry of Health to expand effective, proven newborn and child health interventions throughout Timor-Leste. Core interventions include malaria prevention and treatment, nutrition and micronutrient care, pneumonia prevention and treatment, diarrhea prevention and treatment IMCI (Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses) and ENA (Essential Nutrition Actions), essential newborn care (ENBC), and immunization for vaccine-preventable childhood diseases (EPI – Expanded Program for Immunization). TAIS works to build capacity at all levels in the Ministry of Health, but focuses primarily on improving services at the district, sub-district, and community levels.

TAIS implements two broad approaches: 1) a coverage and quality improvement process in three to six districts to strengthen services for child health across the continuum of care from homes to the referral-level hospitals and 2) establish a supportive supervision process for the key intervention areas of IMCI, EPI, and nutrition that will reach all 13 districts. In all its activities TAIS uses principles and methodologies that promote quality improvement and management as well as attention to the behavior change approaches.

Resident technical and management experts are based in Dili, from where they work with District Health Services, elected officials, community leaders, faith-based networks, NGOs, and others to raise awareness about the importance of newborn and child health interventions, support the delivery of regular child health services, and improve the capacity of health workers and community volunteers to reach those who are not currently being reached through the health care delivery system.

To assist in strengthening the health care system delivery, TAIS works with Ministry of Health colleagues in the Maternal and Child Health, Health Promotion, and Nutrition departments under the Directorate of Community Health to promote evidence-based policies and practices. TAIS works with the MOH through its technical working groups and in collaboration and coordination with all health sector partners—multilateral and bilateral, as well as NGOs.

Job Description
The Child Survival Advisor (CSA) will provide support to the COP for technical leadership and management oversight for the project. The CSA will play an essential role in coordinating and managing relations with partner organizations and institutions for TAIS’ technical interventions as well as overall project monitoring and evaluation and impact reporting. This individual will support and maintain systems for project operations, helping to ensure that all performance monitoring indicators are reported on and targets are achieved. The CSA will also be responsible to build capacity in TAIS staff and MOH counterparts in data use and simple database maintenance and manipulation. The CSA will deal with partner organizations and coordinate with USAID and other donors in specified aspects of project planning, monitoring, and execution.

The CSA will directly supervise two or three staff.

Responsibilities
*Contribute to the different child survival areas (IMCI, Essential Nutrition Actions, EPI, newborn, malaria).
*Provide strategic and operational insight to improving the MOH’s health care service delivery for children.
*Provide overall management and leadership to the monitoring and evaluation of program interventions as well as project performance measures.
*Build capacity of TAIS staff and MOH counterparts to manage small databases and analyze data from HMIS data collection and additional program or improvement processes.
*Ensure the systematic use of data for planning.
*Maintain effective communication channels with MOH counterparts and intervention sites.
*Oversee all documentation processes and product development in collaboration with headquarters (BASICS, IMMbasics, and USAID officers) and the TAIS COP – quarterly and annual reports as well as documentation of lessons learned.
*Assist the COP in coordinating work plan timelines, in collaboration with TAIS staff teams.
*Provide technical guidance to the TAIS staff members and some MOH counterparts to improve management and operational planning capacity.
*Ensure proper coordination and collaboration with partner projects and relevant USAID-funded projects and agencies.
*Provide technical guidance to the COP to improve client relations and sustainability of interventions.
*Maintain effective communication channels with MOH and USAID.
*Participate in monthly contract review meetings with the home office.
*Co-sign checks and bank transactions following BASICS policies and procedures.
*Represent and act on behalf of the COP and in partnership with the Finance and Administration Director, whenever this authority is delegated.

Qualifications
*Masters Degree (minimum) in Public Health, Health Administration, sociology or anthropology, Medicine, or other relevant health specialization.
*Minimum of 6 years of relevant international health experience.
*At least 3 years of senior project management experience in large international health projects/programs, including experience managing USAID-funded projects.
*Outstanding management skills and ability to lead and motivate multidisciplinary, multicultural teams.
*Experience developing and maintaining databases for program and project performance and tracking.
*Familiarity with district health team management and health management information systems.
*Demonstrated relevant experience focused on developing and managing quality-improvement programs in health care, in a decentralized system.
*Good training and/or facilitation skills.
*Experience in the geographic/cultural region of the project preferred.
*Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with USAID, ministry officials, and other development partners.
*Demonstrated, highly developed organizational skills for efficient use of time and other resources.
*Advanced skills in computer applications – particularly Microsoft Office professional, including ACCESS.
*Excellent communication skills both verbal and written.
*Fluency in English a must – desired Tetum or Bahasa Indonesia.
*Flexibility and able to work under pressure and in a frequently changing environment.

Reports To: TAIS Project Director
Interested individuals should send a cover letter and CV to careers@basics.org with the subject line TAIS Child Survival Advisor no later than May 28, 2008.