Reporting Unit/Supervisor: Country Manager

Location: Kampala, Uganda

Travel: Kampala, Wakiso

Grade: 6

About us

For nearly 50 years, AKF has been partnering with communities, governments and local leaders to harness the best from people from all backgrounds to improve the quality of life. The Foundation’s work is rooted in core values of self-reliance, pluralism, and respect for human dignity. AKF is a member of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), one of the world’s leading poverty solutions networks. The AKDN’s integrated approach makes long-term investments, builds permanent institutions and cultivates an active civil society, impacting tens of millions of people annually in 30 countries. Alongside its sister AKDN agencies, the AKF implements innovative, community-driven solutions that are based on decades of experience, learning and evaluation.

Position Description

This position will lead the design and implementation of the Integrated Primary Care Model for Mental health in a Decentralized System in Uganda (iMH-CARE Uganda) program, specifically ensuring coordinated and quality delivery of component 1 interventions. iMH-CARE will be implemented by the Aga Khan Foundation Uganda (AKFU) in partnership with YouBelong Uganda (YBU). Together, we will design and deliver a comprehensive mental health system strengthening project in Kampala and Wakiso districts of Uganda.

The project will develop a range of population wide and targeted SBCC interventions to sustainably increase demand for mental health prevention, treatment and support services in Kampala and Wakiso, from January 2020 to December 2022. The Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) Coordinator will design, implement and monitor the execution of the project’s communication strategies. This position requires an exemplary and innovative person with specific hands-on knowledge and skills in planning, designing, implementing, monitoring, and reporting of SBCC programs, with an understanding of sociocultural and economic issues related to health. The person should be results driven and able to deliver on set targets, with networking capabilities and able to manage competing priorities. S/he will play a leading role in the development of SBCC intervention strategies and frameworks; hence this will require a self-driven, seasoned, and experienced person with skills to manage. The person should have the capacity to work under minimum supervision with resilience and should be detail- and results-oriented, have strong conceptual, analytical, and reporting skills, with expertise in information gathering, analysis and timely reporting, be proactive in instituting innovative, sustainable, and cost-effective interventions. He/she will uphold the high image and core values of the organization, with outstanding professionalism, social conduct, and personal presentation.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the development, updating and execution of the project’s SBCC strategy and support quality assurance and adherence to relevant national policies, guidelines and standards, and are approved by the relevant regulatory bodies. Facilitate training sessions for Village Health Teams as interpersonal communication agents
• Coordinate with the respective District Local Governments, interpersonal communication agents and key partners to ensure that SBCC strategies are effectively and efficiently implemented in the targeted districts.
• Ensure optimal budget utilization in implementation of the SBCC strategy.
• Periodically write and share project progress and results, success stories and lessons learnt, and flag quality concern issues; through timely quarterly, bi-annual and annual reports with internal and external audiences. These should be approved by the Country Manager before sharing with the AKF-U Country Office team and the relevant parties in accordance with set procedures.
• Supervise the M&E officer and program officer as they implement the program activities, appraise them and provide coaching and mentorship for performance
• Develop ToRs and contracts for consultancies related to the project and supervise any external resource persons/firms.
• Take responsibility for management of the relationship with the donor and partners, as well as key stakeholders including the government, health agencies and community leaders
• Work collaboratively with the project partner YouBelong to ensure complementarity of the project interventions. Perform other relevant duties as and when assigned, by or via the Country Manager, and Senior Management Team.

a) Required Skills & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field e.g. Public Health, Development Studies, Mass Communication, Commerce (Marketing), Business Administration, or other related degree. Post Graduate qualifications in these fields will be an added advantage
• At least 5 years’ relevant experience in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of public health communication projects in a donor environment.
• Knowledge of public health service delivery, community outreaches and social marketing, and experience in working with community health-intervention programs and in dissemination of information through different communication channels.
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with demonstrated ability to manage key partnerships and donor relationships and work collaboratively
• Ability to work under pressure with competing deadlines and make an immediate impact.
• Excellent communication, presentation, report-writing skills.
• Team player with the ability to work within a multi-cultural environment
• Excellent computer knowledge of MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Outlook.

Candidates interested in this unique career opportunity with AKF should submit a cover letter, CV and the names and contact information of three professional referees via e-mail to

 recruitment@akfea.org with ‘SBCC Program Coordinator’ in the subject line.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

“AKF is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is Committed to Safeguarding and Promoting the Welfare of Children and Vulnerable Adults and Expects all Staff and Partners to Share this Commitment.”