Consultancy for Health System Strengthening Officer job at John Snow, Inc. ( JSI )

JOB DETAILS:
The PMI Uganda Malaria Reduction Activity (MRA) is a USAID-funded initiative to enhance malaria prevention and health ownership at community and household levels in Uganda's five highest-burden regions. The Activity that works through the government of Uganda aims to improve technical, managerial, financial, and leadership capacity at all levels of the healthcare delivery system, focusing on community-level access to high-quality malaria services. It also supports targeted private for-profit health facilities to improve malaria case management and reporting. The Activity aims to fill gaps in access and use of high-quality malaria services, focusing on the community level. Malaria prevention and treatment scaled up.
• Reduce new malaria infections.
• Leadership practices strengthened.
• Policy-making processes and capacity strengthened.

The five main components of the Activity are technology-driven, district-specific, system-strengthening, community-focused, and private sector-enabling. PMI MRA provides technical and financial support to targeted districts, incorporates community viewpoints into programs for treating and preventing malaria, and employs a systems approach to promote progress and improve reporting and service delivery; the Activity also supports the MOH- National Malaria Control Division and respective district health management teams to implement digital technologies and tools used in healthcare delivery. The Activity also focuses on the private sector by creating strategic engagement techniques to encourage the integration of PFP clinics, pharmacies, and drug shops into the healthcare delivery system for better case management and reporting.

Purpose / Project Description:
PMI Malaria Reduction Activity (MRA) would like to temporarily engage a consultant to implement the tasks of a Health Systems Strengthening Officer for the Acholi region based in Gulu City. The Consultant will provide health system technical support to nine districts in the Acholi region under the PMI MRA. He or she will work closely with district health management teams, regional teams, other implementing partners, and the community, assisting in work planning, implementation, networking, and collaboration. He or She will draft activity terms of reference, provide documentation on technical reporting, and share it with relevant stakeholders. The Consultant will be supervised by and report directly to the Regional Program Coordinator, Acholi. He/she will have a dotted line reporting to the HSS Advisor.

Consultant Objectives:
• To provide technical support for capacity building, good governance, and health information systems to support district-led planning and implementation.
• Track commodities in health facilities, support the DMMS in conducting redistribution and report biweekly as per the USAID schedule.
• In collaboration with the respective DHOs, engage and bring on board the private sector in the region in malaria programming.
• Draft program documents, meetings, and correspondence to activities identified under health system strengthening and prepare weekly, monthly, and quarterly work plans and reports.
• To monitor project activities, identify problems, and propose practical solutions that increase the capacity of regional and district staff to implement, monitor, and evaluate integrated health services related to malaria as per the nationally accepted standards and document best practices.

Key Activities:
• Conduct routine tracking, quantification, and redistribution of malaria commodities (LLINs, ACTs, SP, and mRDTs) in collaboration with the DMMS and other IPs in the region.
• Conduct identification of malaria hot spots for enhanced HBHI intervention packages.
• Support regional Public Health Emergency Operation Centers (PHEOC) coordinating district malaria epidemic response actions.
• Participate in the onsite mentorships of health workers with a focus on supply chain management, reporting, and proper waste management practices.
• Support districts to conduct monthly MAAM task force meetings.
• Hold quarterly review meetings for Sub – County/Parish MAAM Task Forces
• Support RRHs to hold bi-annual health program review meetings.
• Conduct quarterly integrated support supervision visits in targeted health facilities.
• Engage management and leadership of critical private sector enterprises in the region.

Key Deliverables/Outputs:
• Six supply chain management and commodity redistribution reports submitted (on a bi-weekly basis).
• Thirty (30) hotspot villages identified in 3 months, and together with the community linkages staff, strategies to reduce the burden of malaria in these hotspots are designed.
• Six (6) bi-weekly commodity reports are prepared and submitted for the Acholi region as expected.
• Three (3) partner coordination meetings for malaria epidemic surveillance and response organized in collaboration with the Gulu regional PHEOC.
• Six (6) districts supported conducting monthly MAAM task force meetings to discuss malaria surveillance data and actions for malaria reduction in their respective districts.
• Sixty (60) sub-counties supported in developing 60 sub-counties malaria response plans and monitoring the implementation plan.
• One (1) health program review meeting held to discuss the health service delivery in the region in collaboration with Gulu RRH.
• One (1) ISS exercise organized in 3 targeted districts with high malaria burden in the region.
• Two (2) high-volume private for-profit health facilities brought on board in the mainstream malaria programming.

Timeframe / Schedule:
The consultancy will last three months, from May 15, 2024, to August 14, 2024. The services will cover a maximum of 84 days. Upon successful delivery of the SOW, PMI-MRA can renew the contract for another month, subject to negotiation of the level of effort (LoE).

Qualifications:
• A bachelor's degree in public health or a related field is a MUST; a master's degree is an added advantage.
• Minimum three years of experience they are progressively working for a technical assistance health program.
• Experience designing and implementing successful HSS approaches with the public sector in Uganda.
• Experience working on health systems strengthening activities at district, sub-county, parish, and community levels, implementing effective HSS techniques into practice.
• Excellent interpersonal communication, teamwork, supervisory, and mentoring skills.
• Experience working with a variety of implementing partners.
• Knowledge of the local language is an added advantage.

The Consultant will report to:
Regional Program Coordinator with a dotted line to the HSS Advisor
The Consultant will work closely with: -
MEL Officer, Quality Improvement and Operation Manager, Regional Malaria Clinical Advisors, Community
Linkages Officers, Accountant, Operation Officer, other IP staff, and the district stakeholder
Work Hours: 8
Experience in Months: 36

Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 36

Level of Education: Bachelor Degree