Avatar of Ekonga James.
Ekonga James
Technical Officer
Profile
Posts
0Connections
Print
Avatar of the user.

Ekonga James

Technical Officer
Results-oriented public health and development professional with 10+ years of hands-on experience in improving the quality of and access to Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) with particular reference to family planning integration with HIV / AIDS, TB, Malaria, and Nutrition services in project- supported sites by adopting and institutionalizing quality improvement and site improvement and systems monitoring (SIMS) approaches. Addressing gender-related issues, guided the identification of performance gaps and development of remedial actions, took a lead and participated in identifying, documenting, disseminating and scaling up best practices in RMNCAH with particular focus on Family planning integration with nutrition, HIV prevention, PMTCT and care and treatment. Coordinated with the district health departmental leadership and other relevant implementing partners in the districts of support to ensure smooth implementation of project activities.
JHPIEGO- Uganda - Improving quality of maternal, newborn and child health IMPROQ funded by UNICEF
International University of Uganda MA. degree in International development On-going Mountains of the Moon University
Kampala, Uganda

Professional Background

  • Current status
  • Profession
    Other
  • Fields
    Medical Practice
  • Work experience
    6-10 years (6-10 years relevant)
  • Management
    I've had experience in managing 5-10 people
  • Skills
    Immunization
    Improvement
    Awareness
    Practical
    Comprehensive
    Knowledge Management
    Verbal Communication
    Computer Proficiency
    Analytical Thinking
    Quality Improvement
  • Highest level of education
    Bachelor

Job search preferences

  • Desired job type
    Full-time
    Interested in working remotely
  • Desired positions
    Technical Officer
  • Desired work locations
  • Freelance
    Non-freelancer

Work Experience

Technical Officer

Oct 2019 - Apr 2021
1 yr 7 mos
Technical Officer RMNCAH ANSWER PROJECT - UNFPA- JHPIEGO Key duties and responsibilities Provide technical support to district leadership to develop, implement and monitor an integrated One District Health Plan including costed inputs from other implementing partners and stakeholders Serve as the liaison between the Arua-based project technical staff and the district leadership, including the DHO, DHMTs, Regional referral hospital, health facilities and other implementing partners. Work with project team and districts to ensure coordination of the district-specific interventions in the project work plan at the district, facility and community levels Support district leadership to have data-driven performance review meetings Support DHMTS to strengthen integrated supportive supervision, mentoring and coaching including nutrition Support DHMTS to continuously use bottleneck analysis for health and nutrition service improvement Work with district leadership to strengthen performance management, including supervision to track the contribution of health system strengthening interventions to service delivery outcomes at the health facility level. Work with district leadership to ensure Continuous Quality Improvement training, mentorship, and coaching at the facility level based on district-specific needs Participate in district level quality improvement, assessments

District Project Officer

Apr 2019 - Oct 2019
7 mos
Key duties and responsibilities Coordinated and maintain a working relationship with DHTs, District Education and Sports, Community Development Officers and partners in the District Served as a principal liaison between the DHT Education and Community Development and Community Services and the Project Management in the district of operation to monitor the district-led programming process. Facilitated proper coordination within program districts and act as a District-based focal point for the overall coordination and management of the program. Coordinated and Monitored the District Hub performances. Participated in coordination committees contributing to accelerating Epidemic control in the District namely DAC, DOVC, SAC and SOVC. Oversaw coordination of Community structures at high Volume Health Facilities in the District. Mapped and identified non-PEPFAR Partners to create synergy and resources leveraging. Coordinate and adapt lessons learned from HSS activities to further strengthen and expand interventions to achieve the Project goals. Provided technical support and roved within the cluster every week to provide technical support to other districts and this will ensure the integration is taken care of and quality issues addressed. Establish the status of SOPs, standards and guidelines during routine visits to the health facilities Work with the HIV service delivery teams to ensure functional linkages within the Health Facilities of the District Supported the HIV clinic teams to provide integrated HIV services as per the national guidelines. Participated in DHT meetings and assigned meetings to pick key issues to present to the advisors HSS Participated in Technical support supervision and identify areas of response by the project Review the district-specific work plans together with the district the DHT, share the priority issues with the Technical Advisors, develop a detailed implementation schedule, follow up to ensure that a concept is Utilize site-specific data and plan, on weekly basis routine visits to facilities that need support, identify technical gaps by holding meetings/discussions with the facility in-charges and department heads and provide feedback to the cluster lead and DHO for action. Work with the district based mentors/DHT to support the establishment of quality improvement teams at each of the facilities. Work with the DHTs, Cluster Leads and Advisors to fast track necessary efforts to address the identified gaps including the establishment of work improvement teams WIT and QI projects once mentorships have been conducted in specific facilities. Review the weekly reporting dashboards and follow up with facilities that will not have submitted the required reports to ensure 100% reporting levels by all sites. Cluster Technical Officer Maternal, Newborn and Child health/FP/EMTCT USAID- RHITES-E - Intrahealth International : from 2nd/10/2017 to 30th/11/2018 Key duties and responsibilities Provided technical guidance and lead the implementation process of the integrated health program in respective districts assigned. Improved the quality of and access to Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health RMNCAH with particular reference to Family Planning integration with HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria, and Nutrition services in the project. Institutionalized quality improvement and site improvement and systems monitoring SIMS approaches. Coordinated and participated in capacity building of district and site teams through organizing and conducting mentorships and coaching. Provided technical guidance to the district teams for annual and quarterly work plan development. Managed project finances and other resources related to the implementation of activities in the assigned district in line with donor requirements. Prepared monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual programmatic district performance reports and their submission as per deadlines. Strengthened the quality of health services and data through supportive supervision and monitoring visit to the supported health facilities. Participated in the process of data auditing and verification to assure internal consistency and validity of project activity monitoring data reported by all districts, through quarterly data verification and auditing visits. Facilitated the interpretation and use of M&E data, through the quarterly district level and facility level review meetings between the project, the district health team and health care workers. Guided the identification of performance gaps and development of remedial actions. Took lead and participated in identifying, documenting, disseminating and scaling up best practices in RMNCAH with a particular focus on family planning integration with nutrition, HIV prevention, PMTCT and C&T. Coordinated with the district health departmental leadership and other relevant implementing partners in the districts of support to ensure smooth implementation of project activities. Provided technical oversight, strategic direction and ensured appropriate support for the implementation of MCH and adolescent health program activities in the eastern region of Uganda. Coordinated, advocated and monitored HIV/AIDs prevention/MNCH/Reproductive health programs with implementing partners. Developed service delivery strategies to improve equitable access to quality care and integration of MNCH with nutrition programs. Provided technical and logistical support to the districts within the cluster, DHMTs and health facilities to implement the integration of MNCH/FP into HIV, TB and malaria interventions. Supported the districts and subgrantees to identify specific constraints impeding the progress of desired health outcomes related to MNCH/FP/Reproductive health and seek appropriate solutions. Identified and maintained a pool of regional and national mentors, coaches and trainers who from time to time were engaged in providing mentorships/training to health workers whenever necessary. Participated and provided logistical support in planning and implementing assessments, operational research and knowledge management activities. Provided technical and logistical support during MNCH, FP and EMTCT training, mentorships and other activities. Maintained a database of MNCH/FP/RH stakeholders and established a communication channel to keep all the stakeholders actively involved and participating in forums. Identified and conducted training for the district based MNCH/FP mentors who quarterly are engaged in providing mentorship and coaching to the lower health facilities. Participated in quality assurance/quality improvement of MNCH/FP/EMTCT interventions under the RHITES-E project. Identified and collaborated with both USG and Non-USG funded partners to assess for possible areas of collaboration in the resource-limited setting to increase uptake of high-quality MNCH/FP services. Collaborate with districts and development partners to organize integrated health camps to promote uptake of health services. Assessment of Quality of Care for Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Care services

Consultant

Mar 2017 - Aug 2017
6 mos
Key duties and responsibilities Conducted data collection of assessment of the quality of RMNCH A care in selected facilities in Uganda, Including but not limited with following : Direct observation on the care and/or observation on simulated clinical case scenarios; Provider interviews and skills assessment; Patient interviews; Medical documentation and statistical report reviews; and review of medical infrastructure and inventory. Ensured standard data quality procedures and maintained confidentiality and protection of human subjects through the implementation of all ethical procedures considered by the study protocol. Reviewed filled data collection tools to ensure completion and quality of data. Passed filled questionnaires to the assessment coordinator after completion of the data collection in each site. Provided guidance and clarifications to the data entry team regarding collected data as needed.

Senior Program Officer

Aug 2012 - Oct 2016
4 yrs 3 mos
Key duties and responsibilities/Achievements Trained, supervised and monitored services of village health teams VHTs in the provision of ICCM/community nutrition services in northern Uganda. Integrated Community Case Management of childhood illnesses. Participated in health and Nutrition coordination meetings with the regional, district and other development partners implementing Maternal and Child Health services. Increased community awareness and demand for Maternal and Child Health/nutrition services example ANC, Immunization, Postnatal care services, services for elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV as well as maternal and child nutrition services. Coordinated with the community health structures and the district health management teams to the provision to ensure effective and efficient service delivery at all levels. Supported integrated ANC/PMTCT outreaches to return communities for ANC check-ups, child immunization, HIV Counseling and Testing including Early Infant Diagnosis EID, screening for malnutrition and referral where required. Provided updates to the district leadership and developmental partners on Maternal and Child Health/nutrition and services implementation progress and make recommendations to facilitate planning and budgeting during appropriate fora. In collaboration with district leadership and other developmental partners, participated in organizing training, meetings, and learning sessions in child days plus regarding monitoring and supervising, logistical support as well as on job mentorship/coaching to health workers, and participate in the development and dissemination of training materials and reports. Participated together with the district leadership and other development partners in planning meetings for child health days plus.

Education

Diploma in Comprehensive
2009 - 2010
U.A.C.E
1999 - 2000
U.C.E
1995 - 1998