The Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN), a leading indigenous non-governmental organization implementing a comprehensive family-focused HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment program in partnership with local and international organizations and the different tiers of the Government of Nigeria at national, state, local and site levels, is facilitating the search for a FMOH NigeriaQual Support Officer to support the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health on the National Quality Improvement Program (NigeriaQual), which seeks to strengthen the capacity of local implementing partners, state multi-disciplinary planning teams and site Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Teams to integrate Quality Improvement (QI) activities into organization, financial and program planning activities, in addition to HIV care and treatment services.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Position: Senior Technical Officer LGA


Summary/Overview

• The STO will work closely with the State Team to ensure strong partnership and collaboration with Local Action Committee on AIDS (LACA), Local Government Area (LGA) Health Authority, Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) and Community Based Organizations (CBOs), program facilities, traditional/religious leaders and other relevant stakeholders to achieve massive scale up of HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT), Anti-retroviral Treatment (ART), and care and support in line with PEPFAR strategic goals.
• The STO will work closely with the State Team to ensure strong partnership and collaboration with Local Action Committee on AIDS (LACA), Local Government Area (LGA) Health Authority, Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) and Community Based Organizations (CBOs), program facilities, traditional/religious leaders and other relevant stakeholders to achieve massive scale up of HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT), Anti-retroviral Treatment (ART), and care and support in line with PEPFAR strategic goals.
• He/She will be responsible for strengthening referral linkages and feedback mechanisms between the various referral units within the facility and communities.
• The STO will work closely with the Quality Improvement Teams and Program Coordinators at assigned sites as well as other Regional Focal Persons to ensure timely trouble shooting of bottlenecks and effective comprehensive program implementation at scale up LGA.
• S/He will work closely with the Mobile Operations Unit, FBOs/CBOs and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Coordinators to implement functional referral/linkage systems at hubs and satellite spokes for prospective & existing clients.
• To ensure the highest standard of access to care, treatment & support services for all patients in care, the STO will actively initiate personal relationships with the above managers to establish a feedback process for all referrals.
• It is anticipated that the STO will be based at the program LGA and will spend his/her time at assigned facilities participating in clinic flow and patient access to care activities, community network creation, advocacy, community resource identification and service evaluation activities

Minimum Qualifications
The STO should have the following qualifications:

• Must have a Public Health or relevant masters with at least 7yrs experience in program management/coordination preferably in HIV programming, or a PHD with at least 4yrs experience in program management
• Experience working at local government level with local health authorities and CBOs and with State Ministry of Health is desirable.

Essential Skills:

• Must possess good program management experience
• Must have at least seven years working experience within both clinical and community activities (of which a minimum of three years managing/supervising an HIV community based program).
• Knowledgeable about care and support needs of PLHIVs
• Experience with establishing networks to facilitate access program deliverables
• Must be able to communicate effectively in English and the prevalent local dialect of the community
• Counseling experience
• Experience with clinical management of HIV, as well as community education, advocacy and mobilization skills
• Ability to work as a team-member and be able to function independently on the job whenever necessary
• Must be flexible to deal with both the changing needs of the health facility and patients in the community
• Must be someone who is committed to upholding confidentiality of HIV patients at all times
• Should be reliable, proactive and visionary
• Must be creative in program design/planning and implementation towards achieving set goals

Desirable:

• Social Work degree and experience are advantageous.
• Local knowledge of specified region/environs and services.

Essential Functions:
Provide technical assistance for sites to:

• Maintain close communication and coordination between HIV/TB DOTS referrals for other health needs and documentation
• Establish a data base of contact information of service providers for clinic use
• Ensure all pediatric clients, their siblings and other Orphans & Vulnerable Children (OVC) are assessed for care and support needs and promptly linked to community service providers
• Act as liaison for community resources for patients
• Initiate active/functional linkage for two-way client referrals for wrap-around services.
• Work with the clinic team to identify patient care strategies that optimize service delivery in a time efficient manner
• Initiate and coordinate regular (monthly) meetings with network of existing and prospective NGOs, CBOs, FBOs to encourage feedback on services and referral issues
• Develop effective tracking system for program coordination
• Conduct a comprehensive stakeholders analysis for effective program operations
• With support of PEPFAR Program Coordinator and Health Systems Strengthen (HSS), conduct a comprehensive NEEDS analysis
• Assess existing internal and external linkages and implement concrete strategies for strengthening them
• Create linkage points with other groups, e.g. Community People Living with HIV (PLHIV) Support Groups, TB/DOTS programs and primary health centers etc.
• Ensure timely client level documentation and program level reporting of all referrals done
• Developing an action plan for the site-based team and provide feedback to IHVN & hospital teams to inform strategic planning decision
• Participate in clinic team meetings and outreach activities and support group activities
• Mobilize community and support groups, by working with the religious, opinion and community leaders, volunteers, in order to gain support for community activities & linkages.
• Organizing monthly meetings with the members of the Program Implementation Unit and other community based teams
• Identify training needs for all Care & Support, NGO, and CBO staff and communicate staff training needs to facility team leaders and the IHVN team.
• Help teams target counseling activities for patients/family members within the community and follow-up activities on various topics.
• Establish a workable referral network system and ensure smooth linkages within the facility, between facilities, clinic, and community networks for seamless patient referrals.
• Ensure timely & effective defaulter tracking, documentation and appropriate referrals of patients.
• Provide Technical Assistance for efficient community service provision
• Participate in other activities as assigned by the PEPFAR Program Coordinator and Central Technical Leads.