Mental Health Psychosocial Officer (MHPSS Officer)

Médecins du Monde - France (MdM-F) is an international humanitarian organization whose mission is to provide medical care for the most vulnerable populations, the world over, including Afghanistan. It seeks to stimulate voluntary commitment from doctors, other health care providers, and from those whose expertise in other fields is needed for its activities, to enlist all competent support required for the achievement of its projects, and to seek at all times to encourage close working relationships with populations in its care.

Main Responsibilities:

• To supervise technically MHPSS activities, psychosocial counsellors and midwives/Nut Counselors
• To support in implementing and defining MHPSS activities in coordination with Project manager and  MHPSS Advisor/Coordinator according to established standards and procedures
• To support in identification of mental health and psychosocial needs, provide technical support in organizing MHPSS trainings for the MHPSS counsellors, and other health staff on MHPSS
• To promote the quality of MHPSS activities, practices, data collection, analysis and reporting

Main Activities

• Supervision of MHPSS activities

• 80% of the time is devoted to the field visits to accompany the health facilities psychosocial counsellors in their daily activities
• Supervise the psychosocial counsellors and midwives/Nutrition counsellors in link with the relevant supervisors at the health facilities
• Make the link with referral structures when more specialized Mental Health services are needed
• Conduct clinical supervision meetings to discuss the difficulties faced by psychosocial counsellors and midwives/Nut counsellors in their counselling practices on a weekly basis
• Put in place and monitor the referral system between the different departments of the hospital and health facilities to the psychosocial services and with the external actors
• Contribute to the creation of referral tools from other departments to psychosocial counsellors
• Contribute to the design and adaptation of activities in the hospital/health facilities
• Contribute to SOPs (standard operating procedures) for MHPSS activities proposed
• Provide continuous technical guidance and support to the psychosocial counsellors

• Quality of practices

• Ensure the quality of the psychosocial activities in groups through direct observation of group sessions
• Ensure the quality of individual psychosocial activities through discussions with the counsellors about the sessions conducted
• Use monitoring tools to record the data regarding quality of sessions conducted
• Assess training and capacity building needs of counsellors and midwives on an ongoing basis
• Assess the awareness of hospital staff to understand MHPSS needs and services and make referrals
• Contribute to a continuous assessment of MHPSS needs at the hospital/health facility level in collaboration with hospital/health facilities’ staff and MHPSS counsellors.
• Ensure and improve the referral system to the psychosocial counsellors within hospital and health facilities as well as to specialized services

• Training & Capacity Building

• Ongoing training and capacity building of MHPSS counsellors, midwives and health facility staff at the health facility level
• Organize trainings based on the need assessments, needs expressed by the counsellors, midwives and training plan in the project proposal
• Conduct demonstration sessions both in groups as well as individual for on-the-job training and capacity building of MHPSS counsellors and midwives
• Implement trainings and awareness for the health facility staff for understanding MHPSS needs, support as well as referral mechanisms

• Coordination

• Contributing towards identifying actors and mapping services
• Participating in working meetings and coordinating with partner structures in link with Project Manager and MHPSS advisor
• Ensure proper communication channels within MdM team, with health facilities staff

• Monitoring and evaluation

• Carrying out surveys and needs/impact assessments
• Collecting data and participating in data analysis (qualitative and quantitative)
• Drafting activity reports

• Master’s degree in clinical psychology with 2 years of experience is preferred
• Diploma or bachelor’s degree in psychology, counselling or social work with 4+ years of experience in counselling background
• Prior experience in doing individual and group sessions on psychosocial issues
• Only female applications will be considered
• preference will be given to quallified local residents 

Main skills

• Understand local MHPSS issues, local norms and protocols, customs and socio-cultural practices
• Motivated to work in the humanitarian sector
• Be creative in assessing and finding solutions to problems
• Identify and understand people’s MHPSS needs for support
• Conduct individual and group counselling sessions
• Work collaboratively and respectfully with people in various positions and from different backgrounds
• Work in a multi-disciplinary team
• Be flexible and adaptive; understand and accept changes in the environment regarding people, tasks, work decisions, policies, etc.
• Collect and analyse MHPSS data, write reports and communicate information in writing
• Good knowledge of English, Dari and Pashto
• Have computer skills

The interested candidates should submit their applications with the updated CV, motivation letter, including references details to the following email – recruitment.afghanistan@medecinsdumonde.net – no later than the closing date.

The reference MHPSS Officer must be stated in the application subject to be valid. If you do not clearly state the position for which you are applying & attach the required diploma & other supporting documents, your application may not be considered.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Please note that MDM-F does not reimburse transportation cost if applicants are asked for interview or a test.

MDM-F does not charge fee at any stage of its recruitment process. All applications are free for all candidates, and no one should require any payment or compensation during the recruitment process.