Click here to apply<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Job Title:\u00a0Program Officer \u2013 IYCF Implementation Learning (Private Sector), Alive & Thrive<\/strong>
\nRequisition:<\/strong> 2018202539
\nLocation<\/strong>: Lagos
\nSupervisor:<\/strong> Lagos State Team Lead
\nJob Type:<\/strong> Full time<\/p>\nProject Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- Alive & Thrive is an initiative to save lives, prevent illness, and ensure healthy growth and development through improved breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices. In its first five years (2009 to 2014), A&T demonstrated that innovative approaches to improving feeding practices could be delivered with impact and at scale in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Viet Nam.<\/li>\n
- Alive & Thrive continues its work there and is supporting others to scale up nutrition by applying and adapting tested, proven approaches and tools in Burkina Faso, India, Southeast Asia, and Nigeria<\/li>\n
- Alive & Thrive is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the governments of Canada and Ireland.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Program Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- The Nigeria A&T IYCF social and behavior change program focuses on improving rates of early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, timely introduction of complementary feeding, and minimum dietary diversity for infants over 6 months old<\/li>\n
- A&T will work across the public, commercial\/private, and NGO sectors to improve IYCF through A&T\u2019s four components: advocacy, interpersonal communication and community mobilization, mass communication, and strategic use of data<\/li>\n
- At the national level, A&T will predominantly work with its public, private\/commercial, and NGO sector partners (Scaling Up Nutrition and other national IYCF initiatives) to improve the implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of key IYCF policies (Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes; maternity entitlements; work place policies; breastfeeding-friendly health care and delivery facilities)<\/li>\n
- A&T will also work in two states\u2014Lagos (metropolitan) and Kaduna (urban and rural)\u2014to apply the four components to reach households, communities, and facilities with targeted, age-appropriate social and behavior change communication (SBCC) messaging on IYCF practices.<\/li>\n
- A&T is scaling up proven interventions in Nigeria while generating new evidence by testing innovations. One of the innovations is the delivery of an IYCF counseling package for private health facilities.\u00a0 In Nigeria, a substantial number of women attend ANC and delivery services in private facilities (e.g. 56% in Lagos state, DHS 2013), yet there is not a standard package of care provided by private practitioners. Young children are also brought to private facilities for treatment of illnesses but counseling on IYCF that can help recovery from illnesses is not a standard practice<\/li>\n
- Therefore, A&T plans to document the feasibility of delivering a standardized package of IYCF counseling and support in private health facilities located in urban Lagos, with a focus on breastfeeding<\/li>\n
- A separate external evaluation of this program will generate evidence on the impact of implementing the IYCF package on exclusive breastfeeding practices<\/li>\n
- The final package of IYCF services is expected to be scaled up through the network of private health facilities and medical\/nursing associations in Nigeria.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Essential Job Functions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n- With supervision from the State Team Lead, provide technical oversight to Implementation Partner staff conducting the implementation research study and other project activities<\/li>\n
- Coordinate and provide technical assistance to Research Assistants and assigned support staff as needed<\/li>\n
- Provide TA to IYCF A&T sub-grantee in Lagos state to improve the quality of Implementation Research to track the inputs, processes, outputs, and outcomes of the supervisor \u2013 health care worker, community volunteer connection to the community and households. This may include TA to develop work plans, including suggesting indicators and proposing data collection strategies, activities, analysis and reporting formats.<\/li>\n
- Provide input on the design and implementation of qualitative studies and quantitative surveys for IYCF, including sampling strategies, survey instruments, survey implementation, data analysis, report writing, and dissemination of results.<\/li>\n
- Actively participate in designing and conducting short, focused evaluation exercises, operational research at designated sites, with topics determined in cooperation with public, private\/commercial, and NGO sectors at national and\/or state level; and A&T country office to shed light on operational issues concerning implementation research and overall project activities in Lagos state.<\/li>\n
- Share data and lessons learned from these exercises with local, national, and regional partners to continue to build the knowledge base of IYCF.<\/li>\n
- Keep abreast of international developments concerning Implementation Research strategies for IYCF programs and share state-of-the-art information, and approaches with A&T Nigeria and partners.<\/li>\n
- Participate in various state working groups and task forces related to Implementation Research for IYCF and overall project activities.<\/li>\n
- Other duties as assigned.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Required Skills and Qualifications<\/strong>
\nEducation:<\/p>\n\n- Bachelor\u2019s Degree in Public Health, Nutrition, Demography, Statistics, or related field, with emphasis on quantitative analysis. Master\u2019s preferred.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Experience:<\/p>\n