Position: Community Linkage Officer
Reports to:
Clinical Advisor
Location: Arusha
Apply before: Tue 08, Mar 2022 16:00hrs
Background Information
The
Christian Social Services Commission (CSSC) is an ecumenical body and
an umbrella faith-based organization established in 1992 by the
Christian Council of Tanzania and the Tanzania Episcopal Conference, to
coordinate and facilitate the delivery of social services (health and
education) by the member churches in Tanzania. For 30 years, CSSC has
been serving and coordinates a network of more than 2000 church-owned
health and education facilities. These include 105 large hospitals, more
than 700 lower-level health facilities and 65 middle cadre health
training institutions located at Zonal, Regional and District/Council
levels. In addition, CSSC coordinates a network of more than 1,000
church owned education facilities. Majority of these church health and
education facilities are located in remote and rural areas where 70% of
the Tanzanian population reside in those areas.
Currently, CSSC is
in the 2nd year of implementing a project entitled “Pamoja Tuwekeze
Afya” – (PATA) Activity. This is 5-year Activity awarded project by U.S.
Agency for International Development (USAID)- under the Cooperative
Agreement No. 720662120CA00008 to CSSC. The award intends to establish
self-reliant health facilities (HFs) and improve health service delivery
by the CSSC network of church-based HFs in meeting the health needs of
the target population. Through cost-effective and innovative solutions,
the PATA Activity will strengthen the CSSC’s capacity to deliver quality
services in Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent
health (RMNCAH), HIV/TB services and other health related areas.
Job Summary
The
Community Linkage Officer will be responsible for supporting the
project to strengthen community-facility linkages to improve client
identification, adherence, and retention in care and ultimately
contribute to HIV care and treatment goals. Within the scope of work,
s/he will be responsible for technical leadership to increase number of
health facilities with formal systems for referrals between facility and
community services. S/he will liaise with National AIDS Control
Programme (NACP), community-based HIV IPs, and local government
authorities to develop a comprehensive training plan for low volume CSSC
network of HFs to perform comprehensive TB/HIV services. S/he will
foster relationships with community-based organizations and support
development of work plans that will support the FBO platforms, health
facility-community systems strengthening program.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Develop
capacity-building standards and approaches to be used for strengthening
the community component in collaboration with the project’s technical
team. - Coordinate and utilize CSSC networks of health facilities
and community-based platforms to improve comprehensive community-based
HIV and TB services - Establish referral and tracking systems
between the health facilities and the community by linking treatment
sites to existing NGOs and CBOs that provide services to PLHIV - Support
the M&E team to develop/utilize systems to track health facility
performance (especially on specific key site indicators e.g., lost to
follow up paediatric identification, etc.) - Coordinate the
identification and documentation of case studies, best practices, and
lessons learned arising from different interventions and share with
M&E department. - Pilot, document, and scale-up feasible models for delivering ART care through community structures
- Improve
linkages of PLHIV to community organizations for comprehensive care,
including CBOs building socio-economic capacity of vulnerable households - Roll
out implementation of health and social policies at facility and
community levels, including those that reduce barriers of care for key
populations - Expand task-shifting opportunities using human
resources for health strategies Commission research and market surveys
in the field of Health service delivery to ensure that Health facilities
implements innovative solutions and approaches that will improve
operational effectiveness and efficiency.
Qualification
- Degree
in Social Sciences or Nursing, postgraduate training in Community
Development work. Master in Public Health is an added advantage
Experiences and Skills
- At least 3 years’ experience working with HIV/AIDS programs (ART, HBC, OVC) or community-based projects
- In depth understanding of HIV-related policy, program, and systems issues in the Tanzanian context
- Experience working with USG-funded health and/or other development programs
- Demonstrated management skills, with previous supervisory experience required
- Experience with various capacity-building approaches, including mentorship
- Fluent in both written and spoken Kiswahili as well as proficiency in English
- Computer literate (particularly in excel, MS word and email)
The deadline for submitting the application is 08 March 2022.
