Haiti: North Quality Assurance/Quality Improvement (QA/QI) Officer

The Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP) leads the SSQH North project in Northern Haiti. 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) Officer for the MCSP Haiti-North project. The QA/QI Officer serves as a technical support in the Departmental Health Directorate (DDS) for continuous quality improvement activities. This includes providing technical support and oversight 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 QA/QI Officers. This position will report directly to the MCSP Haiti-North QA/QI Technical Advisor. This position is embedded in the DDS and is based in Cap Haitien.

Responsibilities:

Technical Support

· 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 within the DDS 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

· Actively participate in the training of trainers and providers, as well as in supervision after training, and technical supervision of the implementation of health services based on standards of quality and performance

· Work with the DDS’s to identify opportunities and support strategies to improve the quality and performance of facility and community health workers

· 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 Support

· 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

· Identify, document and disseminate lessons learned, best practices, evidence and success stories related to the process of improving the quality and performance

· Coordinate with the other members of the technical team and NGO partners to support feasible facility and community-based quality improvement approaches

· Perform other duties as assigned by QA/QI Technical Advisor which contribute to the achievement of program goals

Knowledge, skills and abilities

· Strong understanding of performance improvement and capacity-building techniques

· Experience supporting QA/QI work in Haiti, including demonstrable results

· 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

· 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

Preferred Qualifications

· Degree in medicine, nursing, or midwifery and an MPH

· 3 years of experience supporting quality improvement work in a low-resource setting

· Demonstrated training and mentorship skills

· Proven skills in training, facilitation, team building and coordination

· Excellent interpersonal, writing and oral presentation skills

· Excellent 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

If you are qualified and would like to apply for this position, please apply at MCSPHaiti@gmail.com by July 24, 2015. For further information on USAID’s Maternal and Child Survival Program, please go to www.mcsprogram.org