Health managers

Although remarkable progress has been made in rebuilding Sierra Leone since the end of the conflict in 2002, the decade-long civil war has caused extensive damage. VSO re-opened its health programme in 2008 and volunteers are working with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to improve the availability of essential health care in rural areas. The country currently has some of the worst health indicators in the world, with 1,800 women per 100,000 live births dying in childbirth.

Your management expertise could play a vital role in helping reduce maternal morbidity and mortality in Bo. Working with the Directorate for Reproductive and Child health, you’ll support staff to better coordinate and develop their programmes and projects in the district. You’ll provide programme management support to the district team, to ensure that all the work that is being done to improve maternal and child health is effectively and efficiently managed. This role forms part of work funded by the UK Department for International Development.

What does the role involve?

• Identifying management and technical support needs within the Reproductive and Child Health team

• Developing an on-the-job training programme on management best practise within the Directorate

• Introducing programme management tools, working with the Department of Planning and Information

• Coaching and mentoring staff to build their skills in monitoring and evaluation

• Developing a communications plan to improve information sharing within the Directorate

Skills, qualifications and experience required

You’ll need to have solid experience of programme management, within a health or public health context. This role needs someone who can lead strategic planning, establish good communication and information sharing, and monitor and evaluate progress. You’ll need to be flexible, resourceful and adaptable and have a proven ability to coach others through mentoring and training. There will be some travel required, so you must be comfortable living in rural locations and working irregular hours. You’ll need to be happy using a motorbike to get around Bo (VSO will provide training and the bike).

And the rest...

You’ll be based in Bo, which is in the Southern region of Sierra Leone. Bo is the second largest city in the country, about 4 hours’ drive from the capital Freetown. You’ll have modest but comfortable accommodation, perhaps with living space shared with other VSO volunteers. VSO volunteers live and work as part of their home communities, so you’ll need to adapt to intermittent electricity and filtering your drinking water. Football is big in Bo, either playing for local teams, or watching European league and championship games at video centres and cinemas.
 
We’ll ask you to commit to up to 12 months to make a sustainable contribution to strengthening programme management at Bo. In return, we'll provide you with extensive training before your placement, a local living allowance, return flights, accommodation, insurance, training, and ongoing support in-country. NHS employees can volunteer with continued membership of the NHS pensions scheme.

Mongolia’s transition from a socialist to a market economy has resulted in dramatic changes to people's lives. Unemployment, rising poverty and rationalised health and social care are compounded by changes in lifestyle and diet that existing health systems can’t address effectively. VSO is working to improve health and reduce preventable disease, by strengthening preventative and primary health care and health education.

As organisational development adviser you’ll work with family health clinics across Chingletei district in the capital Ulaanbaatar to improve primary care services. You’ll help develop the skills of clinic managers, who are doctors with little management training, and support structural changes to deliver better quality, patient-centred health services.

What does the role involve?

• Assessing the management support needs of the Family Health clinics
• Organising and delivering management training for clinic managers
• Developing the structures and systems of clinics, to deliver better services
• Assisting clinics with resource and people management

Skills, qualifications and experience required

You’ll have solid experience of senior-level management within the primary care sector. Experience of training, coaching and developing others is essential. You’ll also need experience of organisational development, business planning and financial management. The flexibility to innovate with few resources and strong communication skills to work via interpreters are key to this role.

You’ll work closely with two clinic managers and be line-managed by Chingletei’s Deputy Director for Public Health. Professional and personal support will be available from Mongolian colleagues, and 15 other VSO volunteers in Ulaanbaatar, including three working in the health sector.

And the rest...

Ulaanbaatar is the capital of Mongolia, with an urban city centre surrounded by suburbs of thousands of gers – traditional Mongolian round felt tents. You’ll live in a simply furnished apartment with hot and cold running water and central heating in the town centre. The Mongolian climate combines warm, often hot summers with very cold winters, with almost constant sunshine making the cold bearable. An increasingly cosmopolitan place, Ulaanbaatar has plenty to do, with new bars and restaurants springing up all the time.

We’ll ask you to commit to 12 months to make a sustainable contribution to our development goals. In return, we’ll give you comprehensive financial, personal and professional support. We'll provide you with extensive training before your placement, a living allowance, return flights, accommodation, insurance and more. NHS employees can volunteer with continued membership of the NHS pensions scheme. When you return home, we'll help you to resettle, and many of our returned volunteers stay involved with us long after their placement ends.

Sierra Leone’s ten-year rebel war destroyed the infrastructures and functions of the health sector in the Tonkolili district of Sierra Leone. Despite the face that Tonkolili has more volunteers than workers on the payroll, the quantities of human resources in the district are contributing to improved health care delivery to the local community, working to treat the top causes of morbidity – malaria, malnutrition, pneumonia, diarrhoea and dysentery.

The District Health Management Team is responsible for the planning, coordination monitoring and supervision of all health care services in the district. Your role as health management adviser will be to support the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in producing a comprehensive district health plan to ensure the maximum use of resources to deliver affordable and accessible health care to the people of Tonkolili.

What does the role involve?

• Reviewing and developing the planning, monitoring and evaluation guidelines and supervision checklist
• Training staff on planning, monitoring and evaluation to enhance capacity in these areas
• Visiting staff regularly to monitor and extend on the job training
• Working with the Planning unit to develop tools for health facilities and communities for reproductive and child health 
• Working with the Planning unit of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation to develop the three-year rolling health plan for the Tonkolili district.
  

Skills, qualifications and experience required

You’ll have a Masters in public health or health information and training/development and professional experience in social research and data collection, analysis and storage. You’ll have more than five year’s experience in a related discipline.

It is essential that you have an understanding of the development context of Africa, especially the Sub-Sahara. You’ll have experience in public speaking, training, facilitation and monitoring and evaluation. You’ll be adaptable, have excellent communication skills and be able to work without supervision and with limited resources.

And the rest...

Tonkolili, comprises 11 chiefdoms and is a district in the Northern Province of Sierra Leone. The main economic activities include gold mining and agriculture. The district is mainly Muslim.

We ask you to commit to 18 months to make a sustainable contribution to VSO’s development goals.
In return, we will give you comprehensive financial, personal and professional support. You will have extensive training before your placement and the financial package includes a local living allowance, return flights, accommodation and insurance. When you return to your home country, we will help you resettle and encourage you to stay involved in our work.

Although Cambodia today is enjoying peace and stability, the country is still recovering from war, displacement and the massive depletion of its human resource base during the Khmer Rouge period. Health indicators in Cambodia are poor compared to the rest of South East Asia. Often, illness and death occur from conditions that are preventable or treatable. The government lacks the professional skills needed to develop public health services and staff are poorly trained. Cambodia has an urgent need for qualified health professionals and improved management of health services.

As a management adviser at Samrong Referral Hospital, you’ll strengthen the management capacity of the hospital and surrounding health centres, and increase the accessibility and quality of health services in this rural province.

What does the role involve?

• Working closely with the hospital director, mentoring and advising staff on all aspects of hospital and health centre management
• Assisting with the development and review of the annual operational plan
• Supporting the director and senior staff in human resource management, project implementation and planning, monitoring and evaluation
• Working with the hospital and surrounding health centres to improve referral systems

Skills, qualifications and experience required

You’ll need a degree-level qualification and at least three years’ experience in a senior management role within the health sector. Broad management skills and practical experience of human resource management, financial and project management is also essential. You’ll need the ability to work on your own initiative with little supervision and have excellent communication and inter-personal skills.

Most senior staff will speak basic English or French, but a willingness to learn the Khmer language will greatly enhance your working and social relationships with colleagues. You’ll need to be patient, flexible and sensitive to the new culture you’re living and working in. A sense of adventure is also beneficial, as you’ll be visiting other health centres in the area by motorbike. (We will provide training.)

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Cambodia is a small country in South East Asia, bordered in the west by Thailand, in the east by Vietnam and in the north by Laos. Most of the country’s area is flat and only 10-30 meters above sea level. You’ll be based in the quiet town of Samrong in north-western Oddor Meanchey Province, one of the most beautiful but disadvantaged areas of Cambodia, where the population suffers a high rate of preventable morbidity.

We’ll ask you to commit to 24 months to understand the challenges on the ground and make a sustainable contribution. In return, we’ll give you comprehensive financial, personal and professional support. We'll provide you with extensive training before your placement, and our financial package includes a local living allowance, return flights, accommodation, health insurance and more. NHS employees can volunteer with continued membership of the NHS pensions scheme. When you return home, we'll help you to resettle and many of our returned volunteers stay involved with us long after their placement ends.

In 2004, Malawi’s health system was described as dangerously close to collapse. The Malawian Ministry of Health embarked on a six-year plan to revive it, with funds from the UK Department for International Development. Infrastructure is being improved and more health professionals are being trained and retained. VSO volunteers have supported Malawian colleagues to make the plan a reality, but many challenges remain.

Nsanje District Health Management team have requested help to improve healthcare where the incidence of preventable disease and death is high. As a health management adviser, you’ll work with the team to build their skills in managing services, information and staff. Your mentorship will enable the team to strengthen essential services for one of the poorest areas of Malawi.

What does the role involve?

• General management support, advice and on-the-job training for the District Management team
• Improving planning and co-ordination across the management team and across the District
• Facilitating the development of the District Implementation Plan for health services in Nsanje district
• Establishing performance management systems for staff in the district
• Strengthening the health management information system for the district, train colleagues in data management, reporting and dissemination
• Ensuring data feeds into strategic planning and decision making for the district services

Skills, qualifications and experience required

You’ll be an experienced manager with expertise in strategic planning, change management, developing services and staff. Ideally you will be from a general management, clinical management, or public health management background, within a primary care trust, NHS Trust, local authority, or private healthcare provider. Experience of health management information systems is important, as are outstanding coaching and mentoring skills. You’ll work as part of a team of volunteers supporting different needs within the District health system. You’ll need to be flexible, patient and creative to work effectively with limited resources. If you have the commitment to take on a challenge, there is huge potential for you to bring about positive change.

And the rest...

The name Malawi means ‘reflected light of bright haze’, a most apt description of this country whose area is one fifth covered by water. Besides the magnificent Lake, Malawi has five National Parks, beautiful scenery and year round sunshine. You’ll be based in Nsanje, an attractive small town with a pretty port and river, where hippos can often be seen bathing.

We’ll ask you to commit to 24 months to make a sustainable contribution to training the future of healthcare in Malawi. In return, we’ll give you comprehensive financial, personal and professional support. We'll provide you with extensive training before your placement, a living allowance, return flights, accommodation, insurance and more. NHS employees can volunteer with continued membership of the NHS pensions scheme. When you return home, we'll help you to resettle and many of our returned volunteers stay involved with us long after their placement ends.