Reporting to the Program Director, the Routine Immunization (RI) Lead will provide expertise in designing, implementing, evaluating, and documenting interventions to strengthen catch-up vaccination for infants in Siaya County and support the Intergration of COVID-19 Vaccination into Routine Immunization in Kisumu County. This will include providing technical input in the design of catch-up vaccination to improve the planning, implementation, data analysis and use, management, coordination, training, monitoring, and/or evaluation of immunization services (also linked with primary health care, universal health coverage, and broader health systems, as appropriate). The RI Lead will work with the county health management teams to implement activities under this project. This role will support the Technical Assistance to Ready and Accelerate Capacities of Public Health Programs in Kenya (TRACK) program in achieving its deliverables within the specified counties.
Roles and Responsibilities
- Identify missed opportunities for vaccination in routine vaccination in identified counties to inform the design of strategies to address these
- Coordinate the situational assessment of routine vaccination status in identified counties, including the conduct of focus group discussions and in-depth interviews to determine facilitators and barriers to access to routine vaccination
- Participate in implementing five key strategies for optimizing catch-up vaccination as outlined in the technical narrative.
- Support in designing and implementing the M&E plan for catch-up vaccination for routine immunization.
- Liaise with NVIP to update policies, guidelines and documents regarding catch-up and routine vaccination based on successful strategies
- Participate in the target setting for catch-up vaccination in the counties assigned and oversee achieving set targets.
- Ensure optimal coordination of routine immunization at the county, sub-county, and facility level for increased vaccination coverage amongst the target population.
- Provide facility mentorship to increase routine and catch-up immunization coverage by embracing a health systems approach to enhancing vaccine uptake.
- In liaison with the county vaccines coordinator, ensure optimal vaccine commodity management by ensuring all antigen vaccines are collected at the regional stores and distributed to the sub-counties and health facilities on time.
Qualifications
- Education:Bachelor’s Degree in health-related field
- Master’s Degree in Public Health or related field
- Experience:Minimum seven (7) years of direct experience providing technical assistance on routine immunization at Kenya’s national or sub-national level.
- Experience in qualitative research
- Travel: Ability and willingness to travel.
Competencies
- Experience collaborating with the national and county governments, international agencies and/or NGO public health programs.
- Proven ability to assess routine immunization needs and to develop and implement successful program interventions
- Excellent interpersonal and supervisory skills with demonstrated ability to build and manage professional relationships effectively with technical experts, other partners and donor agencies.
- Experience working with USG rules and regulations is highly desirable.
- Demonstrated ability to analyze, assess, and organize information and effectively communicate to a diverse audience..
- Ability to work independently, manage multiple tasks concurrently, and meet deadlines with attention to detail and quality.
- Excellent written and oral communication and computer skills (including with various electronic platforms); technical writing experience (guidelines, publications)
How to Apply
Kindly send your application which includes a cover letter and an updated CV including the names of three professional referees, to [email protected] on or before September 21, 2023. Applicants are advised to include the title “Routine Immunization Lead” in the subject line.
The Center for International Health, Education and Biosecurity (Ciheb)-Kenya is an equal opportunity employer.
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.
