Field Officer

Job Description

Job Summary:

Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Cambodia, the Integrated Early Childhood Development Activity (IECD) operates in Kampong Thom and Preah Vihear Provinces to (1) advance the physical, cognitive, linguistic and social-emotional development of young children; (2) decrease stunting rates for children under the age of five among the target population; and (3) enable appropriate care for children with developmental delays and disabilities. Led by Research Triangle Institute (RTI) and its partners (Helen Keller International and Safe Haven), IECD supports the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) efforts to promote nurturing care and improve nutrition for all children, including the most vulnerable, starting from before birth. IECD period of performance is 2020-2025.

IECD also works to strengthen nutrition service delivery in health facilities and in communities; supports nutrition-sensitive agriculture and improved livelihoods; improves water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices among caregivers; facilitates screening and access to services for children who may have developmental delays and disabilities; and promotes responsive caregiving to help children meet critical developmental milestones. The focus of IECD is on children under age five and their caregivers, with emphasis on the first 1,000 days of life.

Field Officer will coordinate Village Health Support Groups (VHSGs), Child Development Leaders (CDLs) and local authorities to mobilize community action and support to implement IECD Nurturing Care, child-screening using Community Based-Developmental Milestone Assessment Tool (CB-DMAT), child-referral and Safe Haven Interventionists home-visits at target villages of the project. The position is based in Rovieng District of Preah Vihear Province with required travels to target villages.

1. Nurturing Care Caregiver session program

• Support VHSGs and CDLs to implement caregiver sessions two times per month in each targeted village.
• Provide ongoing mentoring and support to VHSGs and CDLs to improve their capacity on Nurturing Care Modules.
• Oversee quality of caregiver sessions conducted to promote practice and understanding of Nurturing Care key behaviors and key messages.
• Monitor the process of caregiver selection and attendant.

2. Nurturing Care Home visit program

• Support VHSGs and CDLs to implement the home visit program for at least six families visited per month in each target village.
• Provide ongoing mentoring support to VHSGs and CDLs to improve their capacity on conducting home visits.
• Oversee quality of home visit activities conducted to promote practice and understanding of Nurturing Care key behaviors and key messages.
• Monitor home visit activities and record progress of action of the visited families.

3. Child-screening, referral, and interventionist home-visit

• Coordinate to have capacity buildings to VHSGs and CDLs on child-screening, home visit, and referral.
• Coordinate and support VHSGs and CDLs to conduct quarterly child-screening at target villages, Pre-school, and health center.
• Coordinate and support VHSGs and CDLs to refer identified children to appropriate service providers.
• Support the referral of children with development delays or disabilities to receive appropriate care and rehabilitation services following requirements of the project.
• Coordinate Safe Haven Interventionists to conduct home visits to households with children with developmental delays and disabilities.
• Collaborate with Provincial Coordinator and local government to develop disabilities service providers list to support for referral.

4. Workshop, training, Community Dialogues, campaign and mobilization activities

• Attend training on IECD Nurturing Care manual and CB-DMAT tools.
• Co-facilitate training on IECD Nurturing Care and CB-DMAT tools to VHSGs and CDLs
• Conduct follow up action with VHSGs and CDLS after delivered the trainings.
• Work with Commune Councils and Commune Committee for Women and Children (CCWC) to implement IECD related activities.
• Coordinate for Peer Support Group meeting and Community Dialogue.
• Attend regular commune and CCWC meetings to explore opportunities to obtain buy-in from local authorities to support VHSGs and CDLs to implement Nurturing Care caregiver sessions and home visit programs as well as to integrate these programs into Commune Investment Plan.
• Coordinate logistic for trainings, workshops, and project events.

5. Monitoring and Evaluation

• Assist the M&E team in coordinating surveys, research and studies when needed, and carry out routine data collection on a monthly basis.
• Facilitate bi-monthly meetings with VHSGs and CDLs to gather lessons learnt and actions to improve project performance.
• Support VHSGs and CDLs to fill out caregivers and children records from those benefitting from caregiver sessions, home visits and child screening programs.
• Prepare monthly progress report for Provincial Coordinator and Disabilities and Social Inclusion Specialist.
• Undertake other administrative duties assigned by the Provincial Coordinator and technical duties assigned by the Disabilities and Social Inclusion Specialist.

Minimum Required Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in social work, education, rural development, or a related field.
• At least one year of experience in Early Childhood Care and Development project implementation at the community level, especially parental education, child rights or child protection, community preschool, and child nutrition.

Skills and Abilities

• An understanding of and commitment to RTI’s mission and values.
• Good facilitation skills, with the ability to lead participatory discussions and training on sensitive topics.
• Knowledge on early childhood care and development, nutrition and gender sensitive programming are preferred.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications.
• Fluency in Khmer and proficiency in English.
• Good inter-personal skills with flexibility to coordinate and collaborate with government agencies and stakeholders.
• Willing to travel by motorbike in the rural areas.
• Culturally sensitive and respectful

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