Job Title: Psychosocial Worker

Organisation: Humanity & Inclusion (Handicap International Federation)

Duty Station: Terego District Including Omugo and Imvepi Settlements, Uganda

Gross Salary: UGX 1,652,609 – 1,826,971

Length of Contract: 12 months

Start Date: 30th January 2023

Responsible to: Project Manager

About US:

Handicap International Federation (operating under the name Humanity & Inclusion) is an independent and impartial aid and development organisation working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster. We work alongside disabled and vulnerable people to help meet their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights.

The Organisation

Co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize, Humanity & Inclusion (the new name of Handicap International) is a 40-year-old independent and impartial organization working in situations of poverty and exclusion, conflict and disaster.

We work alongside people with disabilities and individuals experiencing extreme hardship, taking action and bearing witness to respond to their essential needs, improve their living conditions and promote respect for their dignity and fundamental rights.

HI in Uganda is currently implementing development and humanitarian interventions in six sectors/thematic areas: Livelihood, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), Physical and Functional Rehabilitation, Inclusive Education, Inclusive Health, and Inclusive Humanitarian Action (IHA) to improve access and quality of services to the most vulnerable people including persons with disabilities promoting a more inclusive and harmonious society.

HI is currently implementing development and humanitarian interventions in Uganda and in five different sectors or thematic areas namely Livelihood, Mental Health and Psycho-social Support, Physical and Functional Rehabilitation, Inclusive Education and Inclusive Health to improve access and quality of services to most vulnerable people including persons with disabilities promoting a more inclusive and harmonious society.

The Project

The CHANCE2 Project is a pilot multi-year, multi-sectoral, integrated rehabilitation and psychosocial project to enhance every child’s right to survive and thrive from pre-conception to adolescence. The service is for children at risk of developmental delay and disability due to malnutrition and children with disability at a young age.

The intervention will focus on children’s physical (gross and fine motor), cognition, social interaction and emotional regulation, speech, language, and sensory awareness to improve the quality of life of children and reinforce positive parenting. It will also build the capacity of parents, caregivers, and other stakeholders to identify, prevent, and manage children’s health and well-being, following the Nurturing Care Framework (NCF) in achieving children’s optimal development. An integrated team of rehabilitation professionals (physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy) and child psychology will deliver the services to the children, the parents and the caregivers.

The project will apply the Nexus Approach in serving the refugee populations and host communities in the Terego district through the strong involvement of local and multiple operational partners, community structures, and other stakeholders.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

The Psychosocial Worker is responsible for the Planning and field coordination of project activities with internal and external stakeholders, Implement, facilitate and follow-up project activities in accordance with project implementation plans, Offer secure and appropriate psychosocial support, Refer beneficiaries to other services when needed, Participate in the data collection and MEAL activities of the project, and compliance with the organisation’s standards and the country’s regulatory framework.

Planning and field coordination of project activities with internal and external stakeholders

• Participate in the monthly HI activity planning meetings.
• Develop daily, weekly and monthly field activity plans.
• Participate in field activities with the project team.
• Implement field activities in collaboration with other consortium partners respecting the referral pathway.

Implement, facilitate and follow-up project activities in accordance with project implementation plans

• Assess PSS needs of beneficiaries, families and/or caretakers identified under the project;
• Conduct home visits to project beneficiaries and their families/caretakers
• Identify psychosocial needs of affected children, families and caregivers
• Fill the different assessments and referral forms according to the assessment’s criteria
• According to the outcomes of the assessment of the beneficiaries’ needs (taking into account her/his daily activities, the participation of her/his care-giver, his/her access to services, etc.), elaborate an appropriate action.

2.1 Offer secure and appropriate psychosocial support

• Provide psychosocial services based on the informed consent of the beneficiary and adapted to her/his needs, taking into account the limitations of the emergency responses
• Actively involve the beneficiaries and their caregivers at all stages of the assessment and response, in order to ensure the relevance and sustainability of the intervention
• Detect any evolution of the cases and modify the action plan accordingly or refer to relevant colleagues, superior or stakeholders
• Use secure and respectful methods when working with beneficiaries
• Ensure a proper follow up of the cases
• Ensure responsibility of the services provided to the beneficiary
• Provide appropriate psychosocial sessions through family, groups and individual based approaches in coordination with relevant services based on the specific situation of the person
• Use various communication means (written, spoken, etc.) during activities to ensure the self-expression of the beneficiaries
• Identify his/her own limits and ask for support before any acts that could cause harm to a beneficiary

2.2 Refer beneficiaries to other services when needed:

• Identify needs for referrals to other relevant stakeholders and monitor referrals conducted in relationship with, the project supervisor and the relevant Technical Advisors (MHPSS, Rehabilitation, Health, Inclusion or another)
• Refer persons to appropriate services through adequate referral system in place. Referrals can be discussed in team meetings and in close collaboration with other project colleagues Recognize emergency situation or situations that need immediate medical care or protection measures and react in consequence making efforts to ensure that a beneficiary get the appropriate services.

Participate in the data collection and MEAL activities of the project

In close collaboration with the MEAL Officer:

• Maintain complete data for each person, including detailed descriptions of services provided and evolution of the case.
• Respect all guidelines and documentation within the project.
• Produce weekly activity reports and contribute in the development of project reports using HI Uganda MEAL templates.
• Maintain complete documentation for each activity following the recommendations and template of the project supervisor.
• Contribute to the development of the project supervisor’s activity reports.
• Participate in quarterly project review workshops/meetings.

Demonstration of ethical, safe, secure and professional practices

• Show professional ethics, respect and promote HI’s mandate and humanitarian principles at all times.
• Respect the Humanity & Inclusion protection of children policy, the protection of beneficiaries from sexual exploitation and abuse policy, the anti-fraud bribery and corruption policy and report to your line manager any non-respect of HI’s policies amongst the teams or partners.
• Report any incident or act that causes any harm to beneficiary or to others.
• Contribute to the definition and/or update of security framework at field level.
• Observe at all times strict commitment to Humanity & Inclusion Security & Safety regulations as per procedures in place at mission level.
• Support information internal dissemination to relevant focal persons at mission level aiming at reinforcing security and safety of Handicap International staff and assets.
• Participate in settlement level security meetings upon the line manager’s request and report relevant information to the appropriate security focal persons.

Emergency preparedness and response

• Contributes to the program’s emergency preparedness actions and, during an emergency, adapts his/her work modality to contribute to HI’s effective humanitarian response.

Respect of HI identity, values, rules and policies

• Know, understand, apply and respect HI code of conduct and ethics, HI mandate and values, HI rules and operating procedure, HI policies (child protection policy, policy and mechanism for the prevention of and fight against bribery, the protection of beneficiaries from sexual exploitation and abuse policy) and make sure they are known, understood, applied and respected by team
• Know, understand, apply and respect HI security rules and make sure they are known, understood and applied by team.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• The ideal applicant must hold a Bachelor’s degree in community psychology, social work, development studies, counselling, community development or Other relevant Bachelor Degrees if proven experience in Psychosocial, mental health and disability inclusion.
• At least three years of professional experience in an NGO in refugee context or community development work.
• Experience in the fields of inclusion / accessibility of services / services to persons with disabilities.
• Experience working in refugee context.
• Fluently written and spoken local languages.
• Knowledge of the MHPSS and Disability Sectors in Uganda.
• Ability to work under high pressure and without constant supervision;
• Strong interpersonal and intercultural skills.
• Strong communication and network.
• Strong interest in the fields related to HI mandate.
• Strong team player and ability to work independently.
• Strong comprehension of the psychosocial issues of people with disabilities ·
• Proven project activity implementation skills in collaboration with stakeholders ·
• Perfect fluency in written and oral English and strong report writing skills; ·
• Familiar with MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and internet.
• Fluently written and spoken local languages.
• Knowledge of the MHPSS and Disability Sectors in Uganda.

How to Apply:

If you feel you meet the requirements, please send an updated CV (3 pages max, including three professional referees current and/or past line managers) with a cover letter to HR department at recruitment@uganda.hi.org indicating the position applied for in the subject line

Deadline: Friday 25th November 2022 at 11:59pm

Any efforts to influence the recruitment process will lead to automatic disqualification.

Disclaimer: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

• Humanity and Inclusion is an Equal Opportunity Employer, we encourage females and persons with disabilities to apply to become a part of our organization.
• HI staff must adhere to the values and principles outlined in the Code of Conduct. In accordance with these values, HI operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Sexual
• Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti-fraud, bribery, and corruption.
• HI does not solicit funds in exchange for employment opportunities.

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