Health Unit MEAL Trainee

Background/IRC Summary:  The International Rescue Committee serves refugees and communities affected by oppression or violent conflict worldwide. Founded in 1933, the IRC is committed to freedom, human dignity, and self-reliance. This commitment is expressed in emergency relief, protection of human rights, post conflict development, resettlement assistance, and advocacy.

The IRC is delivering healthcare services in humanitarian settings around the world, including conflict-affected countries and refugee settings. The IRC’s vision is to lead the humanitarian field by implementing high-impact, cost-effective programs for people affected by crisis and by using our learning and experience to shape policy and practice. To achieve that vision, the IRC’s Technical Excellence Unit (TE) provides technical assistance to IRC’s country program staff and shares what we learn to influence policy and practice. The TE Unit is comprised of six technical Units, all of which have deep expertise in their respective sectors: Education, Economic Wellbeing, Gender Equality, Governance, Health, Violence Prevention and Response. These technical units work closely with the Research and Innovation Unit.

The health technical unit is organized in three sectors; Health (comprehensive primary healthcare including sexual and reproductive health, communicable and non-communicable diseases, MHPSS and child health), environmental health and nutrition.  The Health MEAL team is committed to the development of systems, tools, and processes that enable country programs to collect and analyze quality data across IRC’s health, nutrition, and EH programming, and its ambition is to utilize data to design, monitor, and evaluate projects and support the collection and dissemination of learning at a global level. We also aim to support and lead high quality assessments and surveys that help country programs to monitor, evaluate, and learn from their programs.

Trainee Overview/Summary: The Health Unit MEAL Trainee will support the development of a toolkit for Primary Health Care (PHC) and Environmental Health (EH) Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) surveys.  The Health Unit MEAL Trainee will collaborate with members of the Health Unit MEAL team and Health and EH Technical Advisors, to review tools, methods, analysis plans and reporting methods across country programs and health technical sub-sectors (Primary Health Care, SRH, MHPSS, Environmental Health).  The Trainee will then use the learnings from country programs and evidence from global best practices to support the development of a toolkit for Health KAP surveys and develop content for capacity strengthening on the toolkit.   

Major Responsibilities:

Support the development of a Health KAP toolkit  

·       Review existing KAP survey questionnaires, methodologies, reporting mechanisms and analysis plans from country programs

·       Identify and document best practices and areas for improvement from country program KAP survey materials

·       Conduct evidence review on global best practices about KAP surveys

·       With Technical Advisors, select 3-5 technical areas to develop standardized KAP surveys or menu of KAP questions

·       Draft Health KAP survey toolkit, including guidance on sampling approaches, calculating sample sizes, selection of sample units, developing questionnaires, training enumerators, analysis plans, and report writing

·       Draft slide deck for capacity strengthening on the KAP toolkit

Learning outcomes:

By the end of the period, the intern will have:

-          Improved understanding of the use of KAP surveys in humanitarian contexts

-          Improved skills in developing, revising and implementing tools for training staff working in humanitarian contexts

-          Improved knowledge of monitoring and evaluation within humanitarian contexts

-          Enhanced professional communication skills and capacity to solicit inputs and critical feedback from stakeholders working in different locations and contexts

-          Increased   ability   to   apply principles of   qualitative/quantitative research (theoretical   and   practical) in humanitarian settings (preparation, data collection, analysis and dissemination).

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: 

Senior Technical Advisor, Health MEAL

Working relationships:

Health MEAL Advisor, Health Technical Advisors, Environmental Health Technical Advisors, Measurement Unit, MEAL, Health and EH staff in country programs

Job Requirements:

Education: Master’s student in public health, who has taken a course of survey methods  

Work Experience: Some experience with survey development is preferred, but not required. Experience working internationally preferred.

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

·       Demonstrated interest in MEAL, primary health care and environmental health

·       Excellent writing and editing skills

·       Excellent organizational skills: Good interpersonal skills, the ability to multi-task, learn quickly, and work independently and productively in a fast-paced and detail-oriented environment

·       Excellent analytical and critical thinking skills

·       Previous experience developing training or educational materials

·       Excellent in excel; Proficient in Microsoft Office Tools. 

Language Skills:  English fluency required. French is preferred, but not required.

Certificates or Licenses: N/A

Working Environment:  

Remote work

Approximately 10 hours per week, unpaid position.

The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct.  These are Integrity, Service Equality,, and Accountability.  In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.