Overall Responsibility
- The “IYCF counselor” will be responsible for rapid/detailed assessment of infant and Young Child feeding practices in mothers/care givers at Basic Health Units (BHUs) and at community level.
- Counseling the pregnant women for the preparation of Breastfeeding and colostrums feeding. One to One tailored IYCF counseling sessions to all mothers with children under 24 months.
Specific Responsibilities:
Overall Support
- Conduct Simple Rapid Assessment (SRA) of all mothers with children less than 24 months that attend the OTP/SFP program through the local Basic Health Units (BHUs).
- Conduct detailed assessment of child feeding practices in women that require additional support or reveal difficulties.
- Maintain clear communication with all other CMAM program staff regarding the status of beneficiaries.
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Perform appropriate assessments of IYCF needs and malpractices and do analysis and come up with clear recommendations
- Develop action plan to improve IYCF practice as per national guideline and give technical guidance for the nutrition teams (Nutrition Assistant/Lady Health Visitor/Lady Health Worker/Community Resource Person)
- Build the capacity of Outreach supervisor and Community Resource Persons on the community IYCF counseling techniques and ensure that the appropriate techniques are applied all the time
- Ensure formation of the mother support group at the community level(in each village) and community IYCF counseling conducted for the group members on regular basis
- Identify model mothers and explore their best experience and replicate the best experience in order to improve IYCF practice within the community
- Ensure setting up of breast feeding corners at each OTP/SFP sites established at Health facilities.
- Provide appropriate counseling and awareness sessions for PLWs, care takers of OTP/SFP beneficiaries and mother groups on breast feeding ,complementary feeding and maternal and child nutrition
- Identify/develop appropriate IEC materials and flash cards in local language and ensure that the materials are used during each counseling
- Develop weekly and monthly plan towards accomplishment of the AWP and monitor the plan accordingly
- Document case studies regularly and share to the team member and to Nutrition Officer
- Produce monthly report regarding IYCF activities and submit to project manager on time
- Good computer skills – ability to write weekly and monthly reports and data analysis.
- Any other relevant task assigned by line supervisor
Qualifications / Experience
- Bachelor degree in social sciences/trained LHV or Nurse qualified from a recognized institute.
Desired Skills and Experience
- 2 years previous experience of CMAM and IYCF project management.
- First-hand knowledge of the area
- Experience of NGO job
- Educated with fluency in Urdu, Pashto & English
- Proven experience working as IYCF counselor or related counseling activities
- Filing and ability to work and stay with beneficiaries in order to change their behavior through health and nutrition education sessions.
- Excellent behavior change communication and counseling skills.
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills
- Ability to work as part of a team and demonstrate flexibility, motivation, and maturity.
- Builds strong relationships with peers, cross functionally, and with partners outside of team to enable higher performance.
- Being able to answer the questions related to myths, disbeliefs and taboos about IYCF