Senior Reproductive Health Manager at The International Rescue Committee (IRC)

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is an International Non-Governmental Organization working in 40 countries, responding to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. With funding from donor governments, institutions, companies and individual supporters we strive to support people meet their basic rights with dignity and to be protected.

The IRC Tanzania Program began operations in the Kigoma region of Northwestern Tanzania in 1993 responding to a large influx of refugees from the neighboring countries of Rwanda and Burundi and later from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

IRC Health Program current priority is to ensure high-impact family planning (FP) practices, especially adolescent and youth sexual reproductive health (AYSRH) contraceptive services, by building the capacity of camp-based medical doctors, nurses, and clinical officers to counsel and provide FP services through mentorship and coaching. In 2017, the IRC’s work resulted in over 6,000 people accessing modern contraceptives, of which 60% were new users; a possible indication of huge unmet needs within the refugee population. Largely due to the lack of appropriate equipment and expertise among existing staff, more permanent contraception services were limited resulting in a large proportion of clients opting for a category of short term methods, particularly Depo Provera, instead of their preferred choice.

Job Overview/Summary: In partnership with Marie Stopes Tanzania (MST), IRC intends to implement a 60 month project with a role focusing on direct family planning service delivery in Mtendeli, Nduta, and Nyarugusu refugee camps and the local population in the Kigoma region. The Scaling-up Family Planning project, by 2023, will reach 240,000 additional users, provide 10 million couple years of protection and avert 6200 maternal deaths. These results will be achieved through the provision of family planning services, Comprehensive Post-Abortion Care (CPAC) and management of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Tanzania. There will be a specific focus on women and girls in Tanzania who will be the primary recipients of the services.

The Programme Manager will be responsible for ensuring the success of day-to-day operations, activities planning and ensuring effective delivering against the project’s work plan. He/she will also oversee the generation of data and be responsible for reporting. He/she will be based at Kigoma with periodic travel to Dar es Salaam to MSI offices and IRC’s country office for consortium related activities. He/she will report to IRC’s Senior Health Coordinator.

Major Responsibilities:

Project Management and Monitoring

Oversee the implementation of all IRC FP/CPAC service delivery activities in Kigoma refugee camps
Work closely with IRC’s GBV focal person on implementation of GBV related activities in refugee camps and host communities.
Work with project staff to develop and actively track project work plans
Closely monitor overall programme quality and performance in terms of data measurement, spend rate on budgets, staffing at country level, on-time delivery of reports and other products.
Act as the singular focal point for regular updates to relevant IRC internal stakeholders, including regional leadership, IPD leadership, and PQU leadership
Contribute to the development of robust data collection systems to ensure that the Scaling-up Family Planning programme is data-driven and that programmatic decisions are grounded in evidence.
Review Budget vs. Actual expenditures on a monthly basis, providing relevant feedback to the finance department and adjusting activities as required.
Enforce stewardship and accountability by ensuring that resources are efficiently and effectively utilized within the project for the intended purpose

Partner Coordination and Representation

Serve as the focal point with MST to develop joint work plans and share IRC-specific progress and lessons learned
Represent the IRC at consortium-level meetings and in presenting project results to external actors
Develop and maintain effective working relationships with key stakeholders including government actors, UN agencies, international and local NGOs, and other relevant actors.
Where necessary develop strategic partnerships with local organizations
Represent IRC to local communities, government departments, international agencies, and local partners as required.

Reporting

Coordinate the production of all narrative reports from IRC country teams and provide feedback to improve product quality, accuracy, and style
Ensure high quality, timely and coherent reporting, both financial and narrative to the consortium lead

Professional Standards

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way – Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Senior Health Coordinator

Position directly supervises: FP/CPAC Mentor Nurses

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal: Technical coordinators, deputy directors, and grants Coordinator for IRC’s Tz program, Health Technical unit members.

External: MST Scaling-up FP staff, DFID, Ministry of Health representatives, other service providers in camps

Qualifications

University degree in health science; advanced degree preferred. At least three years of relevant professional experience with an international or civil society organization, including direct implementation of FP/SRH programming
At least 3 years program management experience, including at least 2 years implementing health and GBV integrated related programs
Demonstrated knowledge of sexual and reproductive health programs, especially family planning programs in resource-limited settings
Demonstrated knowledge of gender based violence prevention and response program
Experience working with displaced or otherwise marginalized communities required
Demonstrated experience in project management, including financial, HR, and grants management
Strong verbal communication skills and effective in representation and liaison with external actors
Excellent spoken and technical writing ability in English, including report writing
Excellent computer skills in programs including MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook
Ability to work under pressure in challenging working and living conditions