Position Title: Regional Program
Officer, CORE Group Polio Project
Department/Country: Nairobi,
Kenya, Horn of Africa Regional Office
Band:
FLSA: Exempt
Reports To: Deputy Director, CORE Group Polio Project
Reports To: Deputy Director, CORE Group Polio Project
Job Background/Summary:
Health and HIV programming are among the largest
programmatic areas within Catholic Relief Services (CRS). In fiscal year 2012,
CRS supported $195 million dollars worth of programming in health and HIV (26%
of program services.) CRS work in this area is active to various degrees
throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America and is funded via various mechanisms
including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEFPAR), USAID, the
Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, the World Health Organization,
private foundations, and various other donors. The CORE Group Polio
Project is a coalition program in which four staff seconded from two partner
PVOs coordinate activities throughout the program’s multiple field sites. The
project management arm, consisting of the Project Director and Senior Finance
Officer (50%) are seconded from World Vision as the fiduciary home of the
grant, while the Deputy Director, Senior Program Officer, and the Regional
Program Officer are seconded from CRS to provide technical support and
oversight to the project. The technical support team ensures the
quality of both design and implementation of CGPP project field activities and
the documentation and dissemination of the project’s results, lessons learned
and contribution to the global polio eradication initiative, with a special
focus on supporting the logistics and process documentation of monitoring and
evaluation activities. The Regional Program Officer will be an integral member
of this team, supporting regional filed activities in Africa and India and
assuring high program quality and ongoing assessment and improvement of the
program approach. S/He will contribute to the development of scopes
of work for and the oversight of field based consultants. S/He will
represent CRS and the CORE Group in the Horn of Africa. S/He will be a part of
a global virtual secretariat team facilitating the implementation of a
multi-donor, multi-country, multi-partner initiative to enhance and synchronize
NGO contribution to the eradication of polio.
Key Responsibilities: In support
of the CGPP program in Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Angola, Nigeria,
and India:1. The Regional Program Officer
(RPO) will play a lead role in the leadership, representation, program
development and Monitoring and evaluation of Horn of Africa office and
programs. The RPO will participate in documentation and
dissemination of project successes and lessons-learned by coordinating and
reviewing assessment and documentation activities, contributing to the
development of technical articles and donor reports, and presenting findings on
behalf of the project in a variety of appropriate forums including internal and
external audiences at in-country, US national, and international conferences
and meetings. 2. The Regional
Program Officer will work with the Deputy Director, the Senior Program Officer,
and the Regional M&E Officer to coordinate evaluation activities (baseline,
mid-term and final KPC surveys; interim LQAS surveys) including evaluation
design, development of evaluation instruments and analysis plans, review and
approval of external reports, and the interpretation and dissemination of
results focusing on the use of data for informed decision-making. The Regional
Program Officer will support the Deputy Director, M&E Officer, and
Secretariat Directors in the development of systems to collect, store, and
utilize ongoing monitoring data from project sites, including the development
and ongoing review of supervision and monitoring instruments and the provision
of timely and relevant interpretation and feedback as necessary to Secretariat
offices and partners. The Regional Program Officer will also ensure
timely and complete reporting from all Horn of Africa partners and Secretariat
offices in accordance with approved reporting formats. 3. The
Regional Program Officer will provide technical guidance to the Secretariat
offices, as requested by the Deputy Director. This will include
working closely with the Secretariat team(s) on setting strategic direction,
implementing monitoring and evaluation activities and reviewing findings,
identifying and providing assistance in areas of further technical need, and,
ultimately, ensuring the implementation of high-quality project
activities. 4. The
Regional Program Officer will develop scopes of work for consultants for
operations research, trainings and materials development associated with the
project, working closely with the Deputy Director. S/He will support
the Deputy Director in overseeing the appropriateness, timeliness and quality
of consultants' work. 5. The
Regional Program Officer will support the Deputy Director and the Regional
Communications Officer in the development and/or review of training and
programmatic materials necessary to achieve the technical priorities of the
project. The Regional Program Officer will oversee theq design,
adapatation, and assessment of materials directly in collaboration with the
field for use in regional programs. 6. The
Regional Program Officer will be responsible for conducting an ongoing review
of epidemiologic, basic research and programmatic developments (such as polio
transmission statistics, newly developed tools and manuals, and relevant
academic journal articles) and synthesizing, interpreting and disseminating
that information to the CGPP team and other relevant partners and
stakeholders. 7. The Regional Program
Officer will be the senior CGPP representative in Kenya and Somalia responsible
for coordinating with key UN, NGO and MOH partners as well as donor such as
USAID, DFID, and the BMGF. 8. The RPO
will work closely with the Director, Deputy Director, Senior Program Officer,
M&E Officer and the Communications Officer to receive, review, and
prioritize NGO/PVO and CBO sub-grants for work in Kenya and Somalia. 9. The
RPO will work closely with the Horn of Africa team to map NGO and CBO assets in
the region, track virus movements, and coordinate for the effective allocation
and response of civil society assets to prevent or contain wild polio virus
outbreaks. 10. The RPO will work closely with the HQ team, Horn
of Africa team, and country secretariats to develop innovative solutions and
strategies to stopping the transmission of wild polio virus.
Key Working Relationships:
Internal: Country
Representatives and Regional Directors; Deputy Regional Directors for Program
Quality, Director, Deputy Director, and Senior Program Office for the CORE
Group Polio Project,
External: International
Health networks; Spear-heading Partners for Polio Eradication
including WHO, UNICEF, CDC, Rotary International, CDC, health advisors of other
FBOs/PVOs/NGOs; partner organizations; USG agencies such as USAID;
universities; consultants; donors.
Supervisory Responsibilities:
The Regional Program Officer will supervise the
Horn of Africa Regional Communications Officer and the regional M&E
Officer.
Qualifications: 1. Masters
degree in public health or related field or equivalent combination of education
and work experience Minimum 7-10 years of progressive responsibility
immunization and child health programming, of which at least 7 years experience
is in relief or development programs.2. 3 -
5years experience working in health programming, preferably with a focus on
immunization or child survival 3. Strong
analytical, written and oral communication skills. 4. Ability
to work with a diverse team and in different cultural settings. 5. Familiarity
with project planning based on data to improve program quality6. Familiarity
with monitoring and evaluation techniques and technical review of project
materials7. Familiarity with the development
and maintenance of data systems8. Demonstrated
understanding of qualitative and quantitative research methods9. Prior
experience with child health or immunization programming10. Production
of papers and presentations for academic and professional audiences
For internals applicants: If
interested, please submit your cover letter and resume to HR Recruitment
Specialist John McCuen at jmccuen@crs.org
Thank you.
