The Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) is a global, USAID Cooperative Agreement operating in 24 high priority countries to introduce and support high-impact health interventions with the ultimate goal of ending preventable child and maternal deaths within a generation. The Program is focused on ensuring that all women, newborns and children most in need have equitable access to quality health care services to save lives. USAID’s MCSP supports programming in maternal, newborn and child health, immunization, family planning and reproductive health, nutrition, health systems strengthening, water/sanitation/hygiene, malaria, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis, and pediatric HIV care and treatment. USAID’s MCSP engages governments, policymakers, private sector leaders, health care providers, civil society, faith-based organizations and communities in adopting and accelerating proven approaches to address the major causes of maternal, newborn and child mortality such as postpartum hemorrhage, birth asphyxia and diarrhea, respectively, and improve the quality of health services, from household to hospital.
USAID’s Maternal and Child Survival Program is hiring a Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement (QA/QI) Technical Advisor for the MCSP Haiti-North project. The QA/QI Technical Advisor serves as a technical lead for continuous quality improvement activities. This includes providing technical support to improve the quality of health services being delivered in facilities and in the community. He/She will be part of a larger MCSP Haiti-North technical team as well as work collaboratively with other senior management. This position will report directly to the MCSP Haiti-North Technical Director. The QA/QI Technical Advisor is responsible for guiding and overseeing the technical and strategic direction of MCSP Haiti-North’s Maternal and Child Survival Program QA/QI activities in Haiti. This position is based in Cap Haitien.
Fonctions
Technical Leadership
• In close collaboration with the MSPP, local government and other implementing partners (e.g. HealthQual) strengthen and support established strategies to improve quality of priority health care services with an emphasis on continuous capacity-building and support of managers and front-line health care workers
• Strengthen systems and capacity for continuous quality improvement around HIV/AIDS, FP/RH, MNCH, community health, GBV, etc.
• Support the design and development of processes and tools (standards of quality and performance, and other such standards, etc.) for the operationalization of defined strategies
• Support the adaptation and/or development of skills-based capacity-building materials for managers and health care workers targeting a set of integrated core competencies in critical areas including leadership, QI, measurement, clinical, and management. Support the organization of the technical aspects and actively participate in the training of trainers and providers, as well as in supervision after training, and technical supervision of the implementation of the recognition and management of health services defined process based on standards of quality and performance
• Work with the Departmental Health Directorates to identify opportunities and support strategies to improve the quality and performance of facility and community health workers
• Assist in the design, implementation, analysis, reporting, presentation and dissemination of learning with respect to quality improvement initiatives including: 1) analysis of critical quality gaps in local performance (based on baseline performance); 2) defining priority improvement aims: 3) analysis of critical local barriers and local testing of solutions to overcome barriers; 4) selection of simple indicators to track quality and assess progress toward achieving improvement aims (process, output and outcome indicators); 5) regular support to local managers and QI teams to overcome barriers and track indicators of quality using local data; 6) support for regular dissemination of QI learning across sites
• Design approaches for mentoring departmental health managers to be able to provide effective support to front-line quality improvement teams in participating facilities and communities
Management
• Directly supervise four QA/QI officers that will be in the Departmental Health Directorates
• Contribute to annual work planning, training plans and quarterly reports and other required technical reports
• Contribute to timely, accurate and appropriate reporting of program activities and results
• Assist in conceptualizing, and providing leadership and strategic direction for the Haiti-North QA/QI activities
• Identify, document and disseminate lessons learned, best practices, evidence and success stories related to the process of improving the quality and performance
• With the Technical Director, oversee program design, implementation, quality assurance and monitoring of work plan
• Evaluate program progress against deliverables on a quarterly basis
• Ensure quality program implementation consistent with MSPP Haiti Guidelines and USAID Haiti Strategic Directions
• Coordinate with the other members of the technical team and NGO partners to develop and implement feasible facility and community-based quality improvement approaches
• Perform other duties as assigned by supervisor which contribute to the achievement of program goals
Knowledge, skills and abilities
• Advanced knowledge of evidence-based high-impact RMNCH and HIV interventions (prevention and treatment)
• Strong understanding of performance improvement and capacity-building techniques
• Experience supporting QI work in a low-resource setting, including demonstrable results
• Experience in designing/writing, reviewing and/or editing practical clinical technical resources (e.g., medical guidelines, learning resource packages, job aids, etc.)
• Experience in the development and implementation of strategic technical approaches in collaboration with other stakeholders who may represent a wide range of interests and needs
• Ability to build capacity and collaboration between governmental and non-governmental partners and other project implementers
• Experience in designing/writing, reviewing and/or editing data for donor reporting and presentations
• Excellent interpersonal, leadership, writing and oral presentation skills
• Strong change management, results-oriented and decision-making skills
• Ability to work in a complex environment with multiple tasks, short deadlines and intense pressure to perform
Qualifications Requises
• Advanced degree in medicine, nursing, or midwifery and an MPH
• 10 years of experience supporting quality improvement work in a low-resource setting
• Experience in applying quality improvement approaches to USG funded public health programs
• Demonstrated knowledge and skills in HIV/AIDS, Family Planning and MNCH services
• Extensive knowledge of the local health systems from the national to the local levels
• Previous experience and understanding of policies of international and US donor agencies and private sector foundations
• In depth knowledge of approaches to quality improvement and health performance and familiarity with the Management Approach and Recognition of health services based on standards of quality and performance
• Demonstrated training and mentorship skills
• Proven leadership skills, as well as skills in training, facilitation, team building and coordination
• Strong change management, results-oriented and decision-making skills
• Excellent interpersonal, writing and oral presentation skills
• Ability to work in a complex environment with multiple tasks, short deadlines and intense pressure to perform
• Excellent systems management and organizational skills
• Demonstrated self-management (i.e. motivation, dealing with pressure, adaptability)
• Fluency in French and Haitian Creole, proficiency in English also desirable
• Excellent facilitation, oral and written communications skills
• Ability and willingness to travel around Haiti up to 30% of time
