MEDICAL ADVISOR OF MATERNITY HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH at Un Ponte per

Position Title: Medical Advisor (Maternity Hospital Management and Reproductive Health)

Location: North East Syria with possible periods of remote work (Dohuk) due to external factors in the Country

Period: 6 months with possible renewal

Closing date of the vacancy: 15^th February 2022 (applications on a rolling basis)

Starting date: ASAP

Context Presentation: Un Ponte Per (UPP) is an Italian NGO established in 1991. It started its activities as “Un ponte per Baghdad”, in the aftermath of the first Gulf war, with the aim of organizing solidarity initiatives in support of the Iraqi civilian population. In subsequent years, UPP missions expanded to include Serbia and other Middle Eastern and Mediterranean countries. The NGO aims at preventing armed conflicts, protecting human rights and supporting local civil society, especially in the Middle East, by promoting the nexus between its humanitarian, peacebuilding and development programs.

Since 2015, UPP has been one of the leading INGOs in the North East Syria (NES) response. Providing humanitarian aid and capacity building of local actors in Health and Protection as well as environmental health, including waste management. In partnership with local partners, UPP has been able to develop a comprehensive system of health services delivered in 26 facilities, including mobile units, hospitals, primary health care centres, and an ambulance network. For further information please refer to our website: www.unponteper.it/en/

CONTEXT BACKGROUND: Conflict and displacement continue to affect North East Syria (NES), while needs are heightened due to the COVID-19 outbreak, impacting the provision of healthcare services, especially in remote areas and IDPs camps across all governorates. In continuation with previous Actions, UPP and partners aim to ameliorate living conditions and save lives of war-affected persons in NES by improving access to emergency and primary health care, life-saving obstetric and Reproductive Health (RH) services, and support the COVID-19 preparedness and response. Through a strengthened community-based strategy, UPP and partners will provide prevention outreach in health and protection to support local resilience. Through a flexible structure and a wide geographic coverage, the Action aims to provide the capacity to quickly assess and respond to emerging health and protection needs in different locations in NES.

DEFINITION OF THE POST: The Medical Advisor (MA) will work under the supervision of the Medical Coordinator, in collaboration with the HoM and Health desks in the Health Department of UPP NES Mission to design, develop and monitor the activities related to the reproductive health programs, both in primary and secondary care. The MA role is also to advice the Programme Department in the decision-making process and deliver project related documents according to donor requirement.

The MA role is also to advice the Programme Department in the decision-making process and deliver project related documents according to donor requirement, with the programmatic direction and guidance of the Programme Manager.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

The medical advisor will be responsible for:

Technical Guidance:

• Supporting, advising and leading in medical consultation for all maternity health management related matters in the mission programme
• Designing, planning, advising on the functional design and operationalization of services, both in maternity clinical and neonates area, and surgical maternity
• Developing and organizing all aspects of clinical services, such as allocation, distribution and organization of staff, patient flows, of the maternity unit
• Reviewing and monitoring the overall development and continuation process of hospital activation, while identifying bottlenecks and gaps, offering detailed solutions with defined steps to address them
• Develop, or review sector specific guidelines and policy papers with the necessity to offer updates as required
• Monitoring implementation of guidelines, protocols and tools in health facilities in collaboration with partners, in line with HWG and sector standards
• Ensure that tools and procedures to improve quality of care are available to teams and assist in continuous of quality improvement. Alert operational managers/medical coordination in case of non-application of important quality of care measures (procedures, strategies, protocols)
• Implement and improve patient-centred care measures such as respectful maternity care
• Define, develop and collaborate on the requirements of medical supplies and equipment for operationalization of facilities
• Regularly monitor and review medical data and registers providing follow-up and feedback on reports with analysis related to project data and sharing results with project coordination teams and medical managers
• Maintain an overview of the country health programmes, with a view to strategically developing new projects in current sites and/or surrounding regions, and proactively planning for responsible sustainable exit strategies.
• Identify and implement appropriate facility- and community-based strategies to address access barriers and service delivery gaps

Human Resources and Capacity Management:

• Supporting, advising and organizing a quarterly training curriculum for doctors, nurses, paramedics and CHWs in line with HWG and policy makers in the region
• Mentoring the management of the training aspects related to clinical management with implementing partners
• Supervise and mentor the national health project staff in the implementation of the health activities, by setting clear objectives and assisting the team achieve them
• In close collaboration with the Medical Coordinator, participate in the planning, definition and sizing of the health-workforce in the mission projects and supervise the associated processes (job description, recruitment, validation of medical staff, training/induction and appraisal)
• Engagement and support by offering regular updates and corrective measures in line with sector strategy for the medical department and the evolution of health issues in the operational spaces on a regular basis
• Support the planning and implementation of trainings in the domain of women’s and new-born health (e.g. Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics, Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) training) as well as other trainings if requested in collaboration with other Medical Advisors.
• Ensure all health staff is adequately trained and create possibilities for continuous capacity building, mentoring and coaching.

Programme Coordination:

• Participation and technical feedback in discussions on planning, construction, implementation, and review of projects in line with organisational and departmental strategy
• Remain updated and elaborate on sector specific needs and gaps
• Supervise, monitor and update the health activity progress in participatory decision making against the workplan, project plan, budget/medical logistics in coordination with the departmental focal points and project manager with contribution from implementing partners
• Continuously analyze complications and challenges during the implementation, reporting deviations as they appear and proactively providing the necessary solutions advising and collaborating with the Project Manager
• Elaborating M&E data for reporting purpose – Supporting the project managers in the reporting activities

Reporting:

• Supervise and monitor the development of reporting systems for health data collection, analysis and follow-up and feedback to relevant staff, donors, partners and other agencies
• Contributes to the monthly situation report and write the health-related part, submitting to the Medical Coordinator on a monthly basis
• Works closely with UPP personnel and local partners to prepare donor reports, adding technical component to narratives including the evaluation and impact analysis of current projects within donor proposals and reports
• Work with health care providers, local authorities, community members and project team members to identify clinical and community health system issues that impede access to quality care, regularly offer reports and feedback

Representation/networking with other NGOs/INGOs, and relevant health authorities in areas of operation:

• Develops active visibility and represents UPP in front of local medical authorities and keeps regular contact with other counterparts in the mission (NGOs, INGOs, Health Cluster, partners UN agencies, donors, authorities) with the objective to broaden the medical-humanitarian situation analysis, ensure good co-operation and partnerships.
• strengthening the impact of the medical intervention and supporting advocacy actions to raise humanitarian awareness
• Participates in any relevant meeting (programmatic and health related meetings organized at local and national levels (i.e. health working groups etc.) by playing a key role and being pro-active in coordination mechanisms and the technical working groups
• Builds collaboration and partnership with other relevant stakeholders working in the health sector especially on SRHR, SGBV, IDP’s and environmental health in all areas of operations for reproductive health sector, avoiding duplication while discovering synergies with other agencies.
• Accompany donors on field trips, and ensure programme details are transmitted in a timely and professional manner
• Attend relevant health related webinars and conferences when required and requested**

ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Medical or nursing degree. Obstetric / gynecological specialty is an asset
• Minimum of five years professional experience in the medical sector.
• Experience as teacher of medicine or nursing, in accredited institutions. Management of training center is an asset. On site clinical training is an asset.
• Innovative health care management experience
• Experience in clinical training. Maternity related services training is an asset
• Experience in advising or managing reproductive health in low income countries and / or health related conflictive areas
• Good understanding of the project life cycle management
• Excellent capacity to work in team.
• Proven capacities to plan activities successfully targeting results and objectives.
• Ability to supervise and/or mentor the medical staff.
• Previous work experience in humanitarian field.

DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS

• Knowledge of the Middle East. Specific knowledge about Syria economic context is a strong asset;
• Knowledge of Arabic and/or Kurdish.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

Un Ponte Per is an International NGO committed to diversity and inclusion within its teams, in line with the principle of non-discrimination. UPP encourages all candidates irrespective of gender, religion and ethnicity including persons with disabilities to apply and become part of the organization.

Ethical Conduct

UPP upholds all the minimum standards in terms of Ethical Conduct and strives to increase its standards over the minimum. Zero tolerance is reserved to Sexual Abuse and Exploitation and to Child Abuse, Violence, Harm, Injury and Negligence. By applying, any candidate assures that s/he has never breached any standard in terms of SEA and Child Safeguarding and that s/he will not in the future. For the protection of beneficiaries, communities and partners, UPP will conduct extensive reference check and vetting on shortlisted candidates, also over the contacts indicated by the candidate. Candidates are alerted that the required background check might compromise their privacy. Shortlisted candidates shall promptly provide an up-to-date criminal background check.