Technical Program Officer - John Snow India Private Limited (Apply by: October 26, 2015)

Technical Program Officer

Application Deadline: October 26^th, 2015

Position Type: Full-time

Company/Division: JSI

Location: New Delhi, India

Salary: Commensurate with experience

John Snow Inc. (JSI) is seeking a full-time Immunization Technical Officer to fill an immediate opening in New Delhi, India.

Overview

Rotavirus diarrhoea has been consistently found to be the leading cause of hospitalizations in India. In order to address the high burden of childhood disease and deaths from Rotavirus Diarrhoea (RD), introducing the Rotavirus vaccine (RVV) is a critical step to avert this problem in India. RVVs have already been introduced in over 50 countries, and the Indian government intends to introduce the vaccine on a rolling scale in up to four states.

JSI will be providing technical support to the introduction of RVV into the routine immunization systems of these identified states, including providing technical support and capacity building at state and district level to improve the planning, management, coordination, training, monitoring, and evaluation of RVV introduction. With a goal of achieving sustainable improvements, JSI will support these states in linking these efforts with RI strengthening as an integral part of the overall health system, so that it will be invaluable for scaling up RVV in other states of India.

Responsibilities

The Technical Program Officer will be responsible for supporting the Country Technical Director in the oversight of implementation, administration, supervision, and management of all activities under the RVV project. The Technical Program Officer will provide strategic and technical guidance, feedback and oversight to state-level technical project staff and assist with the monitoring of activities and reporting. At national level, together with the Country Technical Director, s/he will maintain collaborative relationships with the MoHFW and immunization partners in India and represent JSI in technical fora and meetings. 

Under the leadership of Country Technical Director, the Technical Program Officer will perform the following duties and responsibilities:

• Support in designing an introduction plan and develop systems to monitor the progress at national level
• Coordinate with target State Rota Cells in developing a state specific operational plan, timelines and plan and budget preparation for upcoming activities
• Support the Country Technical Director in partner coordination, advocacy and strategic planning for introduction of Rotavirus vaccine
• Support finalization of operational guidelines, training materials and other resources for RVV introduction
• Visit target states on regular basis to support and facilitate rota cells in performing their role, liaise with state governments and apply problem solving techniques towards identified or anticipated bottlenecks and challenges
• Regularly document all activities and challenges under the project at national and state level and provide support for addressing the challenges with guidance of the Technical Director
• Prepare monthly status update for ministry and donor reporting
• Support rota cells in organizing and conducting ToTs and other trainings
• Oversee the support being provided by rota cell to state government in developing an action plan for vaccine logistics management, cold chain assessment and gap filling, updating reporting formats and immunization cards
• Collect and analyse data on various aspects of rotavirus vaccine introduction as per the   results framework and M&E process
• Develop a communication strategy, with support from communication consultant, for awareness and demand generation of RVV at state and district level 

Qualifications and Skills

JSI seeks a results-oriented individual with the ability to produce and lead teams in producing high quality deliverables, manage multiple concurrent tasks, and meet tight deadlines with attention to detail. The successful candidate is required have:

• A medical university degree, preferably with Post Graduate qualification in Public Health/Community Medicine/PSM (M.D or MPH). 
• Minimum 5 years’ experience of progressive work experience in the field of Public Health with at least 3 years’ of work experience in immunization field at National/State/Division level.
• Excellent interpersonal relations
• Capable of introducing innovative strategies
• Knowledge and experience of communication for immunization and community involvement/participation
• Proficiency in spoken and written English
• Relevant computer skills related to the job profile.

Interested candidates should send their CV and cover letter to the following email address no later than 26 October, 2015: IndiaRota.Recruitment@jsi.com, mentioning the name of post in the subject line. ATTN: Hiring Manager.