Organization Description

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover, and gain control of their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC works with people forced to flee from war, conflict and disaster and the host communities which support them, as well as those who remain within their homes and communities. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we improve outcomes in the areas of health, safety, economic wellbeing, education and power. Given the disparity faced by women and girls, IRC seeks to narrow gender inequalities and ensure social inclusion of all vulnerable groups in broader policies, processes and actions affecting their lives.

The IRC has been working in Uganda since 1998 supporting refugees, vulnerable host communities and various institutions in the country notably the government, community-based organizations, the civil society and the private sector. Currently, the IRC in Uganda has presence across six sub-regions and six refugee settlements, implementing programming in the sectors of health, Protection and Rule of Law (PRoL), Women’s Protection and Empowerment (WPE), Economic Recovery and Development (ERD), and education. IRC Uganda also implements cross-cutting programming focused on systems strengthening and accountability to affected persons.

 

Program Overview

The IRC led consortium has been awarded a four-year project - PROSPECT SRHR by the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands (EKN) to be implemented in the West Nile region. The PROSPECT SRHR aims at improving the sexual reproductive health and social wellbeing of adolescents, youth, and women in West Nile by reducing maternal mortality, number of teenage pregnancies, instances of SGBV and child marriages, and rates of new HIV infections. The project will be implemented in 6 districts with three cluster offices in Yumbe, Adjumani and Terego. IRC as the lead, will work in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and Sports, and the Ministry of Gender, Labor and Social development, and district local governments. More coordination and collaboration efforts will focus across development and Implementing partners especially in the region including USG and non-USG partners especially those implementing Regional Health Integration to Enhance Services. 

 

Job Overview

The Maternal Child Health manager will be responsible for leading efforts to improve maternal and newborn health outcomes by strengthening maternity and newborn care systems in the 6 West Nile districts. The manager will work closely with the Ministry of Health through the district health offices, local government authorities, public health care providers, and community stakeholders to optimize maternity and newborn care services. The position involves building capacity within health facilities and community structures, improving referral systems, and ensuring high-quality, accessible maternal and newborn health services. The position also leads the SRH/ family planning and GBV information and services for the project. The incumbent will provide input on project implementation working closely with the project coordinator and ensuring integration in supported districts. Additionally, organizing and overseeing activities for the successful implementation of IRC’s Maternal and Child Health, family planning outputs for the project.

 

Major Responsibilities:

 Lead the implementation, and monitoring of maternal and newborn health (MNH) strategies to improve health outcomes in the 6 districts. Ensure integration of MCH interventions with other health systems strengthening activities, including family planning, SGBV and gender norms influence work, and youth economic empowerment.Collaborate with Local Government authorities to develop and operationalize maternal and newborn capacity-building plans and calendars as per the project design.Lead capacity-building efforts of healthcare providers in public facilities, and community structures focusing on improving the quality of maternal and newborn care, family planning and youth-responsive SRHR information and services.Lead audits, quality of care assessments and any other activities aimed at improving the quality of care for Maternal and newborn health care components, provider competencies, post-training monitoring of trained HCWs with the district health offices.Initiate and support scale-up of evidence-based high-impact interventions including E-MOTIVE, and others to improve QoCWork with health facilities and districts to streamline and strengthen referral pathways for maternity and newborn care, ensuring timely and appropriate interventions at the different levels.Collaborate with the MEAL team to support data use in the LMNS networks and showcase the impact of the project work in causing improvement.Engage community structure to promote maternal and newborn health services and address barriers to care through community-driven solutions.Serve as the primary liaison for the Local Maternity and Newborn System Networks in the regionProvide technical assistance in reviews to address maternal and newborn morbidity, mortality, and near missesDemonstrated ability to create and maintain effective working relations with the Ministry of Health, regional and district officials, and other implementing partners.In collaboration with the project team develop project reports, presentations, abstracts, and other documentation to disseminate project outputs and outcomesImplement other duties as assigned by the supervisor.