The Senior Technical Advisor for Family Planning and Reproductive Health will be a specialist in family planning (FP) and reproductive health (RH), providing technical assistance on repositioning FP in the context of maternal health, neo-natal and child survival, and the cultural, normative, gender and socioeconomic context of Southern Sudan. The RH context of maternal survival and health in southern Sudan calls for activities primarily directed to women of reproductive age and adolescent girls in increasing access to and use of quality maternal and RH interventions and improving capacity and systems of local institutions. This would include building the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Health of the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) as well as the technical and managerial capacity of its staff to provide quality maternal health care and FP/RH information and services.
The Advisor will support overall efforts of the GOSS Ministry of Health (MoH) to achieve its strategic objectives of reducing maternal mortality and morbidity, and reducing neonatal and under-five mortality by increasing demand for FP. The methods to support the GOSS strategic approach include: (1) developing national RH guidelines and reviewing and adapting the November 2010 FP policy and strategy; (2) improving the delivery of quality, accessible, affordable FP/RH services by building strong health provider skills through training and facilitative supervision; (3) increasing availability, access and the range of choices and contraceptive options for birth spacing/family planning through an array of service delivery approaches, including the public and NGO sectors and, possibly, social marketing; (4) increasing the demand for FP through appropriate information, education, and communication (IEC), and behavior change communication (BCC) interventions, including community-based approaches; (5) where feasible, integrating FP/RH into other programs, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, and integrated development programs; (6) providing technical guidance on adolescent health and sexually transmitted diseases; (7) liaising with development partners and other relevant programs (UN agencies, donors, NGOs, and USAID-supported projects) to ensure harmonized national approaches to FP/RH; and (8) designing, conducting, analyzing, and reporting on assessments, evaluations, and other research on family planning and reproductive health. Mentoring MOH Community and Primary Health Care Directorate officers to build technical and institutional capacity in FP/RH will be central to the Advisor’s responsibilities. The technical and managerial capacity building of the MOH Community and Primary Health Care Directorate officers will achieved by the Advisor through his/her technical support and his/her work with these officials to jointly accomplish the above-noted eight (8) methods for supporting the GOSS strategic approach.
The Advisor will be placed with the Ministry of Health of Southern Sudan, working within the Community and Primary Health Care Directorate and supervised by the Director General. The Director General will designate key officers to be mentored by the Advisor and will ensure that the terms of reference of these officials provide time for them to be mentored by the Advisor to have their capacity enhanced. Specific mentoring and technical activities will be detailed in the workplan between the MOH and the Advisor.
Together with the Directorate team, and in coordination with Southern Sudanese FP/RH stakeholders, including the Ministry of Health’s Reproductive Health Technical Work Group, the Advisor will work to support efforts to reposition FP/RH in Southern Sudan’s nation building process and to update, disseminate, and promote effective implementation of the (GOSS) Family Planning Policy and Maternal and Reproductive Health Policy and related strategic plans, technical guidelines, protocols, and training materials.
The advisor shall not assume the duties or "inherently governmental" responsibilities of a Sudan GOSS direct-hire position. The advisor shall not supervise MOH employees or officially represent the government of Southern Sudan. |
Responsibilities: |
Coordination and Planning The Advisor will facilitate updates to or further development of existing GOSS Family Planning and Maternal and Reproductive Health policies, strategies and health sector development plans, related technical guidelines, protocols and training materials, together with Ministry of Health and Community and Primary Health Care Directorate counterparts being mentored.
Capacity Building, Mentoring and Technical Guidance in FP/RH The Advisor will support Community and Primary Health Care Directorate in moving the FP/RH agenda forward by providing technical and programmatic guidance and sharing successful approaches from other countries with low contraceptive prevalence rates and comparable developmental (or post-conflict) contexts.
Behavior Change Communications and IEC Low demand for family planning and lack of knowledge about good reproductive health among women and men are likely to be primary reasons for low contraceptive uptake and unsatisfactory birth spacing. For that reason, the Advisor and designated mentees from the Community and Primary Health Care Directorate team will work with the Directorate of Reproductive Health and development partners, such as UNFPA, to develop appropriate IEC and BCC communication channels and messages, including at the community level.
Advocacy The Advisor and designated Community and Primary Health Care Directorate officials will use the information gathered above for design of behavior change interventions to inform the creation of new initiatives for family planning advocacy.
Monitoring & Evaluation The Advisor will provide technical assistance and will train the designated Community and Primary Health Care Directorate officials in FP/RH monitoring, assessments, evaluations, and the routine health management information system. To this end, s/he will mentor designated Community and Primary Health Care Directorate officials in planning, managing, implementing, analyzing, and reporting activities and ensure that key recommendations are incorporated into the FP/RH program to improve operations. |
Required Qualifications: |
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Apply for this job: |
Jhpiego offers competitive salaries and a comprehensive employee benefits package including: medical and dental plans; paid vacation, holidays and sick leave; personal accident insurance; 403(b) retirement plan; life and disability insurance; travel insurance; education assistance plan and more. Note: The successful candidate selected for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background investigation. |
Sr. Technical Advisor - Family Planning and Reproductive Health
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