University Research Co. New Job Vacancies [2 Positions]

URC is a global company dedicated to improving the quality of health care, social services, and health education worldwide. With a non-profit affiliate, the Center for Human Services (CHS), URC manages projects in over 45 countries, including the United States.

Established in 1965, URC offers a range of technical assistance to strengthen health and social systems and service quality by empowering communities and health workers to identify and scale up locally appropriate solutions to critical problems. Internationally, we expand access to and improve the quality of services addressing maternal, newborn, and child health; infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria; reproductive health and family planning; food and nutrition; and vulnerable children and families. In the US, we focus on improving communication related to issues like substance abuse, with a particular focus on reaching underserved populations.

URC’s mission is to provide innovative, evidence-based solutions to health and social challenges worldwide. Please join us in carrying out our mission (http://www.urc-chs.com/).

Job Title: Improvement Officer (IO) [2 Positions]
Project Name: USAID TB South Africa Project
Type: Regular/Full Time
Salary: Commensurate with required experience and qualifications
Reports to: National QA/QI Advisor
Location: Western Cape (Cape Winelands District) and Eastern Cape (Nelson Mandela Bay Metro)

Project Overview:

The USAID TB South Africa Project is five-year contract which builds upon interventions and achievements from URC’s current USAID TB CARE II South Africa and the prior TB Program South Africa. TB CARE II activities are supporting the South Africa National Department of Health’s (NDOH) TB prevention and control efforts, working closely with national and provincial partners to close identified gap areas and further develop sustainable systems that can carry forward long-term improvements in TB and drug-resistant (DR) TB diagnosis, care, and treatment services.

This project will help the government of South Africa further reduce TB infections, with the ultimate goal of ending TB once and for all. To reach this goal the project will continue to improve the long-term sustainability of effective TB response systems and improve TB care and treatment for vulnerable populations.

Roles and Responsibilities 

The Improvement Officer (IO) is a Quality Improvement officer with intermediate expertise in the Science of Improvement and significant field experience in the support of QI teams. The IO will be deployed as an embedded officer in the district and in that capacity, will provide close support to the DHMT to implement high impact changes aiming to close gaps in the TB care cascade. The IO is able to teach the basic tools of QI, facilitates QI teams leading to the development, testing and implementation of those high impact changes. The activities of the IO will be overseen by the Improvement Advisor (IA) who will provide additional support to coordinate the work portfolio, adapt the implementation design as needed, analyze the impact of changes tested and help to spread best practices across the districts. Primary responsibilities of the IO include, but are not limited to:

Building capability: data trainings and quarterly learning sessions

• IO will assist with learning materials development, review and implementation
• IO will work hand in hand with the District and subdistrict leadership on preparations for all district level trainings and learning sessions
• IO will participate and assist with teaching in all district level learning sessions to make sure that all Collaboratives are being run in a similar manner or support under the guidance of the IA.
• IO will assist data experts to train data capturers to improve the quality and reliability of data used by QI teams to assess the effect of changes
• Build relationships and work closely with Program Managers, Quality Assurance managers, Coordinators and other stakeholders (DSPs) at the district and facility level

QI Coaching and Mentoring

• IO will provide onsite technical support through some joint site visits (at the time of sub-district Learning Sessions) with the district coaches to help ensure a standardized QI approach across the South Africa health system.
• IO will provide virtual technical support
• IO will provide deep and timely support to the district leadership in coaching and mentoring QI teams and spreading best practices between sub districts

Analysis and Data Review (throughout project, on a quarterly basis)

• IO will assist with baseline data collection, data quality assessments (DQAs) and analysis for district and facilities
• In quarterly review meetings with the DHMT, the IO will support the IA to review project progress to help synthesize, analyze and redesign (if necessary) the work to ensure that it is rapidly achieving its aims.
• IO will support development of facility process measures and analysis of both project process and outcome measures through coaching facility QI teams and mentoring district and sub district coaches

Administration & documentation

• IO will provide ongoing check ins with district coaches, facility leaders and QI teams
• IO will provide collaborative monthly reports to DoH and IHI (URC)
• IO will assist with development of a standard template to be used at facilities to document and share best practices an ongoing basis.
• IO will assist with change package development within the district by supporting facilities, coaches and implementing partners to document properly
• Make sure the district, sub-district and facilities have all the necessary documents for improvement i.e. how to guide, implementation guide, data guide etc.
• Attend all necessary meetings including learning meetings held to ensure that experiences, successes and challenges of implementation across districts and sub-districts are identified, properly documented and shared
• Building relationships and with Program managers, coordinators, QA nurses and other stakeholders at provincial, district and facility level;

Position Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Ability to live and work in specific provinces/districts in South Africa for a minimum of at least 2 years;
• ability to understand and work on QI in the local context and work well with the Africa Regional team;
• Moderate background in the science of improvement (SOI) with expertise in understanding, explaining, and applying key QI concepts;
• Experience working in health coaching and mentoring QI teams;
• Ability to deliver reliable results within agreed upon timelines;
• Excellent interpersonal communication skills, ability to communicate effectively with senior leaders, managers and front-line staff;
• Strong oral presentation skills and comfort in presenting to small and large groups, data and understanding relationships with scatter plots, 2-way tables and relational diagrams;
• Expertise in the use of Microsoft Office suite of products;

Position Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Public Health required, (master’s degree or higher degree preferred);
• Experience working in health and social care settings is highly desirable but not essential;
• Experience in TB management is highly desirable;
• Successfully completed a credible QI intermediate course;
• A minimum of 3 years of working with improvement teams;
• A minimum of 1 year of experience teaching the SOI concepts, methods and tools to teams and management groups;

To Apply:       

Please send your CV/Résumé, Cover Letter and completed USAID Form 1420 Contractor Employee Biographical Data Sheet to [email protected]. Closing date 31 August 2018.

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URC is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We value and seek diversity in our workforce.