Regional Community Mobilization Officers at The Center for International Health, Education and Biosecurity (CIHEB)

Overall Job Function

Reporting to the KENPHIA II Community Mobilization Lead, the KENPHIA II Regional Community Mobilization officer(s) will be responsible for overseeing mobilization activities within assigned areas. The role will be responsible for identifying key community contacts, working closely with the county community focal persons and ensuring effective communication and mobilization activities are carried out with the aim of achieving survey response rates of > 0%.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead county entry procedures fourteen days prior to data collection and coordinate community entry of field data collection teams in coordination with the Regional survey coordinator to ensure smooth KENPHIA II operations.
• Identify partners at the county, sub-county, ward and locational level and work closely with them in implementing planned community mobilization activities at the identified cluster level.
• Accurately and efficiently communicate KENPHIA II activities to the community at entry and at exit through community engagement forums, focus group discussions and door to door mobilization in the community.
• Monitor cluster readiness for data collection in accordance with the deployment plan through community engagement meetings and focus group discussions.
• Drawing from the approved ACSM strategy, develop regional Plan for all community mobilization activities in tandem with the approved deployment plan fourteen days before community entry and during data collection, communicating any challenges for resolution within 24hrs.
• Train, coordinate and oversee activities of community mobilizers through weekly and meetings and regular support supervision to ensure effective community mobilization activities are being carried out by tracking feedback from the cluster
• Working with KENPHIA II designated county focal points, guide the development of community mobilizers and coordinate with the field teams to ensure mobilization activities are fourteen days before data collection and during field activities as planned.
• Maintain pro-active stakeholder engagement ahead of the field teams, during the survey and post-survey.
• Together with the regional survey coordinators ensure team collaboration.
• Organize and lead weekly team briefings to discuss project successes/progress, review challenges, prepare for upcoming weekly activities, review data and ensure protocol/SOP adherence.
• Prepare and share weekly plans and reports detailing community mobilization schedules, meetings and overall planning documents to the Regional Survey coordinator and the National Community Mobilization Coordinator at the beginning and end of week respectively.
• Prepare and submit incident reports to the community mobilization coordinator within 24 hours. 
• Coordinate Community exit meetings a day after data collection and post data collection monitoring 10 days post data collection.

Requirements

Minimum Qualifications and Experience

•  Degree in Social Sciences, Community Development, Psychology, Planning and any related field.
•  Understanding of HIV testing guidelines as per the Kenya National Algorithm.
•  At least 2 years’ experience implementing community mobilization of which one year has been in a leadership role supervising team.
• Working knowledge of county health management systems and a clear understanding of the Kenya Community Health Strategy 2020-2025 as well as a background in HIV/AIDS and or infectious diseases.
• Previous experience in population-based household surveys or research experience is an added advantage.

Other Qualifications

• Proactive in handling challenging situations
• Willingness to travel nationally for field work
• Strong organizational, problem solving and excellent communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal and communication (written and spoken) skills in English and Swahili.
• Ability to meet tight deadlines and to successfully manage multiple assignments concurrently.
• Ability to function independently or with minimal supervision.
• Ability to adhere to medical research health ethics, as provided.
• Ability to travel and work non-standard working hours in any part of the country as per survey requirements.