Senior Technical Advisor, Community Services

at Henry M. Jackson Foundation Medical Research International (HJFMRI)
Location Mbeya, Tanzania, United Republic of
Date Posted October 12, 2023
Category Management
NGO
Job Type Contract
Currency TZS

Description

JOB DETAILS:
Position Overview
The Senior Technical Advisor, Community Services will oversee all community services / activities of the HJFMRI Tanzania SHL Program, including but not limited to Community Based HIV and AIDS Services (CBHS), Gender Based Violence (GBV), Community HIV Testing Services (HTS), HIV prevention services, Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), Medically Assisted Treatment (MAT) and Determined-Resilient-Empowered- AIDS-Free- Mentored-and Safe (DREAMS) interventions and other related initiatives to enable bio-medical, behavioral and structural interventions implementation. The incumbent will liaise with the Ministry of Health (MoH), President Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG), local and national organizations, including faith-based organizations to facilitate the provision of quality services at the health facility level and in community settings. The position will capacitate partner organizations and HJFMRI staff to deliver highquality community services in the SHL Program supported regions. The position is based in Mbeya with frequent travels to Katavi, Rukwa, Songwe, Mbeya and Ruvuma regions to provide technical support and reports to the Program Director.

Main Roles and Responsibilities
• Oversee the day-to-day activities of the community department, including supervising, coaching, mentoring, and training the community services team to ensure they have the requisite skills to meet community deliverables.
• Collaborate with in-country partners in designing, implementing, and monitoring a strategic plan for the expansion of HIV community focused services in the Southern Highlands in line with the Tanzania Government bodies, MoH and PORALG directives.

• Coordinate service expansion and implementation with other aspects of the HJFMRI/MHRP Southern Highlands HIV Program as well as other USG and bilateral donors/partners active in the region, ensuring development of a comprehensive intervention program.
• Lead the planning of program activities and set high quality performance targets ensuring adherence to technical standards, best practices of PEPFAR and MoH guidelines.
• Provide guidance and technical support to partners in developing work plans; track progress on work plans; provide mitigations of challenges that arise during implementation.
• Use appropriate program management tools to plan, review and track progress on program implementation as well as on the utilization of program resources.
• Facilitate the development and monitoring of organizational partners and their staff through provision of resources and technical assistance.
• Assist partners in capacity building by establishing structures, tools, and mechanisms to improve services including enhanced data collection, analysis, and application of findings towards program planning.
• Liaise and consult with the relevant authorities, partner organizations, community leaders and beneficiaries in relation to planning, designing and implementation of HJFMRI and partner HIV prevention activities.
• Travel within the Southern Highlands program supported regions for the purpose of program management, technical assistance, continued service development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of service delivery.
• Work with partners to ensure collection of quality data within relevant areas of funding and the reporting of the data for semi-annual and annual submissions.
• Participate in the TWGs in areas of CBHS, GBV, DREAMS, PrEP, Prevention and HIV testing services to ensure programs are in line with the USG HIV/AIDS in-country strategy.
• Provide technical leadership in development of integrated, innovative, combination prevention strategies for key and vulnerable populations, their sexual partners and biological children.
• Assist in-country partners, Senior Technical and the Senior Management Team of HJFMRI/MHRP Program Tanzania in submission of annual/biannual funding requests for the continued support of prevention, care and treatment activities.
• Work with HJFMRI clinical teams and partners to design and integrate combination prevention interventions where appropriate.
• Initiate and design new initiatives that focus on HIV epidemic control.
• Provide technical leadership for HJFMRI/MHRP’s Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-Free, Mentored, and Safe (DREAMS) for adolescent girls and young women (AGYWs) and GBV interventions in HJFMRI/MHRP areas of coverage.
• Facilitate and lead the scale up of PrEP and HIV self-testing interventions.
• Provide leadership in provision and improvement of MAT services.
• In collaboration with the Regional and council technical teams, supervise the enrolment of eligible clients to PrEP and maintaining them on medication as per national guidelines across all supported sites.
• Facilitate and lead the Mwanaume Jitambue (MJ) Men’s initiative in Mbeya, Rukwa, Songwe and Katavi regions.
• Oversee the attachment of community service providers in high volume health facilities to facilitate linkage and enrolment of HIV positive clients into care and treatment services.
• Provide collaborative assistance to research sites that require the incumbent’s expertise.
• Develop and maintain good working relationships with other partners, government, and non- governmental organizations within the five regions.
• Collaborate with other HJFMRI/MHRP program teams and partners to ensure that there are strong retention measures for those clients enrolled into the program, identification of all clients Interrupted in Treatment (IIT), sharing the IIT list with community and facility stakeholders, including CBHS teams and Expert Clients.
• The incumbent will be required to lead the Community Services unit and encourage teamwork spirit.
• Provide technical assistance to other HJFMRI programs including clinical, lab and M&E as needed.
• Liaise with the M&E Department to ensure that the HIV prevention components are functional, which includes clarity of indicators, quality of M&E data collection tools, data quality and reporting.
• Facilitate and coordinate Quality Improvement activities/initiatives with the CQI team for community services performance improvement.
• Document, consolidate and disseminate knowledge and information regarding best practices, success stories, lessons learned, and proven approaches both within and outside of HJFMRI.
• Perform any other assignment or duties that may be required to support the general program.

Minimum Qualifications
• Doctor of Medicine degree (MD) required. Master’s degree in public health, gender, behavioral sciences, sociology, or equivalent preferred.
• At least eight (8) years of relevant Community Services experience related to Community Based HIV and AIDS Services (CBHS), community HIV Testing & linkage, GBV, PrEP, MAT, and DREAMS. At least 5 years of supervisory experience required.
• Experience in working with PEPFAR funded programs is a must.
• Experience working with CSOs in HIV/AIDS, KP, PP and AGYW advocacy, training, and institutional capacity building.
• Thorough knowledge and experience in Community Based Programs for HIV prevention and supportive care; Program management experience and training in international settings, in particular in a developing country.
• Ability to troubleshoot, work independently and supervise others.
• Diplomatic and culturally sensitive, enthusiastic for connecting with people of different backgrounds.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication and relationship skills, including flexibility, diplomacy, intercultural communicative competence, and respect for colleagues.
• Demonstrated ability to write technical documents and give state-of-the-art presentations.
• Willingness and ability to work overtime and on weekends.
• Analytical, problem solving and exceptional organizational skills.
• Large donor experience required; DoD, USAID, or CDC and experience working with international NGOs in a crosscultural setting preferred.
• Demonstrate high integrity and strong values, including confidentiality.
• Ability to build and maintain sound relationships with multi stakeholders; competence to build and effectively manage interpersonal relationships at all levels.
• Ability to multitask, successfully manage work pressure, with minimum supervision.
• Proficiency in MS Office applications.
• Ability to meet and communicate schedules and deadlines.
• Demonstrate exceptional professional judgment.

Applying Instructions

All applications (cover letter and updated CV with three professional referees, in PDF format) should be submitted to recruitment@wrp.or.tz not later than 13th October 2023. Hand-delivered applications shall not be accepted. To be considered, applicants must put the TITLE OF THE JOB in the SUBJECT LINE. As detailed in the job description(s) below, those who do not meet the minimum requirements will not be considered.

HJFMRI is an equal-opportunity Employer. Women are encouraged to Apply. 

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