TITLE: Technical Lead-Community Engagement and Social Behavior Change (TL-CES) Community Partnerships for Respectful Care (CPRC) project

DEPARTMENT: Americares Tanzania

REPORTS TO: Project Director, Community Partnerships for Respectful Care (CPRC) project

ASSIGNMENT TYPE: Full-time

LOCATION: Mwanza, Tanzania

LENGTH: 24-months with possibility to extend based on performance and budget

ABOUT AMERICARES:

Americares is a health-focused relief and development organization that saves lives and improves health for people affected by poverty or disaster. Each year, Americares reaches 85 countries on average, including the United States, with life-changing health programs, medicine, medical supplies, and emergency aid. Americares is one of the world's leading non-profit providers of donated medicine and medical supplies. For more information, visit americares.org.

About the Community Partnerships for Respectful Care (CPRC) project:

The Americares Community Partnerships for Respectful Care (CPRC) is a 5-year project (2020-2025) funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) with the aim to contribute to reducing mortality and morbidity among mothers and their children through improved community-based health care. The USAID CPRC project (USAID UZAZI STAHA in Swahili) provides strategic technical assistance at the national, regional and council levels to improve the quality and uptake of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH), family planning (FP), and nutrition services, as well as strengthen respectful maternity care in Tanzania. Americares Tanzania works with Christian Social Services Commission (CSSC) in the implementation of the USAID CPRC project in the Mwanza Region. 

COVID-19 Vaccination Support: Through the U.S. Government’s Initiative for Global Vaccine Access (Global VAX), USAID and other U.S. government agencies (e.g., CDC) are supporting Tanzania in reaching 70 percent of the eligible population with the COVID-19 vaccination. Through the CPRC project, USAID is supporting interventions to accelerate the uptake of COVID-19 vaccination in Mwanza and Shinyanga regions through social behavior change (SBC) and community outreach. The CPRC project will leverage its RMNCAH activities and relationships with key stakeholders to strengthen vaccination demand, community mobilization, service delivery and COVID-19 data management efforts in line with Tanzania’s Phase II acceleration plan and in close partnership with CDC vaccination service delivery support partners in the two regions. CPRC will use a ‘community scorecard’ approach for identifying barriers around COVID-19 vaccine uptake and creating locally driven solutions for combating vaccine hesitancy and misinformation and strengthening linkages between facility and community health services. Americares/CPRC will engage civil society organizations (CSOs) for grassroots-level mobilization and reach in the roll-out of interventions.

POSITION SUMMARY:

The TL-CES will provide overall technical assistance in supporting CPRC project’s community health-based RMNCAH and COVID-19 vaccination interventions design, implementation of community engagement approaches, community-facilities linkages, gender, and mainstreaming, and monitoring social behavior change (SBC) strategies and activities. S/He will also be responsible for supporting efforts to increase demand and enhance FP, nutrition, COVID-19 vaccination and addressing disrespect and abuses for maternal and child health services in collaboration with sub-grantees, MOH, Regional and Council Health Management Teams (R&CHMTs), health facilities and community levels. S/He will have a cross-cutting and collaboration roles with all CPRC project Technical Leads, Program Manager COVID-19 and MEL Specialist to ensure plans and implementation are synchronized and focused in achieving project objectives and results.

Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Project Management

• Take lead in Community engagement, gender, and SBC activities in the workplan and in the budget
• Mentor and supervise Community Engagement Officers working in the community-facilities linkages and SBC.
• Work with MEL Specialist to lead the analysis of data related to SBC, identify issues and challenges, and take the lead in implementing action plans to address the issues and maintain the successes of the CPRC SBC objectives.
• Contribute to documentation of lessons learned and best practices, development of briefs and articles for publication and success stories.
• Support the training of CSSC teams and ensure it is in line with the Government of Tanzania Strategic plans and USAID’s SBC strategy.
• Work closely with all Technical Leads and MEL Specialist to record achievements against targets. 

SBC Technical Assistance

• Provide technical direction to implement SBC approaches, strategies, and activities.
• Develop, where applicable, and implement SBC framework, tools, messages, and other materials.
• Develop detailed respectful care implementation intervention, based on findings and evidence from formative research and other SBC-oriented assessment.
• Ensure high quality and timely delivery of CPRC project deliverables against objectives and targets.

Partnership Management

• Under the guidance of the CPRC Project Director, maintain relationship with partners, MOH, and USAID mission.
• Ensure all activities from partners are properly planned, completed, and delivered and report on progress monthly.
• Provide support and ensure quality of work of partners regarding the implementation of SBC activities. 

Capacity Building

• Build the capacity sub-grantees’ teams and frontline workers in SBC in collaboration with partners and MOH-Health Promotion Section.
• Provide continuous technical guidance and support to MOH workers in SBC, including master trainers and mentors
• Provide oversight to SBC component of CPRC, including field visits, technical review of reports to ensure project is on the right track to achieving goals. 

Reporting

• Using evidence of implementation efforts, work with Tanzania CPRC Team, CPRC Project Director to redefine and refine activities related to Community Engagement, gender, and SBC.
• Submit to Project Director weekly updates, monthly, quarterly, and annual reports, including technical area brief pager related to project Community Engagement and SBC interventions.
• Track and update workplan on activities related to Community Engagement, gender, and SBC.
• Ensure quality and timely submission of comprehensive reports are submitted accordingly.

MINIMUM Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in community/development studies, social sciences with at least At least 3 years work experiences is added advantage.
• BA/BSc degree holders in community/development studies, social sciences with at least 7 years work experiences in SBC experience in designing, developing, implementing, monitoring strategies, activities and materials will be preferred
• Experiences in projects focusing on community engagement, Gender, and adolescent health, SBCC, community engagement approaches for RMNCAH services and COVID-19 vaccination demand creations are added advantage.
• Proven track records of successful designing, implementing, facilitating community social accountability mechanisms (Participatory, Accountability, and Transparency) approaches in engaging communities for RMNCAH, FP, and Nutrition interventions such as Community Score Card (CSC), Gender Dialogues, Gulio la Afya, Cinema shows, Local Radio talks presentation, Peer Support Groups formation and supervision at communities (Mkoba wa siku 1000) are highly considered for this position.
• Experience in sub-grantees capacity building and supporting their workplans and milestones development, overseeing their implementation in the Fixed Amount Award (FAA) and cost reimbursable (CR) mechanism is required.
• Excellent English-language writing skills and demonstrated experience meeting USAID and other donor reporting requirements
• Experiences in engaging and working harmoniously with Regional Secretariats (RCs, RASs), Regional and Council Health Management Teams (R/CHMTs,) Implementing Partners (IPs), and CSOs for a lasting relationship in an asset.
• Ability to present project progress at various levels of stakeholders’ meetings is preferred.
• Ability to think critically and strategically with experience in pre-testing and testing materials, approaches and strategies.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and strong communications skills; ability to develop partnerships across sectors and cultures
• Strong organizational skills, capacity to think strategically and attention to detail
• Proficiency in Office 365 including Word, Excel, Teams, PowerPoint, and SharePoint
• Willingness and ability to travel at least two weeks per month
• Unrestricted authorization to work in Tanzania

CORE AMERICARES RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Foster Americares values of collaboration, accountability, responsiveness and effectiveness.
• Coach, support, and develop staff to increase individual and team effectiveness; and
• Develop and manage the implementation of plans to increase team operating performance.

HOW TO APPLY:

In order to be considered for this position, the applicant should please submit the following items in an expression of interest to Americares:

• Curriculum vitae or resume that clearly spells out qualifications, experience, and 3 references.
• Cover letter highlighting interest in the position and relevant skills
• Academic credentials

Applications will be reviewed as they are received.

As a global health organization, we are committed to ensuring a safe environment for our staff, partners, and visitors. All Americares staff and visitors who are on-site at any of our locations or will be traveling for work are required to be fully vaccinated (which includes a booster, when eligible) against COVID-19 unless an exemption required by law is applicable.

Americares is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, pregnancy or pregnancy-related condition, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, genetic information, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.