Placement Organization: Mpoma Community HIV/AIDS Initiative
Placement Location: Mukono, Uganda
Eligible Citizenship: Ugandan

 

About: The Mpoma Community HIV/AIDS Initiative was created in 1999 to assist families infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in Nama Subcounty. What began as an informal gathering underneath a mango tree, has blossomed into a full-fledged organization that works in education, health, income generation, and food security. The passionate and dynamic leaders of the Mpoma Initiative have brought the project to a point at which it is ready to expand and professionalize its operations. With the addition of technical expertise from GHC fellows we hope to 1) implement management systems necessary to support programming 2) expand our food security program to achieve 100% food security at Johnson Nkosi Primary School 3) start a community-support agriculture model with community farmers 3) scale-up and redesign our health outreach program and 4) design and implement a vocational education program.

 

Position Overview: The GHC fellows take equal responsibility for advancing the organizational capacity of Mpoma Community HIV/AIDS Initiative. They will work under the supervision of the Program Director and coordinate daily with the Program Manager, Nurse, Agriculture Manager, Headmistress of Johnson Nkosi Primary School, and other staff.

 

Responsibilities:
General Management

  • Ensure that each program has clear indicators with accessible data sources that they use to measure their performance on a quarterly basis
  • Work with each program to analyze data, and create clear quarterly reports
  • Contribute to development activities via contributions to grant proposals, communications tasks, private donor cultivation and collaboration with other organizations
  • Work with Mpoma staff to develop annual project work plans & oversee implementation
  • Work with staff to set goals and benchmarks that communicate progress in a transparent way
  • Work with Mpoma staff to design appropriate programming that is community-led and focused and in-line with organizational priorities and goals
  • Provide on-site support to visiting partners, Mpoma leadership team & other visitors
  • Ensure effective communication with Mpoma partners and other staff as needed

Education

  • Introduce and improve general management practices of the Johnson Nkosi Memorial Primary School with the ultimate objective of achieving financial self-sufficiency in the future
  • Assist the school in preparing annual budgets and maintaining a transparent accounting system
  • Train the school finance officers in budget monitoring, resource mobilization, use of accounting systems
  • Assist Johnson Nkosi School in Implementing Livelihood and Live skills curriculum including agriculture and computer training

Community Care and Sanitation

  • Coordinate with Mpoma’s Health Team and its health-related NGO partners, Soft Power Health and Healthy World Foundation, to address issues affecting poor, rural households
  • Work with the neighboring Health Centre to assist in building up Mpoma’s health outreaches, referral network and create an off-site location for Youth SRHS
  • Assist in mobilizing community members to learn about malaria prevention and organize a large-scale mosquito net distribution in collaboration with partners
  • Help identify and write local and international grants for funding for various health projects
  • Help create and implement a community health outreach program
  • Accompany nurses on outreaches to provide care and public health information to community members
  • Create lesson plans and teach health and hygiene principles to primary students
  • Respond to health needs of Nkosi school children including identifying illness, dressing wounds, and providing care
  • Assist in deworming and immunization programs
  • Assist in creating nutrition and sanitation lessons and visual aids
  • Assist with the HIV/AIDS campaign to increase testing
  • Support patients who are HIV positive by providing counseling and linking them to services in the community
  • Coordinate with Mpoma health team to design and implement effective training activities for patients, community health workers and clinical team

 

Required Skills and Experience:

  • Communication (oral and written) and report writing skills
  • Entrepreneurship skills
  • Ability to work under pressure
  • Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint)
  • Strong interest in global public health
  • Ability to work in a team environment, but with self-sufficiency and self-motivation
  • Strong interpersonal skills coupled with excellent communication skills: verbal, written, listening, presentation and facilitation
  • Fluency in spoken and written English
  • Ability to multi-task: flexible and capable of working under pressure and tight deadlines with demonstrated ability to prioritize across multiple projects and relationships

 

Preferred Skills and Experience:

  • Experience working within a Health Centre management structure (i.e. Medical Officer, Nurse, Lab Tech, Pharmacy, etc). Preference will be given to applicants with a Medical Degree
  • Experience setting up and developing the financial systems of a growing non-profit organization
  • Experience in public health programming, particularly youth programming
  • Proven practical experience in field-based training
  • Ability to provide support and supervision in project planning, management, and reporting
  • Ability to impart skills to Mpoma staff through mentoring and coaching
  • Sensitivity to cultural differences and ability to work in a wide variety of cultural contexts
  • Knowledge of a statistical software (like SPSS, STATA, or SAS) and accounting software (like Quickbooks) preferred
  • Negotiation skills
  • Experience in proposal development and fundraising

 

Living Conditions: Fellows will be provided with housing, health insurance and a living stipend of $550/month. Fellows will also receive an award of $1500 upon successful completion of the fellowship year.  Flights to and from the placement site and all other costs associated with GHC programming are included. The project is located in Lukojjo Village, a few kilometers from Mukono Town. Fellows will be provided housing near the project site. Lunch meals will also be provided when Johnson Nkosi Primary School is in session.