Job Description

Immediate Vacancy Announcement (Internal/External)

Background:

The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is an international Catholic organization with a mission to accompany, serve and advocate on behalf of refugees and other forcibly displaced people. It was founded by the Society of Jesus on 14th November 1980 in Rome, Italy.  Currently, JRS operates over 56 countries worldwide. JRS has been working in Ethiopia since 1982. Currently JRS Ethiopia operates in Addis Ababa, Somali region (Melkadida, Kobe and Bokolomayo refugee camps) and Tigray (Mai-Aini and Adi-Harush refugee camps). JRS Ethiopia’s main areas of interventions are education, livelihoods, child protection, mental health and psychosocial support, emergency assistance, and reconciliation and social cohesion.

JRS Ethiopia wants to hire qualified Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Coordinator.

Job Summary

The Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Coordinator will oversee all MHPSS programming for JRS urban MHPSS response, will manage the MHPSS team, and maintain JRS-Ethiopia’s partnership with government agencies, UN agencies, NGOs and relevant service providers, refugee community structures and other stakeholders for the implementation of MHPSS interventions in Addis Ababa. He/she will lead and coordinate MHPSS interventions, ensuring assessment, planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting of MHPSS activities in Addis Ababa.

Main Tasks and Responsibilities

• Coordinate JRS’s MHPSS programming in Addis Ababa including strategic development, implementation, monitoring, evaluation and learning of multiple projects

• Ensure the MHPSS project activities align with JRS’s MHPSS global Strategic Framework, JRS’s AAP Framework and global MHPSS standards and guidelines

• Closely coordinate with JRS’s global technical unit for development and review of training and implementation materials and reports

• Oversee the collection, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting of all relevant project data according to internal procedures, donor requirements

• Manage an interdisciplinary MHPSS team of staff and volunteers, comprised of MHPSS officers, social workers, child psychologists and MHPSS Refugee Outreach Volunteers (ROVs) through recruitment, team building, supervision, professional development, and performance reviews

• Ensure the provision of MHPSS through development of IEC materials, awareness raising events (ex. World Mental Health Day), provision of Community Capacity Enhancement through Community Conversation sessions, development of individual and group-based sessions and curriculum, and supervision of service implementation

• Prepare and implement trainings for and Training of Trainers (ToT) for staff, incentive workers, community leaders, volunteers, MHPSS ROVs on Psychological First Aid, basic individual and group counseling, and other relevant topics to develop capacity and improve quality of services delivered to the beneficiaries

• Conduct capacity needs and provide regular technical guidance, support, and supervision for all staff and volunteers implementing MHPSS activities and create a peer supervisory network built on foundations of knowledge exchange

• Conduct MHPSS service readiness assessment of target public health facilities, develop and implement an MhGAP training plan as part of a national trainers to roll out strategy and follow-up on the provision of training of government public health staff and capacity building support for public health centers

• Design training programs for leaders and members of host community-based organizations (CBOs), Refugee Central Committee (RCC), refugee women association and refugee youth association to improve their role in MHPSS activities  

• Support the development and/or improvement of urban MHPSS referral pathways with partner NGO(s) and external service providers to strengthen links to available MHPSS and Protection-related services

• Mainstream MHPSS within JRS across sectors, and with partners and service providers

• Lead development of SOP for JRS urban MHPSS programming

Monitoring, Evaluation and Mandatory Reporting

• Lead knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) survey, risks and needs assessment and MHPSS project baseline and endline survey in collaboration with Country Program Officer, and Program Quality Assurance & M&E Officer

• Develop and oversee monitoring and evaluation of MHPSS programming including development of relevant tools, collection procedures and analysis of project data in alignment with JRS and IASC MHPSS M&E Frameworks.

• Document best practices and MHPSS interventions to contribute to project, country, and global learning

• Regularly report on MHPSS activities in collaboration with the Country and Project Finance Officer, to administer the projects finances, guaranteeing a proper accounting of all project expenses and project expenses always match the approved budget.

• Prepare annual budgets to JRS and PRM in collaboration Country program officer and Finance officer

• Draft timely periodical (monthly, quarterly, bi-annual and annual) project reports, in collaboration with project team members for JRS Ethiopia country office, government agencies as well as donors

Collaboration

• Meet regularly with Country program officer and Program Quality Assurance, and M&E Officer and JRS/USA and to report on operational progress, developments, needs or identified problems.

• Liaise with other departments to support program administration and the logistical implementation of activities

• Develop a mainstreaming approach through regular cross-sectoral coordination resulting in integrated MHPSS considerations

• Participate in monthly and periodical coordinators meeting, and participatory periodical   project progress review exercise

• Serve as the primary point of contact between JRS-Ethiopia, donors, government and UNHCR and local partners involved in MHPSS and represent JRS in MHPSS and protection thematic working groups, meetings, forums, and workshops

• Closely work with NGO partners, relevant government agencies, refugee community structures for the implementation and monitoring of MHPSS projects

• In collaboration with local partners, engage community leaders, community-based organizations, and other service providers in supporting beneficiaries to access MHPSS services as well as ensuring their feedback for quality monitoring and accountability

• Participate in MHPSS coordination meetings for information sharing, collaboration with partners, referral mechanisms, and advocacy for best practices and IASC MHPSS guidelines

Required No_: One (1)

Level: VII

Employment: 12 months, possibility of extension depending on availability of funding and performance

Starting date: Immediate 

Job Requirements

Minimum Requirements

• MA or MSc degree with 6+ years of relevant and progressive experience working in mental health related field, including minimum of 4 years of professional experience coordinating MHPSS projects in humanitarian settings. Equivalent combination of relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate

• The qualified candidate will be a mental health professional (who have MA or MSc degree in psychology, counseling psychology, clinical or psychiatric social work, psychiatry, or psychiatric nurse) with experience in MHPSS program coordination

• Knowledgeable in and experience following IASC Guidelines on MHPSS in Emergencies and international best practices on the integration of MHPSS into primary health care settings; Ethiopian national mental health policy and issues affecting youth especially women.

• Demonstrable technical expertise in the assessment, design, and delivery of responses to pre-existing and emergency induced MHPSS needs

• Experience in supervising individual and group counselling for diverse groups

• Training experience required on Psychological First Aid and MhGAP; capacity and proven track record in national staff and partner training and capacity-building

• Strong organizational and supervisory skills

• Honest, hard-working, and self-motivated

• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work within different cultural environments

• Strong written and communication and presentation skills in English and the relevant local language

• Ability to work within a team structure or independently, flexible, and can cope with stressful workload

• Leveraging the resources of JRS-Ethiopia and partners/ building strategic alliances and partnerships

• Knowledge of project cycle management and sphere standards.

• Demonstrated experience and capacity in conducting data analysis and interpretation.

• Excellent organization, time and general management skills

• Critical thinking, strong analytical skills and objective judgments.

•  High degree of competency using MS Office, MS Teams, Excel, PowerPoint, Word and e-mail communication

• Commitment to high level of confidentiality with sensitive information.

How to Apply

Interested qualified internal and external applicants can submit their CV and application letter (the application letter should state current and expected salary) with non- returnable copies of credentials to JRS-Ethiopia Country Human Resource Officer within 5 Calendar days of this announcement through the following email address:  Eth01.hr@jrs.net

Women applicants are highly encouraged.