NEWS & EVENTS

WE ARE HIRING!!

1. FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION MANAGER

JOB DESCRIPTION
The primary responsibility of this position will be accounting/financial management and office administration for USAID funded development program. S/he will report directly to the Director of Finance (DOFA). The Finance and Administration Manager will be responsible for overseeing the administrative and financial management, accountability requirements and human resources management of the office for this anticipated  development program. This position must assure the contractual integrity of all agreements entered into by the office, managing the procurement process and looking out for the interests of the organization. The Manager will provide technical assistance to staff in implementing and complying with financial and administrative procedures to ensure compliance with regulations and serve as the financial liaison to the organization, local NGOs, other implementing partners and implementing units. This position is a local hire position.

JOB DESCRIPTION

Accounting and Finance

1. Ensuring compliance and consistency with the organization’s policies and procedures, as well as compliance with the terms and conditions of the agreements with USAID governing the work in the office.
2. Recording and accounting for daily transactions, ensuring accuracy and completeness of required files and supporting documentation serving as evidence of transactions.
3. Ensuring sound cash management of local bank accounts and maintains petty cash fund.
4. Processing cash disbursements in accordance with financial management policies and established approval levels.
5. Processing payroll remits tax and other government contributions and reports to local agencies.
6. Responsible for full accounts payable function from procurement through payment of invoices.
7. Processing employee expense reimbursements.
8. Ensuring timely payment to all organization’s payees and maintains sufficient and complete payee files.
9. Preparing monthly financial reports for the organization and internal management reports for Director of Finance or the Executive Director containing budget to actual expenditure information.
10. Performing month-end closing and year-end duties such as reconciliations, VAT reimbursements, inventory lists, etc.
11. Responsible for procurement activities in accordance with the organization’s procurement policy.
12. Preparing and submitting reports and filings in compliance with local government laws.
13. Providing assistance to program staff in office and project budget preparation.

Office Operations/Administration

• Responsible for all matters related to the operations and administration of the office.
• Ensuring registration requirements are kept current at all times and files statutory returns and renewals.
• Managing office lease to make sure it is current and amendments are processed as required.
• Overseeing administration of human resources, including but not limited to, maintaining personnel files, assisting with recruitments and orientation procedures, purchasing and maintaining adequate health and other insurance policies, etc.
• Managing local information technology contract ensuring infrastructure needs of the office are met, including properly functioning IT equipment, routine maintenance, and security over IT (anti-virus software and regular backups).
• Maintaining office files.

1. Caring out any other tasks as assigned by the Director of Finance/ Executive Director

QUALIFICATIONS

1. Bachelors Degree in Accounting Finances or Business Administration.
2. Masters Degree in Finance or Business Administration and or ACCA is desirable.
3. At least 8 Years’ experience in similar functions from reputable institution.
4. Hands on experience with Accounting Soft ware like Quick books
5. Good understanding of book keeping procedures.

YOU ARE SOMEONE WHO

1. Demonstrate critical thinking and is able to make timely decisions.
2. Is flexible and ready to take initiatives.
3. Displays a team spirit, particularly in multicultural environment.
4. Is able to lead a team.
5. Enjoys travelling and working with different cultures.
6. Managing of multi donor Finance Systems.

Submit your application together with your CV and 3 traceable referees in HARD COPIES to the following address not later than15th December 2023.

The Executive Director
Facilitators of Community Transformation (FACT)
P.O. Box 30407
Lilongwe
Along By Pass Road Area 46 in Reach Trust House or through Email:
vacancy@factmw.org

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2. PARTNERSHIP AND RESOURCE MOBILIZATION OFFICER

BACKGROUND
Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Executive Director, The Partnership and Resource Mobilization Manager supports the Management and spearheads the overall efforts to build partnership and mobilize an appropriate and sustainable funding base in large organization. The RMO develops the Country Office partnerships building and resource Mobilization Strategy, tools and procedures and coordinates their implementation, leads donor intelligence, supports strengthening of FACT position within the donor community and developing strategic partnerships with government, donors, private sector and civil society organization. The RMO supervises and leads team of staff. All the activities are implemented in close cooperation with other management offices, mult lateral and bilateral donors, private sector and Civil Society Organization.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Formulating and implementing country office strategies related to resource mobilization and partnership building focusing on achievements of the results
• External and internal analysis for assessing Country Office opportunities for Resource Mobilization and Partnership Building.
• Scanning of the opportunities in the Country based partners – specific intelligence and the competitive landscape, identification where the Country Offices competency strengths overlap with partner/client needs.
• Development of a detailed partnership and resource Mobilization (PRM) Strategy with planning tools to implement the Strategy.
• Negotiation, drafting and revision of agreements with donors monitoring and overall implementation of agreements.
• Assessments of the level of Country Office engagements with donors: type and level of Contracts and particular areas of interest: development of strategy to position the Country Office to become a priority partnerfor donors and Investments.
• Development and implementation of donor intelligence strategy (partners needs and priorities, perceptions of FACT by its current and futures partners and projections of FACT added value and potential role.
• Development of a competitive Programs, Proposal and bids for the Country Office Operations.
• Organizing and conducting donor briefs on this basis for each of the main donors in Malawi and beyond the borders.
• FACILITATE KNOWLEDGE BUILDING AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING AS REQUIRED BY THE ORGANIZATION, FOCUSSING ON THE FOLLOWING:

• Identifying and formulating lessons learned and recommendations to be integrated into broader Country Office knowledge management efforts.
• Contributing to knowledge networks and communities of practices.
• Organising and conducting training on resource Mobilization and Partnership building in country Office.
• Elaboration of proper documentation in support of resource Mobilization efforts in consultation with the Program Staff including Concept Notes, project documents and any other documents required.
• Proposing and implementing activities, initiatives and programs to promote public awareness of and access to FACT information and publicity materials. Effective liaise with media, NGOs Civil Society and other Partners to this end.
• Overseeing the relationship with key Partners, provides substantive technical inputs to senior managements efforts at the Office level to develop new and innovative partnerships.
• Overseeing the development of targeted products and initiatives to mobilize programmatic resources and attracts additional donor funding.
• Providing technical support to the development of project proposal in line with FACT Strategy and interest of Donors.
• Identifying opportunities to secure additions on non core resources.
• Overseeing ad-hoc donor studies, research and other activities to identify funding opportunities, update the resource mobilization strategy as needs emerge.
• Act as a direct entry point for donors, building institutional relationships.
• Promote compliance with the terms of grants and agreements, across the region.
• Providing substantive technical support to Program managers for the preparation of high quality and timely donor reports.

REQUIREMENTS

3. Masters Degree – Advanced University Degree in Social Sciences, Public Administration, International Relations or any other related field.
4. Minimum 5 Years of proven hands on working experience in fundraising, resource Mobilization and Project Development, with progressive scope of
5. Several Years of work experience in a multi national context requirement complex coordination with multiple stakeholders.
6. Proven record of mobilizing resources in private and public sector environment.

Excellent oral and written command of English.

Submit your application  together with your CV and 3 traceable referees in HARD COPIES to the following address not later than15th December 2023.

The Executive Director
Facilitators of Community Transformation (FACT)
P.O. Box 30407
Lilongwe
Along By Pass Road Area 46 in Reach Trust House or through Email:
vacancy@factmw.org

Building TB free communities starts with better collaboration, as one way of preventing TB and reducing deaths, the Facilitators for Community Transformation (FACT) a local NGO is working to tackle stigma and discrimination, raising awareness on TB and strengthening capacity of local leaders in the districts of Mangochi, Mulanje and Machinga, the partnership has already borne good fruits in the communities.

FACT  in  partnership  with  Development  Aid  from  People  to  People  (DAPP),  KNCV  Tuberculosis Foundation  and  Ministry  of  Health  with  funding  from  United  States  Agency  for  International Development (USAID) is implementing a project dubbed Mobilizing Local Entities to Improve the Quality, Scale and Sustainability of the TB Response in Malawi (Project QSS).

As part of this work, FACT has been working across three targeted districts of Mangochi, Mulanje and Machinga to launch and roll out a TB stigma and discrimination, human rights and gender communication campaign. In addition, six interactive community radio programs on TB awareness and stigma reductions have been broadcast.

Taking  into  account  the  role  faith  leaders  play  in  public  health,  FACT  has  also  conducted  two district faith-based massage seminars on TB stigma, discrimination and human rights massages reaching  100  faith  leaders  to  ensure  that  the  leaders  use  their  religious  platforms  across communities to help reduce stigma and discrimination and promote a rights-based approach towards TB.

FACT  Head  of  Programs,  Aggrey  Munthali  says  the  QSS  project  is  vital  to  enhance  TB  case notifcation and improve treatment outcomes and hails USAID for funding the project.

Across  targeted  districts,  FACT  and  partners  are  working  to  reduce  stigma  and  discrimination among TB patients by increasing TB and HIV awareness using campaigns targeting high burden communities  to  improve  understanding  of  TB  symptoms,  transmission,  prevention,  diagnosis leading to increased service demand across health facilities.

“There is a general indisputable perception that gender, cultural beliefs, stigma and discrimination afects access to quality TB services among people afected by TB. In a bid to streamline and harmonize  critical  information  and  skills  were  highlighted  and  disseminated  to  groups  of  faith leaders across three districts during a one-day seminar” explains one of the feld reports The report also adds “It is anticipated that this will narrow the communication gap created by misconceptions, and negative myths surrounding TB”

In  areas  of  Mangochi  such  as  Malombe  which  is  located  on  the  shores  of  lake  Malawi,  FACT has been conducting awareness campaigns to engage people on issues of gender, stigma and human rights. The organization conducted three community sensitization campaigns across Mangochi, Mulanje and Machinga district, drawing together faith and traditional leaders.

Community TB outreach ambassadors were unveiled at awareness campaign events to increase community awareness on TB, stigma, human rights and gender, this is vital to increase demand for comprehensive TB services, including encouraging earlier presentation at facilities when TB symptoms develop. FACT has reached over 3000 community members across the targeted three QSS project target districts.

Located a few kilometers away from Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe lies one of the largest refugee camps in Southern Africa, Dzaleka refugee camp which according to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) hosts over 46,000 refugees, taking into account the need to tackle gender-based violence in the camp, Facilitators for Community Transformation (FACT) is now helping women refugees to put back their lives to normalcy.

In the refugee camp, FACT has been implementing indirect activities such as Know Your Rights and Responsibilities. The target group are Women Action Groups (9 groups comprising 15 women and girls in each group who are Trainers of Trainees [TOTs]) who received further training on life skills such as briquet making, backyard gardens, hair dressing and Village Savings and Loans (VSL) to enhance self-reliance.

FACT also intends to conduct the Amodzi -We Are One Campaign which aims at promoting peaceful interactions. The campaign will target women, men, boys and girls within the Refugee Camp, FACT also intends to launch a Hotline Service in the camp as part of the response to gender based violence.

Commemorating the world refugee day in style at Dzaleka
The World refugee day is an international day designated by the United Nations to honor refugees around the globe. The day falls on June 20 each year and celebrates their strengths and also encourages people who have been forced to fee their home countries to escape from confict or persecution. Implementing partners including FACT, invited guests, refugees, surrounding communities, local leaders, chiefs, government gathered together in commemoration of the day which took place at Mbalame school playground on 20th June 2022 in Dzaleka refugee camp with the theme “Together we heal, learn and shine”.

Before the event started, all invited guests, stakeholders and natives marched from Nsenga primary school to the event ground with songs carrying a message of safety, rights, peace, love and unity dedicated to all refugees worldwide while holding a banner written, the right to seek safety, whoever they are, wherever they come from and wherever they are forced to fee.

FACT works in Dzaleka Refugee Camp with financing from the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women and Girls (UNTF) and builds engagement with Community Action Groups to enhance sensitization on the rights of women and girls including through know your rights community campaigns which have created demand for services on VAWG and SGBV prevention, as such tailored monitoring of the advocacy activities that had been implemented is being carried by the trained community action groups with a total number of 580 women and girls involved to date.

Management of the camp and current situation
Malawi Government implements an encampment policy where refugees and asylum seekers are expected to reside only in the camp. Initially designed to accommodate just about 10, 000 to 12,000 refugees, the camp now hosts more than triple of its intended capacity to about 46,000 refugees. This camp has been in operation since 1998 and continues to increase in population. Using Japanese funding, a new camp site is being developed in Katubza and Dzaleka Hill, of which if completed will host approximately 500 families each. Though this is not enough to address the congestion in Dzaleka camp, FACT continues to engage policy makers and CSOs to increase advocacy with the Government for the allocation of additional land to host more refugees and decongest the current camp capacity. FACT has joined several partners including UNHCR is pushing for a settlement approach to push away from the encampment policy, to promote peaceful coexistence between refugee and nationals as well as boost self-reliance for refugees.

— from the Executive Director

Facilitators  of Community  Transformation  (FACT) is  looking  forward  to  establish  well  implementation  models  for  the  workplan in  place  to  achieve  the  intended  goal  and  objectives  of  the  organization.  FACT  is  a  well-recognized,  women  led  non-Governmental organization  established  to  promote  sustainable  national  development  by  ensuring  that Marginalized populations (the elderly, Women, Girls, Children, Youths, Prisoners, refugees, people with disabilities, key populations, and people in displacements) are accorded their fundaments rights and equitable access to Health, Education, Agricultural and Public Development services. FACT therefore is looking forward to provide evidence through research, capacity building, social mobilization,  networking  and  advocacy  on  how  the  marginalized  populations  are  accorded to   their  fundaments  rights  and  equitable  access  to  Health,  Education,  Agricultural  and  Public Development  services  Currently  FACT  implements  its  projects  under  donor  support  and  in  six months  to  come  the  organization  envisions  to  widen  up  its  capacity  to  establish  a  self-reliant resource mobilization mechanisms to sustain its operations.

Currently  FACT  implements  projects  under  health  and  it  envisions  to  have  also  projects  under education,  agriculture  economics  and  development  in  the  next  six  months  period.  Most importantly, we want to see FACT growing in terms of staff, as we currently have 13 staff members and we still have some positions which are vacant. Currently FACT is in 13 districts implementing various projects. We also plan to scale up projects in other districts.

TB treatment and prevention is vital to achieve the targets

The  2018-2022  Global  TB  report  of  World  Health  Organization  sets  a  target  to  reach  90%  of people  in  need  of  TB  treatment  and  prevention.  By  improving  the  rates  at  which  people  are diagnosed  and  treated,  countries  can  reduce  the  spread  of  the  disease  and  drive  down incidence.  This  requires  early  detection  and  prompt  treatment  of  90%  of  people  with  T  (both DS-and DR-TB) and 90% of people who require preventive therapy. Proactively reaching out to people who are at risk of TB and providing systematic screening, diagnosis and appropriate care – an approach commonly known as active case finding – is essential to reaching the millions of people who go without access to TB services. While the best approaches to active case finding will  be  determined  by  local  contexts,  emerging  best  practices  include  supporting  community- based outreach efforts; strengthening health systems to be able to better provide TB services; integrating TB screening with other health interventions (e.g., HIV, diabetes, nutrition); optimizing the  use  of  existing  tools  and  resources;  scaling  up  successful  active  case  finding  pilots;  and ensuring government financing and support for active case finding

Some  of  the  key  recommendations  in  the  project  includes  on  the  need  for  District  TB  Officers and MANASO lead volunteers to regularly supervise follow-up of TB patients by volunteers and Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs). Additionally allocate enough fuel for follow ups and report collection from SCPs. Unfortunately, fuel allocation was not adequate sparked by skyrocketing fuel costs that have affected a lot of public health interventions across Malawi and this project is not an exception. There is also a need to introduce a star performance award for best performing groups or individuals so as to promote health competition and good performance among the groups in the TB responses.

As seen in the work by FACT, MANASO and other partners in the Global Fund TB work, adequate resourcing is vital alongside a stronger community health system backed with well-trained cadres of frontline health workers and community-based volunteers in building a stronger TB response.

Thokozile Phiri-Nkhoma

Executive Director

Launch  of  the  Community  Led  Communication Strategy  (CLM),  the  strategy  was  launched in  Machinga,  it  was  a  successful  big  event that  called  for  the  media  houses,  National TB  network  members,  civil  society  (Paradiso), representatives  from  the  ministry  of  health (DHO),  local  leaders  (counselors  and  chiefs), implementing  partners  from  Christian  AID, DAPP  AND  KNCV.  The  Management  of  the Global Fund Consortium in the implementation of  the  TB  Related  Interventions  Under  the Global Fund HIV/TB Epidemic Control Program (2021  –  2023)  which  comprises  of  MANASO, MANET+,  and  PARADISO  where  FACT  is  the leading  organization.  FACT  has  been  given Land by the Ministry of Home land Security to build  and  Office  at  Dzaleka  Refugee  Camp which will ease the implementation of Sexually Gender  Based  Violence  case  finding  project at  Dzaleka.  The  establishment  of  Women Action  groups  at  Dzaleka  refugee  Camp which  has  helped  women  to  come  together and  learn  issues  regarding  human  rights  and gender.   Increased level of  knowledge  among communities  regarding  TB.  In  all  projects, our  focus  is  based  on  TB  awareness,  this  has helped  communities  to  know  more  about  TB and  access  health  services.  We  have  also seen  an  increase  in  TB  case  notification,  this is  as  a  result  of  interventions  carried  out  in different  communities.  People  easily  go  to health  facilities  and  submit  samples  making it  easy  for  us  to  identify  the  patients.  There is also  strengthened  level  of  collaboration  and coordination among stakeholders.

Key best practices in the global fund and the QSS project

There is good collaboration among key stakeholders such as the lead volunteers, TB focal persons and  the  DHMT  (district  healthy  management  teams)  has  helped  in  the  implementation  of  the project  activities  thereby  attaining  the  project  targets.  The utilization of community  sputum collection volunteers has helped revamp the CSP in the community TB management.

We engaged MANET, MANASO and PARADISO TB Patients trust on the 12th of October 2023 to discuss and strategize on effective implementation approach for our Global Fund joint TB-HIV epidemic control program being implemented in 10 districts in Malawi.

In the picture attached is  FACT Board Chair Mr. Yamikani Mtaula with participants to the meeting in Salima at Blue Water.

We wish to thank you all for the support, and most of all to accord our Girls “FACT FC” congratulatory and best wishes for a promising start in the Sports for Development – Bola Ya Moto Campaign journey. On Sunday, 6 August 2023, FACT FC played against Mitundu Sisters at Mitundu Primary School Ground.

The game attracted  a number of spectators.

In our next Match we will be launching the Campaign “Sports for Development – Bola Ya Moto Campaign” to reach young people , adolescent girls and young women with Sexual and Reproductive Health  Rights (SRHR) services through these football matches.

Congratulations Girls!! for not conceding any goal.

Lets continue with the trail.