Action Against Hunger/Action Contre La Faim (AAH/ACF) is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that was created in France in 1979. AAH/ACF has been active in Afghanistan in the medical, nutrition, food security, and water and sanitation fields since 1995.  AAH/ACF improved access to health and nutrition services for the most vulnerable people, who live in remote areas without a local health system. In particular, the country team supported pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under five, who are at greater risk of malnutrition. Nutrition programs rely on an integrated approach, addressing both primary and underlying causes, in order to have a lasting impact on nutritional status.  The country team worked at community level, in villages and at provincial level, strengthening the public health system. It also worked at national level to ensure reliable information about the nutritional situation reached the wider humanitarian community. Covid-19 prevention was integrated into all interventions and additional response activities were implemented, such as the disinfection of health facilities and public places, cash assistance, psychosocial support and the distribution of hygiene kits to affected populations.

Goal

To support the smooth implementation, monitoring, and development of the MHPSS activities in Ghor through:

• Feeding into project design & proposals
• Reporting & monitoring of achievements & budgets for MHPSS projects in Ghor
• Representation of the organisation & MHPSS department externally
• Providing technical and operational supervision, capacity building & quality monitoring for MHPSS standalone & integrated activities

Mission 1: Support the implementation and development of MHPSS activities in Ghor to ensure highest quality of MHPSS component of the ongoing programmes

• Provide technical and operational support on a daily basis to MHPSS staff in Ghor, both through standalone and integrated projects
• Regularly schedule project progress reviews with MHPSS teams, providing feedback and corrections throughout, while monitoring both progress (reach) and quality and adapting project activities as necessary
• Lead lessons learnt workshops collaboratively with other PMs & Field Manager / Field Coordinator
• Ensure that beneficiary information is held in confidentially and protocols are in place for the data under ACF’s responsibility
• Provide regular reminders of the confidentiality procedures
• Ensure beneficiary inclusion criteria is being upheld, & all staff are aware of the criteria
• Contribute to integrated proposal writing in collaboration with other departments ensuring all components are based on needs & evidence such as logframe, budget, narrative (including context analyses, needs assessments, work plan etc.) with HoD & DHoD
• Ensure capitalisation of MHPSS documentation in Ghor base, including data management, best practices, lessons learnt, success stories, and qualitative and quantitative analyses
• Contribute to the coordination between all departments, whether technical (WaSH, Nutrition, Health, FSL, ERM), support (logistics, HR, finance) or transversal (MEAL, security)
• Contribute to regular updates of the service provider mapping
• Conduct integrated needs & strengths assessments in collaboration with other departments & MEAL team to ensure detailed needs analyses available and projects are based on identified needs
• Prepare internal and external reports for clusters, authorities, AAH and donors, including case studies and success stories
• Determine staffing needs and carry out recruitment process as per established HR policies
• Ensure that performance appraisals for all staff are done in a timeline manner, in line with ACF performance management policy
• Ensure all staff are aware and abide by security and safety guidelines of AAH
• In collaboration with Admin/Finance manager, ensure that finance tools are updated, respected, and that procedures are followed and that budget follow-up is done on a monthly basis
• In collaboration with Logistics manager, ensure that logistics tools are updated, respected and that procedures are followed including procurement requests and bills of quantity (BoQs)

Mission 2: Expand on the current MHPSS Strategy, positioning, and external representation and coordination according to Action Against Hunger’s Country Strategy and the Governmental Policies and Strategies

• Undertake systematic and thorough analysis of the humanitarian situation (needs, gaps and barriers) in Ghor; and participate in the planning of assessments in the new/existing intervention areas
• Participate to Protection, Child Protection, GBV, and other cluster coordination mechanisms meetings in Ghor
• Ensure good coordination and representation towards stakeholders and partners
• Identify the presence and the strategic orientations of other partners in the field with a view to improving coordination and effective working.
• Feed into strategy updates through workshops conducted by HoD / DHoD, and provide feedback on key messages, advocacy messages, and strategic documents
• Support the mainstreaming of gender and protection throughout all programmes and ensure that protection issues are highlighted in order to improve the projects in Ghor base
• Represent AAH at internal and external forums / networks; establishing and maintaining contact with a range of organisations and individuals who can support the programme in the provincial level
• Contribution and follow-up on administrative documents (MOU, handover…) jointly with governmental authorities, communities or partners
• Setting up and regularly updating the MHPSS service provider mapping in Ghor province; ensuring regular meetings with them and physical visits to their office/activities.
• Work closely with project team, partners and relevant government departments (Education, DoWA, DoPH, etc)

Mission 3: Raising awareness and strengthening the capacity of Action Against Hunger and partner staff and stakeholders on MHPSS-related topics

• Ensure orientations of new MHPSS staff & follow-up of training & capacity building needs, including carrying out refresher trainings (both OJT and standalone trainings)
• Identify training needs of MHPSS and other staff via a training needs assessment updated regularly and conduct on-the-job training (OJT) and independent trainings of all MHPSS and other staff on a regular basis, including orientations of new staff on MHPSS topics (in collaboration with HoD & DHoD)
• Facilitate capacity building and skills development of DoPH/HF staff and other partner organizations when required
• Carry out regular field visits and on-the-job training (OJT) and supervision, with field visit reports & recommendations
• Ensure that all technical protocols / manuals / guidelines are trained on and utilised by MHPSS teams, and regular inputs and feedback are given by field teams to HoD & DHoD for review
• In collaboration with HoD, DHoD, FM, and PMs/DPMs analyse and control the technical performance of all projects
• Coordination of MHPSS  Gender and Protection mainstreaming and integration within other projects and sectors; and conduct regular field supervision and on the job visits to the ongoing projects

Background/qualifications

• Bachelor`s degree or Master's (preferred) degree in psychology, counseling, or psychosocial services from a reputed university.
• 2+ years of experience in mental health & psychosocial support (MHPSS) programming and MHPSS project implementation.
• Experience in a client-facing clinical mental health role
• Knowledge of Gender (and gender-based violence (GBV)) and Protection programming within the humanitarian sector
• Good experience in facilitating trainings and supervision on MHPSS-related topics
• 3+ years of experience in humanitarian sector programming
• Knowledge and application of confidentiality procedures
• Knowledge of child development, nutritional practices and/or IYCF
• Good communications, interpersonal relations, and flexibility
• Analytical and problem-solving skills
• Knowledge of Mental Health Department (MHD) & MoPH system
• Strong experience in project cycle management is a must
• Strong experience in project and team management or coordination
• Capacity to evaluate employees’ work and quality of programming
• Organisational and planning skills
• Strong interpersonal and communication skill 
• Good team interaction and positive attitude
• Fluent in reading, writing, and speaking in English & Dari
  • Desirable if Pashto as well
• Familiar with word, excel, Skype and email
• Good knowledge of data management and data analysis

Qualified and interested candidates should submit a CV with three Referees indicating the job title and vacancy number of the position in the email subject line.

To Human Resources Department AAH Badakhshan office, or can also be emailed to:

vacancies-bd@af-actionagainsthunger.org 

Eligible candidates are invited to apply by the earliest possible deadline which is set to 07 Nov 2024. 

Do not submit academic certificates with the application. These will be requested if the candidate is selected. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for the written test/interview.  

Action Against Hunger/Action Contre La Faim is an equal opportunity employer.  We strongly encourage women and people with disabilities to apply.  ACF/AAH has zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation, sexual harassment, and abuse (SEA).