Program Officer – Health & Nutrition – Project Concern International India (PCI India)

 Apply by 6th April, 2022, 5:00 pm

Project Concern International India (PCI India) has been working in India since 1998. In the last 20 years, PCI India maintained a diversified portfolio, working in rural and urban settings in the areas of integrated health and community development with programs focusing on low-income, vulnerable and hard-to-reach population.

PCI believes community-driven programming unlocks the power within the most vulnerable members of a society for real and lasting change.

PCI deploys community mobilization strategies that effectively leverage and strengthen community groups and structures, particularly those consisting of women and other marginalized population as a key approach to improving a broad range of integrated health and development outcomes.

At present, PCI India is working across 10 states in India, namely, Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh

Position Name: Program Officer – Health & Nutrition

Reporting to: State Program Manager – Health & Nutrition

Number of Positions: 1

Location: Nalanda (Bihar)

About the Project -– JEEViKA Technical Support Program (JTSP):

The JEEViKA Technical Support Program (JTSP) is a flagship program of Project Concern International (PCI) in Bihar, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In its earlier phase between 2015 to 2021, JTSP has successfully supported in the demonstration, layering and integration of health and nutrition, into the operational framework of JEEViKA (the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Society). JTSP has supported JEEViKA to deliver a range of reproductive, maternal, new born and child health and nutrition outcomes, through an at scale social behaviour change package and has enabled JEEViKA’s transformation into a model State Rural Livelihoods Mission, which embraces Health and Nutrition into its overall mandate. The next phase of this work, called JTSP II, is planned for the period between 2021 and 2024 and seeks to transition skills and capabilities to JEEViKA to drive HN strategies through its systems and network of community based organizations.

About the Position

Programme Officer (PO) will work as an Extended team of SPMU –HNS of JEEViKA. This position will be embedded within the JEEViKA system and report to SPM-HNS for programmatic guidance. Each PO will be assigned 4-5 specific districts on rotation basis for which that person will be responsible for system strengthening, convergence and advocacy. S/he shall support District project coordination unit (DPCU) and Health and Nutrition Manager (HN Manager) of JEEViKA in conducting different types of community events, SBCC activities to bring out behaviour changes in the practices. Being the integral part of JEEViKA, this position will conduct monitoring, Knowledge Management and enhance effective communication mechanism around HNS.

Key roles and responsibilities

Program Management and System strengthening 

• Work closely with SPMU and DPCU to ensure the quality implementation of designed activities within JEEViKA SHG platform around HNS.
• Coordinate and support District Project Manager (DPM) of JEEViKA to bring out HN as a core mandate of themes and advocacy for better planning, implementation and review of HNS intervention.
• Hand holding and mentoring support to the HN Manager and other thematic managers towards quality implementation of BCC activities & events on HNS.
• Coordinate with different stakeholders and JEEViKA to ensure the convergence for the benefit of the community associated with JEEViKA.
• Provide support to HN Manager in organizing the district level HN review meeting of Block Project managers (BPM) and same at Block project implementation unit (BPIU) levels for Area coordinators (AC), Cluster coordinators (CC) and Master resource persons (MRP).
• Setting up a robust monitoring and quality assessment mechanism for all types of ongoing trainings and field activities
• Represent JTSP in different forums in his/her assigned districts. Facilitate PCI’s representation in Key policy /Advisory and Technical bodies
• Identify and evaluate the risks associated with program activities and take appropriate action in consultation with Senior Management Team.
• Any other activities as assigned by supervisor and the organization

Capacity Development

• Identify and raise the district and block wise gaps on training and implementation of HN activities and sharing it with DPCU and State Project Management Unit (SPMU)
• Provide support to the HN Managers in developing capacity building and implementation plan of his/her respective district
• Provide hand holding support to the HN Managers of assigned districts in conducting the capacity building activities for Staff and cadres

Management, Monitoring, Knowledge Management and Communication

• Generate monthly brief district HN reports including success stories on
• Behavior Changes, collective actions. Positive deviance
• Provide analyzed data and reports on training, community events, other implementation as per programmatic requirements
• Provide support to DPCU and BPIU in developing a mechanism of timely MIS entries
• Support and ensure the block wise Gap analysis on HN theme at a regular interval for necessary improvements
• Participate in the district level BPMs review meeting and share the findings and feedback related to HN intervention
• Develop quarterly visibility plan for the district in consultation DPCU & SPMU.

Documentation and Research:

• Engage actively in any research conducted by the measurement team for the program.
• Ensure documentation of best practices from field and contribute to knowledge bank of the organization.

Qualification:

Graduate degree in Social Work/ Social Science/Public Health, Rural Development or any other relevant fields.

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in public health, including a minimum 3 years of divisional / district level experience in managing & leading health programs.
• Experience of designing and executing social mobilization program
• Experience of working with JEEViKA around HNS would be given preference

Skill & Competencies:

• Understanding of the development sector and critical cross cutting themes such as gender and advocacy.
• Possess leadership skill and is decisive, action oriented and adaptable.
• Strong networking and relationship building skills.
• Ability to work against tight timelines.
• Excellent knowledge of MS office.
• Fluency in verbal and written English, Hindi and local language.
• Willingness to travel to the field.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Interested candidates can apply for the position of Program Officer – Health & Nutrition by 6th April,2022,5:00 pm

PCI India is an equal opportunity provider and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability and/or marital status. Due to the heavy inflow of resumes, only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Female candidates are encouraged to apply.