Immunization Technical Assistant

ABOUT VILLAGEREACH

VillageReach transforms health care delivery to reach everyone. We are driven by a vision of a world where each person has the health care needed to thrive. VillageReach’s goal is to reduce inequities in access to quality primary health care for 350 million people by 2030. We work with governments, the private sector, partners and communities to build responsive primary health care systems that deliver health products, information and services to the most under-reached. As a locally driven and globally connected organization, VillageReach has offices in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and the United States.

Summary

This position will operate under the direct supervision of the Immunization Manager. The Technical Assistant will provide strategic and operational support across all immunization areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Specifically, the role will focus on the planning, implementation, and monitoring of Periodic Intensification of Routine Immunization (PIRI/IPVS), as well as targeted immunization interventions in humanitarian settings, particularly in Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Maniema, and Tanganyika. In addition, the Technical Assistant will support dedicated vaccine supply chain work in Lualaba and Haut-Lomami. The Technical Assistant will support activity planning and microplanning, supervise interventions, identify and follow up on zero-dose and under-immunized children, integrate community engagement and feedback mechanisms, and analyze and use data for decision-making. Working closely with the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), technical partners, and local community based-organization, the Technical Assistant will contribute to improving immunization coverage, service quality, and the timeliness of responses to immunization-related emergencies.

Description

Essential Duties and Responsibilities include the following. Other duties, responsibilities, and activities may change or be assigned at any time.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Coordination

• Support coordination and planning of routine immunization activities, including PIRIs and Supplemental Immunization Activities (SIAs), through regular organization of coordination committee meetings (CCPEV, Steering Committee, CPC, CLC).
• Monitor follow-up on agreed commitments and action points.

Routine Immunization Service Delivery

• Support planning and implementation of innovative vaccination strategies to strengthen routine immunization, including targeted PIRIs.
• Support formative supervision from Provincial Health Divisions (DPS) to Health Zones (ZS), and from Health Zones to vaccination service providers.
• Support analysis of supervision feedback to identify immunization system bottlenecks at the Health Zone level and propose corrective action plans.
• Produce and share activity reports (weekly, monthly, and quarterly).

Support to Immunization Strengthening in Humanitarian Settings

• Provide technical support for the design and adaptation of vaccination strategies in areas affected by insecurity and population displacement.
• Collaborate with local NGO partners to ensure consistent implementation of agreed strategies.
• Contribute to rapid situational analyses and adaptation of operational plans based on context.

Cross-cutting Support and Emergency Response

• Contribute to the rapid implementation of activities funded through contingency funds in response to immunization-related emergencies.
• Support integration of complementary initiatives (supply chain, data systems, integration with primary health care services).

Surveillance

• Support collection, storage, transport, and shipment of surveillance samples to transit sites and/or laboratories.
• Support timely 60-day follow-up examinations of inadequate AFP cases and investigations of outbreaks of neonatal tetanus, yellow fever, measles, polio, and other vaccine-preventable diseases.

Immunization Supply Chain Management

• Support planning of vaccine and immunization commodity distribution missions under the NGCA+ approach.
• Support monitoring and supervision of stock management systems in targeted provinces.
• Support monthly vaccine order planning and accurate transmission of inventory data from Health Zone storage sites.
• Support supervision of distribution activities, ensuring logistics data collection and analysis are used for decision-making and supply chain performance improvement.
• Support monthly inventories at Health Zone storage sites and ensure data entry in Microsoft Excel.

Demand Generation

• Support Health Zones in revitalizing Community Animation Cells (CACs) to strengthen household awareness, identification of zero-dose and under-immunized children, and early detection of suspected VPD cases.
• Support coordination between EPI coordination units and Health Zones to produce quarterly mapping of resistant/refusal populations, special populations, mobile populations, and riverine populations.
• Support community engagement activities with community leaders and mass communication activities promoting vaccination.
• Support establishment of a provincial infodemic management team.

Capacity Strengthening

• Provide technical support to health workers to improve immunization service delivery and supply chain management.
• Conduct formative supervision at Health Zone level to strengthen supply chain management capacity.
• Collaborate with immunization stakeholders to strengthen capacity and performance of supply chain activities among health providers.

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Support implementation of the Mashako Plan by tracking key indicators and proposing improvement strategies to address identified challenges.
• Support monitoring of Mashako Plan implementation progress, zero-dose and under-immunized children status, and zero-dose recovery efforts.
• Supervise analysis of key indicators to identify underperformance and support continuous improvement solutions.
• Ensure monitoring of data quality and coverage data management, including validation and use of data.
• Contribute to updating vaccination-related forms in DHIS2, with a focus on data quality.
• Participate in evaluations and surveys (epidemiological, KAP).
• Contribute to monthly performance analysis of Health Zones in supported provinces.
• Participate in monitoring, review, and evaluation activities for immunization programs at Health Zone, coordination unit, and provincial levels.

Other Support

The Technical Assistant will support the implementation of Supplemental Immunization Activities (SIAs/AVS), with a focus on applying best practices and ensuring compliance with national guidelines. The role includes supporting the submission and validation of Performance Monitoring Tools (OSP) at provincial and Health Zone levels, coordinating independent monitoring and LQAS surveys during SIAs (polio, measles, yellow fever, etc.), and contributing to analysis and dissemination of results to DPS, EPI coordination units, Health Zones, and partners. The Technical Assistant will also support coordination of technical meetings, surveillance and performance reviews, documentation and dissemination of best practices and success stories, and may be assigned any other relevant tasks related to immunization activities, including supply chain support, based on programmatic needs.

Competencies:

VillageReach has ten (10) Organizational Competencies that describe how we work together and get things done that are grouped into three strategic areas of Achieving Great Results, Setting Direction and, Bringing Others With you. For a full description, please download our Organizational Competency document.

Achieving Great Results:

1. Risk Taking and Innovation

· Key Behaviors: Comfort with ambiguity, curiosity, adaptability, unconstrained and undeterred creativity, resourcefulness.

2. Business Judgement

· Key Behaviors: Getting to root causes, understanding environment, navigating complexity and ambiguity, entrepreneurial energy.

3. Building Strong Teams

· Key Behaviors: Trust in Subject Matter Experts (SME’s); radical candor to resolve conflict, hold each other accountable as colleagues, focused on results, commitment to mission.

Setting Direction:

4. Compelling Communication

· Key Behaviors: Clear and evidence-based communication, audience adaptability, curious listener.

5. Resilient Self Leadership

· Key Behaviors: Self-aware, plan how one shows up, emotionally intelligent, use one’s own agency and takes accountability.

6. Stewardship and Personal Alignment

· Key Behaviors: Take ownership, display ethical conduct, effective at resource management, alignment of personal objectives with organizational goals and mission, focus on continuous improvement and sustainability.

Bringing Others with You:

7. Influencing Leadership

· Key Behaviors: Cultivate trust, influences to make change, navigate the matrix structure.

8. Radical Partnership

· Key Behaviors: Share information and credit, address conflict, increase impact through collaboration, political and contextual awareness.

9. Cultivates a Growth Mindset

· Key Behaviors: Seek out diverse input, demonstrate flexibility in thinking and curiosity, embrace challenges, demonstrate persistence, seek learning opportunities.

10. Cultural Intelligence and Inclusion

· Key Behaviors: Continuous learning and ally-ship across cultural lines, challenge prejudice and bias, modeled in one’s own behavior.

Compensation & Benefits:

VillageReach has an established compensation structure that is based on the relevant market and internally transparent. We hire people into the established range based on one’s experience and education and considering internal equity. We do not inquire about salary history. Please refer to our compensation overview on our website for more information and for more information on employee benefits.