HEALTH SPECIALIST – PRIMARY HEALTH CARE AND INFECTIOUS PROGRAMS – NORTH EAST SYRIA

Position: Health Specialist – Primary Health Care and Infectious Programs NES

Location: North East Syria

Type of contract: Contract of collaboration

Duration: 12 months – with possible renewals

Closing date of the vacancy: 23 February 20243 (applications on a rolling basis)

Starting from: ASAP

CONTEXT PRESENTATION:

Un Ponte Per (UPP) is an Italian NGO established in 1991. It started its activities as “Un Ponte Per Baghdad”, in the aftermath of the first Gulf War, intending to organize solidarity initiatives in support of the Iraqi civilian population. In subsequent years, UPP missions expanded to include Serbia and other Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries. The NGO aims at preventing armed conflicts, protecting human rights and support local civil society, especially in the Middle East, by promoting the nexus between its humanitarian, peacebuilding and development programs.

Since 2015, UPP has been one of the leading INGOs in the North East Syria (NES) response, providing humanitarian aid and capacity building of local actors in Health and Protection as well as environmental health, including waste management. In partnership with local partners, UPP has been able to develop a comprehensive system of health services delivered in 26 facilities, including mobile units, hospitals, primary health care centres, and an ambulance network. For further information please refer to our website: www.unponteper.it/en/

SCOPE OF WORK

The HEALTH SPECIALIST – PRIMARY HEALTH CARE AND INFECTIOUS PROGRAMS will work under the supervision of the Medical Coordinator in the Health Department, in collaboration with the Head of Mission of UPP NES Mission and the Health Desk at HQ level to oversee the design, implementation, continued quality monitoring, and evaluation of primary health care services supported by two UPP grants, in line with donors’ standards; and to strengthen the capacities and coach local health care professionals in the provision of quality and safe health care. The desired professional also holds a specific expertise in IPC and Communicable Diseases’ prevention and management and will ensure the design and the application of a comprehensive infectious diseases Programme and related Clinical Protocols or the revision of existing ones. In line with the tasks mentioned above, the Specialist role is also to advise the Programme Department in the decision-making process and deliver project-related documents according to donor requirements, with the programmatic direction and guidance of relevant Project Manager.

KEY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

The HEALTH SPECIALIST will be responsible for:

Technical advice, coordination, monitoring, and reporting:

• Coordinate the design, the planning, and the monitoring activities to ensure that primary health care services managed by the local implementing partner are delivered according to donors’ and international health standards, in strict collaboration with the implementing partner;
• Develop and organize efficient and comprehensive primary care services, including staff allocation, patient flow, and emergency intervention by doctors, nurses, and paramedics.
• Ensure accurate and insightful reporting on a monthly basis from health facilities, feeds into programming so that emerging morbidities are addressed timely;
• Coordinating and ensuring the integration between the different packages of services in the health facility (Emergency, Communicable Diseases, Maternal, Child Health, and Chronic Disease programmes);
• Advising on the design and operation of clinical medicine and nursing services, including emergency and programme development;
• Advising and organizing the general clinical services with a particular focus on planning, developing, and training in infectious disease in primary care settings;
• Supporting, advising, and leading Communicable Diseases and infection prevention-related matters in the mission program;
• Develop, or review sectors-specific guidelines and policy papers with the necessity to offer updates as required;
• Coordinate and supervise the work of local Health Officers in charge of monitoring the assigned PHCCs;
• Monitoring implementation of guidelines, protocols, and tools in health facilities in collaboration with partners, in line with HWG and sector standards;
• Follow up on health facilities and ensure that tools and procedures to improve quality of care are available to teams and promote continuous quality improvement in the services delivered;
• Lead early detection and investigation of outbreaks in the supported facilities, prepare outbreak response plans based on the existing capacity, including the requirements of medical supplies and equipment ,and follow the implementation of the activities;
• Regularly monitor and review health information data and registers providing follow-up and feedback and sharing results with project coordination team;
• Identify and implement appropriate facility- and community-based strategies to address priority outbreak-prone public health problems in coordination with the partners;
• Ensure that the health program conducts regular (Semi-annual) infection prevention and control (IPC) quality assessments and develops quality improvement plans;
• Elaborating M&E data for reporting purposes – Supporting the project managers in the reporting activities and Monitoring the overall functioning of health care services, meeting the challenges identifying gaps and bottlenecks, recommending possible solutions pathways;
• Conducting regular field monitoring visits engaging with partners, and developing and implementing contingency tools for remote monitoring in case physical access is limited due to extraordinary circumstances;
• Advising and collaborating with the Project Manager about project activities, implementation, monitoring, and reporting;
• Providing technical advice and guidance to the Program Department and to Mission Management in strategy development, reporting and proposal development;
• Supervise and monitor the development of reporting systems for health data collection, analysis and follow-up, and feedback to relevant staff, donors, partners, and other agencies;
• Contributes to the monthly situation report and writes the health-related part, submitting to the Medical Coordinator monthly;
• Work closely with UPP personnel and local partners to prepare donor reports, adding technical components to narratives including the evaluation and impact analysis of current projects within donor proposals and reports.

Human resources and capacity strengthening:

• Develop and implement a quarterly training calendar for medical and non-medical professionals in primary care services, based on assessed capacity gaps and including emergency algorithms and ambulance life-saving techniques and measures;
• Coach, train, and mentor UPP staff and partner staff to strengthen their technical capacity, exchange knowledge within the team and provide professional development guidance;
• Supervise and mentor direct-report staff, including communicating clear expectations, setting performance objectives, providing regular and timely performance feedback, and providing documented annual and mid-year performance reviews.
• Mentoring the management of the training aspects related to clinical management with implementing partners;
• Engagement and support by offering regular updates and corrective measures in line with sector strategy for the medical department and the evolution of health issues in the operational spaces regularly.

External coordination:

• Be aware, engaged, and informed on health actors’ interventions in areas of operation and monitor the available services’ mapping to ensure complementarity and avoid duplications.
• In coordination with the Med.Co., ensure that HWG data and requirements are available and referred to for sectorial knowledge and development;
• Develop relationships with Health Authorities, Health clusters, NGOs, and partners to ensure good cooperation and partnerships as needed for the project implementation and as requested by the Med.Co.;
• Accompany donors on field trips, and ensure technical details are transmitted in a timely and professional manner.

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS:

• University Degree in a clinical discipline (e.g., Medicine, Nursing).
• Masters or postgraduate degree or training in Public Health or Acute Medicine
• Minimum of three years of professional experience in primary care services.
• Minimum of two years of professional expertise in developing Acute medicine programs.
• Accredited experience as a trainer or facilitator in primary care, including acute medicine in primary care models.
• Accredited experience in setting primary care services in low-income countries and or conflictive and far-to-reach areas
• Experience infectious diseases and public health activities (specialization and/or master’s in primary health care management is an asset)
• Experience in advising or managing communicable diseases and IPC in low-income countries and health-related conflictive areas
• Experience in the technical coordination of humanitarian aid projects
• Good understanding of the project life cycle management
• Excellent capacity to work in a team.
• Proven capacities to plan activities successfully targeting results and objectives.
• Ability to supervise and/or mentor the medical staff under direct supervision and under partner supervision.
• INGO experience required; Previous work experience in the humanitarian field in complex emergency settings or insecure environments is strongly preferred
• In-depth understanding of health technical standards and their operationalization in humanitarian projects.
• Excellent oral and written English.
• Working experience with local counterparts (CSOs, local NGOs, local institutions).

UPP requires criminal background check certificate (released max 3 months before the date of job offer) to confirm a job offer. We are aware that in some countries the release of criminal background certificate by the competent authorities might require several weeks. However, UPP runs selections to deploy staff in emergency programs and time-lapse between job offer and field deployment is often very short. Thus, we kindly ask all candidates to get prepared on time and be able to submit their certificate promptly in case of success in the selection.

DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS

• Knowledge of the Middle East and specific knowledge about Syria’s context is a strong asset;
• Knowledge of Arabic and/or Kurdish.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

Un Ponte Per is an International NGO committed to diversity and inclusion within its teams, in line with the principle of non-discrimination. UPP encourages all candidates irrespective of gender, religion and ethnicity including persons with disabilities to apply and become part of the organization.

Ethical Conduct

UPP upholds all the minimum standards in terms of Ethical Conduct and strives to increase its standards over the minimum. Zero tolerance is reserved to Sexual Abuse and Exploitation and to Child Abuse, Violence, Harm, Injury and Negligence. UPP participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme, therefore, any candidate assures that s/he has never breached any standard in terms of SEA and Child Safeguarding and that s/he will not in the future. UPP will conduct extensive reference check and vetting on shortlisted candidates that might compromise candidates’ privacy. Shortlisted candidates shall promptly provide an up-to-date criminal background check. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms his/her understanding of these recruitment procedures.