Midwife

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, the IRC offers lifesaving care and life-changing assistance to refugees forced to flee from war or disaster. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we restore safety, dignity, and hope to millions who are uprooted and struggling to endure. The IRC leads the way from harm to home.
The IRC opened the country program in Afghanistan in 1988. Our programs span the range from humanitarian relief to early recovery and development activities, focusing on child protection, education, economic wellbeing, health, and power. The IRC works in 10 provinces throughout Afghanistan, among which some of the most security volatile, and employs over 1000 staff.

Compliance with Policies:

• Compliance with the IRC WAY (our standards for professional conduct) is a responsibility shared by all involved in delivering on the IRC’s mission. We must abide by the IRC Way and Safeguarding Policies all the time. 
• The IRC has zero tolerance approach to the IRC Code of Conduct including safeguarding violations being committed by its staff, consultants, contractors, volunteers, interns, suppliers, vendors, sub-grantees/partners, implementing partners or any other associate.

The Midwife is a member of the IRC health team, based at a Family Health House (FHH), and is responsible for delivering comprehensive, high-quality reproductive health services to women and girls at the community level, including the antenatal, delivery, postnatal and neonatal care, birth spacing and method mix counselling and service provision (including short & long-acting modern contraceptive methods) and syndromic case management of sexually transmitted diseases. The midwife will support integrated basic nutrition screening and psychosocial referral alongside core RH service delivery and will work closely with community health workers to strengthen demand and access for RH services in the catchment area. The midwife will directly report to the RH Officer. This is a couple position where the Midwife will be based and reside at the FHH together with the FHH Guard, who will be her Mahram, in line with community and cultural requirements for the safe deployment of female staff to remote FHH locations.

General Duties:

·       Consistently monitor and report safety and security concerns to IRC management and liaise with community leaders and stakeholders to maintain a safe operating environment.

·       Maintain professional, supportive relations with team members and provide on-the-job mentorship to other staff including community health volunteers (CHVs) and cleaner at FHH.

·       Provide correct, non-directive birth spacing and method mix counselling to clients including couples as part of routine RH consultations, ensuring informed choice across the full range of available methods.

Specific Duties:

·       Provide direct, client-cantered and high-quality reproductive health clinical care service delivery.

·       Triage, screening, and clinical assessment of clients, including RH history-taking and medical eligibility screening for contraceptives method mix options.

·       Performs basic and assisted delivery care and provides the full range of short- and long-acting contraceptive method mix services within scope of practice (including implant and IUD insertion/removal and injectable provision), following successful completion of the relevant clinical certification.

·       Performs any needed neonatal and obstetric resuscitation activity and conducts basic nutrition screening and psychosocial support referral as an integrated part of RH consultations.

·       Ensures timely supported referrals to the nearest Emergency Obstetric Care centre.

·       Cascades rights-based FP counselling (BCS+), medical eligibility criteria (MEC) screening, and DMPA injectable technique to the linked CHW pair, and provides monthly supervisory verification of CHW counselling quality and injection practice.

·       Maintains regular linkage with the Family Health Action Group (FHAG), Community Health Shura, and linked CHWs to receive referrals arising from community dialogues and household visits and follows up on defaulter and first-contact cases identified through these community structures.

·       Provides antenatal and postnatal care in line with national/international standards and protocols.

·       Delivers health & hygiene promotion, health education and patient/caregiver counselling, and ensures adherence to infection prevention and control (IPC) measures.

·       Ensure accurate recording of RH service data in clinic registers and the relevant health information system (e.g. DHIS2/MIAR), and timely completion of summary reports.

·       Carry out duties as per duty roster

·       Ensure patient confidentiality is respected, and that all consultations are conducted in a dignified and respectful manner

·         Qualified Midwifery diploma/certificate and registered with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH)

·       Fluency in Pashto/Dari and any other local languages of the assigned location

·       Ability to work closely, professionally, and constructively with all others regardless of nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, race, tribe, or cultural background.

·       At least 2 years+ clinical midwifery experience.

·       Priority will be given to candidates who have completed the 3-month FHH (Family Health House) training provided by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).

·       Previous training or experience in reproductive health service provision (including birth spacing/method mix counselling and long-acting method insertion), is an advantage. Work with and support Community Health Workers and community volunteers on RH demand generation, health promotion and awareness raising.

·       Ensure regular inventory and consumption tracking of RH commodities and supplies and work with relevant staff to ensure prompt resupply.

·    Ability and flexibility to understand the cultural and political environment and to work well with the local health representatives.

·    Strong skills in non-directive, informed-choice family planning and reproductive health counselling, with the ability to provide sensitive, accurate, and non-judgmental method mix counselling tailored to each client's needs.

·    Excellent communication skills in local languages, basic spoken and writing of concise reports in English.

·       Must be a team player with excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work under pressure in a stressful environment, displaying patience, compassion, and diplomacy.

·      Ability to be innovative, flexible, adaptive, and willingness to work out of hours, sometimes throughout the night.

·       Ability to live in challenging conditions and ability to work under difficult, high-pressure situations.  

·        Communication and reporting skills: Ensure all patient consultations are documented and patient records completed.

·       Submit reports in a timely manner.

For IRC- Afghanistan Internal Candidates:

(“ The IRC encourages employees to remain in a position for at least one year and be in good standing before applying for another position within the organization. if an employee is interested in a vacant position within the organization, he/she must inform his/her supervisor in advance before applying for a new position”)

(However, 1 year is a must to complete but to encourage IRCA employees somehow we are flexible who work in the current IRC position for at least 6 months or above and are given chance to compete for an opportunity in the organization)

All qualified candidates are requested to open the given link and follow the instructions:

https://theirc.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/External_Careers/job/Herat-Afghanistan/Midwife-14_JR00004795

applications received without a given link and/or online system will be disqualified and removed from the entire process. 

Shortlisted candidates will be directly contacted for a written test and after that for interviews. If you are not contacted TWO or FOUR WEEKS after the closing date .please know that your application has not been successful for the post. IRC Afghanistan Country Office, Qala-e-Fathullah, Street # 3, District 10, Old UNOCHA Office, Beside Fatemia Mosque.