Psychosocial Support Technical Specialists at Catholic Relief Services (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 a part of our staff and as partners people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Psychosocial Support Technical Specialist

Location: CARO/Abuja, Nigeria               
Department: Programs
Reports To:Case Management and Referrals Technical Adviser
Job Level: D-2

Background
4Children will implement a two year project focused on providing technical assistance to PEPFAR OVC implementing partners (IPs), Government of Nigeria entities and networks to graduate and transition OVC households and children from care and support. To support these efforts, the project will strengthen programming around sustainability planning, case management and referral of OVC and vulnerable households to health facilities, household economic strengthening activities parenting, and youth/adolescent girl programming, as well as supporting the development of a HIV-sensitive social service system.
 
Job Summary

• ThePsychosocial Support Technical Advisor (PSSTA) will provide technical leadership for the project on strengthening interventions related to the psychosocial wellbeing of children.
• This will include but not be limited to strengthening approaches, knowledge, skills and abilities of the PEPFAR OVC IPs to build the capacity of their community based/facility based partners.
• S/he will work with short-term technical assistance (STTA) from 4Children resource partners, including REPPSI to conduct a review of existing interventions and approaches to identify promising practices and existing gaps.
• Based on the findings, interventions will be strengthened, adapted and eventually adopted through a validation process.  The PSSTA will work very closely with and will benefit from the engagement of REPSSI, leaders in the field of PSS.
• The PSSTA will report to the Case Management and Referral System TA and will also engage with and coordinate efforts with the STTA for social service workforce strengthening, the Parenting and Youth TA, and the Government System Strengthening (GSSTA) to help to ensure proper linkages and integration of PSS interventions to the workforce training, within parenting and within facility based activities where possible (e.g., support groups for children, adolescents and adults living with HIV).

Specific Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership and guidance in the assessment, planning and implementation of capacity strengthening activities to support PEPFAR OVC IPs as they work with CSOs/CBOs, both community and facility-based, to strengthen psychosocial support for children affected and infected by HIV.
• Lead the development and implementation of strategies, approaches and tools to strengthen PSS among PEPFAR OVC IPs, health facilities and their partner CSO/CBOs.
• Develop ascope of work for remote and in-person STTA from REPSSIto develop an evidence-basedassessment framework for PSS interventions in Nigeria; support the development of other PPS-focused SOWs as needed.
• Collaborate with REPSSI to conduct a rapid assessment of PSS-focused services used by 16 OVC IPs to support the PSS needs of children and adolescents affected by or living with HIV with special focus on issues related to disclosure, stigma, trauma and grief.
• Identify promising practices related to adolescent and kids’club activities, including those for CLHIV and ALHIV from within and outside of Nigeria.
• In collaboration with the Case Management and Referral Network Technical Advisor and Parenting and Youth Technical Advisor ensure that PSS principles and concepts are integrated into case management/referral procedures as well as parenting curricula and trainings.
• Collaborate with the Government System Strengthening Technical Advisor, relevant GON entities and schools of social work to ensure PSS activities supported by 4Children are aligned with relevant national guidance and tools when possible.
• Collaborate with the Government System Strengthening Technical Advisor to ensure social service workforce initiatives reflect any existing competency frameworks used by GoN or social work curricula pertaining to PSS.
• Convene an advisory group of ALHIV to provide feedback on proposed PSS materials identified that will be adopted/developed for the Nigerian context and how they would like to be engaged in the process (e.g., being trained as mentors, trainers, or peer counselors).
• Support the roll-out and dissemination of updated guidance, standard operating procedures and other job-aids to facilitate PSS at the household and community levels as well as among health and social services providers.
• Conduct monitoring field visits to PEPFAR OVC IPs/CSOs to provide in person mentoring technical assistance pertaining to PSS.
• Provide timely inputs to 4Children Nigeria annual planning, monitoring, reporting and budgeting processes.
• Ensure a culture of accountability and learning through regular monitoring to project sites, providing oversight of studies and assessments and proper documentation of tools and to contribute to learning and building the evidence around effective psychosocial support.
• Document project results and impacts in various forms, including media stories, promising practices, lessons learned, case studies, client satisfaction, etc.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):
These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results:

• Serves with Integrity
• Models Stewardship
• Cultivates Constructive Relationships
• Promotes Learning

Additional Competencies:
These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each Technical Advisor to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results:

• Sets clear goals and manages toward them
• Collaborates effectively with staff and stakeholders
• Manages financial resources with integrity
• Applies program quality standards to project design and organizational learning

MEAL Competencies:

• These are rooted in CRS MEAL Policies and Procedures and used by each program staff to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results:
• Evaluation: Supporting project and program evaluations and reviews by ensuring the quality of evaluation methods, tools, and data and facilitating the use of evaluation results to inform decision-making and enhance learning.
• Learning: Promoting excellent knowledge management and collaborative learning processes at the project, program and institutional levels, generating robust evidence for project and programmatic learning that leads to action.
• Analysis and Critical Thinking: Engaging with data, challenging biases and assumptions, posing thoughtful questions, pursuing deeper understanding of evidence through reflection and perspective-taking, and making informed programming decisions.
• ICT for MEAL: Applying knowledge on information and communication technologies (ICT), both hardware and software, for opportune and accurate data collection, database management, conducting analyses, and making information easily accessible.

Supervisory Responsibility:

• Consultants and short-term technical assistance.

Key Working Relationships

• Internal: 4Children Core Leadership and Technical Advisors; 4Children Nigeria Technical and Zonal Staff; CRS Nigeria Programming, Finance, Procurement, and HR/Administration.
• External: Donors, 4Children consortium members, government ministries/institutions at the National, State and LGA levels, health facilities, UN agencies, other PEPFAR implementers including UGM partners, LOPINS and all other PEPFAR OVC IPs, civil society and faith-based organizations providing OVC services, Child Protection and OVC Networks, universities/research institutions.

Qualifications

• Advanced university degree required, preferably in Psychology or Social Work.
• Minimum five years’ experience in an advisory role in relation to HIV care and treatment and/or OVCprogramming, including expertise in psychosocial support, counseling, technical capacity assessment, training, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• Experience working in both healthcare and community settings, familiarity with HIV specific issues is preferred.
• Experience using quality improvement science at the health facility and community levels.
• Demonstrated ability to design and conduct trainings of trainers.
• Demonstrated ability to develop user-friendly guidance, tools and standard operating procedures for use at the health facility, CSO/CBO and community levels and the ability to provide training, technical assistance and mentoring in their use.
• Knowledge of GON and PEPFAR programming, process, guidance and frameworks is strongly preferred.
• Comfort with and knowledge of approaches and techniques for working with children and adolescents.
• Supervisory experience preferred.
• Experience coordinating assessments, data collection and similar activities preferred.
• Capacity to work closely with, understand, and support diverse partners including but not limited to State and LGA government actors, PEPFAR OVC IPs, civil society and faith-based organizations as well as healthcare providers and social service providers.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to manage complex and sensitive organizational relationships particularly between health facilities and community-based providers of social services.
• Strong analytical, negotiationand mentoring skills.
• Excellent written and oral communications skills in English.
• Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office suite, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook.

Travel:

• The Psychosocial Support Technical Advisor will be expected to travel within Nigeria and potentially outside of Nigeria to attend conference, workshops or other activities related to the project.    

Application Closing Date
23rd May, 2016.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should download the CRS Application Form below, fill and send with a detailed 3-page resume in a single file document to: [email protected] Title of the position and desired location must be stated as the subject of the email.

Click here to download the CRS Application Form

Note: Applications sent in the required format will be considered and only short listed candidates will be contacted.