Area Coordinator at Evidence Action

Job Description

Job Summary

As an Area Coordinator, you will represent Evidence Action’s iron folic acid (IFA) supplementation and deworming programs at the district level and provide technical assistance in the effort to strengthen the implementation, particularly of the IFA program as per the operational and financial guidelines. You will work closely with district level officials of the national government departments – Health (DNCC) and Education and other stakeholders to strengthen the existing platforms for better interdepartmental coordination for program deliverables at district level. Under the guidance of the national team will communicate, share updates and discuss progress from the assigned districts. You will be expected to coordinate interventions in at least two to three districts, based on allocation, supporting the IFA provision, availability and distribution of the same to the last mile. Under DTW, you will be expected to support the allocated districts on all deworming activities. Apart from that, you will also be expected to compile district based reports, on activities conducted, be it DTW, IFA as well as MLE plus all other assigned program interventions.  You will be reporting to the Program Manager on all financial and administrative issues, while technically, to the Senior Associates responsible for IFA, DTW and MLE, on all technical and programmatic activities and reports. Please note that you shall also be expected to undertake such other reasonable duties, consistent with the role and level of seniority, as may be directed by management from time to time.

Key Duties & Responsibilities

Policy and Advocacy

• Attend quarterly District Nutrition Coordination Committee (DNCC) meetings and ensure IFA agenda items are being discussed appropriately to discuss program challenges and strengths.
• Suggest recommendations for IFA corrective actions at DNCC meetings and other relevant governance structures and gain consensus/approvals for action items
• Attend quarterly review meetings for HSAs and teachers and ensure findings on key challenges and strengths are being escalated to the appropriate structures, including Principal Nutrition, HIV and AIDS Officers (PNHAO) and other key DNCC members
• Monitor monthly DNCC meetings as well as quarterly review meetings for HSAs and teachers using a monitoring tool to assess program processes.
• Liaise with the PNHAOs across districts to monitor program processes and determine whether key reporting forms are being compiled using a monitoring tool.
• Collect attendance sheets from the HSA and teacher quarterly review meetings and share with the Evidence Action program team to facilitate payments of per diems.

Drug and Supply Chain Management

• Support with updating district level supply mapping – (mapping of schools to health facilities / health surveillance assistants and updating of drug estimates to distribute to given districts based on updated enrolment/consumption data)
• Track inventory status every quarter at key levels of the supply chain system, including schools, health facilities and district pharmacies using a detailed stock tracking tool to inform supply planning for future quarters.
• Monitor a sample of health facilities every month to assess availability of IFA stock, including determining whether appropriate documentation is being maintained on stock movements using a standardized monitoring tool
• Share recommendations with Evidence Action and government stakeholders for corrective actions related to supply distribution at district level meetings
• Timely facilitation of issuance of drug directive/inter district drug movement in case of stock-outs.
• Discuss with government stakeholders for potential solutions to supply chain bottlenecks; meetings with stakeholders across all districts in their region

Training and Capacity Building

• Support in the development of training plans at the district level, including quantification of materials required across all training sessions
• Visit training sessions (on sample basis) for both teachers and health surveillance assistants and check for process adherence as per the training monitoring format. Ensure correct messages are disseminated in the training sessions monitored.
• Escalate any difference or deviation to the national team.
• Compile training attendance sheets for the national team for processing of payments to HSAs and teachers.
• Ensure sharing of monitoring data with the national team within the prescribed timelines
• Support, as a trainer, to facilitate district/traditional authority level trainings

IEC and Community Mobilization

•  Support in updating the district specific IEC/BCC plan for the IFA program on an ongoing basis  (insights on target groups to reach out to and materials needed)
• Facilitate activities highlighted in the community mobilization strategies, leveraging district level infrastructure.
• Advocacy for implementation of IEC and awareness activities and monitoring of district level IEC efforts as part of distribution day monitoring.

Distribution day monitoring

• Visit schools and communities (on sample basis) during weekly distribution day for IFA supplementation and check for process adherence as per the distribution protocols along with a team of government stakeholders
• Support with corrective actions in case of any deviations from the protocol
• Compile data from distribution day monitoring and recommend strategies to government stakeholders to address any challenges

Reporting

• Review and compile data from Monthly District Reports and share with the Evidence Action national team 
• Submission of activity reports, monthly and quarterly reports to the superiors as requested.

Educational Qualifications, Experience, & Skills Required

• You work collaboratively, seeking to elicit and understand needs, opportunities, while meeting strict deadlines.
• Ability to analyze and communicate about data to form narratives with easily understood language.
• You are able to absorb new information quickly.
• Experience in developing reports and presentations documents for external use. 
• Oral and written fluency in English and Chichewa languages- required.
• You can collaborate with teammates across departmentally ensuring adherence to organizational norms and policies.
• You have experience working collaboratively in a matrixed, across time zones, in a multicultural professional environment.
• Energized by working on complex projects in multicultural contexts, across districts, while coordinating with cross-cutting functions, in a matrixed environment.
• You can identify gaps and work with diverse teams to solve problems.
• You have professional experience in multiple districts and multiple cultures across Malawi. 
• You have previously worked in an international organization or with internally diverse teams.
• Demonstrated experience working in the health sector with experiences in community or public health related engagements. 
• Bachelor’s Degree in at least one of the following: Nursing- with community nursing specialty, Public or Environmental health, Community Development; Nutrition with at least a minimum of three-year experience, managing community health programming at district or community level.
• Previous knowledge of IFA and or deworming programming and implementation is an added advantage.

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