Community Engagement Specialist

Job Summary:

Ipas is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) which works to assist the Government of Pakistan in achieving the country’s commitment towards the Sustainable Development Goal 3 (good health and wellbeing). Founded in 1973, Ipas is a pioneering global organization that developed the manual vacuum aspirator technology for safe uterine evacuation, which is endorsed by the World Health Organization and by various countries including Pakistan. In Pakistan, Ipas seeks to support the government and development partners’ efforts to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity associated with complications due to unsafe practices. It collaborates with provincial governments to provide technical assistance and support for strengthening the public and private healthcare system.

Ipas seeks a Community Engagement Specialist to implement its social and behavior change (SBC) approaches for influencing uptake of post-abortion family planning (PAFP) and postabortion care (PAC) and strengthening related referral linkages. Ipas efforts are geared to contribute to the Government of Pakistan’s goals of universal access to reproductive health (RH) service, including modern contraceptive uptake and reducing the risk of morbidity and mortality associated with unsafe abortions. The Community Engagement Specialist will play a pivotal role in the development and implementation of community engagement activities in various program locations. It will include training grassroots health workers such LHWs, LHS, CSOs and proactive follow-up with them to support the cascade training model to be rolled out to communities and tracking their outcomes and impact. The position will work closely with stakeholders, including community members, organizations, and local authorities to foster collaboration.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Responsible for planning and implementing the workplan for CE activities that increase awareness of and access to women’s reproductive health care.
• Conduct trainings for grassroots community workers (public, private and CSOs) such as LHWs on FP, PAFP, PAC, MHM, health and hygiene.
• Develop and adapt training content (agendas, training aids, IEC material etc.) to be contextually appropriate while considering accurate information as per latest organizational and sector guidelines.
• Facilitate the development and delivery of capacity building trainings and TOTs for partner NGOs, CSOs, pharmacists and other health workforce.
• Conduct follow-up through remote check-ins and in-person visits to assess the post-training outcomes and document the good practices, gaps and recommendations in a timely manner.
• Track the field progress data from CE activities and ensure timely documentation in the organizational database.
• Prepare regular project activity reports as per required frequency and share results and learnings.
• Keep abreast of good practice approaches and models in SBC in the sector in Pakistan and globally and organizationally and proactively introduce innovative approaches in Ipas programs.
• Contribute evidence-informed concepts to fundraise for expanding and diversify Ipas programs.
• Coordinate with provincial and district stakeholders, including government entities, civil society organizations, and private sector representatives for Ipas programs as assigned and as required.
• Support the Community Engagement Advisor in implementation of SBC strategy, assist in development, implementation and tracking of annual implementation plans and budget monitoring.
• Coordinate with trained community health workers to ensure that community referrals are being recorded properly within their designated areas.
• Develop monthly, quarterly and annual reports of CE activities.
• Coordinate with the Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, and Learning (RME) team to analyze trends, with a specific focus on service uptake, KABP and community referrals.
• Promote knowledge sharing and learning within the community, ensuring that best practices and success stories are documented and shared with relevant stakeholders.
• Represent Ipas at external forums as assigned.
• Travel as and when required with supervisor’s approval.
• Any other task/responsibility assigned by the Supervisor, Head of Programs or Country Director.

Requirements  :

Minimum

• Academic qualification in Nursing, Midwifery or as a Lady Health Visitor.
• Prior experience in public health education, community engagement and mobilization models and strategies and their practical application to MNCH, family planning, as well as gender, diversity and youth inclusion.
• Demonstrable knowledge of evidence-based, innovative, and practical solutions for influencing positive social and behavior change (SBC).
• Sound knowledge of family planning methods relevant for influencing modern contraception uptake among communities.
• Substantial direct, first-hand experience of conducting community engagement activities in low-resource settings.
• Understanding of best practices in follow-up, monitoring and evaluation for effective SBC and community mobilization interventions.
• Excellent communication skills, particularly, ability to convey complex concepts to in simple, accessible ways to target audiences efficiently.
• Excellent interpersonal, influencing and negotiation skills.
• Excellent level of fluency in written and spoken Urdu
• Good level of fluency in written and spoken English sufficient to prepare reports, carry out data entry and correspondence
• Willingness to travel upto 40% to remote areas in Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and work additional hours when needed. (Ipas provides compensatory time off to ensure a reasonable work-life balance).

Preferred

• Fluent in a provincial language such as Punjabi, Pashto or Sindhi.
• Experienced in training Lady Health Workers (LHWs) and/or other frontline public health workforce engaged in community engagement activities for reproductive health.
• Knowledgeable about the pre-service training curriculum of LHWs.
• Knowledgeable about menstrual hygiene management (MHM), infection prevention and other basic health and hygiene topics.
• Experienced in conducting awareness raising sessions with communities on reproductive health, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).
• Able to conceptualize SBC strategies and plan project interventions.
• Understanding of compliance requirements on donor-funded projects.

Competencies:

Self-starter who takes initiative; Adaptability, Acting with Discretion, Excellent problem-solving skills; Team player, , Collaboration, Political acumen, Stress Tolerance, Strong commitment to Gender Equity and Diversity, Demonstrating Respect and Integrity in conduct; Strong commitment to INGO’ core values.

Ipas is strongly committed to providing a work environment that is free from all forms of harassment, discrimination, and inequity. We recruit, employ, train, promote, and compensate our personnel without regard to race, age, sex, religion, national origin, color, creed, ancestry, citizenship, caste, ethnicity, regional identity, tribal identity, marital status, veteran status, disability, genetic information, gender identity, transgender status, sexual orientation, or any other personal characteristic protected by law or outlined by Ipas policy. Ipas acknowledges that these personal characteristics may differ in different contexts.