State Team Lead at FHI 360 - Kaduna

FHI 360 is a nonprofit human development organization dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions. Our staff includes experts in health, education, nutrition, environment, economic development, civil society, gender, youth, research and technology - creating a unique mix of capabilities to address today's interrelated development challenges. FHI 360 serves more than 70 countries and all U.S. states and territories.

We are currently seeking qualified candidates for the position of:

Job Title: State Team Lead

Job ID: 17655
Location: Kaduna

Job Summary / Responsibilities

• The State Team Lead /Kaduna is based at the FHI 360 office in Kaduna, Nigeria. This position has a four-fold purpose:
• To provide coordination of the technical and program components and general oversight for A&T activities in the State, including managerial oversight of the Kaduna A&T team and monitoring work-plans to ensure timely delivery of results.
• To ensure technical excellence in process monitoring. S/he will work with the M&E Advisor in Abuja to ensure adequate monitoring activities are being conducted in a timely and appropriate manner.
• To support information exchange and foster links with appropriate NGOs, international, bilateral and governmental agencies, academic institutions, and private/commercial sector companies and organizations in the state of Kaduna and in Nigeria.
• To coordinate all capacity building activities for A&T partners at the state level.

Program Summary
The Nigeria A&T IYCF social and behavior change program focuses on improving rates of early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, timely introduction of complementary feeding, and minimum dietary diversity for infants over 6 months old. A&T will work across the public, commercial/private, and NGO sectors to improve infant and young child feeding (IYCF) through A&T’s four components: advocacy, interpersonal communication and community mobilization, mass communication, and strategic use of data.

At the national level, A&T will predominantly work with its public, private/commercial, and NGO sector partners (Scaling Up Nutrition and other national IYCF initiatives) to improve the implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of key IYCF policies (i.e., National Strategic Plan of Action for Nutrition, maternity entitlements, Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes; IYCF-friendly health systems strengthening). A&T will work at scale with all 23 of the state’s local government authorities (LGAs) to apply the four components to reach households, communities, and facilities with targeted, age-appropriate social and behavior change communication (SBCC) messaging on IYCF practices.

Kaduna is Nigeria’s third most populous state and has one of the highest stunting rates for children under 5. Kaduna state has a more typically mixed population of urban/rural dwellers (33%/67%), ethnicities, and religions (though predominantly Hausa and Muslim), and a mix of public and private sector services including formal and informal, private-for-profit (commercial), not-for-profit (NGO and FBO), public sector and traditional sites.

Specifically, in Kaduna state A&T will use advocacy to educate and motivate influential audiences - like policymakers and program managers - to take actions to create a supportive environment for optimal feeding practices. Additionally, A&T will link up with the initiative’s public and private sector partners (especially the PPMV, maternity hospitals, and private clinics) to strengthen the role of frontline health workers’ knowledge and counseling skills to promote IYCF.

We will work through the public and private healthcare system to integrate materials and delivery of messaging at opportune times and places, including ANC visits, maternity facilities, and through child welfare services’ immunization campaigns and routine provision of vaccines.

Formative research will be conducted to further understand target populations and audiences (stakeholders, providers, beneficiaries), and monitoring systems will be established to ensure that program inputs, outputs, and outcomes are tracked and fed back into improving the program.

Essential Job Functions
Under the guidance of the A&T Nigeria Project Director:

• Work with the relevant A&T technical specialists to establish and execute effective program planning, implementation and monitoring assistance to all A&T public, NGO, and private sector local partners. This will include providing technical oversight to strengthen all the components of A&T’s approach and existing activities of scaling up IYCF in Kaduna state such as:
• Representing A&T at advocacy events in Kaduna state,
• Supervising and reviewing interpersonal communication and community mobilization sessions,
• Brokering stronger ties between public and private health sectors,
• Supporting mass communication efforts,
• Conducting data quality audits to assure the quality of program data, and
• Supervising and reviewing capacity strengthening sessions.
• Oversee implementation of A&T’s workplan and budget in Kaduna State, ensuring technical excellence and fiscal integrity.
• Act as a key link between Kaduna government, NGO and private sector stakeholders and the A&T Abuja and HQ teams. Maintain close coordination and dialogue with key stakeholders at the state level and implementers at the local government area (LGA) in all locations of the state.
• Provide overall supervision for A&T Kaduna staff and ensure compliance with technical, programmatic, contractual and financial requirements set by A&T and its donors.
• Coordinate all capacity building activities for A&T partners at the state level.
• Review periodic reports (programmatic and financial) submitted by all collaborating public and private sector partners at the state office level and forward same to the A&T Abuja office.
• Ensure that all A&T assets and other resources are effectively managed.
• Actively participate in, contribute to, and in some cases conduct or help facilitate major A&T program development and implementation activities (strategic planning, program presentations, advocacy and policy meetings, workshops), as appropriate.
• Work closely with A&T Technical Advisors and Program and Project Director to leverage other international donor and private sector resources to complement and extend project reach.
• Present/disseminate program results, based on program experience to State Ministry of Health, projects and partners, and other professional colleagues and organizations at state and national level.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in public health, nutrition, behavioral sciences, mass communication, monitoring & evaluation or equivalent degree in medical sciences
• A minimum of 8 years of experience managing public health/ development projects.
• A minimum of 3 years’ experience supervising direct reports.
• Demonstrated experience in successfully working across A&T components of advocacy, IPC and community mobilization, mass communication, and strategic use of data in the context of social and behavior change, with a specialty in at least one of these.
• Demonstrated experience and high acceptability in working with government, NGOs, private sector companies, academia, professional organizations, and donors in Kaduna/other states.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online