VSO Nursing advisory tutor, South Sudan

Strengthen and empower South Sudan's budding health system, by supporting a nursing college to develop it's teaching programme.

Background

An exciting opportunity to work in the newest country in the world to support and equip the Mary Help College of Nursing and Midwifery to train tutors, promote professionalism and build staff capacity. You’ll strengthen and empower South Sudan's budding health services. South Sudan is emerging from 20 years of war and has extremely poor health indicators. VSO is working in partnership with other organisations and the Republic of South Sudan (ROSS) to address these challenges. The VSO Health Programme aims to support the capacity development of health management and also aims to support the ROSS to overcome the severe shortage of health professionals, focusing specifically on supporting the training of a new generation of South Sudanese nurses.

What does the role involve?

The placement aims to optimise the training of nurses, build the capacity of clinical mentors and any local tutors, and encourage professionalism both in the students and hospital staff. To do this you will: • assist the planning of teaching according to the curriculum in collaboration with current tutors, particularly the nursing tutors. This should include a focus on student-centred teaching and on the teaching of practical skills • support tutors to improve clinical supervision and mentoring of students when they are on ward placements • capacity build ward and clinic staff in their role as mentors to the student nurses • help train and build the capacity of local tutors • encourage and promote an understanding of the importance of continuous learning and development • liaise with other VSO volunteers supporting nurse training in other institutions. • It is also anticipated that the volunteer will do some teaching, however it is emphasised that the volunteer is not simply an 'extra tutor', but it’s expected that there will be opportunities for joint teaching sessions and other activities which will allow for sharing of experience and knowledge.

Skills, qualifications and experience required

You’ll be a registered nurse with at least 5 years professional general medical experience and some experience of teaching or mentoring. You’ll be computer literate, including the internet to source information. You’ll also be experienced in managing a small team or ward. You will be computer literate if you already have experience of working in a resource-limited setting that would be a bonus. You’ll have good basic nursing skills and have excellent communication and demonstration skills, plus the ability to work independently. You’ll be flexible, supportive and patient when working with others and the type of person who is positive, proactive, and likes a challenge.

And the rest.... You’ll be based in Mary Help College of Nursing and Midwifery in Wau, South Sudan. VSO has other volunteers working in this area and the placement encourages connecting up with others in similar roles. Wau is the capital of the state of Western Bahr el Ghazal, in north-western South Sudan. We’ll ask you to commit 24 months to make a sustainable contribution to development goals and in return we’ll provide you with invaluable training before your placement, a local living allowance, return flights, accommodation and insurance. When you return to your home country we’ll help you resettle and we’ll invite you to stay involved with us through campaigning, development awareness raising and fundraising.

How to apply:

To find out more about volunteering with VSO or to apply go to http://www.vsointernational.org/volunteer/and reference SS0063/0001/0001 in your application. On average it takes a minimum of 4 months to go through the application process.