Midwifery Referent at Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)

Job Description

The Hospital Nursing & Midwifery initiative constitutes the biggest pillar of the MSF Academy portfolio and will continue to in the coming years. At present, we are currently active on a few fronts: Creation of various learning programmes, such as the basic clinical nursing care (BCNC-40 learning units, almost finalised), the nursing OT and the midwifery modules, and relevant learning tools, all undergoing validation by all 5 OCs.
Adapt the BCNC module’s content into e-learning, to be uploaded onto Tembo, the MSF e-learning platform
Implementing BCNC learning activities in various mission countries, with teams based in the field. Today we have field implementation of our programmes in Sierra Leone, Central African Republic and South Sudan, and soon to follow in Mali.
Specifically, as regards midwifery, the first project to implement the midwifery learning programme will take place in the Kenema paediatric hospital in Sierra Leone beginning of 2022, and others will follow suit in the course of the year. Until now, the midwifery expertise of the MSF Academy has always been outsourced, mainly to develop the competency-based framework and to develop curriculum content and learning activities. However, to finalise this, and to guide and support field implementation of the learning programme, we will require the technical expertise of a referent within the MSF Academy’s global team. In addition, it is important to make sure that the proposed programmes, while striving to cover all relevant skills and competencies required for the profession, also remain realistic for feasible field implementation within operational needs; this also means that hourly volume for each programme remains viable.

Position within the organisation

While the Midwifery referent will respond to the deputy director of the MSF Academy, they will also work in close collaboration and symbiosis with the nursing science referent and the pedagogical referent of the global team.

RESPONSIBILITIES

In order of priority

1. Garant of the quality of the implementation of the learning strategy for the Midwifery programme
2. Provide technical guidance and support the field teams in the daily implementation of the activities in the field, and make sure that the theoretical and practical learnings are always coupled with bedside clinical mentoring, seeing that this is the determinant element to ensure application of learnings and improvement of the quality of care. In general, but most specifically for clinical mentoring, we need to support the teams to identify creative solution to identify the best approach
3. Active guidance and contribution to the development of the content and learning tools for the various modules currently in the pipe
4. Responsible for the follow-up and analysis of the midwifery field activities, together with the pedagogical manager in the field and the project manager & the pedagocial referent of the global team
5. Assists the project managers in defining and designing the right strategy and starting new projects in 2021
6. Coordinate vision, strategy and content on nursing with the Intersectional Midwifery working group and other intersectional groups as required
7. Responsible to develop a professional network in the field of midwifery for the MSF Academy
8. As the MSF Academy is a small team, participate and contribute to various team tasks and bring support to colleagues when needed.

REQUIREMENTS

Required qualifications and experiences 

1. At minimum a bachelor’s level in midwifery, preferably also with nursing qualifications
2. Proven experience of minimum 5 years practicing midwifery at hospital level, and 2 years as a midwife supervisor
3. MSF field experience of 2 years minimum in clinical or Project Medical Referent role.
4. Proven experience in hands-on clinical mentorship / preceptorship
5. Experience of working in an African context
6. A sound experience in the field of learning and/or curriculum development is a plus.

Competencies

1. Excellent communication skills, eager to transmit in an intercultural environment
2. Ability to work autonomously
3. Very organised and solution-oriented
4. Pragmatic a must
5. Team player.

Languages

1. Proficiency in English and French

Mobility

1. Available for frequent field visits potentially lasting over 3 weeks; approximately 3 months of field-presence per year

CONDITIONS

1. Expected starting date: 1st January 2022
2. Contract type: Open-ended contract (CDI), full-time
3. Location: Based in Brussels or in another MSF entity (preferably in Europe, Africa or the Middle East). The final outcome depends on local legal limitations (residency, work permit, etc.).
4. The contractual terms and conditions will be established according to the country to domicile/residence and place of work of the candidate and in respect of MSF standard function and salary grids, taking into consideration past experience.
5. Adhere to the MSF principles and to our managerial values: Respect, Transparency, Integrity, Accountability, Trust and Empowerment
6. Adhere to the MSF Behavioral Commitments