Save the Children Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (RMNCH) Project Coordinator Job in Mandera Kenya

Job Title: Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health  (RMNCH) Project Coordinator
 

Place of Work: Mandera County (Based in Takaba)
 

Post Type: National
 

Reports to: Programme Manager- Health and Nutrition -Mandera
 

Line management Responsibilities: Partner RMNCH Project officers (2)
 

Budget Accountabilities: None
 

Child Protection Level: Level 3

Job Purpose

Under the general guidance of Health and Nutrition Program manager, the RMNCH Project Coordinator will be responsible for the overall coordination of an up-coming 2½ year EC-funded project on Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health in Mandera County. 

The RMNCH project has a full range of interventions in the areas of basic and emergency obstetric care, safe birthing and motherhood, immunization, nutrition, reproductive health, and community-based interventions aimed at increasing uptake of health services. 

These interventions will adopt a health systems strengthening approach. SC’s interventions are integrated with and aim to complement the work of the Ministry of Health. 

The RMNCH Project Coordinator’s role will support two implementing partners (IPs) to deliver high quality project activities with evidence-based impact and outcomes to further reduce maternal and child mortality in Mandera County.

Key Accountabilities

• Coordinate all aspects of the EU-funded RMNCH project in the county to meet project objectives.
• Ensure quality compliance of day-to-day project implementation as outlined in the detailed implementation plan (DIPs).
• Responsible for planning and delivery of high-quality training of formal health workers and community health workers through effective liaison with accredited trainers.
• Coordinate the project activities with the 2 implementing partners in the county, including needs assessments, trainings, supervisions, supplies distribution tracking and utilization etc
• Provide direct technical management to the IPs RMNCH field officers.
• Work closely with the Health and Nutrition Programme Manager in managing the RMNCH project budget according to Save the Children and donor.
• Assist in development of detailed health programme plans for the designated programme area in line with county health plans.
• Provide regular field reports to the Programme Manager - Health and  Nutrition
• Develop BCC strategy and community outreach strategy to increase demand and uptake of services.
• Work with Master Trainers to ensure that training of health workers is appropriate to the needs of the trainees and that each training module is appropriate to the needs of the participants
• Take the lead in developing/ adopting training modules, manuals, handouts and other materials ensuring their appropriateness to the needs of the target trainees and coordinate the scheduling of trainings and ensure that trainings occur according to pre-agreed training calendar.
• Monitor the effectiveness of training methods and processes and evaluate the outcome of health workers trainings
• Ensure that delivery of trainings planned in the project proposal is of high quality and meets pre-defined training objectives and outcomes
• Work with trainers and the DHMTs to ensure that all planned trainings adhere to standards including meeting criteria for selection of training participants, use of participatory methods, emphasis on training outcomes, use of evaluations and certification, and effective employment of lessons learned from previous trainings
• Participate in knowledge management processes, including the contributions to project publications and documentation and establish and maintain database of accredited trainers and trainees who qualify from Save the Children supported training programmes.
• Responsible for coordinating with other actors working in Save the Children operational areas and those providing health care in other areas to ensure that Save the Children’s Programmes are coherent and appropriate
• Work closely with Save the Children’s logistics department to guarantee that the materials required for the RMNCH project are available on site at the right time
• Represent Save the Children in relevant RMNCH coordinating structures and technical working groups in the County including DHMT meetings, stakeholders’ forums, MCH policy advocacy forums and private sector partnerships, among others; participate in joint agency assessments, task-force teams and workshops, technical committee meetings, and coordination groups.

Person Specification

Essential

• Bachelor of Science degree in public health or nursing
• Additionally, you will have a minimum of 5 years recognized expertise and significant experience and achievement in managing and working in RMNCH programs.
• Experience in health systems strengthening focusing on health services and service delivery.
• Demonstrated familiarity with the structure, systems, and policies of the public and private health sector in Kenya.
• Demonstrated knowledge of Health Information Systems, and Primary and Reproductive Health Care concepts.
• Proven strategic planner and team leader with strong technical knowledge, conceptual and analytical ability. You will have proven operational skills and experience in working in hard to reach areas (particularly pastoralist areas) and in implementing community-based interventions and desirably, experience in implementing EC funded projects.
• You will have demonstrated strong written and verbal communication skills including public speaking, and demonstrated capacity to oversee development of work plans, monitoring and evaluation and reporting. You will be available to be based in and travel within Mandera County 70% of your time.
• Ability to produce well-presented project reports
• Excellent spoken and written English and Swahili
• Strong organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills taking into account cultural difficulties
• Understanding rights based approaches and participatory concepts and practical experience in similar context.
• Excellent understanding of the Community Health Strategy
• Strong capacity building skills and proven success in training formal and informal health workers
• Sensitive to issues affecting children and committed to Save the Children’s Child Safe Guarding policy.

The application period is now open and will close on Monday 28th January 2013 at 4.30pm.  

To apply for open positions, please send a short cover letter and CV to Kenya.jobapplications@savethechildren.org  indicating the position applied for in the subject line.