VAC-11442 District Communication Officer

Afghanistan
and Pakistan are the world’s remaining polio-endemic countries. In 2022, as of
November 30, Afghanistan reported 02 WPV1 reported in Kunar and Paktika
provinces and 13 environmental cases in Eastern Region, Kunar and Nangarhar
provinces. These results confirm the need for continues community engagement
efforts with a particular focus on previously inaccessible areas, high-risk
districts, and areas where children are still missed for different reasons.

To support activities, our client is planning the recruitment of District Communication Officers (DCOs) who will work closely with extenders and their direct supervisor PCOs to ensure timely and effective implementation of polio programme activities.

Under the general guidance of our client regions Polio team leaders and direct supervision of the PCO in charge of the province, the incumbents will be responsible for managing, implementing, and monitoring of activities related to immunization, community engagement and social mobilization at the district level. The DCO will contribute to the implementation and monitoring of social mobilization and community engagement and health education plans, knowledge-sharing sessions, implementation of action plans, collecting and addressing rumors on the ground through available networks, and providing technical support to staff members across health facilities. 

Specific
Tasks/Activities

District communication
officer:

▪Manage the
planning, implementation and monitoring of social mobilization, communication,
and community engagement at the district.

▪Coordinate
with key partners including WHO, religious/opinion leaders, influencers, NGOs,
CBOs, youth forum, women groups on community engagement, social mobilization,
and communication activities at district level.

▪Work with
the PCO / extenders, District coordinators and partners to design community
initiatives engaging (religious leaders, professional and women groups) at
district level

▪Oversee
the implementation of community engagement and campaign plans at district level

▪Provide
technical oversight to frontline workers including FMVs to ensure
evidence-based monthly communication plans are developed and implemented at
district and cluster levels

▪Disseminate
weekly messages and talking points at weekly community engagement meetings and
monthly trainings, based on district specificities, and aligned with central
guidance

▪Ensure
overall lead and supervision frontline workers including FMVs, review their
performance during field monitoring (district and cluster plans, monitoring of
campaign based SMs, support to RI, data maintenance, training sessions for CCS,
etc.)

▪Coordinate
with the PCO / Extender for all Front-line workers personnel trainings in the
district, as per training needs assessment,

▪Support
pre-testing the communication materials

      
and training of FMV supervisors and FMVS, SMs and Community group

▪Facilitate
the timely payments of performing Front-line workers

▪Prepare
financial reports of funds utilization at the district level

▪Verify
funds expenditure for campaign based SMs

▪Coordinate
and document key communication interventions, initiatives, progress made in the
high-risk districts, barriers faced, continuing challenges, solutions explored,
and action taken to overcome the challenges

▪Assist in
collection and addressing rumors

▪Coordinate
pre-campaign engagement activities at district levels

▪Collect
social data for confirmed Polio cases in the province

▪Retrieve
copies of all districts RI micro plans from NGO/DEMT in charge and ensure all
low performing areas and access compromised areas are planned for coverage

▪Work in
collaboration with District Polio Officer, Government counterparts to ensure
the that the accountability framework for vaccine management is in place and
that cold chain capacities are adequate.

oBefore campaign to monitor and report on:

–District teams (campaign based social Mobilizers) are trained to
support reducing number of missed children and refusal,

–Communities’ engagement activities are conducted to support reducing
number of missed children and refusal,

–Cold chain inventories are conducted and shared it with the
provincial level.

–The consumables, management tools and vaccines are delivered on
time to districts and reviewed by the supply committee.

–Pre campaign activities including Campaign Based social mobilizers
activities when applicable and FMVs pre campaign awareness activities are
supervised.

oDuring campaign:

–Monitoring clusters with huge number of missed children or
refusal, take appropriate action and provide feedback to provincial and
regional coordination team are conducted.

–Feedbacks on vaccine management during evening meetings received
and corrective actions are followed-up.

–The use of vaccine and proper vaccine management is monitored on
the online dashboard

–Vaccine availability is monitored at district level daily and
stock outs are solved as soon as possible

–The Daily Summary Sheet and the Vaccine Vials Tracking Form are
filled daily with figures from district level

oAfter campaign to monitor and report on:

–Draft reports and highlight room for improvement regarding the
campaign quality.

–Admin and PCA data are analyzed to identify room for improvement
for next round and routine activities.

–The final Daily Summary Sheets, the Vaccine Vials Tracking Form
and the Form A are filled on the paper-based system and ODK (for Form A) within
7 days after completion of campaign

–Destruction of empty vials is completed within 10 days after
completion of campaign and destruction report is filled and transmitted to
national level.

–All usable vials are returned at regional level in cold chain.

oBetween campaigns

–FMVs are supervised for on job training and support to improve
Health Education sessions quality and reduce as much as possible the number of
children under five missed.

–Communities’ engagement activities are conducted to support
reducing number of missed children and refusal

●Under the direct supervision of PCO, develop and implement the
district level quarterly communication plans, with a clear focus on missed
children and refusal. The plan should be evidence based and data driven

●Identify cluster level refusal and engage with the refusal
families ahead of the campaign through local influencers including religious
leaders, professionals, and women networks

●Manage implementation of the community initiatives led by
influential groups (religious leaders, professional groups, youth and women
networks) and engage local community members to improve vaccines uptake

●Oversee messaging within the district, ensuring that
all messages are locally relevant according to the district findings and
issues, and aligned to national guidelines (standard messages and monthly
topics); disseminate monthly messages through district meetings, partners
(DEMT/DoPH) and community influencers

●Coordinate and implement all communication activities in the
district, including district level immunization campaign inauguration, advocacy
meetings, monthly meetings at clusters and healthcare centres, etc. 

●Monitor and report on access to vaccination issues within the
district to PCO in a timely manner for prompt action.

●Conduct local level interface dialogue with inaccessible local
influencers together with district team to address inaccessibility

●Ensure timely supervision of communication activities for
campaign-based social mobilizers in the district

●With support from PCO, plan and implement trainings for
campaign-based social mobilizers, local influencers and other social activists,
based on needs assessment, and using agreed updated curriculum.

●Retrieve the list of children still missed after the campaign from
District Polio Officer after each SIA and facilitate revisits and record
coverage

●Retrieve a copy of district routine immunization micro plan from
NGO/DEMT in-charge and ensure all low performing areas and access compromised
areas are planned for

●Retrieve and analyse routine immunization data for BCG, OPV1/Hep 1
and OPV3/Hep 3; and follow up on low coverage and OPV/Hep 3 drop out greater
than 10%

●Conduct at least 4 monitoring visits of routine immunization
sessions in a month and provide feedback to DEMT/PEMT/DoPH using the applicable
format.

●Work in collaboration with the District Coordinator and District
Polio Officer, District Management Team and District Health Officer to ensure
that the accountability framework for vaccine management is in place and that
cold chain capacities are adequate.

Operation and reporting

●Prepare necessary documentation and facilitate payment of
fees/incentives to all campaign-based social mobilizers who have performed
their tasks as per agreed deliverables after each SIA and keep records for
reference.

●Collect social data and communication data from campaign-based
social mobilizers and share with PCO in a timely manner; coordinate and provide
feedback to social mobilizers.

●Ensure appropriate and timely dissemination and display of IEC
materials at least 2-3 days before each Supplementary Immunization Action (SIA)

●Facilitate the recruitment of campaign-based social mobilisers in
the district in coordination with PCO and district selection committee.

Pre-campaign
activities

●Train cluster and vaccination teams on basics of vaccine
management

●Conduct district level cold chain inventories and share it with
the provincial level team.

●Work with the supply committee to review and deliver consumables,
management tools and vaccines to clusters on a timely basis

●Report on above mentioned activities to immediate supervisor and
provincial team.

During the
campaign activities

●Collect feedbacks on vaccine management during evening meetings
follow up on corrective actions

●Conduct daily field visits to ensure compliance with good
practices and capacities are strengthened

●Monitor the use of vaccines and proper vaccine management on the
online dashboard

●Monitor vaccine availability at cluster and address stock outs as
soon as possible

●Fill in the daily Summary Sheet and the Vaccine Vials Tracking
Form with figures from cluster level and the ODK questionnaire with vaccine
monitoring data

●Conduct Intra-campaign monitoring using ICM checklist

●Participate in all district level evening meetings during campaign

●Spend 40% time for RI monitoring in fixed sites, mobile and
outreach sessions

After the
campaign activities

●Monitor to ensure that all unusable vials are returned outside the
cold chain and in plastic ziplock bags to the provincial level and that all
usable vials are returned at provincial level in cold chain.

●complete Form A on the paper-based system and ODK within 3 days
after completion of campaign

●Pay field visits and verify the total absence of type 2 vaccine in
clusters

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Qualification: 

• Minimum 14^th-grade education completed combined
  with at least 5 years of work experience. A university degree in communication,
  public health, social sciences, development planning, communication, or another
  relevant field is desirable.

• At least 5 years of experience working with communities, public or community health, communication, or relevant field. The Polio program or EPI program management will be an asset.  

• The applicant should be ideally from the same district/nearby district or at least the same province.

• Ability to travel to remote locations within the district. 

• Writing and speaking and fluency in the local language is essential and English language skills would be an asset.