Kamuzu University of Health Sciences
The Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS) is a University and Centre of Excellence in health education, research, and innovation whose mission is ‘to advance knowledge, professional competencies, skills, and innovations in health sciences through high-quality student-centred and innovative education and research that responds to and influences the global/national policy, health, and development needs in an efficient, sustainable, and result-oriented manner’.
The Increase Gains in Nutrition by Integration, Education, Evaluation, Empowerment (IGNIT3), is a 5-year capacity-building project in Ghana, Malawi and Pakistan led by The Centre for Global Child Health at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), in collaboration with Nutrition International and WaterAid. The project aims to improve nutrition for the poorest and most marginalized in Ghana, Malawi and Pakistan, especially women, adolescent girls, and children. IGNIT3’s activities in Malawi will be led by Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS) in coordination with local partners including Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources (LUANAR), the Ministry of Health (MOH), WaterAid and Nutrition International.
Applications are being invited from suitably qualified Malawians to fill the following positions under the IGNIT3 Project.
The Role
Based in Malawi, the Research Fellow will be recruited for a term of two years and 6 months and will be expected to enroll in a two-year MPhil at KUHeS. The Research Fellow will work closely with Clinical Dietitians and with individuals and teams at KUHeS, QECH, the MOH, as well as other local stakeholders/non-governmental organizations and the SickKids project management team based in Toronto, Canada to achieve IGNIT3’s deliverables specifically related to the project: “A Quality Improvement [QI] initiative to improve nutrition support for patients admitted to Paediatric Wards at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi”. The primary aim of this QI project is to improve access and quality of nutrition support for paediatric patients admitted to QECH in Blantyre. Specific aims of the project include improvement in anthropometric monitoring, use of clinical nutrition guidelines and access to nutrition support products among paediatric patients admitted to QECH.
The Research Fellow, under the supervision of the Project Directors, will be responsible for coordination of the QI project activities with key stakeholders, management of QI project and stakeholder meetings, and problem-solving facilitators and barriers to project implementation. In this role, the Research Fellow will combine solid technical and communication skills to provide a key link between clinical staff at QECH (i.e. physicians/surgeons, registars, nursing, procurement, dietitians) and IGNIT3 project staff at both KUHeS and SickKids.
Responsibilities:
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Project Planning, Implementation and Coordination
- Involvement in collection of baseline data and needs assessment.
- Coordinate the planning, delivery, and stakeholder engagement activities in alignment with the QI project workplans and QI tools.
- Work with the project team to track project activities and deliverables to ensure timely and high-quality execution.
- Work with clinical team members (nursing, dietitians, physicians/surgeons/registars) to implement project activities using QI tools.
- Liaise with clinical team members to identify solutions to barriers in adherence to project activities.
- Effectively and accurately communicate relevant project information to project team members and key stakeholders.
- Support IGNIT3 PMT team with reporting on project progress to internal and external stakeholders through the coordination and development of technical reports, briefing notes and presentations.
- Collect project evaluation data, perform data analysis and write report and manuscript for publication in peer reviewer journal.
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Stakeholder Engagement
- Communicate project aims to clinical staff on implementation units.
- With IGNIT3 project members, identify and engage key stakeholders on implementation units.
- Liaise and work with staff in partnering clinical, educational, regulatory, and policy organizations both in Malawi and Canada
- Work with the project team, clinical staff, and procurement specialists to implement strategies for project sustainability.
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Education
In collaboration with clinical and project staff,
- Use evidence-based strategies such as needs assessments and environmental scans to identify knowledge gaps, for example on anthropodermic assessments and integration of clinical care guidelines, on implementation units.
- Develop educational materials to suit identified knowledge gapsDevelop a training schedule and delivery interactive education on QI project activities and knowledge gaps to clinical staff.
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Other
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Perform any other functions of relevance to IGNIT3 as may be prescribed by the Project Manager/Director
Qualifications and Experience:
- Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition and Dietetics, Nursing, Medicine or other Health Services discipline
- Strong understanding of paediatric nutrition and the Malawian health care sector is an asset
- Excellent organizational and time management skills with the ability to set priorities and meet deadlines
- Self-directed, detail-oriented and innovative with excellent problem-solving and
analytical skills - Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to work collaboratively with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders on an international project
- Expert knowledge of Microsoft Office (i.e. Word, Project, Excel, Power Point) and project tools
- Ability to travel within Malawi as required
Application Procedure
Interested individuals meeting the requirements above should submit applications including: certified copies of certificates; detailed CV including names, emails and phone contacts of three (3) traceable professional referees to:
The Registrar
Kamuzu University of Health Sciences
Private Bag 360
Chichiri
Blantyre 3
Or
Email: recruitment@kuhes.ac.mw
Applicants submitting via email must indicate the title of the post in the subject line of the email. Applications should be submitted by close of business on 14th October 2024. Only shortlisted candidates will be acknowledged.
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