Polio Program Manager 12-171

Job Location:

Job Description:

International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs.

Established in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses, International Medical Corps is a private, voluntary, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization. Its mission is to improve the quality of life through
health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in underserved communities worldwide. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility to respond rapidly to emergency situations, International Medical Corps rehabilitates devastated health care systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance.
International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs.

PROGRAM BACKGROUND
Chad is one of the countries with the highest number of polio cases in the world(130 cases reported as of December 2011), with the second-highest rate of unvaccinated children in the world (36% of children under-1 immunized in 2009). Without immediate and effective action, Chad runs the risk of failing to eradicate polio by the end of 2012, a goal set by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

In order to accelerate the polio eradication, the Government of Chad (GoC) and its partners are working to ensure appropriate support is provided to the polio eradication effort; however, special strategies are needed to reach the hard-to-reach populations and scale up the technical capacity and management of operations in order to fill sub-national surveillance gaps. For this end International Medical Corps Chad received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to implement the Polio project in its operating zones of Iriba, Guereda and Amdam health Districts located in eastern part of the country. International Medical Corps is seeking a Polio Project Manager who will provide all necessary technical assistance to the senior management team and other program staff in implementing the Polio Project with the below responsibilities:

1. General Responsibilities:

Under the direct supervision of the Programs Director, the Polio Project Manager will coordinate all polio project activities and ensure that the project performances against targets set in the proposal are met for the three following main outcomes:

- Improved availability of the polio vaccine to targeted populations, through mass immunization campaigns, mobile clinics and far reaching polio strategies including near-miss and routine immunization.
-Increased community resilience to disease outbreaks - including polio - through knowledge and local capacity building
-Strengthened capacity of MOH to deliver better immunization services and implement active and passive polio surveillance activities

The post holder will also have the responsibility to follow up the polio project grant and ensure that all polio project narrative and statistical reports are duly submitted to the donor.

2. Specific Responsibilities:

Outcome 1:
•Undertake polio mass immunization campaigns throughout the project target zones. These campaigns will target 67,000 children under-5 years of age and run in conjunction with national frameworks, in collaboration with partners active within the project zones. Conduct post-campaign monitoring in line with national standards focusing on hard-to-reach areas.

•Operate mobile clinics (about 10 per district), to achieve and sustain the work done during the mass immunization campaigns and immunize residual targets based on post-campaign monitoring results.

Outcome 2:

•Undertake routine IEC, including public and door-to-door sensitization of individuals, families and communities, to improve knowledge built on experience, and bring improved practices and understanding around polio prevention and disease reporting, as well as other disease outbreaks.

•Strengthen BCC at all levels, including communities, health providers and development partners. Methodology will include face to face communication/sensitization and focus group discussions using both traditional and modern channels. These activities, aimed at an improved social environment for the implementation of health activities, will involve communities, leaders, and age/professional groups to overcome culture barriers.

•Ensure community mobilization and responsible participation; achieved through involvement of leaders and special groups such as the “model mothers groups” in different villages, to fight rumors on polio vaccines and educate hesitant parents on immunization activities.

•Strengthen community capacity through community training and equipment with skills and tools such as leaflets in local languages.

Outcome 3:
•Provide competency–based training of selected MOH health providers on immunization activities, including improvements on planning, delivery, reporting and monitoring and evaluation.

•Ensure micro plans in each project zone are accurate and make sense;

•For each health zone, ensure selection of staff is in line with national standards;

•Provide post-campaign reports to district, regional, and national health leaders highlighting key issues during campaign (e.g., delay in funds at district level). This will include campaign monitoring summary of areas with low coverage and poor team performance with recommendations for improvement;

•Strengthen existing MOH passive and active surveillance systems through improvement of data collection, including case detection, data management, information generation, and reporting;

•Update staff skills on program management and oversight;

•Rehabilitate, on a case-by-case basis, selected health facilities as necessary;

•Provide all necessary equipments and consumables for the cold chain, including vaccines and transportation;

•Train MOH staff on cold chain maintenance and processes for ordering and maintaining supplies and equipment.

•Participate in different polio meeting with MOH and partners