Sr. Women’s Health Advisor

CARE International is a global NGO working to end poverty and achieve social-justice. We rebuild and improve the lives of the most vulnerable groups, especially women and girls who are often the most marginalised individuals in their communities and face unequal access to social and economic rights. In 2019, CARE worked in 100 countries around the world, implementing 1,036 poverty-fighting development and humanitarian aid projects, and reached more than 68 million people directly and 401 million people indirectly.

CARE International in Lao PDR began its operations in 1992 and has worked since then to improve the lives of vulnerable groups in both rural and urban areas, particularly the ethnic minority communities. CARE works in partnership with community members, government, local civil society organisations, and the private sector. CARE currently implements projects in 05 provinces: Vientiane Capital, Phongsaly, Luang Namtha, Saravan, and Sekong.

CARE’s “Marginalized Women and Girls” program empowers women and girls to exercise their rights, to lead and make decisions, and benefit from socio-economic justice. CARE’s two main program areas in Lao are Women’s Healthand women’s economic empowerment. Our health programs empower women and girls to exercise their rights to reproductive, maternal and child nutritional health for greater control over their bodies and to live a life free from violence. Our economic empowerment programs give women and girls greater access to and control over economic opportunities, resilient resources and dignified work by promoting gender equality, fighting gender based violence and climate risk. CARE has extensive experience and expertise in both of these areas and will continue to pursue evidence-based practices to deliver long-lasting solutions effectively and sustainably.

PURPOSE OF THE POSITION

The Sr. Women’s Health Advisor will work across all programs and target groups of CARE Laos to strengthen design, development and technical impacts of RMNCH interventions. The Sr. Women’s Health Advisor will work closely with the Health Team and Program Teams in build capacity and improve CARE’s Women’s Health interventions to ensure maximum impact. The Sr.  Women’s Health Advisor will play a leading role in representing CARE Laos in relevant networks and events, particularly those that contribute to the achievement of CARE’s long term goals.

This position is based in Vientiane Capital with regular travel required to program sites (particularly Sekong, Luang Namtha and Phongsaly).

Reporting Relationships

The Sr. Women’s Health Advisor reports to the Program Director and work closely with relevant Sector Technical Advisors

This Sr. Women’s Health Advisor works closely with the Partnership Manager and provide capacity building for partner organisations;

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategy and Leadership:

• Work with the Program Director to support the development, implementation and review of the long- term program;
• Ensure CARE Lao’s long term has a strong focus on addressing the needs and rights of remote ethnic women and achieves gender equality and women’s empowerment through actively contributing to strategy development as a member of the CARE Lao’s Leadership Team;
• Deliver key strategic contribution to CARE Laos’s future Women’s Health programming direction;
• Lead the Women’s Health Program unit including line management of any relevant staff, guiding APPA process, guiding PDP process, and leading the recruitment of key staff members
• Actively influence and drive the development and implementation of the AOP (Annual Operating Plan);
• Contribute to the development in-country strategy in line with CARE International long-term strategic goals particularly ensuring the links to the Agenda 2030;
• Contribute to the development in-country policies, where necessary, in consultation with CARE International policies;

PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT:

• Collaborate closely with the Program and Business Development Advisor and consultants in project designs;
• Contribute to the program development of CIL, particularly relevant to health program including coordinating new project designs and proposals, in alignment with CIL’s program priorities and donor guidelines;
• Strengthen donor relationships; both in-country and externally where required;
• Establish and maintain networking and positioning of CIL with existing and potential partners (including GoL, NPAs, INGOs, and the UN); and
• Work closely with relevant partners and CARE Member Partners (CMPs) in order to follow up existing and new collaboration opportunities
• Oversee program management of all projects and activities within the Women’s Health portfolio;

• Work with relevant health specialist and program teams in planning and rolling out program strategies and activities as well as maintaining effective synergies with program teams. /project management;

TECHNICAL ADVICE AND CAPACITY BUILDING

• Support relevant health specialist and project managers in developing technical capacity plans for relevant projects, staff and partners;
• Provide Sr. level health advice and support to project teams, partners and Sr. management to ensure a strong and transformative approach to gender sensitive women’s health programming across all of CARE Laos;
• Technically lead the health specialist/team to support effective ongoing capacity development of staff and partners in gender sensitive women’s health program approaches and activities;
• Ensure regular Technical Team meetings are organised, reflected and shared with program and relevant teams
• Provide technical quality oversight of Women’s Health strategies, tools and materials both organisational and in programming;

RESEARCH, MONITORING, EVALUATION AND LEARNING

• Lead research and supervision of consultants related to RMNCH and ensure results and lessons learned are incorporated in practice and future programming;
• Foster and organise collaboration within RMNCH to gather and analyse evidence and learning from CARE Laos work in RMNCH in order to influence policy and practice;
• Work with heath team, relevant staff and partner to stimulate on-going learning and exchange on Women’s Health;
• Lead the reporting process to donors, working close with Project Managers and partners in the North and South

PARTNERSHIP AND NETWORKING

• Engage and contribute  to technical working groups that represent the Government of Laos (PDR) health/RMNCH policies and strategies, CARE International’s relevant strategies and experience, and the current programming context in identified cities and provinces;
• Liaise with relevant authorities, UN agencies, NGOs and other stakeholders to build and strengthen partnerships and represent CARE Laos as required;
• Keep abreast of developments and issues in program and project implementation and provide necessary recommendations for action;
• Map key stakeholder on health/RMNCH at the provincial levels either NGOs, development agencies or GoL ( Provincial/District Nutrition Committees (DNC/PNC) for example).
• Actively participate in the SUN CSA network in any elected or unelected capacity to further the impact and advocacy of CARE Laos’ programmatic activity and build the reputation of CARE as a leader in Women’s Health
• Lead Advocacy Campaigns on Women’s Healththat include amplifying CARE Laos program approaches and research, impact policy and approaches of key stakeholders to encourage progress of CARE Laos programming

ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE

• Prepare field travel, per diem requests, and other logistics in a timely manner and in-line with project budget;
• Participate in regular team meetings as required; and
• Use activities funds in line with the approved budgets properly and effectively and in compliance with CARE’s finance manual and donor guidelines.
• Oversee the budgets for all Women’s Health activities and collaborate closely with program teams to ensure timely and effective spending that aligns with overall programmatic strategies.

OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Proactively participate in the Annual Planning and Performance Appraisal (APPA) process including the annual appraisal, midyear review and regular 1:1 meetings, ensuring that the APPA process (including the paperwork) is an integral component of Annual Work Plans and activities;
• Contribute to a strong team environment where members respect each other’s differences while working together towards the organisation’s goals;

• Engage in emergency preparedness, assist in any emergency response as required;
• Promote a safe and secure work environment; foster a culture of safety and security awareness and ensure compliance with the safety and security policies, procedures;

• Demonstrate an ongoing commitment to gender equality, diversity, sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse (PHSEA) and child protection.

• Comply with CARE Lao’s financial and operational requirements, foster strong communication between operations and programs teams and uphold high standards of honesty and integrity in personal conduct.

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS:

• Minimum Masters’ Degree or University degree relevant to public health, nursing, community development or related fields (or equivalent professional experience);
• Minimum 8 years relevant experience on project management in development including program design, proposal development and donor relations;
• Relevant work experience with an International Non-Government Organisation (INGO) or similar organisation;
• Strong interest and knowledge on issues  that  ethnic communities face  within Laos and more globally;
• Strong interest and knowledge in addressing gender issues within health or RMNCH sector;
• Good communication skills in both Lao and English; knowledge of an ethnic language in current  work location  and advantage;
• Proven ability to write proposals and reports in fluent English and to donor standard;
• Fully conversant in Microsoft Office with knowledge in Microsoft Word, Power Point and Excel;
• Proven ability to manage multiple and complex budgets under various donor rules and regulations; including knowledge of  EU, DFAT and other  donors;
• Demonstrated high level organisational and time management skills, including the ability to plan and manage workflows and balance competing priorities to ensure timely processing to meet deadlines in a complex environment;
• Proven ability to manage the complex projects both technical and compliance, with minimal supervision.