Early Childhood Development Coordinator at John Snow Inc

John Snow, Inc. (JSI) seeks highly qualified and accomplished public health leaders and providers for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/PEPFAR-funded Supporting an AIDS-Free Era (SAFE) Project in Zambia. The five-year project led by JSI in partnership with Abt Associates, mothers2mothers, and the Catholic Medical Mission Board, works to reduce HIV mortality, morbidity and transmission, while improving nutrition outcomes and family planning integration in three provinces: Central, Copperbelt, and North-Western. USAID/PEPFAR SAFE works with the GRZ, private sector and civil society institutions at the national, provincial, and district level to increase access to ART for HIV positive adults and children, reduce the incidence of new infections, improve Nutritional Assessment, Counseling and Services (NACS), family planning and cervical cancer screening services, and increase the capacity of local health institutions to better serve affected populations.

USAID SAFE works with the Ministry of Health to integrate Early Childhood Development (ECD) services into the HIV program at selected supported facilities through structures that recognize the significant opportunities related to ECD in the areas of social protection, health, nutrition and education. SAFE plans to invest in high impact, sustainable interventions that are closely linked to current priorities in HIV, maternal, child health, nutrition and education. Priority outcomes for ECD programming along the child survival continuum include; decreased loss to follow-up for HIV care and treatment, improved outcomes for children affected by or living with HIV, reduced rates of stunting, increased immunization rates and improved preparedness for early grade reading.

Position Title: Early Childhood Development Coordinator

Position Type: Consultancy (1st May 2019 to 30th September, 2019)

Location: Lusaka

The project now seeks the services of a highly qualified and motivated Zambian who is ready to start working immediately to fill the position of Early Childhood Development advisor to be located at the SAFE national office in Lusaka.

Reporting: Reports to Director, Clinical Services at the SAFE national office.

Primary Responsibilities and Duties:

• The ECD Consultant will support the work of Early Childhood Development (ECD) within the project at national, provincial, district and facility levels by working closely with regional ECD coordinators
• Integrate ECD activities into already existing child health programmes in supported facilities
• Provide technical and organizational support and oversee the contextualization and implementation of ECD throughout the project
• Will ensure that SAFE is working within existing health structures, with stakeholders and community members, and support the day to-day coordination of respective project interventions and activities, including supervision and monitoring of efforts of assigned program support staff and service providers for accomplishing program deliverables in compliance with ECD program/ project work-plan and budget
• Provide leadership to plan for and facilitate trainings for caregivers, volunteers and health staff in child development, pediatric HIV, developmental milestones, and developmental assessment.
• Through stringent daily monitoring, ensure day to day operations of the ECD program are in line with scope of work
• Work closely with the provincial, district and facility staff to ensure cooperation and continuous communication
• Work closely with the MCH staff and mentor mothers to ensure that ECD services are effectively implemented at facility level

Qualifications and Competencies:

• BSc Nursing or BA (Child Psychology)
• MPH or equivalent.
• Experience in managing and/or technically supporting early childhood development or other similar works in a health setting;
• Ability to communicate effectively with MOH, USAID and other key stakeholders
• Excellent trainer and communicator;
• Strong background in working with children 0-5, both HIV infected and non-infected children;
• Demonstrated track record in working with teams, showing high performance with demonstrated flexibility, and ability to handle pressure;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills with strong organizational and planning skills;
• Strong interpersonal training and mentoring skills;
• Ability to undertake field visits for monitoring and mentorship site visits;
• Ability to work both independently, and as member of diverse task teams.

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