Health Governance Officer (Yobe) at the International Rescue Committee (IRC)

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Health Governance Officer

Requisition ID: req17481
Location: Damaturu, Yobe
Sector: Governance
Employment Category: Fixed Term
Employment Type: Full-Time
Open to Expatriates: No

Background / IRC Summary

• The International Rescue Committee, one of the world’s largest humanitarian agencies, supporting victims of natural disaster, oppression, and violent conflict in over 40 countries to survive, recover, and gain control of their lives. IRC entered Nigeria in October 2012 in response to a widespread flood disaster. Since then, the IRC has expanded its scope and size of the programs in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe States.
• The IRC’s response includes integrated health and nutrition services, reproductive health care and women protection services, Environmental Health, Child Protection, Economic Recovery and Development, Education, General Protection, and Governance. IRC’s programming in Northeast Nigeria is supported by a team of more than 700 staff.  Together, we aim to provide the best possible impact for some of the most vulnerable children, women, and men. In all that we do, IRC strives to deliver through IRC’s core values of Integrity, Accountability, Service and Equality.
• The Testing Problem-driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) for Social Accountability in Health project aims to test the effectiveness of PDIA as a social accountability approach to increase the participation of service users in health facility management and the resolution of problems within these health facilities.  
• PDIA is a step-by-step approach which helps decision makers break down their problems into their root causes, identify entry points, search for possible solutions, take action, reflect upon what they have learned, adapt, and then act again. It is a dynamic process with tight feedback loops that allows decision makers to build their own solution to their problem that fits their local context. For more information on PDIA, see https://bsc.cid.harvard.edu/.

Job Overview / Summary

• In this context, the IRC is seeking two Health Governance Officers, one based in Maiduguri, Borno State and another based in Damaturu, Yobe State, working under the supervision of the Health Governance Manager, based in Maiduguri, and will supervise the Health Governance Assistants in Borno and Yobe States.
• The Health Governance Officers will be the focal points for day-to-day implementation of project activities and will take the lead in ensuring quality programming in his/her respective state.
• This role will run until December 31st, 2021 with no possibility of extension.

Major Responsibilities
Study Preparation:

• In collaboration with the Health Governance Manager, review research proposal to assure contextual appropriateness;
• Communication with health districts of the targeted health facilities to ensure buy-in and continued support throughout implementation;
• Build own capacity on the PDIA approach, process, and tools (capacity strengthening will be provided by the Governance Technical Advisor).

Management and Technical Leadership of study implementation:

• Oversee the successful delivery of the project within the respective state, ensuring the project is implemented according to the approved project proposal and in accordance with donor requirements;
• Take lead in all logistical preparations for project activities, working in close collaboration with IRC Supply Chain and Finance teams;
• Facilitate and oversee facilitation of PDIA process in a portion of selected facilities:
  • Communicate with relevant health authorities and facilities;
  • Develop activity plans, reports and other relevant documents;
  • Plan and organize community-level and facility-level meetings;
  • Plan, prepare content for, and facilitate workshops;
  • Provide day-to-day technical and logistical support to PDIA teams.

Human Resources, Training and Capacity building:

• Supervise and provide leadership to Health Governance Assistants responsible for facilitating the PDIA process in the remaining selected facilities;

Representation and Communication, in collaboration with Health Governance Manager:

• Communicate with the team/partners (MoH and facilities) a clear and exciting vision for the work of the PDIA project;
• Represent and communicate the PDIA project initiatives to relevant stakeholders;
• Ensure effective communication and information sharing between partners (MoH and facilities) and with other relevant actors and stakeholders;
• Write donor reports, project overviews, regular updates, and other communication materials as needed. 

Monitoring & Evaluation:

• Document the process of PDIA and collect relevant information as per guidance received from the SRMNH Research and Innovation Lead and the SRHR Research and Innovation Manager;
• Facilitate the organization of key informant interviews and focus group discussions between project research staff and facility staff/community members/project staff;
• Ensure adherence to monitoring and evaluation guidelines, frameworks and indicators for the project.
• And all other duties as assigned by the supervisor. 

Key Working Relationships:

• Position Reports to: Health Governance Manager, based in Maiduguri
• Position directly supervises: Health Governance Assistants, based in Maiduguri and Damaturu
• Indirect Reporting: SRMNH Research and Innovation Lead, based in Washington, DC, USA, and the Governance Technical Advisor, based in Brussels, Belgium.

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

• Internal: SRHR Research and Innovation Manager, based in Maiduguri, other IRC Health Research staff based in Nigeria
• External: Ministry of Health, Health Facility staff, Community Leaders and Members.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Community Development, Public Administration, Law, International Development, Project Management or other relevant field;
• Minimum three (3) years of professional humanitarian/development experience; Experience in in local governance, social accountability, public administration, institutional development, public-sector capacity building or related technical areas highly desirable;
• Strong knowledge and understanding governance in service delivery, in particular health / reproductive health;
• Solid experience in participatory, flexible, conflict and gender-sensitive programming and implementation;
• Strong presentation skills and writing ability;
• Able to solve complex problems through a reciprocal and consultative approach;
• Prior experience working with government actors and/or community leaders is required;
• Fluency in written and spoken English is required. Fluency in written and spoken Hausa and/or Kanuri is obligatory.

Working Environment:

• The IRC is a team-work environment and requires a person who will work with colleagues from many cultural backgrounds, understand and contribute to the organization’s goals, work well as a member of a group/team, and respect the thoughts and opinions of others in the team.
• The security situation in North East Nigeria continues to be volatile with security level currently at 3 (orange), though subject to change.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.