Regional Coordinator

About Project Concern Zambia

Project Concern Zambia (PCZ), is a local Zambian independent organization, established in 2019. PCZ work focuses on strengthening community public health and social protection systems to sustainably support inclusive development, HIV epidemic control, increase access to quality integrated health care and social protection among vulnerable communities, and foster climate resilience. PCZ leverages the existing community ecosystem and collaborates with community-led organizations, the government, and the private sector to serve targeted vulnerable communities and populations. Currently, PCZ is reaching over 100,000 vulnerable children, adolescents, and caregivers in over 200 communities in Central, Muchinga, Northern, Southern, and Western Provinces of Zambia. Current donors include the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Churches Association of Zambia (CHAZ)/Global Fund, and American Private Foundations.

PCZ seeks a Regional Coordinator to be based in Mpika and oversee Muchinga and Northern province.

Job Summary

The Regional Coordinator (RC) will be responsible for coordinating and supervising provincial-level community-led monitoring (CLM) for malaria; integrated community-based disease surveillance and reporting; and integrated Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Comprehensive services using the Empowered Children and Adolescents Program (ECAP) case management model. The RC will closely collaborate with Government community and district-level health and social service structures at Provincial and District levels such as the Provincial Health Office, District Health Office, Departments of Social Welfare and Community Development, District Development Coordinating Committees (DDCC), primary health care (PHC) facilities, Neighborhood Health Committees (NHCs) and community welfare assistant committees to ensure alignment of project activities to Government plans and policies, ensure government and community-buy in and project sustainability.

Main duties

• Manage and maintain relationships with all line stakeholders in the province including the Department of Community Development Social Services, Ministry of General Education (MoGE), Ministry of Health (MoH) and related community-based organizations, and other actors in the sectors of social work, HIV/AIDS, social, and child protection.
• Serve as the provincial lead for the project implementation, overseeing all programming and coordination, and ensuring strong communication and coordination with and between all project members to effectively implement project activities, and achieve project objectives, deliverables, and targets.
• Lead the provincial-level planning of project activities and sets high-quality performance targets ensuring adherence to technical standards, best practices, and donor guidelines.
• Guide the mobilizing of project communities for Malaria CLM and ensure the capacity of communities is strengthened to own and lead the CLM program.
• In collaboration with the PCZ Strategic Information (SI) unit, PHC facilities, and NHCs, strategically support project communities at baseline and regularly thereafter, to define the malaria indicators that will guide data collection, and map community sites that will be prioritized for CLM for malaria.
• Oversee and support the adaptation of user-friendly data collection, analysis, and action planning tools, and help to strengthen the capacity of project communities in CLM data collection, analysis, and data usage for decision-making and to guide action, advocacy, and resource mobilization.
• Guide district teams to identify and utilize effective community structures for community dialogue to use CLM data to promote community responses to underperformance in malaria service delivery and allow communities to hold responsible service providers and policymakers accountable.
• Participate in Government planning at the Provincial level and drive CLM for malaria data usage for program improvement, decision-making, and influencing policy change.
• Coordinate and ensure the effective orientation of project community-based volunteers (CBVs)/Case Workers and Strategic Information Officers (SIOs) on the identification and reporting of diseases and conditions at the community level on nationally approved integrated disease surveillance response (IDSR) guidelines.
• Coordinate effective and timely reporting of suspected cases and maintenance of tally sheets at the community level.
• Coordinate with RCMCs on timely reporting of cases, timely investigation, and confirmation of suspected disease outbreaks or public health events in project communities and across border communities.
• Conduct frequent project site visits to support PCZ and partner staff in project implementation and use this learning to modify programming as necessary to meet project targets and objectives and to improve program quality.
• Ensure the implementation of a strong provincial M&E system, using PCZ tools and resources to maximize project impact on beneficiaries.
• In collaboration with the SI Manager, guide the SI Regional Officer to ensure the appropriate use of M&E tools and systems most appropriate for the project to generate timely, reliable data that informs project decision-making, captures project impact, and meets PCZ’s and donor reporting requirements.
• Ensure that aspects of gender, conflict sensitivity, and Integral Human Development are fully considered in the project cycle.
• Maintain strong communication within the project team, with stakeholders, and with CBOs, District staff, Community Volunteers, and other PCZ colleagues, as appropriate.
• Ensure annual performance planning and reviews of staff performance in keeping with PCZ’s performance management system.
• Mentor staff to ensure high levels of motivation, commitment, capacity, and teamwork. Hold regular staff meetings to review performance and address issues that may arise.
• Ensure staff compliance with all PCZ administrative and operational procedures and policies, as well as applicable donor regulations including ensuring implementation of gender mainstreaming and child protection policies.
• Conduct regular field visits to the program locations in the province and participate in monitoring and evaluation.
• Lead the technical design, implementation of program strategies and create a realistic and donor-responsive timeline, and continuously evaluate program progress toward achieving the strategic goals and other mandated deliverables to improve performance.
• Identify challenges, obstacles, and difficulties affecting the operation and effectiveness of HIV interventions and other indicators and develop strategies to solve these challenges
• Review and editing of program documents, sub-grantee deliverables, and success stories.
• And any other program task assigned

Essential Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, medicine, public health or equivalent
• A minimum of 5 years of professional experience working in HIV/AIDS disease management and public health with a focus on HIV case management, Malaria case management, and pandemic response.
• Demonstrated experience in managing, coordinating, and supervising a team working with local community health cadres, community health structures and organizations, families, and communities.
• Demonstrated experience in developing HIV and Malaria prevention, care, and support training, and service delivery protocols for community lay providers and healthcare providers.
• Previous experience working with the Provincial Health Office, Provincial Social Welfare Office, Provincial Agriculture Coordinating Officer, and other line ministries at the Provincial level.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with health facilities and providers and coordinate bi-directional facility-to-community referral systems, particularly in ensuring a continuum of quality community-based HIV prevention, treatment, retention, and care services.
• Result-oriented and demonstrates the ability to work in a team.
• Strong writing and presentation skills
• Excellent English oral and written communication skills; working knowledge of at least one of the main local languages in the region.

Characteristics:

• Good Interpersonal skills
• Proactive / Self-Starter
• Attention to detail
• Team player
• Analytical
• Dependable