Job: Reproductive Health Manager

Location: South Sudan 
Description

BACKGROUND

IRC began working in South Sudan in 1989. South Sudan declared independence in July 2011 following decades of brutal civil war rooted in disputes over religion, ethnicity, resources, governance and self-determination. The security situation remains fragile and testing operational challenges abound. IRC-South Sudan operates a country office in Juba, field offices in Lakes, Unity, and Northern Bahr el Ghazal States. Currently, IRC South Sudan implements programs in primary health care, community case management, environmental health, women's protection and empowerment, protection and access to justice.

South Sudan has some of the worst reproductive health indicators in the world. The IRC health programs have a strong focus on reproductive health focused on trying to improve on these indicators through community mobilization for reproductive health, encouraging health facility deliveries, promoting family planning, rolling out focused antenatal care and improving the quality of reproductive health services at all its health facilities. The Reproductive Health Manager will be responsible for implementation of these strategies.

SCOPE OF WORK

The Reproductive Health Manager is the focal point for IRC's reproductive health care services in South Sudan; s/he reports to the Health Coordinator and works closely with the Health Managers for specific program sites. The Reproductive Health Manager ensures the implementation of good quality reproductive health program activities, in accordance with national and international standards. The reproductive health program focuses on family planning, clinical care for sexual assault survivors (CCSAS), and increasing the coverage of facility deliveries, ANC and PNC services. The Reproductive Health Manager will identify gaps in reproductive health services and advise on the necessary steps to address those gaps. S/he provides technical oversight and training to field-based health staff in the area of reproductive health, with an emphasis on national staff capacity building. S/he is responsible for reproductive health data recording and regular reporting.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Under the supervision of the Health Coordinator, the Reproductive Health Manager is responsible for:

Program Management

• Overall quality of reproductive health services at all IRC health program sites, with a focus on family planning, basic emergency obstetric and neonatal care, ANC, PNC, facility delivery and CCSAS.
• Ensuring that reproductive health programs are implemented in accordance with IRC programming principles, including adherence to universal precautions and adequate waste management.
• Ensuring that all stated reproductive health goals and objectives are met, that projects are monitored and evaluated, and that reports are submitted in a timely manner.
• Developing innovative ideas to improve performance in the key areas of family planning, CCSAS, and coverage of ANC, facility delivery and PNC.
• Proper reproductive health data recording in IRC-supported facilities, compilation of data and production of reproductive health reports in a regular and timely manner.
• Assisting the Health Coordinator in proposal writing for reproductive health funding opportunities.
• Scale up of community mobilization on reproductive health at all the program sites.
• Developing and implementing strategies to increase facility-based deliveries at all program sites including the planned incentive program targeting women and traditional birth attendants.
• Implementing strategies to increase family planning uptake with a focus on community awareness raising and ensuring the availability of family planning supplies in IRC-supported facilities.
• Implementing trainings to build capacity for MVA and long term family planning service provision at all supported primary health care centers.
• Facilitating MISP (refresher) trainings at national and state level.
• Supervise and support the implementation of CCSAS at health facilities in collaboration with the IRC Women's Protection and Empowerment unit.
• Continuously assessing reproductive health needs and suggesting new projects to address identified unmet needs.
• Promoting a culture of learning whereby lessons learned and good practices are documented and shared for institutional memory.

Financial Management

• Reviewing budget vs. actual financial reports on a monthly basis and correcting any discrepancies.
• Actively participating in the development of budgets for future activities and proposals.

Staff Management

• Determining personnel needs for field-level activities, developing job descriptions, and assisting in recruitment.
• Undertaking RH capacity-development programs for clinical health staff.
• Working with health management staff to build their capacity to oversee RH activities.

Coordination and Representation

• Ensuring a cross-sectoral, integrated programming approach.
• Representing IRC to other agencies, with respect to reproductive health programs, including the Ministry of Health, WHO, other UN agencies and non-governmental organizations.
• Attend RH Coordination forums at national and state levels; proactively support the State MoH in setting up RH coordination meetings.

REQUIREMENTS:

Education

• Health professional (medical doctor, registered nurse/midwife) with strong public health background, MPH preferred.

Experience

• 3 years experience in coordinating, implementing and managing reproductive health programs, Africa experience preferred.
• Experience in grant management and report writing.
• Experience technically supervising reproductive health staff and building their capacity in a complex setting.

Skills and abilities

• Ability to validate and interpret health data.
• Demonstrated ability to support and build staff capacity.
• Ability to work independently and as a collaborative team member
• Fluency in English. Skill in other languages spoken in South Sudan an advantage.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Ability to live and work under pressure in an unstable security environment.
• Excellent computer skills: MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Epi Info/SPSS, Outlook and the internet.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Security

• The security level is yellow. Major concerns are common criminality, presence of armed troops, inter-tribal violence.

Housing

• Housing is in a shared IRC guest house with internal plumbing, electricity several hours each day, DSTV and internet. Food is the staff member's responsibility – the cost is adequately covered by the location differential.

South Sudanese nationals are encouraged to apply. Salary and employee benefits are compliant to the South Sudanese NGO Sector.

More Info and Application