JOB ADVERTISEMENT

CARE USA through CARE-Cameroon serves as the prime for a cooperative agreement for the five-year USAID-funded project: Continuun of Prevention, Care, and Treatment(CoPCT) for HIV/AIDS with Most-at-risk Populations(CHAMP-Cameroon), in partnership with Johns Hopkins University(JHU) and Global Viral(GV). Together, the consortium is collaborating with the National Aids Control Committee, the Ministry of Health, community-based organizations(CBOs) and other stakeholders to build the capacity of the national, regional and community response, CHAMP has the following objectives: (1) technical competence of partners in key populations program design & management and service delivery for increased CoPCT, (2) enabling environment and (3) quality assurance/quality improvement, and monitoring & evaluation systems. CARE Cameroon is seeking experienced, motivated, and committed individuals to serve as part of the CHAMP team.

POSITION/TITLE: HIV/AIDS Senior Technical Advisor, Linkage and Retention in Care Yaoundé, Cameroon

SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. The STA-Referral, Linkage, and Retention in Care acts as a resource on all matters pertaining to HIV/AIDS care and treatment for key populations, with a specific focus on referral, linkage, and retention within in the care continuum. Working in conjunction with the Training Specialist for Quality Care, the Prevention Specialist, Senior Technical Advisors from Johns Hopkins and Gloval Viral, TA providers on client messaging/referral, the Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor, and others, he/she will ensure that clients effectively navigate within the services network and are not lost to follow up.
2. He/she will ensure that clients effectively access clients-friendly HIV/AIDS testing and counseling, care, treatment, and additional supports services, including sexual and reproductive health, family planning, TB, sexual- and gender-based violence, legal, psychosocial, substance use, etc., at both government and non-government facilities. He/she will also ensure that clients receive high quality adherence counseling, client messaging and tracking, case management, and retention in care support.
3. The STA will work closely with the HIV/AIDS Training Specialist for Quality Care and the Prevention National Coordinator to ensure that clients receive appropriate clinical care including treatment of opportunistic infections, sexually-transmitted infections(STIs), HIV diagnostics, TB diagnosis and treatment(and TB-HIV program linkage), palliative care, psychosocial care and support, linkage with prevention outreach, access to condoms and lubricants, and information, education, and communication materials. It is estimated that the STA will spend at minimum 50% of his/her time engaging directly with service provision partnets and sites(government, community-, and faith-based) to provide oversight and support.
4. The STA will collaborate with the Training Specialist for Quality Care, JHU and GV in the development of strategies, guidelines, operational procedures and manuals, educational materials, teaching curricula, etc. for implementing HIV/AIDS care and treatment activities and for incorporating new HIV/AIDS care and treatment interventions into the national response. S/he will keep abreast of emerging data concerning referral, linkage to care, and retention in cage, and will provide guidance and advice to colleagues and implementing partners.
5. The incumbent represents CHAMP at technical, policy and strategic meetings, including with other national collaborators and donor agencies.
6. The incumbent prepares and present briefings for visitors, participates in making arrangements for visits, and serves as spokesperson as required on matters within his/her technical expertise.

Program management (20%)

Under the supervision of the Program Manager, s/he will:

1. Help partners develop sustainable strategies, provide direction and capacity strengthening, reach agreement on follow-up actions, and follow through to ensure they are effectively carried out. S/he will work with the Training Specialist for Quality Care to ensure that all implementing partners' HIV care and treatment activities are evidence-based, best practice or theory-driven, and that partners use the latest evidence-based intervention guidance. S/he will assist implementing partners to understand compliance with all relevant Cameroon, WHO, USAID and PEPFAR regulations and procedures.
2. Assist with annual work plan development and reporting(in collaboration with the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist and under the leadership of the COP), S/he alse drafts the HIV care and treatment component of quarterly, semi-annual and annual reports, relevant presentations, and briefing papers.
3. conduct regular site visits to review implementation of care and treatment programs, with a focus on client referral, linkage to care, and retention. Based on information collected during field visits, s/he communicates findings and recommendations for strengthening activities to the Chief of Party, other senior technical advisors, and broader CHAMP team, as appropriate, and to implementing partners and government counterpars.
4. Serves as the lead for the CHAMP team in the planning, management, supervision, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of partners results in care and treatment.

Quality assurance/improvement (15%)

1. The incumbent serves as the care and treatment team lead on all relevant quality assurance and improvement initiatives, ensuring that partner agencies understand and are empowered to contribute to/improve upon quality standards in care and treatment programming. S/he supports partner agencies to assess progress against standards, identify graps in performance, solve problems, test solutions, and scale them accordingly to address gaps in standards and improve performance.

Coordination (10%)

1. The incumbent represent CHAMP at technical, policy and strategic planning meeting, including meetings with collaborators and donor agencies. He/she briefs the CHAMP team on the results of such meetings and prepares written reports as required for submission to other interested parties.
2. The incumbent serves as chair or rotating chair on the Care and Treatment Technical Working Group, ensuring effective coordination of work plan development,implementation strategies, quality assurance/improvement, research , and evaluation plans.

DESIRED MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Medical Doctorate, Nursing Degree, Master's Degree in public health, health policy, or behavioral or social sciences, or a Bachelor's degree in a related field with significant field experience.

Experience: A minimum of 5 years' experience implementing HIV/AIDS care and treatment programs in cameroon or in Central/Western Africa, preferably with a focus on key populations. This includes experience with an international agency, host government, clinical site or with implementing partners, with progressively increasing responsibility for activity management and design. Experience should demonstrate ability to manage mid-level coordination and relationship with community-based organizations, public sector entities, and bilateral and multilateral donors.

Language Proficiency: Written and oral fluency in French language is required. Additional fluency in written and oral English is preferred.

Knowledge: comprehensive knowledge of HIV/AIDS epidemiology and current strategies for behabioral, biomedical and structural prevention, clinical care, treatment and support, TB-HIV, and STI diagnosis and treatment is required. The candidate must also have a thorough understanding of referral,linkage to care, client tracking,case management, and retention strategies. The candidate should also have thorough knowledge of HIV/AIDS program design,implementation and evaluation.

Skills and abilities: Strong interpersonal and leadership skills including the ability to work effectively on a team and to lead a team. The incumbent must be able to plan, implement, monitor and advocate for programs adn beneficiaries. S/he must have strong management skills and time-management competency in order to prioritize and manage several activities simultaneously.

If you are interested in pursuing this opportunity please submit a resume, a cover letter NO LATER THAN March 26th, 2016 to contact1.carecameroun@gmail.com with “Position Title” in the subject line or mail to P.O. Box 15126, Yaoundé, Cameroon or bring it physically to our CARE International Cameroun, CHAMP Project Office located at SIC Hyppodrome, Villa La Rose, Rue 1079.

The interview process will start as soon as March 15th, 2016 until this position is filled.