Retention Officers at Heartland Alliance

Duties and Responsibilities

The Retention officer should have well developed counseling and communication skills, and will play the following role:

• Provide psychosocial and continuous support as well as treatment preparation to clients in the OSS.
• Provide counselling services including risk reduction counseling, harm reduction counseling, post-GBV counseling, or contraceptive/family planning and sexual reproductive health counseling as required
• Identify and address challenges/barriers to adherence
• Organize and facilitate support group sessions for HIV infected and affected clients including groups with special needs e.g. discordant couples, youth/adolescent and children
• Address aspects of behavior change communication in relation to HIV and ART
• Support clients to voluntarily disclose their HIV status
• Facilitate the delivery of relevant information to clients enrolled in OSS
• Participate in home visits as appropriate to execute plan of care for clients
• Ensure client records are well maintained and compile periodic reports as necessary.
• Ensure proper referral of clients where necessary including following up and reporting on the outcomes, as necessary.
• Coordinates patient tracking activities supported by the community Case Managers including documentation and reporting of defaulter tracing activities.

Requirement

• Degree in Social Sciences, Health Education, Public Health or a relevant field.
• At least one-year experience working in medical case management or as a medical social worker.
• Familiarity with health systems and HIV community programs including Key Population
• Experience working with HIV/AIDS and ante-retroviral treatments required.
• Knowledgeable on HIV information and able to communicate expertise to HIV positive patients.
• Ability to organize and coordinate diverse activities
• Experience in coordinating HIV/AIDS program implementation.
• Strong supervisory and management skills.
• KP Experience will be an added advantage.

Competencies

To perform the job successfully, an individual should demonstrate the following competencies.

• Problem solving-identifies and resolves problem in a timely manner, solving situations users’ reason even when dealing with emotional topics.
• Interpersonal skills-focuses on solving conflict, not blaming; maintains confidentiality; Listen to other without interrupting; keeps motion under control; remains open to others ideal and tries new things.
• Oral Communication-speaks clearly and persuasively in positive or negative situations: listen and get clarification; response well to question; demonstrate group presentation skills; Speaks local language of the people.
• Written communication- writes clearly and informatively.
• Diversity- Shows respect and sensitively for cultural differences; Education other on the value of diversity; promotes a harassment –free environment.
• Ethics- treats peoples with respect; keeps commitment; inspired the trust of other; works with integrity and ethically; upholds organizational values.
• Judgement- Displays willingness to make decision.
• Motivation- sets and achieves challenging goals; Demonstrates persistence and overcomes obstacles.