Consultant Psychologist

Background

Adolescent girls can play an instrumental role in changing the health and nutrition status of the country by being agents of change in their community and effect long-term change in mind-set and behaviour. In line with the ACF Pakistan mission’s objective of changing the way hunger is viewed and tackled, a pilot project has been designed that will see adolescent girls as key actors in the fight against undernutrition by identifying and showcasing girl champions in nutrition. Action Against Hunger aims to bridge the gaps in addressing adolescent nutrition in Pakistan by enhancing knowledge on diet diversity, nutrition, health care practices and psychosocial care for adolescent girls.

Purpose of assignment

Action Against Hunger Pakistan will hire Consultant Psychologist for Adolescent Girls Nutrition Champion Project to be implemented in Hyderabad, Sindh. The Consultant Psychologist will provide Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) services (individual and group session) to adolescent girls in four (4) girls’ schools.

Duty Station           

Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan.

Note: Candidates from Karachi are also eligible to apply.

Objectives & Tasks

Consultant Psychologist will ensure completion of the following objectives and tasks:

Objective 1: Contribute to ensure effective implementation of MHPSS component in Adolescent Girls Nutrition Champion Project

·         Develop tools to screen, assess and measure mental health status of adolescent girls

·         Conduct screening and assessment of adolescent girls

·         Provide psycho-education sessions to adolescent girls, teachers & families

·         Provide psychological and psychosocial support to adolescents through individual and group sessions, according to the needs identified

·         Organize community, rehabilitation and awareness activities

·         Ensure data collection and beneficiaries follow up

·         Organize and conduct trainings on MHPSS topics to adolescent girls, teachers and parents

·         Assist in performing possible tasks (administrative, logistics, operational) related to the project

·         Contribute to the mapping of relevant actors (referral network) and set up of referral system to specialized services needed

 Objective 2: Develop work in Multidisciplinary Teams and ensure internal and external coordination

·         Ensure a clear communication and close collaboration with ACF project manager, all staff related to the project and other sectors, ACF coordination team at capital level, stakeholders and local authorities

·         Provide data, project and beneficiaries’ follow up at monthly base

·         Participate in a weekly and monthly internal coordination meetings to address common issues and discuss and agree on action plans for specific cases

·         Adhere to reporting and data collection formats provided by ACF

·         Participate in external coordination meetings and clusters, if needed

Objective 3: Ensure monitoring, evaluation and reporting with effectiveness and confidentiality

• Strictly respect the confidentiality of data, property of ACF and project’s beneficiaries. Ensure all documents are available for audit and stored in secure files and locker

·         Respect confidentiality regarding the content of clinical interviews

·         Organize and follow up data collection and ensure upload of it in the database

·         Contribute with PM to statistic calculations and data analysis

·         Ensure the quality of the data and reports submitted

·         Compile monthly activity progress report, according to activities indicators

Deliverables

·         Minimum 24 sessions / visits to 4 Girls Schools (6 per school) for provision of MHPSS through focused group discussions and support groups

·         Develop screening & assessment tools to assess mental health of adolescent girls

·         Conduct training sessions in 4 schools

·         Reports for ACF Pakistan Office and ACF France HQ

Qualifications or specialised knowledge/experience

·         B.Sc. Honors/M.Sc. Degree in Psychology with Diploma in Clinical Psychology (1 year) OR an MS/MPhil degree in Clinical Psychology

·          She should hold at least 5 years of recent experience in clinical psychology

·         Working experience with adolescents will be preferred 

·         Have excellent management, communication, report writing skills and able to develop and share success stories on regular basis

·         Multilingual (Preferably Sindhi, English, Urdu)

Reporting

The Consultant Psychologist shall directly report to the Health Manager ACF, Islamabad on (technical) and Project Manager (operational). The incumbent shall develop and keep up to date monthly planners of the activities and ensure that all activities follow monthly plan. Any changes will be reported in advance to the managers and discuss accordingly.

Time Frame

Starting Date - July 1st, 2019

Completion Date - December 31st, 2019

 Remuneration, Payment and Procedure

Action Against Hunger Pakistan made payment to consultant as per agreed budget / terms and conditions. Action Against Hunger Pakistan will also be responsible for the transportation and refreshments during field visits.

Note

These Terms of Reference are intended only as a guide to the duties involved and may be modified to meet changing needs. The post holder will be expected to be flexible in his/her role and responsibilities to work more effectively.