Project Coordinator Job in Kenya - Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA)

Job Title: Project Coordinator, Deworm the World Initiative

Start Date: As soon as possible

Location: IPA-Kenya Nairobi Office

Reporting To: Regional Director, Deworm the World Initiative

Introduction

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) is a rapidly growing, global non-profit organization with operations in over 40 countries. We are dedicated to discovering what works to help the world’s poor. We design and evaluate programs in real contexts with real people and provide hands-on assistance to bring successful programs to scale.

IPA-Kenya (IPAK) is IPA’s oldest and largest country office and the site of many of its most influential research projects. IPAK is also the site of IPA’s largest scale-up initiatives including Kenya’s National School-Based Deworming Programme and Safe Water Programme.

The IPA-Kenya office was established in 2006 in Western Kenya and now employs over 200 people.

About School-based Deworming

Parasitic worms are a widespread global problem, affecting an estimated 400-million school-age children.

These infections have immediate and long-term negative impacts on children’s health, mental and physical development, education, and adult earnings. Leading researchers have demonstrated that deworming through schools is one of the most cost-effective methods of increasing overall school attendance and participation.

Our Scale-up Efforts

The Deworm the World Initiative (DtWI), led by Innovations for Poverty Action and the Partnership for Child Development, actively supports the scale-up of school-based deworming programs worldwide to improve children’s health, education, and long-term development.

To date, DtWI has helped to treat 35 million children across 27 countries. Roughly half of these children were treated through the scale-up of brand new programs for which DtWI provided advocacy and/or in-depth technical assistance to plan, implement and evaluate.

The Kenya program is a flagship program of the Initiative.

Role Description

The Deworm the World Initiative seeks a qualified applicant for the position of Project Coordinator for the National School-based Deworming Program in Kenya.

The Project Coordinator is part of a small, high-level team responsible for providing support to Kenyan government officials to scale a successful school-based deworming program to the national level.

The program aims to provide deworming medication to over five million children in Kenya in 2012, and every year thereafter for five years. The Deworm the World team and the Kenyan government will accomplish this task by initiating a training and drug distribution cascade that will ultimately train teachers to deliver deworming medication through Kenyan schools.

The program will operate in four provinces, 66 districts, and approximately 10,000 schools.

There is a significant monitoring and evaluation component to this program.

The along with other staff, the Project Coordinator will support the government in developing and bringing to fruition a national school based deworming program reaching 5 million children.

The Project Coordinator will help the team achieve program goals by working with policymakers from Kenya’s Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health, experts at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, district level government officials, and partner organizations.

The Project Coordinator will also take a role in other activities necessary to reach the scale intended for this program.

This could include coordinating directly with public health and school health officials in Kenya and leveraging knowledge of large-scale programs and/or challenges faced in a related field of public health and school health.

Other activities could include strategic planning as the program adapts to new contexts over time, fundraising and relationship-building. This position requires significant cross cultural awareness, strong problem-solving skills, flexibility, and excellent communication and
organizational skills.

While the role will generally focus on Kenya’s national program, the Project Coordinator may also
participate in supporting School Based Deworming programs in other countries, as determined by program needs and by DtWI leadership.

Job Purpose

• Provide programmatic support for the government’s National School-Based Deworming Program, treating 5 million children annually, and participate in strategic planning for future years.
• Leverage knowledge of a public health or large-scale program implementation to achieve the program’s mission of deworming 5 million children in 2012.
• Create and improve systems of coordination and collaboration between external stakeholders and relevant members of the Deworm the World technical staff, project coordinators, and policy staff.

Specific Responsibilities

Program Support

• Support the design and implementation of the national program, collaborating with a team of project coordinators and other relevant staff internally and externally
• Support key elements of the national program such as training, drug supply and monitoring and evaluation; and ensure all systems for managing resources, personnel, and information are established, coordinated, and shared.
• Participate on a team that creates effective and positive team dynamics

Strategic Management Tasks

• Participate in strategic discussions surrounding school health and deworming, working with national and district level officials
• Think critically about program costs, resource management, and personnel management to improve program efficiency

Relationship Management

• Engage in discussions with high- and mid-level personnel from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education
• Develop and maintain relationships with other public health and/or education workers at the district level
• Support DtWI amongst key stakeholders by maintaining positive communication with within the Deworm the World team, policymakers, NGO’s, and other international actors

Policy and Program Outreach

• Communicate with key stakeholders in the government of Kenya and in NGO’s
• Attend and potentially speak at press events, conferences, and meetings with media outlets

Data Management

• Understand and utilize existing program data with an eye toward clear data collection and research-based program implementation
• Liaise and communicate with data management and M&E staff to accurately apply targeting data to implementation plans

Logistics

• Assist with details of procurement, coordination, and communication between other project coordinators, technical, and support staff
• Assist in the preparation and organization of training sessions for master trainers, district-level personnel, and individual teachers

General Administrative Tasks

• Assist in general office functioning by creating and maintaining systems of organization and communication

Qualifications

Education: Bachelor’s degree or higher in economics, public policy, public health, or relevant social sciences; master’s degree or higher preferred

Experience:

• At least 5-7 years of experience working in a Project/Program Coordinator or similar role in a public, nonprofit or private sector office
• Experience in public health and/or education sector programs desired, school-based health preferred
• Computer skills necessary include: thorough knowledge of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet/Email
• Experience working on large scale distribution of goods and services in any sector desirable

Knowledge and Skills

• Leadership ability and skills
• Ability to think critically about work flows, time and resource management, and program management issues
• Strong critical thinking and judgment skills
• Clear understanding of the Kenyan working environment (culture, people, geography, etc.), ability to leverage that knowledge to help the team make good decisions about operations and program management
• High level of attention to detail
• Proven organization skills
• Effective communication, verbal and writing skills
• Strong ability to develop relationships with a diverse team
• Familiarity with major actors in global public health and education, particularly school based health preferred
• At least basic knowledge of strategies for addressing neglected tropical diseases
• Fluent in English and Swahili

Desirable Characteristics

• Mature and professional composure
• Natural and comfortable leadership
• Highest level of honesty and integrity
• Eagerness to develop personally/professionally, willingness to learn, develop new skills, and take on more responsibilities
• Openness to working in a flexible work environment with fast evolving systems and procedures
• High level of initiative in improving the organization’s working environment
• Results oriented to the point that person is willing to engage hands-on with duties of all variety

To Apply

Applications can be submitted via email to jobs-kenya@poverty-action.org.

Please ensure the subject line reads “Project Coordinator DtW-2011_12_03”.

Please attach the following documents:

• Cover letter
• CV/resume, including three references, daytime phone number(s), and email address. Your CV explaining interest in the position and fit for the role should include your scores or grades and other measures of academic achievement, and details about any relevant work experience.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted by email for an interview.

Applicants are encouraged to apply early, as applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and the position may be filled prior to the application deadline.

The application deadline is January 10, 2012.

Disclaimer: The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of the work being performed by the Project Coordinator.

The statements are not intended to be an exhaustive list of all possible duties, tasks, and responsibilities.

Management reserves the right to amend and change responsibilities to meet organizational needs as necessary.

Please note that IPA will never request any form of payment from an applicant.

Applicants are encouraged to confirm the information listed above with IPA prior to releasing any extensive personal information to the organization.

Please direct questions to jobs-kenya@poverty-action.org.

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