Community Health Specialist

Global Health Corps is building the next generation of diverse health leaders. We offer a range of 13 month long paid fellowship roles with health organizations in Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia and the opportunity to develop as a transformative leader. Everyone has a role to play in the health equity movement!

Community Health Specialist

PLACEMENT ORGANIZATION NAME: On Call Africa
LOCATION: Livingstone, Zambia
ELIGIBLE CITIZENSHIP: Zambia
ROLE CODE: Z03-Nat

About the Organization

On Call Africa is a small Scottish Charity that aims to strengthen rural health systems in Southern Province, Zambia. Established in 2010 by volunteer doctors and international development experts from the UK, the organization aims to improve access to healthcare in remote rural communities through mobile medical clinics run by UK doctors. Over the last 10 years we have developed a more robust and sustainable approach to strengthening rural health systems.
We do this by improving access to quality health care as close to the home as possible through the training of CHWs, alongside mobile clinics; addressing underlying health concerns through tailored programmes and partnerships in each community; building capacity within the health system through the provision of training and resources (such as power at health centres); and sharing findings openly to increase impact. Our approach is tailored to the needs of each community that we work with, and we aim to document and share learning from our community-led approach to health system strengthening.

ROLE FUNCTION: eHealth / eLearning / mHealth, Monitoring and Evaluation / Quality Improvement, Program / Project Management
ISSUE AREA: Community Health Workers, Health System Strengthening, Human Resources for Health

Role Overview

The Community Health Specialist (CHS) will collaborate with our volunteer doctors, and our programme team to support the development of our Community Health work in Southern Province, Zambia. The role will involve shaping community health worker (CHW) recruitment, training, incentives, and supervision. The CHS will directly assist the volunteers and programme team to administer quality improvement projects; help with data management systems; support development of tailored community plans; and assist in monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) to promote internal and external learning. The CHS will help On Call Africa to ensure that it is supporting national Community Health Strategies, and act as a link between the organization and the Ministry of Health (MoH) to promote collaboration and learning.

Responsibilities

Programme development

• Support the development and implementation of a CHW incentive programme
• Review and update the CHW supervision model, helping to plan for a transition from doctor led to CHW led delivery model
• Oversee the recruitment of CHWs into our training scheme, in partnership with MoH
• Support the planning and delivery of CHW training from our Livingstone base
• Liaise with MoH to ensure training content matches national priorities
• Review programme content and carry out quality improvement projects as needed

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Work closely with volunteers and the programme team to monitor and evaluate the progress and performance of CHWs
• Collaborate with volunteers and the programme team in the maintenance and improvement of data management and monitoring systems in the community health programs
• Assist the staff in programme evaluation, as well as research where applicable
  Systems Improvement
• Support the development of improved data management and support systems for CHWs through applications such as Better Impact and the Community Health Toolkit
• Work closely with the Medic Mobile and D-Tree teams to facilitate implementation, configuration, and testing of new app features
• Support the development of improved systems for collecting and analyzing data

Skills and Experience

Items indicated with an asterisk (*) are required

• Bachelor’s degree in economics, development studies, international affairs, global/public health, or another related field*
• Demonstrated experience improving processes or outcomes, especially through quality improvement methodology*
• Demonstrated quantitative and qualitative data analysis skills, especially used for research or program evaluation*
• Demonstrated project management skills, including the ability to ensure internal and external collaborators achieve a time-bound goal or project*
• Strong writing skills with experience producing reports, abstracts, best practices, impact stories, or other documents for technical and non-technical audiences*
• Previous experience in resource-limited settings*
• Academic training in or professional experience with community-based initiatives, especially in a rural setting
• Experience with partnership/relationship management, acting as the main point of contact for donors, clients/beneficiaries, or other key stakeholders
• Experience with mobile data tracking platforms, especially platforms such as Medic Mobile, Kobo, or DHIS2
• Self-starter with the ability to work with minimal supervision
• Innovative
• Team player with the ability to impart skills/mentor others
• Ability to be flexible, think creatively, and manage competing priorities
• Demonstrated maturity and good judgment
• Strong organizational skills and detail orientation
• Ability to interact professionally with culturally diverse staff
• Comfortable traveling to and staying in a rural area
• Advanced skills in Excel, Microsoft Word, and PowerPoint

BENEFITS

• Living Stipend of $700
• Housing allowance of $500
• Professional Development Fund of $600
• Completion Award of $1500 following successful completion of the program
• Health Insurance
• Travel costs to and from Global Health Corps Trainings