Gender Based Violence Technical Officer

Management Sciences for Health (MSH) saves lives and improves health by helping public and private organizations throughout the world to effectively manage people, medicines, money, and information. Working from more than 35 country offices and our Arlington, Virginia and Cambridge, Massachusetts US headquarters, our staff from more than 74 nations is highly regarded for its technical expertise, integrity, and commitment to making a lasting difference in health. We live our mission to save lives and improve the health of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people by closing the gap between knowledge and action in public health.
LINKAGES is a five-year cooperative agreement funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and implemented by FHI 360 in partnership with Pact, IntraHealth International and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). In Angola, MSH is LINKAGES’ operating partner.The project aims to accelerate the ability of governments, key population (KP) organizations and private sector providers to collaboratively plan, deliver, and optimize services that reduce HIV transmission among KPs – sex workers (SW), men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender (TG) persons and people who inject drugs (PWIDs) – and their sexual partners and extend life for those who are HIV-positive. The project goal will be achieved through the following results:

  • Result 1: Increased availability of comprehensive prevention, care and treatment services including reliable coverage across the continuum of care for key populations.
  • Result 2: Demand for comprehensive prevention, care and treatment services among key populations enhanced and sustained.
  • Result 3: Strengthened systems for planning, monitoring, evaluating and assuring the quality of programs for key populations.

The LINKAGES Angola program is a four-year program tasked with strengthening the Government of the Republic of Angola (GRA) and community responses to KP to help reduce HIV transmission among FSW, MSM, and TG, and to improve capacity and systems required to enroll and maintain KP in care.  LINKAGES will work with the Ministry of Health, National Institute for the Fight Against AIDS (INLS in Portuguese) to accelerate emerging GRA programming toward KP.  The objective is to strengthen the care cascade for KP and leveraging other PEPFAR programs in high impact sites of priority provinces.  LINKAGES will then reach KP through scaling up proven peer interventions, testing, and strengthened facility, community and GRA outreach, with specific focus on minimizing stigma and discrimination.
Overall Respobsibilities:The GBV Technical Officer will work within the outreach and prevention team to operationalize the project’s packet of services aimed at preventing new as well as responding to existing cases of gender-based violence in the community. Gender-based violence in all of its forms: economic, psychological, physical and sexual increase the risk for individuals to engage in risky behaviors. The inability of health and other care professionals and peers to recognize and properly address these forms of violence when counselling patients create so called “structural” barriers for individuals seeking help and support.  KPs are disproportionally more affected by GBV however contextual factors may prevent them from even recognizing it as such. Given this, one of the main tasks of the GBV Technical Officer is creating awareness for these services among KPs. A second important task is equipping community prevention teams and health care professionals with the minimum competencies to not create additional trauma when counselling victims A third task, and perhaps the more complex, will be to develop a solid response mechanism that can quickly respond to occurrences of violence in “real time”, with the objective of de-escalating the threat or preventing it all together. For this last task, it will be critical to identify possible advocates (i.e., other peers, police, hot spot owners etc.), sensitize them and train them on the role to play to protect the victim.

Specific Responsibilities

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • In close collaboration with other members of the Outreach and Prevention Management team develop appropriate SBCC messaging and manage the calendar of interventions aimed at creating awareness (i.e., group talks on “know your rights”, forms of GBV, needs of KPs among others).
  • Implement the project’s strategy for training and coaching CSO partner community teams and health professional on how to counsel victims in an empowering way (active listening) to avoid further trauma. Develop job aids and deliver trainings in this area.
  • In consultation with KP members, key advocates and others, review and adapt the Avahan’s project guide for preventing and responding to GBV in the community to the Angolan context.
  • Hold regular case management consultations with psychologists hired by the program.
  • In coordination with other technical teams within LINKAGES, ensure that the psychosocial services offered by LINKAGES either through a CSO or individual psychologists is available and consistent in meeting quality standards.

Other Responsibilities:

  • Ensure alignment of project activities with the goals and targets of MSH’s contract with UNDP/Global Fund funding, with regards to GBV activities.
  • Contribute to the development of annual project workplans and quarterly technical reports in Portuguese.
  • Participate in partners’ meetings as necessary, in particular with UNDP.
  • Adhere to MSH, USAID and the Government of Angola’s rules and regulations for living and working in Angola.
  • Follow MSH’s administrative procedures to ensure a proper management of resources for the office and the project.

Qualifications and Experience

Education

Required:

  • University degree in Psychology. Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology a plus.

Experience

Required:

  • At least 5 years of demonstrated experience working to address structural barriers that affect health seeking behaviors especially among minorities.
  • At least 1 year of experience addressing gender-based violence (including sexual violence) against key populations and/or with HIV positive patients. Ideally, this will include provision of crisis-counseling, developing and delivering messages on violence, the development of safety plans in collaboration with providers, and collaboration with medical and legal systems.
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills in Portuguese.
  • Proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel and Power Point.

Knowledge and Skills

  • Understands the HIV prevention, care and treatment-related needs of key population groups in Angola.
  • Applied understanding of addressing the structural barriers – including stigma and discrimination – that affect comprehensive HIV service uptake.
  • Proven skills in management, mentoring, leadership and networking.
  • Sensitivity to cultural differences and understanding of the political and ethical issues surrounding public health issues among key populations in Angola.
  • Excellent English oral and written communication; fluency in Portuguese is required.

Competencies

  • Desire to promote the human rights of FSWs, MSM and Transgender individuals.
  • Demonstrated ability to manage and complete numerous tasks with a high degree of organization and limited resources.
  • Demonstrated experience working with civil society organizations to plan and implement health-related activities.
  • Demonstrated experience of establishing strong working relationships with colleagues from different organizations and cultures.
  • Ability to meet deadlines with strong attention to consistency, detail, and quality.

Physical Demands

  • Keyboard use, pulling drawers, lifting papers <10 lbs.
  • Willingness and ability to travel within up to 50% of his/her time within country or region and internationally as required.

Para candidatar-se à esta vaga, por favor, visite o seguinte endereço: https://jobs-msh.icims.com/jobs/9775/gender-based-violence-technical-officer/job