Kenya Red Cross Society Maternal and Child Health Project Officer Job in Madogo, Tana River, Kenya

Kenya Red Cross Society is one of the largest humanitarian organizations in Kenya. Its mission is to be the leading humanitarian organization in Kenya delivering excellent quality service of Preventing and Alleviating Human Suffering. 

The Society is looking for a qualified person to fill the following position:

Position Title: Project Officer - Maternal and Child Health (MCH)

Reporting to: County Manager

Job Location: Madogo

Position Summary: The principal function of the post holder is to provide technical leadership and management at the community Level of day-to-day implementation of to the MCH project in Tana North District, Kenya. 

The Post holder will oversee the implementation of the MCH Project initiatives in close collaboration with MoPHS to improve the accessibility, utilization and quality of maternal and child health services.

Duties & Responsibilities

General 

• Follow up public health situation in general in the country, region and county to inform relevant counterparts as well as to adjust project plans accordingly
• Manage the project assistant and ensure that his/her skills and competencies are supported to meet the needs of the project
• Representation at county level health fora, sharing of Red Cross role as an auxiliary to the Government, project progress and best practise  
• Contribute to documentation of the project lessons to enable learning from the action.

Technical support to project

• Establish Project Steering Committee in Tana North -Madogo project site and ensure linkages with HQ Project Steering Committee
• Support to setting up community structures, including training, according to the Community strategy  and project plans 

1. Community units
2. Resource persons

1. RC volunteers
2. CHW
3. CHEWs
4. Local health facility staff

• Support the trained resource persons in the implementation of community activities as per community assessments and action plans
• Set up and support running of mobile clinics in collaboration with MoPHS
• Identify and support setting up services for Obstetric Fistula services
• Familiarise with local issues related to Gender Based Violence and support the volunteers and relevant project staff to develop sensible and feasible ways to influence positive change 
• Coordinate with MoPHS at the field level regarding mobile health message delivery pilot 
• Ensure at the field level that project volunteers and staff have necessary tools for implementation of the planned community work including relevant adapted IEC materials
• Continuously assess the skills and capacities of the project staff and volunteers to implement the work; organise and facilitate regular opportunities for volunteers to update their knowledge and skills e.g. through monthly / quarterly meetings

Quality Assurance

• Ensure that project plans and budget reflect the actual situation in implementation and suggest adjustments when necessary
• Compliance with policies, strategies and standards (RC and MoPHS)
• Prepare concept papers, periodic progress and annual reports showing achievements against planned targets as well as providing justification for performance variance and areas of improvement
• Liaise with County Health Office about health data management and support when necessary through community units supported by the project 
• Encourage and seek opportunities for community participation in monitoring and demanding for quality health services.

Coordination

• Conduct annual district/county workshops to explain project strategy, engage relevant decision-makers such as MoPHS, social services, county authorities and community leaders in monitoring of the project progress.
• Ensure coordination at different levels within the project framework (HENNET) and externally
• Provide technical support and supervision to project the Nutrition assistants of the MCH  project in Tana River.
• Coordinate capacity building of MoPHS health workers as CHEWs at project supported health facilities through training on Community strategy and MCH related trainings.
• Coordinate capacity building of CHW’s health workers at project supported community through training on Community strategy and MCH related trainings.
• Oversee all community-based activities including outreaches, Community Conversations (CC) sessions and Mobile clinics, and encourage community participation in monitoring and demanding for quality health services.
• Coordinate and conduct monthly and quarterly coordination meetings by and with CHW’s and DHMT meetings on MCH and other aspects relating to the project.
• Identify and recruit CHW/Vs: collaborative effort Coordination teams/MoPHS-supervisors/Community Health Committees (CHCs) (minimum 1 woman/team)..
• Establish/revitalise/reinforce CHCs to support Red-Cross-CHW/Vs, activities, health-system linkages.

Project Monitoring and Evaluation

• Establish Project Steering Committee in Tana River-Madogo project site. Good! But assume will have HQ involvement as well?
• Train locally recruited branch – level Red Cross- facilitators: Red Cross induction package, Red Cross Community-based Health and First Aid (CBHFA), MoPHS’ MCH approach, effective educational-transfer techniques, MCH-related BCC messages and communication skills.
• Develop and implement clear handover/exit strategy to MoPHS. GooD
• Support overseeing  baseline, MTR and endline/evaluation at the field level with the support of the RHO at the regional level and the Project Manger at the national level

Minimum Qualifications

• BSc in Environmental Health or equivalent qualifications
• Indepth experience and understanding of Infant, young child and maternal health interventions in rural areas.
• At least two years field experience, preferably with an NGO and or MoH.

Key Competencies

• Strong background in training and committment to capacity building.
• Project management skills including PMER
• Coordination and networking
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Strong computer skills Flexible, ability to work both as an individual and as a team leader and under stress in what can be a harsh environment.

How to Apply

Applications should be sent to the following address to be received on or before 5:00 pm Friday, 26th September 2014. 

Late applications will not be considered:

Secretary General
Kenya Red Cross Society
P.O. Box 40712-00100, 
Nairobi