Midwife-1

The Midwife-1 position involves providing direct, client-centered reproductive health clinical care services including birth spacing counselling, delivery care, and antenatal/postnatal care in Kunduz, Afghanistan. The role requires monitoring safety, mentoring staff, and ensuring accurate health data recording while working closely with community health workers and local health representatives.

Responsibilities

• Consistently monitor and report safety and security concerns to IRC management and liaise with community leaders and stakeholders to maintain a safe operating environment.
• Maintain professional, supportive relations with team members and provide on-the-job mentorship to other staff including community health volunteers (CHVs) and cleaner at FHH.
• Provide correct, non-directive birth spacing and method mix counselling to clients including couples as part of routine RH consultations, ensuring informed choice across the full range of available methods.
• Provide direct, client-cantered and high-quality reproductive health clinical care service delivery.
• Triage, screening, and clinical assessment of clients, including RH history-taking and medical eligibility screening for contraceptives method mix options.
• Performs basic and assisted delivery care and provides the full range of short- and long-acting contraceptive method mix services within scope of practice (including implant and IUD insertion/removal and injectable provision), following successful completion of the relevant clinical certification.
• Performs any needed neonatal and obstetric resuscitation activity and conducts basic nutrition screening and psychosocial support referral as an integrated part of RH consultations.
• Ensures timely supported referrals to the nearest Emergency Obstetric Care centre.
• Cascades rights-based FP counselling (BCS+), medical eligibility criteria (MEC) screening, and DMPA injectable technique to the linked CHW pair, and provides monthly supervisory verification of CHW counselling quality and injection practice.
• Maintains regular linkage with the Family Health Action Group (FHAG), Community Health Shura, and linked CHWs to receive referrals arising from community dialogues and household visits and follows up on defaulter and first-contact cases identified through these community structures.
• Provides antenatal and postnatal care in line with national/international standards and protocols.
• Delivers health & hygiene promotion, health education and patient/caregiver counselling, and ensures adherence to infection prevention and control (IPC) measures.
• Ensure accurate recording of RH service data in clinic registers and the relevant health information system (e.g. DHIS2/MIAR), and timely completion of summary reports.
• Carry out duties as per duty roster
• Ensure patient confidentiality is respected, and that all consultations are conducted in a dignified and respectful manner

Requirements

• Qualified Midwifery diploma/certificate and registered with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH)
• Fluency in Pashto/Dari and any other local languages of the assigned location
• Ability to work closely, professionally, and constructively with all others regardless of nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, race, tribe, or cultural background.
• At least 2 years+ clinical midwifery experience
• Priority will be given to candidates who have completed the 3-month FHH (Family Health House) training provided by the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH).
• Previous training or experience in reproductive health service provision (including birth spacing/method mix counselling and long-acting method insertion), is an advantage.
• Work with and support Community Health Workers and community volunteers on RH demand generation, health promotion and awareness raising.
• Ensure regular inventory and consumption tracking of RH commodities and supplies and work with relevant staff to ensure prompt resupply.
• Ability and flexibility to understand the cultural and political environment and to work well with the local health representatives.
• Strong skills in non-directive, informed-choice family planning and reproductive health counselling, with the ability to provide sensitive, accurate, and non-judgmental method mix counselling tailored to each client's needs.
• Excellent communication skills in local languages, basic spoken and writing of concise reports in English.
• Must be a team player with excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work under pressure in a stressful environment, displaying patience, compassion, and diplomacy.
• Ability to be innovative, flexible, adaptive, and willingness to work out of hours, sometimes throughout the night.
• Ability to live in challenging conditions and ability to work under difficult, high-pressure situations.
• Communication and reporting skills: Ensure all patient consultations are documented and patient records completed.
• Submit reports in a timely manner.

Skills

• Clinical Midwifery
• Reproductive Health Service Provision
• Family Planning Counselling
• Long-Acting Method Insertion
• Health Promotion
• Community health worker support
• Inventory tracking
• RH Commodities Management
• Patient Record Documentation
• Report Writing
• Antenatal Care
• Postnatal Care
• Delivery Care
• Non-Directive Counselling
• Cultural Competence
• Health Data Recording
• Mentoring Staff
• Communication in Local Languages
• English Report Writing

Languages

Pashto, Dari, English