Program Coordinator-COVID-19 Response-CORE Group Polio & Global Health Security (CGP-GHS)

Kenya/Somalia

Job Title:         Program Coordinator-CGP-GHS-Kenya/Somalia

Reports to:     Director – CGP-GHS Kenya/Somalia

Location:         Nairobi, Kenya

About CGP-GHS

The CORE Group Polio-Global Health Security Project (CGP-GHS) is a multi-country, multi-partner initiative providing financial support and on-the-ground technical guidance to strengthen host country efforts to eradicate polio and integrate national health security priorities to strengthen country capacity to prevent, detect and rapidly respond to infectious disease outbreaks and epidemic threats in communities at heightened risk. Through a multi-sectoral, One Health approach, the program leverages existing capacities that focus on the training and support of community health workers, outbreak response planning, community-based surveillance, and risk communication to promote global health security as a local, national, and international priority.

CGP-GHS in Kenya and Somalia has partnered with five international & local NGOs: Alight, World Vision, Catholic Relief Service (CRS), Adventist Development and Relief Agency, International Rescue Committee (IRC), and Vision Corps Initiative. Alight is currently the host of the CG-GHS Secretariat.  The overall objective of the Alight Somalia Program is to prevent death and alleviate human suffering among affected internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the settlements and host communities where we work. Alight implements WASH, Health, Protection, Shelter, and Livelihood activities in Somalia. Alight has fully-fledged offices in Mogadishu, Kismayo, Dhobley, Afmadow, Hargeisa and Laas Canood in Somaliland, besides a liaison office in Nairobi, Kenya.

Job Summary   

The Program Coordinator- COVID 19 Response will work closely with the respective Ministries of Health, County/Districts Departments of Health and the NGO partners to provide strategic technical assistance in the coordination of County/districts COVID-19 interventions in Kenya and Somalia. Specifically, He/ She will strengthen systems for COVID 19 response, including effective leadership and governance for COVID 19 interventions and aligning the COVID 19 intervention efforts to the Global and National goals including the Global COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy.

Specific Responsibilities and Accountabilities

Technical support and monitoring

• Aligning the community COVID-19 vaccination initiatives to the global and national socio-economic goals which drive the global COVID-19 vaccination strategy.
• Ensure COVID-19 support services are integrated with other facility based and community-based initiatives.
• Provide coordination and technical support to facility and community-Based COVID-19 Immunization Campaigns.
• Provide technical and logistical support to the county department of health and district health offices in vaccine quantification and forecasting, including distribution and redistribution exercises.
• Ensure equity, quality, integration, and inclusivity in the provision of COVID-19 vaccination Services.
• Technical and logistical support to complement the County/district’s efforts in scaling up the number of COVID-19 Immunization Sites
• Plan and coordinate COVID-19 vaccinating teams during the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns.
• Work with the County/district departments of Health to anticipate and mitigate on the risks to achievement of the county/district COVID-19 vaccination targets.
• Review and update the county/district COVID-19 vaccination plans where necessary.
• Integrate commodities required in the COVID-19 response in the annual county/district quantification and forecasting exercises, strengthening M&E Systems to monitor vaccine demand and uptake.
• Co-Creation, Co-Planning, Co-Implementation and Co-Monitoring of the COVID19 Immunization initiatives with the county/district Departments of Health.
• Technical and logistical support to the County/district to develop and share/utilize weekly COVID-19 situational reports (Sitrep) including vaccination adverse events.
• Joint support supervision with the County/district department of Health COVID-19 Response Focal Person.
• Develop/adapt/disseminate COVID-19 tools for planning and safety monitoring.
• Integrate reporting of COVID-19 Adverse Events due to (vaccination)in Weekly Integrated Disease Surveillance & Response (IDSR) reporting.
• Support and strengthen Risk Communication and Community Engagement to reduce barriers to Information on COVID 19 through.
• Devise strategies in order to scale up information reaching the community on COVID-19 vaccination.
• Engaging Local administration and local leaders to achieve COVID-19 vaccination targets.
• Assist with technical support NGO partners in developing work plans, training materials, IEC materials.
• Assist in ensuring that NGO partner staff are supported by appropriate capacity-building opportunities based on observations made from monitoring activities.
• Track performance on established input, activity, output, effect, and impact indicators to measure achievement and track progress towards intermediate results and overall program strategic objectives.

Partnership and Coordination

• In coordination with the Director, manage communication with MOH, NGO partners and other stakeholders. Maintain close formal and informal networking and communications, ensuring NGO and community needs are communicated. Ensure feedback of technical advances, policy changes, and other relevant information to all partners.
• Support quarterly review meetings of the county/district COVID-19 Emergency Response Taskforce, partners, and stakeholders to review progress, troubleshoot, and share successes and lessons learned.
• Assist in convening regular meetings with the NGO partners to share lessons learned, disseminate information, discuss challenges, and solicit feedback not less than quarterly.

Program Management

• Provide support to the implementing NGO partners for COVID-19 programs/ projects/activities, providing financial and programmatic coordination support to ensure grants achieve anticipated results, and are linked to the USG COVID-19 objectives.
• Participate in critical meetings with the Ministries of Health (MOH) to support COVID-19 response.
• Participate in daily routine COVID-19 meetings to ensure seamless coverage and reporting.
• Participate in designated national, regional, and international meetings that relate to COVID-19, including regular participation in national level technical working groups, emergency operations committees, professional associations, and related committees.
• Respond flexibly and capably to a wide range of work-related requirements including responding to requests for information from USAID.
• Establish strategic working relationships with senior MOH and other relevant ministry officials at the national, county and district level, development partners, civil society organizations, faith-based organizations, private sector health counterparts, and professional associations to enhance regular and timely sharing of information on issues related to strategic planning and direction, private sector engagement, changes in key policies, and legal and regulatory environments that could affect the implementation of USAID programs.
• Provide technical assistance and support to implementing partners to ensure that the COVID-19 activities are carried out in alignment with approved work plans, USAID guidance and priorities.
• Stay abreast of state-of-the-art knowledge on programming and best practices among USAID, USG, and other stakeholders to track evolving COVID-19 data, risk communications, logistics, and vaccine roll out to strengthen COVID-19 response approaches. Advise accordingly on how these policies and strategies can most effectively be incorporated to enhance USAID’s approaches.
• In collaboration with Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning colleagues, participate in the implementation of the monitoring and evaluation approaches and tools to support measuring the impact and outcomes of COVID-19 activities.
• Lead the coordination for planning and reporting documents for COVID-19.
• Provide technical guidance and leadership for all COVID-19-related reporting requirements.

Reporting and documentation

• Support the timely completion of quarterly and annual reports, monthly/weekly updates, and other reports as required.
• Assist in the review partners’ quarterly and annual reports before they are submitted to the Secretariat. When required, assist partners in developing high-quality reports by making suggestions for improvement.
• Document success stories: write articles, papers for publication in conferences, and reputed public health journals.