Angola: Health Facility Assessment Study Coordinator

Project Title: Targeting Sources of Infection in in southern Angola

to drain malaria sinks in Namibia and Zambia

Job Description: Health Facility Assessment Study Coordinator

The E8 Secretariat

The Elimination 8 is a SADC ministerial initiative, designed as a platform for regional collaboration towards malaria elimination within the SADC region. The eight countries which make up the E8 are Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. These countries are highly interconnected by population movement as well as shared malaria ecologies, making it impossible for one country to eliminate malaria without collaboration with its neighbours. The Ministers of Health of these eight countries have therefore committed to develop this platform for joint planning and accountability. Achieving elimination involves the design and meticulous execution of advanced disease and entomological surveillance systems, establishment of capacity for quality diagnosis, and control of parasite movement through the region’s porous borders. The E8 Ministerial and Technical Committees have developed a 5-year strategic plan to develop innovative, game-changing programs that will steer the region closer to its goal of zero transmission of malaria by 2030.

The Ministerial and Technical Committees of the E8 are supported by an E8 Secretariat, which coordinates diplomatic and programmatic collaboration between the eight countries. The Secretariat is also responsible for administration and financial management of the grant funds of the E8.

Scope of Work

1)Primaryobjective: Conduct diagnosis and surveillance capacity assessments in Cunene, Cuando, and Namibe.

To conduct an assessment to determine local capacity for reporting, surveillance, and diagnosis functions, recognizing that they are key determinants of success for malaria control and elimination. A stratified sample of health facilities will be selected. The approach will incorporate proven tools developed. It will involve reviews of practices, skills, protocols/tools, infrastructure, and technology currently in use.

2) Secondary objective: Establish a situation analysis of malaria trends, risk patterns, malaria intervention history and coverage across the 3 provinces in Southern Angola, to inform planning, implementation and impact evaluation.

The Study Coordinator will be responsible for conducting malaria cases data collection from health facilities registers to determine: number of malaria cases by municipality and health facility, on a weekly or monthly basis, disaggregated by age and sex; number of malaria cases tested and treated versus clinical cases; frequency and duration of anti-malaria commodity stock-outs; history and coverage of malaria control interventions like: IRS, larval source management, LLIN distribution conducted by government and other partners; and finally, conduct mapping and analysis of health facilities, and assess capacity of district, and provincial malaria management

Collectively, these data will provide a solid foundation for future work in southern Angola. This assessment study will also incorporate an organizational capacity assessment in the three focus provinces to assess capacity and key challenges at the community, health facility, district, and provincial levels that may undermine the effectiveness of malaria control scale-up following this investment. The program will use an organizational development approach to identify organizational bottlenecks and capacity constraints, and will later inform the design of specific interventions

Responsabilities

· Assist program manager in recruitment of researchers;

· Coordinate capacity building of researchers;

· Monitor and supervise research personnel;

· Ensure delivery of timely and quality research outputs;

· Establish, maintain and update research database;

· Coordinate all field work making sure quantitative and qualitative data are collected accordingly and the questionnaires are correctly filled;

· Supervise and coordinate the research, including developing working relationships with provincial, district and community officers involved;

· Coordinate all field work making sure quantitative and qualitative data are collected accordingly and the questionnaires are correctly filled;

· Analyse the data and write the preliminary and final report of the survey.

Qualifications and Requirements

· Minimum of a degree in Public Health, Social Science or Medicine in a recognized institution.

· Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in public health management and research;

· Experience conducting field assessments and health surveys in resource limited setting will be an added advantage.

· Experience working with or for international NGOs will an additional advantage;

· Experience working with malaria programs at district, provincial or national levels;

· Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, set priorities and work independently;

· Proven ability to work efficiently in a fast-paced environment and to troubleshoot and follow projects through to completion, consistently on schedule, without loss of attention to detail;

· Able to manage teams effectively, guiding and advising the different members of the appropriate techniques;

· Good report writing skills;

· Detail-oriented with good organization skills.

· Fluency in Portuguese necessary, ability to speak English is an added advantage.

Timeline and Location

The estimated level of effort (LOE) is 120 days. The Project Coordinator will be required from 20th June - to September 20th, 2018 for a total of 4 months. He/she will be based at the E8 Secretariat Office in Ondjiva, Angola, but doing intensive work in Namibe, Cunene and Cuando Cubango. The contractor will report to Angola E8 project manager in Ondjiva for the duration of this agreement.

Interested consultants should send their CV to recrutamentoe8@gmail.com no later than June 15th. Please email CV and daily professional rate, not inclusive of travel and accommodation costs while in the field outside Ondjiva.