Community Linkage Officer

Background Information

The Christian Social Services Commission (CSSC) is an ecumenical body and an umbrella faith-based organization established in 1992 by the Christian Council of Tanzania and the Tanzania Episcopal Conference, to coordinate and facilitate the delivery of social services (health and education) by the member churches in Tanzania. For 30 years, CSSC has been serving and coordinates a network of more than 2000 church-owned health and education facilities. These include 105 large hospitals, more than 700 lower-level health facilities and 65 middle cadre health training institutions located at Zonal, Regional and District/Council levels. In addition, CSSC coordinates a network of more than 1,000 church owned education facilities. Majority of these church health and education facilities are located in remote and rural areas where 70% of the Tanzanian population reside in those areas.

Currently, CSSC is in the 2nd year of implementing a project entitled “Pamoja Tuwekeze Afya” - (PATA) Activity. This is 5-year Activity awarded project by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)- under the Cooperative Agreement No. 720662120CA00008 to CSSC. The award intends to establish self-reliant health facilities (HFs) and improve health service delivery by the CSSC network of church-based HFs in meeting the health needs of the target population. Through cost-effective and innovative solutions, the PATA Activity will strengthen the CSSC’s capacity to deliver quality services in Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent health (RMNCAH), HIV/TB services and other health related areas.

Job Summary

The Community Linkage Officer will be responsible for supporting the project to strengthen community-facility linkages to improve client identification, adherence, and retention in care and ultimately contribute to HIV care and treatment goals. Within the scope of work, s/he will be responsible for technical leadership to increase number of health facilities with formal systems for referrals between facility and community services. S/he will liaise with National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), community-based HIV IPs, and local government authorities to develop a comprehensive training plan for low volume CSSC network of HFs to perform comprehensive TB/HIV services. S/he will foster relationships with community-based organizations and support development of work plans that will support the FBO platforms, health facility-community systems strengthening program.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Develop capacity-building standards and approaches to be used for strengthening the community component in collaboration with the project’s technical team.
2. Coordinate and utilize CSSC networks of health facilities and community-based platforms to improve comprehensive community-based HIV and TB services
3. Establish referral and tracking systems between the health facilities and the community by linking treatment sites to existing NGOs and CBOs that provide services to PLHIV
4. Support the M&E team to develop/utilize systems to track health facility performance (especially on specific key site indicators e.g., lost to follow up paediatric identification, etc.)
5. Coordinate the identification and documentation of case studies, best practices, and lessons learned arising from different interventions and share with M&E department.
6. Pilot, document, and scale-up feasible models for delivering ART care through community structures
7. Improve linkages of PLHIV to community organizations for comprehensive care, including CBOs building socio-economic capacity of vulnerable households
8. Roll out implementation of health and social policies at facility and community levels, including those that reduce barriers of care for key populations
9. Expand task-shifting opportunities using human resources for health strategies Commission research and market surveys in the field of Health service delivery to ensure that Health facilities implements innovative solutions and approaches that will improve operational effectiveness and efficiency.

Qualification

Degree in Social Sciences or Nursing, postgraduate training in Community Development work. Master in Public Health is an added advantage

Experiences and Skills

1. At least 3 years’ experience working with HIV/AIDS programs (ART, HBC, OVC) or community-based projects
2. In depth understanding of HIV-related policy, program, and systems issues in the Tanzanian context
3. Experience working with USG-funded health and/or other development programs
4. Demonstrated management skills, with previous supervisory experience required
5. Experience with various capacity-building approaches, including mentorship
6. Fluent in both written and spoken Kiswahili as well as proficiency in English
7. Computer literate (particularly in excel, MS word and email)