Project Officer

Established in 2003, 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 work in Africa and Asia with communities, governments, academic institutions, and local and

International organisations, to ensure effective delivery of services, which are supported by strong evidence.

Our areas of expertise include:

• disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment
• disease control and elimination
• systems strengthening
• research, monitoring and evaluation leading to best practice
• behaviour change communication
• national and international advocacy and policy development

Country and project background

Malaria Consortium Chad is one of the country offices in the West and Central Africa region, based in Abuja, Nigeria. Malaria Consortium Chad currently supports the implementation of seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) in 48 health districts, Barh El Gazal, Tandjile, Logone occidental, Mayo Kebbi West  and Mayo Kebbi East and Oral Rehydradation salt and zinc (ORSZ) in 26 health districts (Mayo Kebbi West  and Mayo Kebbi East). SMC and ORSZ are delivered as a mass campaign in three to five monthly cycles during the rainy season. In the future, interventions will range from policy support at the national level to the direct implementation of programs for malaria control, nutrition and certain neglected tropical diseases. The N'Djamena office is the hub for programs in Chad.

Job purpose

The Project Officer oversees and implements all aspects of SMC activities and Oral Rehydration Salt and Zinc (ORSZ) Distribution in Mayo Kebbi Est et Mayo Kebbi Ouest, at all districts, 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 Project Officer is to ensure quality implementation of delivery of SMC and ORSZ services at the community level by HFW, supervisors and CHWs through the timely delivery of SMC and ORSZ 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 County Health Department, District Administration, keeps them updated on the program progress and ensures high-quality SMC and ORSZ implementation.

Key working relationships

Internal: Interacts with Malaria Consortium ORSZ project manager, CTC, SPM, logistics, finance, and monitoring and evaluation staff.

External: Relates with health delegations, SMC central and field supervisors, HFW and CHWs.

Key accountabilities

1. Programme Implementation, treatment tracking and management (70%) 

• Implement all SMC and ORSZ activities at health districts level, including timely implementation of work plan, planning meetings, commodity distributions, SBCC activities, supervision and 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 (ECGs, Supervisors, HFW, CHWs, 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 HDs, 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 districts, CHF and CHW.  
• Maintain a good relationship and work jointly with HD – Public Health Officer, technical consultants (UNICEF, Expertise France etc.) to undertake home visits, meetings and to ensure health districts’ ownership.
• Work with project and finance staff to prepare financial requests and cash forecasts.
• Ensure the accountability to our beneficiaries by delivering to them the results of our research projects

1. Reporting & data quality control (15%)

• Accountable for the planification and coordination of data collection, and for the training and supervision within the health districts that are under his/her supervision
• Review all field implementer reports, provide feedback on areas which needs correction and submit the final hard copy report to the project manager for timely submission to M&E department on a monthly basis.
• Assist project manager on the data quality queries raised by the M&E department and ensure identified issues are rectified in time.
• Ensure submission of monthly reports, success stories, trip reports etc. to keep the project manager abreast with the project implementation at district level.
• Participate and follow up on the monitoring of the quality of the activities and data.

1. Coordination and representation (5%)

• Liaise with key partners including district (prefecture) Administrator, County Health Department, Community Chiefs, Heads of areas (Chefs de carres) , other stakeholders (as necessary)
• Attend health and nutrition coordination meetings at the District or County level as directed by the project manager
• Establish and maintain links with health and other nutrition services with special attention to referral cases.

1. Administrative and other duties (10%)

• Work with the project manager and finance department to prepare financial requests and ensure the timely reporting of expenditure.
• 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 and orders
• Overall planning of stock levels, making sure that they are sufficient for the operations at SMC sites
• Make monthly physical inventory of all SMC commodities supplies
• Any other duties as required by the line.

Person Specification

Qualifications and experience:

Essential:

• Clinical Officer, nurse or Public Health qualification
• At least three years field experience, including organising and supervising distribution campaigns  related to public health activities and ideally realted to the job responsibilities such as project management, data management
• Experience in working with health districts, health centres and with communities
• Good experience in organising mobilisation and sensibilisation campaigns
• Experience working in drug/commodity supply management and logistics
• Ability to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences including HD staff, HFW and community leaders
• Experience of conducting quality supportive supervision and data use
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation activities

 Desirable:

• A broad range of experience including logistics, training and capacity building ability
• Experience of managing teams

• Good knowledge of the Chadian health system

• Good supervision and reporting skills
• Good communication on behavioural change management
• Able to work under pressure
• Excellent verbal and written skills in French
• Good knowledge of Microsoft Office
• Able to reside in the country side

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
• Chad national
• Ability to drive motorcycles on difficult road trails (driving license is a must)

Desirable: 

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