LGA Field Officer at Malaria Consortium – Kano, Katsina & Yobe

Malaria Consortium is one of the world’s leading non-profit organisations specialising in the comprehensive prevention, control and treatment of malaria and other communicable diseases among vulnerable and under privileged populations. We increasingly find our work on malaria can be effectively integrated with other similar public health interventions for greater impact and therefore expanded our remit to include child health and neglected tropical disease interventions.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: LGA Field Officer

Locations: Kano, Katsina & Yobe
Department: Technical
Length of contract: 1-year
Role type: National
Grade: 6
Travel involved: 40% within the State
Child safeguarding level: 4
Reporting to: LGA Cluster Supervisor

Country and project background

The Nigeria Country Office in Abuja, started operations in 2008, through the DFID/UKaid funded support to National Malaria Programme, SuNMaP (2008 – 2016). The office had presence in 23 states of the country and has managed at various times, about 15 projects. It follows the mandate of the parent organization in Nigeria and has been working specifically in the following areas:
- Malaria control/elimination
- Integrated community case management (iCCM) for malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea
- Nutrition
- Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)
Malaria Consortium has recently received funding to implement SMC in three West African countries including Nigeria. In Nigeria, malaria consortium has decided to use the fund to continue SMC implementation in the 4 states it has been supporting since 2013 with UNITAID (Sokoto and Zamfara), DFID (Katsina and Jigawa) and BMSMC (Katsina) funds.
Under this new funding and any anticipated additional funding, all Malaria Consortium SMC activities in country will be consolidated into a single project and managed by Senior Project Manager who will report to the Country Programme Manager.

Job Purpose:

The LGA Field Officer oversees and implements all aspects of SMC activities at LGA, health facilities and household level.
He/she is responsible for planning, implementation, reporting and coordination with local government representatives and community-level stakeholders.

Scope of Work:

The role of LGA Field Officer is to ensure quality implementation of delivery of SMC services at the community level by HFW/supervisors and CHWs through the timely delivery of SMC commodities and supplies, provision of supportive supervision, training and documentation of program activities.
S/he provides supportive supervision and training to the above actors and ensures respect of SMC administration protocols.
He/she interacts with the State Minister of Health, LGA management team, keeps them updated on the program progress and ensures high-quality SMC implementation.

Key Working Relationships:

Interacts with Malaria Consortium LGA cluster supervisor; Zonal project Manager, SPM, Admin Supply chain Office, Finance Officer, and monitoring and evaluation Officer.
The LGA Temporary Officer will relate with State Ministry of Health, LGA management team, HFW/supervisors CHWs and community leaders.

Key accountabilities
Programme Implementation, treatment tracking and management (70%):

Implement all SMC activities at health LGA level, including timely implementation of work plan, planning meetings, commodity distributions and monitoring to avoid any stock out, Community mobilization activities, supervision, monitoring and reporting.
Ensure accountability of received commodities and supplies through tracking consumption levels and review of reconciliation reports
Responsible for capacity building of field partners (Supervisors, HFW, CHWs, and community mobilisers) through training, on-job support and quality supervision.
Track program targets and timely implement the planned activities to ensure program meets targets and review reports from LGAs and HFW for accuracy and completeness prior to submission.
Ensure implementation of activities is in line with the laid down protocols, by continuously monitoring and conducting supervision and on-job training of LGA, HFW and CHWs.
Maintain a good relationship and work jointly with – Public Health Officers and other partners to undertake home visits, meetings and to ensure health LGA’s ownership.

Reporting & data quality control (10%):

Review all field implementer reports, provide feedback on areas which needs correction and submit the final hard copy report to the LGA Cluster supervisor after LGA Level approval.
Assist ME Officer on the data quality queries and ensure identified issues are rectified in time.
Ensure submission of EoC Report, success stories, trip reports etc. to keep the LGA cluster and Zonal Project Manager abreast with the project implementation at LGA level.
Coordination and representation (10%)
Responsible for overall planning and coordination of LGA and HFW/supervisors and CHWs during training and supervision visits.
Liaise with key partners including LGA Administrator, State MOH, Community leaders, other stakeholders (as necessary)
Attend data validation meetings at LGA level and as directed by LGA cluster supervisor /Zonal project manager
Establish and maintain links with health and other nutrition services with special attention to referral cases.

Administrative and other duties (10%):

Ensure the development of individual and team action plans to ensure role complementarities in achieving the set treatment target.
Participate in the follow-up of supplies consumption.
Overall planning of stock levels, making sure that they are sufficient for the operations at SMC sites
Ensure that all HF realized physical inventory of all SMC commodities supplied at the end of each cycle.
Any other duties as required by the line manager.

Qualifications and Experience
Essential:

Clinical Officer, nurse or Public Health qualification
At least two years field experience in a related field
Fluency in English, Hausa and/or other local languages is required
Experience working in drug/commodity supply management, ME and logistics
Ability to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences including LGA staff, HFW and community leaders
Experience of conducting quality supportive supervision and data use.

Desirable:

A broad range of experience including logistics, training and capacity building ability
Experience of managing teams
Experience working at LGA level

Work-based skills:
Essential:

Good planning and organisational skills
Basic computer skills particularly Microsoft Office
Flexible, ability to work both as an individual and as a team member and under stress in what can be a harsh environment
Nigerian

Desirable:

Ability to find solutions to complex problems in a challenging environment
Ability to speak and understand English.

Core competencies
Delivering results:

LEVEL A – Takes on pieces of work when required and demonstrates excellent project management skills:

Shows a flexible approach to taking on additional work / responsibilities when needed to achieve results
Demonstrates excellent project management skills to agreed timescales (timelines, targets, donor requirements)
Makes clear and timely decisions within remit of own role

Analysis and use of information:
LEVEL B – Gathers information and identifies problems effectively:

Interprets basic written information
Attentive to detail
Follows guidelines to identify issues
Recognises problems within their remit
Uses appropriate methods for gathering and summarising data

Interpersonal and communications:
LEVEL B – Fosters two-way communication:

Recalls others’ main points and takes them into account in own communication
Checks own understanding of others’ communication by asking questions
Maintains constructive, open and consistent communication with others
Resolves minor misunderstandings and conflicts effectively

Collaboration and partnering:
LEVEL A – Is a good and effective team player:

Is as a good and effective team player
Knows who their customers are and their requirements.
Respects and listens to different views/opinions
Actively collaborates across teams to achieve objectives and develop own thinking
Proactive in providing and seeking support from team members

Leading and motivating people:
LEVEL B – Manages own development and seeks opportunities:

Actively manages own development and performance positively
Learns lessons from successes and failures
Seeks and explores opportunities within Malaria Consortium which develop skills and expertise

Flexibility / adaptability:
LEVEL B – Remains professional under external pressure:

Able to adapt to changing situations effortlessly
Remains constructive and positive under stress and able to tolerate difficult situations and environments
Plans, prioritises and performs tasks well under pressure
Learns from own successes / mistakes

Living the values:
LEVEL B – Promotes Malaria Consortium values amongst peers:

Shows a readiness to promote Malaria Consortium’s values amongst peers
Promotes ethical and professional behaviour in line with Malaria Consortium’s values

Strategic planning and thinking and sector awareness:
LEVEL A – Manages own workload effectively: