Job Summary
Position: Gender & Community Engagement Officer (1 post) – TMSA
Reports To: Regional Project Manager
Work Station: Katavi
Apply By: October 11, 2022

Institute Overview 

Ifakara Health Institute (IHI) is a leading research organization in Africa with a strong track record in developing, testing and validating innovations for health. Driven by a core strategic mandate for research, training and services, the Institute’s work now spans a wide spectrum, covering biomedical and ecological sciences, intervention studies, health-systems research, service delivery and policy translation. 

Position Summary 

Ifakara Health Institute is seeking a Gender & Community Engagement Officer to join the PMI | Tanzania Malaria Surveillance Activity (TMSA) team. The Officer will provide leadership at the regional level in engaging communities in situational analysis, designing program strategies, implementing and monitoring results in malaria case management and malaria surveillance. The Officer will focus on addressing gender and equity issues related to utilization of malaria services at both community and facility levels. The Officer will also provide leadership at the regional level in engaging community structures and stakeholders such as local CSOs, community leaders, Community Health Workers (CHWs), and Community Resource Persons (CORPs) in promoting positive health behaviors. The Officer will also maintain working relationships and collaborations with broader project stakeholders including health care workers and R/CHMT members to ensure the continuum of care from community to facility.

The PMI | Tanzania Malaria Surveillance Activity is a five-year program (August 2022 – August 2027) implemented by Ifakara Health Institute, which supports the Government of Tanzania (GOT) in reducing malaria burden and in moving towards malaria elimination. The Activity is made possible by the support of the American people through the US President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The PMI | TMSA works with the GOT to reduce malaria burden and move towards the long-term goal of malaria elimination―while achieving USAID’s strategy to support institutional growth and capacity development for local institutions. The PMI | TMSA will address the urgent healthcare needs of malaria at-risk populations, especially vulnerable pregnant women and children under five, and support Tanzania partners to grow and execute malaria programs sustainably and successfully.

The PMI | TMSA project will primarily work to support both facility- and community-based malaria activities in all districts of Katavi region, as well as making contributions to the national malaria priorities through the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP).

Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide technical support in implementing malaria case management strategies and interventions at the community level.
• Coordinate efforts to implement integrated community-based case management (iCCM) in Katavi, including training of CORPs, supervision and mentorship, and reporting on progress.
• In collaboration with RHMT, CHMTs and other project staff, implement and monitor strategies to improve community knowledge, attitudes and practices towards malaria prevention, case management (CM), and Malaria in Pregnancy (MiP) services.
• Contribute to the design and development of community and gender strategies and tools for the project.
• Support the execution of gender analysis to identify barriers to the uptake of malaria services across population groups.
• Provide leadership in rolling out community digital applications to facilitate community malaria services.
• Support scoping and feasibility assessments for iCCM data management including electronic data transmission.
• Collaborate with the SBC officer in implementing community mobilization and sensitization activities.
• Participate in the identification and building capacity of local organizations and community structures to implement community-based activities.
• Implement program strategies to promote accountability for access to quality malaria services from the community to facility levels, such as community score card and community dialogue.
• Coordinate and implement service delivery strategies for accessing hard-to-reach populations, including outreaches, and identification of opportunities to integrate malaria services with nonhealth sectors (such as agriculture, education, environment, economic reform, and private sector enterprises).
• Coordinate work planning and reporting on program progress at the regional level in areas of community engagement and gender.
• Engage R/CHMTs to facilitate evidence-based planning for malaria community activities within CCHPs.
• Ensure that national standards, policies and guidance on community programming are properly implemented within local context to meet the project needs in Katavi.
• Document and share lessons learned and success stories during the implementation of community Malaria activities.
• Work closely with the Data Manager, and Monitoring and Evaluation Officers to ensure community data is properly collected, analyzed and reported.

Qualification and Experience

• A Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in public health, community development, sociology or other relevant fields.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in implementing community health programs.
• Experience working with donor-funded projects and local government authorities
• Current knowledge in the field of malaria and/or maternal and child health.
• Prior in participatory methods to engage communities for positive health behavior.

 Skills and Competencies

• Ability to work in a team and maintain productive working relationships with colleagues and the host government.
• Ability to coach, mentor and develop the technical capacity of community structures including CHWs.
• Ability to communicate effectively, instilling trust and confidence.
• Be cooperative, competent, hardworking, flexible and dependable.
• Excellent verbal, written communications and presentation skills.
• Demonstrated skills in both written and oral communication in English and Swahili.
• High level of integrity, commitment and team working spirit.
• Computer literacy, particularly in the use of MS word, Excel and PowerPoint experience.

Remuneration  

An attractive and competitive remuneration package will be offered to successful candidates as per IHI salary scales.

Equal Opportunity

IHI is an equal opportunity employer. We prohibit intentional biases or discrimination and harassment of any kind at the work place and during recruitment. All employment decisions are based solely on job requirements and individual qualifications, and our recruitment process is governed by the labour laws of Tanzania.