State Quality Assurance Coordinator (Facility Based Maternal & Child Health) - International Development Agency

1. POSITION VACANT: State Quality Assurance Coordinator (Facility Based Maternal & Child Health), International Development Agency, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha

2. ORGANIZATION BACKGROUND:

Our client is a respected, International Development Agency (IDA), that works across the globe to promote children's survival, protection and development.

Project Background

Odisha with maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 222/100,000 (SRS 2013) live births and neonatal mortality rate (NMR) of 35/1000 (SRS 2015) live births has a high maternal and newborn death burden as compared to other states in the country.

Maternal Health- The institutional delivery coverage in the state is 85.4% (NFHS 2015-16); but only 52% (AHS 2012-13) of them stay for at least 24 hours in the hospital. Despite increase in institutional deliveries, only 24% were managed for complications (CSThe other facility-based services where quality is a concern are safe abortion services, ICTC services (Integrated counseling and testing centres for HIV) and labour room services at the identified delivery points. Some of the challenges are shortage of skilled human resources, non-functional blood banks (BB) or blood storage units (BSU) and lack of mentoring or supportive supervision to the available trained staff. The Southern Odisha region also has the highest MMR; one of major contributing factors being geographical inaccessibility and non-functioning health facilities closer to the community.   

Newborn and Child Health- The neonatal mortality in the state is 35 per 1000 live births and contributes to more than half of the under-five mortality. According to AHS 2012-13 the NMR (neonatal mortality rate) ranges from 27 in Jagatsinghpur to 71 per 1000 live births in Bolangir. The decline in the neonatal mortality is not commensurate to the increase in institutional deliveries, one of the major reasons of which being the poor quality of services. Steady increase in institutional delivery, necessitates strengthening of the facility based newborn care. After successful piloting, SNCUs have been scaled up statewide. However rapid scale up has also led to concerns about the quality of newborn care services at the NBCCs, NBSUs & SNCUs. Facility based care has been affected by non-availability of skilled human resources, lack of continual mentoring support to retain skills, poor service quality in the labour room and appropriate mechanisms for maintenance of equipment etc.

High level technical assistance is critical to provide support for improving facility based maternal and child care. 

Further technical assistance needs to be provided to improve- monitoring, strengthen data analysis, supportive supervision & mentoring of the facility based MCH care, quality of facility based maternal death audit, support roll out of SNCU software, improve quality of care at SNCUs, NBSUs and NBCCs etc.

3. JOB DESCRIPTION/ RESPONSIBILITIES:

Under the Technical Supervision of the Health Specialist, (MH, Immunization), Health Officer (CH) IDA, Odisha, the State Quality Assurance Coordinator (SQAC) shall be responsible for providing techno-managerial support at State Quality Assurance Cell towards rolling out India Newborn Action Plan interventions to improved newborn survival including PPTCT and Paediatric AIDS. S/he shall also be responsible for providing support to government and partners to scale up programmes and to deliver maternal and newborn care services, with focus on reducing neonatal deaths prioritizing the most vulnerable communities and groups.

Key Job Responsibilities:

(A) Support and Facilitate Rolling Out of Facility Based RMNCH+AInterventions:
(1) INAP initiatives like use of Inj. Vit K for newborns, KMC, use of antenatal steroids for mothers in preterm labour etc.;
(2) National SNCU online and tracking of discharged newborns software statewide;
(3) LR standardization initiatives;
(4) National MDR online software;
(5) Still Birth Audit and corrective mechanisms established in 10 HPDs.

(B) Support and Facilitate Rolling Out of Facility Based Mentoring and Monitoring Processes:
(1) Roll out of Dakshata mentoring initiative;
(2) Participate in State Integrated Monitoring Team (SIMT);
(3) Strengthening of external monitoring for Facility based MNBC interventions;
(4) Conduct monitoring visits to 8 IDA supported Call to Action districts;
(5) Establish regular district level review meetings of SNCU based on software data.

(C) Reporting and Documentation:
(1) Support preparation of state PIP;
(2) Prepare monthly reports and brief documentation of case studies / good practices;
(3) Support completion of financial documentation of IDA funded activities at state and district levels.

(D) Any Other:
(1) Support any other activities which may come up during the tenure, as guided by Health section.

4. QUALIFICATIONS, EXPERIENCE AND COMPETENCIES:

Qualification:
Applicants must have Post-graduation in Paediatrics/ Community Medicine / OG.

Experience:
(1) Minimum five years of experience in managing public health programmes;
(2) Prior exposure to work in Maternal and Child health programmes shall be preferred.

Skills and Competencies:
(1) Facilitating in evidence-based planning, review and policy advocacy;
(2) Conceptualization, Data analysis and documentation skills;
(3) Good computing skills in Microsoft package;
(4) Good Communication skills in Oriya, Hindi and English;
(5) Good conceptualisation, analytical and documentation skills in English.

5. NATURE OF ENGAGEMENT:

The SQAC shall be hired on a consultancy contract through Strategic Alliance Management Services P Ltd. (SAMS), a respected HR Agency.

6. PROFESSIONAL FEES:

Professional fees of the selected candidate shall be Rs. 1,10,000 /- per month for the period of the consultancy assignment. (Note: Subsistence, Mobility and Contingency support shall be separately provided, to address field travel and related costs incurred by the SQAC).

7. LOCATION: Bhubaneshwar with need base travel to field.

8. DURATION:

The consultancy assignment will be effective from the date of joining till June 30, 2018.

9. REFERENCE: SQAC

10. CONTACT INFORMATION:

Senior Consultant
Strategic Alliance Management Services P Ltd.
1/1B, Choudhary Hetram House, Bharat Nagar
New Friends Colony, New Delhi 110 025
Phone Nos.: 011- 2684 2162; 4165 3612
Email: sqac@sams.co.in

11. APPLICATION PROCESS:

Eligible candidates interested in this position are requested to apply to sqac@sams.co.in with a cover letter, discussing their interest in and suitability for the position, along with an updated resume, giving details of three references, current cost to organization and expected compensation, by February 22, 2018.