Provincial Technical Focal Person - Polio Eradication (Punjab)

The Punjab Provincial Technical Focal Person (TFP) will support implementation of the NEAP in Punjab, under the direct guidance of the Provincial Coordinator, EOC. The TFP will also communicate regularly with the focal person at the Donor end as required by the organization, for any technical direction. The TFP will also provide updates on other issues/progress (including emergency reporting of incidences, cases etc. on an immediate basis) to the Donor program team on Polio Eradication as required.

 The TFP will be responsible for the following activities: 

 1.      Provide management support to the PEOC Coordinator in running the PEOC effectively and efficiently

• Cultivate and role-model the one-team mindset, particularly within the Core Team so all partners are aligned and speak with one voice
• Establish effective meeting routines
•    Ensure that meeting routines are defined and followed
•    Reduce time spent in meetings by:
•   Reducing ad hoc meetings and better leveraging existing meeting routines
•   Improving existing meetings effectiveness by defining and adopting best-in-class guidelines for meetings e.g., clear agenda, recap of decisions and clarifying decision owners

Ensure speedy decision-making & follow-up:

•    Reduce lead time for decisions made in the program by
•   Applying systematic and evidence-based troubleshooting, to identify underlying problems in campaign performance and results and develop tailored and targeted solutions
•   Clarifying the decision rights between the different entities
•   Delegating decision making authority depending on importance of decision
•    Follow best-in-class decision making process to ensure high quality decisions
•    Set criteria for clear and actionable decisions by having clear objectives, deadlines, people responsible etc.
•    Define trackers with clear actions and steps for the implementation of each decision
•    Establish clear routines to track initiatives and ensure required escalation when needed
•    Create tools that are accessible to all relevant people, with a clear set of indicators, visual display and requisite alarms
• Strengthen accountability and organizational effectiveness
•    Clarify reporting lines within the EOC and ensure staff is clear on the implications of a solid vs dotted reporting line
•    Modify existing performance management practices to include process KPIs and set consequence management policies while ensuring a “fair” evaluation process where good performance is rewarded
•    Define interaction model between PEOC and Districts to clarify the reporting lines and the roles and responsibilities
•    Improve functional collaboration by categorizing tasks depending on the number of departments required to interact
•    Closely coordinate polio activities with EPI through the Donor provincial EPI technical focal point, to promote and strengthen synergy
•    Clarify the roles and responsibilities within the EOCs by
•   Ensuring mutually exclusive and exhaustive, optimized departments
•   Assigning the oversight of each department to a single core team member
•   Defining clear principles to set up new working groups when required. 

2.      As a member of the PEOC Core Team, provide strategic advice and input to the PEOC Coordinator

• Improve data management, synthesis, and consumption
•    Define holistic data needs of the program to support decision-making by managers at various levels
•    Identify gaps in information management systems where data does not support decision-making needs of managers at various levels, or the data doesn’t capture from ground realities
•    Critically assess data quality and promote careful and accurate interpretations of data, as needed
•    Advice on analyses needed for hypotheses generation or applied diagnostics.
•    Triangulate across all available data sources (including field observations) to create a coherent picture of performance that accurately reflects the situation on-ground
•    Synthesize data to provide actionable and relevant insights for each key decision-maker
•    Ensure data is used for effective decision making through cultural transformation, capability building, validating data etc. etc.
•          Provide strategic leadership on key areas of focus
•    Improve outreach to and coverage of migrant Pashtun populations in urban areas of Punjab, e.g., Lahore, Rawalpindi, etc.
•    Ensure strong coordination with the South Punjab Health Secretariat to not only avoid disruptions to polio campaigns but also improve surveillance and deliver steadily higher quality campaigns in these rural areas with no missed areas
•    Support NEOC’s roll-out of vaccinator tracking at province level and integrate the resulting data flows into campaign management routines to ensure no areas are missed
•    Work with Punjab Health Department to refine & drive ISD initiatives that so they more directly contribute to polio eradication
•    Support other areas based on evolving needs of the program & discussions with Donor program team on Polio Eradication. 

3.      Support other activities as required

• As member of core group, perform all monitoring & supervision field activities to assess preparedness for each campaign, working to identify, document, and address any issues; also monitor campaign performance, with a focus on top-to-bottom workforce accountability and motivation
• Submit monthly report highlighting progress, field visits, bottlenecks.
• The monthly report shall be submitted to NTFP during first week of every month
• Immediately report important activities, any emergencies, accidents, incidents related to Polio program in the TFPs WhatsApp group.
• Attend and actively participate in monthly TFPs meeting.
• Perform any additional task assigned by the EOC Coordinator, Donor Program Staff, NFTP, and the organziation.