Community Coordinator – FASTER Project: Catholic Relief Services – Zambia Country Program

About CRS

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and commitment to serving those in need.

The CRS Zambia program office opened in September 1999, following an extensive and participatory assessment in collaboration with the Zambian Catholic Commission for Development (CCD). Programming has transitioned from its early stages augmenting CRS private resources with outside public funding. Opportunities abound in Zambia for quality programming that meets the needs of the poorest in a country where the vast majority (80%) lives below the poverty line and approximately 14% are HIV positive. The overall programming focus of CRS Zambia is HIV and Food Security.

Background

Through the Faith-Based Action for Scaling up Testing and Treatment for the Epidemic Response (FASTER) project, CRS plans to catalyze a game-changing enabling environment and create operational guidance, tools, training, and practical evidence that will allow provinces, districts and sites with high unmet need to address key gaps in the child and adolescent HIV treatment cascade. FASTER is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to accelerate pediatric ART in four African countries. To accelerate efforts to end pediatric HIV in Zambia, CRS will address structural and policy barriers, innovate, and facilitate scale-up of what works. FASTER will work with the Ministry of Health (MOH), national technical working groups, and other pediatric implementers nationwide.

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide leadership to Community-Based Volunteers (CBVs) as they undertake the voluntary work.
• Ensure that CBVs are well equipped with knowledge and skills through training, refresher training and mentorship programs using CQI methodology.
• Development of workplans for community-based HIV service provision.
• Participate in donor, stakeholder and MoH technical forums and contribute to national dialogue towards the implementation of the 90-90-90 goal.
• Identify appropriate community-based strategies to address HIV treatment service delivery systems bottlenecks that act as an impediment to effective service delivery at facility level
• Ensure effective implementation of differentiated models of service delivery for children and adolescents to improve HIV outcomes.
• Ensure timely implementation of all community level project inputs, including planning and implementing assessments, site system strengthening, coordination of CBVs, advocacy, demand creation, capacity building, and M&E in close collaboration with CDC and Ministry of Health.
• Collaborate with DHOs, facility in-charges, DEBS office, and community leaders to mobilize students at secondary schools to access HIV/AIDS services as part of demand creation.
• Regularly report to the Senior Technical Advisor and technical staff on successes, challenges and lessons learned in implementation related to community treatment, health systems and other areas of technical expertise
• Author and co-author abstracts and presentations for national, international conferences as well as journals as applicable.
• Contribute to project reports – Monthly, Quarterly and Annual program reports.
• Work with Strategic Information teams to develop M&E frameworks and effectively track community implementation data/results
• Any other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

JOB SPECIFICATIONS:

• Advanced degree in public health, Nursing, Nurse Prescriber, Clinical Medicine, Community Health; additional training in HIV Medicine preferred.
• 5 years’ experience of working with communities to deliver health services, preferably supporting faith-based health facilities in Zambia.
• Experience working closely with national HIV/AIDS and district health authorities.
• Sound understanding of the Zambian socio-cultural context.
• Ability to multi-task and work with short deadlines.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office
• Fluent in written and spoken English
• Excellent oral and written communications skills
• Ability to travel 50% locally

Note: By applying to this job, I understand and acknowledge that CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. Further, I understand that if I am a successful candidate, I will be subject to a comprehensive background check, and my personal/professional references will be asked to evaluate my behaviors related to the above safeguarding-related topics.

Applicants Instructions: Please email a cover letter, and curriculum vitae which should include three references. Please include the position you are applying for in the subject line. The closing date for applications is 20th May 2020.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview.