District Surveillance Officer

Job Title:

District Surveillance Officer – 04 positions (Mardan, Abbotabad, Dir Lower, Lakki Marwat)

Job Duration

Six Months

Business Unit

Program

Country(s) Supporting

Peshawar - Pakistan

Reporting Relationships

Reports to

Project Manager Qadam Ba Qadam

Director DHIS, Department of Health Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Pathfinder Overview

Pathfinder International is a global leader in sexual and reproductive health. We place reproductive health care at the center of all that we do—believing that it is not only a fundamental human right, but is critical for expanding life opportunities for women, families, communities, and nations, and paving the way for transformations in environmental stewardship, decreases in population pressures, and innovations in poverty reduction. Pathfinder provides women, men, and adolescents with a range of quality health services—from contraception and maternal care to HIV prevention and AIDS care and treatment. Pathfinder strives to strengthen access to family planning, advocate for sound reproductive health policies, and, through all of our work, improve the rights and lives of the people we serve.

Project Overview

Pathfinder Pakistan with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) is providing technical assistance (TA) to the federal and provincial governments of Pakistan including Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan, and providing support to key health system strengthening partners such as World Bank, Population Council, and Acasus in scaling up of Postpartum Family Planning (PPFP) and Postabortion Family Planning (PAFP) within the investment case (IC) execution and National Health Support Project (NHSP) design and implementation.

Through this initiative and based on the successes and learnings from Pathfinder’s Naya Qadam project, Pathfinder will support the integration and institutionalization of PPFP and PAFP in the overall provincial health systems, strengthening health system through building technical capacity of federal and provincial governments to implement results-based management framework, gender response social and behavior change communication (SBCC) strategies, enabling policy environment, and strengthen health information system strengthening to improve and better use of PPFP and PAFP data for decision making.

Under this project, a total of four high-level outcomes and thirteen outputs will be achieved. The federal government and provincial Health Department and Population Welfare Department would be key partners, while Pathfinder will also collaborate and coordinate with World Bank, Population Council, and Acasus.

Job Purpose

This position supports Pathfinder’s resolve for Health System Strengthening in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), with a focus on PPFP and PAFP. As Pathfinder is supporting the Departments of Health KP to initiate recording and reporting PPFP & PAFP indicators through DHIS2 at public sector Health Facilities in the province. This will help BMGF funded Qadam Ba Qadam project to meet one of its deliverables, which is the institutionalization of PPFP & PAFP indicators in DHIS at public sector health facilities. The Short-term Surveillance Officer Consultant will work closely with the District DHIS team, Health Facility Staff, and provincial DHIS team to ensure the recording and reporting of PPFP & PAFP indicators in the Family Planning Register and sharing it through DHIS monthly reporting format by all primary and secondary healthcare facilities, working in the District. He/She will also be responsible for ensuring the error-free and timely submission of reports by all Primary and secondary Healthcare Facilities of the District, consolidation of reports in the software at the District level, and onward submission of the same to the provincial DHIS cell. He/She will also be responsible for identifying gaps and errors in the data, suggesting corrective measures to overcome these gaps, and submitting reports & feedback to the facility as well as District DHIS staff.

Key Performance Areas

Major Activities / Responsibilities

Percentage Worked

Strategic Leadership:

The District Surveillance Officer will share the consolidated data and reports generated through this data with District Health Officials and guide them on the way forward to overcome the problems, if any

The officer will develop close liaison with District Health Office & data reporting teams at the district and facilities. He/she will also be responsible to share any anomalies in the data collection process with the District and Provincial Health officials through proper channels.

He/She will Ensure prompt response/investigation of any epidemiologically significant disease outbreak or event followed by an epidemiological investigation report to be shared with the District Health Management Team (DHMT) and DHIS Cell KP.

10%

Project Implementation:

Ensures that data of PPFP/PAFP is collected, entered timely at the facility level, and consolidated at the District level for onward submission to provincial DHIS cell

He/She will Ensure timeliness & completeness of data flow. In addition, He/She will also ensure the availability of all logistical support (recording and reporting tools) required for Indicators of the project & Health Facilities.

25%

Technical Assistance

Provides technical assistance to the management and healthcare providers at facility, district, and provincial levels to initiate PPFP/PAFP indicators recording & reporting process. He/She will be responsible to cleanse and prepare data for analysis, and report generation for senior management.

For an accurate and smooth flow of data, Surveillance Officer would be forwarding finalized data to Monitoring and Evaluation cell and DHIS Cell KP for analysis and forward the finalized data to the Director DHIS KP.

He/She will also be responsible for data validation and quality assurance.

He/She will also ensure the filling and submission of CLR-6 in a timely manner to ensure the availability of commodities at the health facilities.

Facilitate overcoming any software issues and challenges

25%

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plans:

Will develop weekly work plan sharing with Director DHIS & Project Manager Pathfinder International mentioning field visits of selected health facilities of his district to ensure data reporting, data quality and identify gaps if any.

Conduct joint and individual monitoring visits from time to time to ensure data quality and proper data reporting. He/She will also be responsible to provide on-job coaching to health facility and District DHIS staff members during monitoring visits.

15%

Financial and Administrative Operations

Oversees administrative and financial operations implementation to ensure compliance with Pathfinder International’s policy and contract provisions. Supports in developing budgets for trainings, printing materials, and field visits in alignment with project requirements and Pathfinder policies.

5%

Contracts:

Contracts with and manages coordination with the different public as well as private stakeholders, working on similar tasks to avoid duplication and keep all of the partners informed in this regard.

5%

Security Standards and Guidelines

Ensures that appropriate security standards, guidelines, and procedures are established, maintained, updated regularly, and adhered to by the staff in all project offices in compliance with donor rules and regulations.

5%

Management Reports:

Develops and presents timely technical, and operations reports and updates on the project’s progress and difficulties. Documents project achievements for communications materials such as annual reports, brochures, and website updates.

10%

Education and Work Experience:

• MBBS with PMDC Registration.
• Post-graduation in Public Health/Health & Hospital Management is desirable
• At least 5-7 years prior experience in similar positions
• At least 3-5 years of prior experience in data entry and analysis through different software, especially those used in public health and by Departments of Health & Population Welfare.
• Ability to demonstrate a high degree of flexibility in managing change across a broad group of stakeholders in an inclusive manner; knowledge of Pakistan’s public health systems, especially the Health Management Information Systems of the Department of Health & Electric Client Record System of PWD, CLMIS, and knowledge of the political, social, economic, and cultural context of working globally
• Well-versed in family planning and reproductive health principles, practices, and services of programs, including program strategies and indicators, and the latest professional developments in SRHR, including special challenges and measurement issues faced in the developing world.

Preferred Education and Work Experience:

• Experience with multi-donor-funded complex projects
• Experience working with government, especially Departments of Health & Population Welfare.
• Experience working on DHIS, ECR, CLMIS, or other DoH & PWD systems that aid in understanding program context, field realities, and technical needs
• Passion for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights: Commitment to family planning, reproductive health services, gender, maternal, and child health services, and eradication of harmful traditional practices.

Minimally Required Job-Specific and Organizational Competencies

• Advanced oral and written communication skills using different forms of media. Ability to translate complex concepts to individuals at all levels.
• Knowledge of English and local languages will be an asset
• Ability to speak across a range of technical issues within an individual’s area of expertise.
• Ability to contribute to project resources such as donor reports, technical briefs, and research
• Advanced ability of organizational and planning skills, meeting deadlines and multitasking
• Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Services: Foundational knowledge of family planning and reproductive health principles, practices, and services of programs, including program strategies and indicators.
• Self-Management and Teamwork: Ability to work independently or as a member of the team, ability to be detailed-oriented, and ability to manage stress effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Presentation Skills: Proven ability to make presentations on results and products to small and large groups
• Matrix Management: Ability to thrive in a matrix organization.
• Confidentiality: Ability to maintain confidentiality on work-related matters

Other Information:

• Travel required (30% or less)
• Uses cellular and office phone, laptop or desktop computer
• This job description format focuses on the main duties of the position and is not intended to list every potential task or assignment.
• Duties can and will change to meet the changing priorities of the department and organization.