Mental Health Psychosocial (MHPSS) Project Officer at International Rescue Committee

• Working under the guidance and supervision of the SRH/CHP manager, the MHPSS project officer is directly responsible for the Coordination, Planning, Implementation, Monitoring and reporting of all MHPSS interventions for female teachers under the Teach well project. S/He will ensure that MHPSS interventions are integrated and implemented in the teacher professional development curriculum to build the resilience of female teachers within the refugee camps to cope and deal with work related stressors. S/He will work with a target number of schools and teachers in Hagadera refugee camp.

Key Responsibilities

• Co-ordination of the Teach wells school based MHPSS interventions for teachers. S/He will be charged with the responsibility of conducting needs assessment and provision of appropriate interventions, for female teachers in the schools.
• Prepare annual and quarterly work plans and budgets for all MHPSS activities and ensure implementation is within the donor requirements, guidelines and timelines.
• Support the development, review, and dissemination of the MHPSS technical modules in the teacher professional development curriculum.
• Organize and conduct all capacity building activities for teacher trainers or trainees, peer educators, teachers and male champions.
• Render psychosocial support services to individual teachers, and teacher support groups to assist them to process, deal and recover from the effects of traumatic events.
• Coordinate and strengthen linkages of teachers to other MHPSS services outside school i.e. health facilities, social protection, gender-based violence recovery centres, police, etc, through a defined referral pathway
• Oversee and conduct psychosocial assessments & plan individual case management of teachers on follow up at the mental health department & ensure case management goals are properly achieved.
• Facilitate group counseling sessions with teachers including selection of group members, planning the group sessions & facilitating group sessions.
• Collaborate and network with other and or all relevant implementing partners in teacher MHPSS, line ministries, hospital departments and community stake holders through active participation in periodic coordination forums.
• Lead the Teachwell project Health sub working group in her/his area of jurisdiction.
• Provide mentorship and coaching for the teacher trainers or trainers supporting MHPSS in schools through continuous education, guidance, supervision, and support.
• Attend project and Consortium partners and camp meetings related to teacher MHPSS to improve service delivery to female teachers.
• Ensure that all work with client teachers is kept confidential and that ethical practices are always observed.
• Lead the timely development of all required project reports for sharing with the consortium and the donor.
• Assist with any other related activities/duties as deemed by the supervisor.

Key Result Areas

• Improvement in overall quality of MHPSS care for all the teachers in Hagadera refugee camp.

Minimum Qualifications

• Degree in Medical psychology, counselling or a related field
• Working knowledge of English and Kiswahili
• Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills
• At least 3-5 years in field programming experience within schools, teachers, Humanitarian, NGO/Agency in the same or similar position
• Extensive experience providing psychotherapy to teachers and groups
• Flexibility and adaptability to the changing environment
• Skilled at working as a team member
• Demonstrate flexibility to adapt to changing requirements and needs
• Working knowledge of Microsoft office suite (Outlook, Word & Excel)
• Able to work in a stressful refugee environment.