Position: Project Coordinator
Status: 0.8 FTE (4 days/week)
Time Period: 2 ½ year contract position
Remuneration: $50,000 pro-rated ($40,000 per annum) plus a competitive benefits package
Location: Flexible
Reporting to: Director of Program Development
Applications will be accepted until a suitable candidate is found
Summary of the position:
The Hepatitis C Leadership Project Coordinator, working in a dynamic and supportive team environment, will be responsible for managing and leading all aspects of this innovative new pilot project. This will include: Pre-planning activities, including environmental scans; developing work plans and critical paths; facilitating committee and team meetings and processes; managing community engagement processes; liaising with a diversity of community and government stakeholders; conducting administrative and event logistics activities; developing and maintaining record keeping systems and activities; and ultimately the planning, development and piloting of a leadership principles (competencies) training for people with lived experience (PWLE) of hepatitis C.
The Project Coordinator will need to be flexible, agile and able to respond to unique community conditions while remaining focused on the long-term goals of the project.
The location of this position is flexible (anywhere in BC) and working virtually from a home office is possible.
About The Pacific AIDS Network:
The Pacific AIDS Network (PAN) works collaboratively to build the capacity and skills of our member organizations and people with lived experience, to effectively address HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C and related conditions. We provide workplace training, leadership development, and research and evaluation initiatives to support all regions in the province. We are a voice for our members, advocating for change in public perception and policies. We help organizations build stronger communities and leaders.
While HIV is the heart of our work historically, and people with HIV have an important role in our past and present directions, our work has progressively expanded as issues related to HIV emerged to include hepatitis C and other health diagnoses, mental health, and substance use. Other issues that affect how people access care include safe housing, food security, poverty and in many cases basic human rights and dignity. These issues influence our work and we support the involvement of people with lived experience in our community-based response.
About This Project:
Funding for this new project, Collective Collaboration: An Initiative to Build Capacity & Engagement to Impact BC’s HCV Landscape, comes from the Vancouver Foundation (Field of Interest Grant – Health and Social Development).
Over the past decades a shift from the concept of stand-alone HIV service models to an integrated HIV and hepatitis C service delivery model occurred. The pressure to do so came from two places: health authorities and other key funders including the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) adopting “integrated” HIV/hepatitis C funding models and HIV community-based organizations (particularly those outside of Vancouver) responding to community driven needs, which meant focusing on hepatitis C and related services including harm reduction.
This shift often happened with very little new funding for hepatitis C specific services, and typically without larger policy frameworks at the provincial or federal level. Consequently, community-based organizations (working in the realms of HIV/HCV/harm reduction/STBBI) have not always had an opportunity to ensure that people with lived hepatitis C experience are involved in leadership, decision-making & service provision in contrast to the meaningful engagement of people living with HIV.
It is essential that the community organize to develop strategic policies and procedures to ensure that PWLE of hepatitis C are in leadership positions to inform policy and programming decisions.
The HCV Manifesto which has been endorsed by the Pacific AIDS Network and many other organizations across Canada, provides guidance and asserts the critical importance of genuine engagement and leadership by PWLE of hepatitis C in all aspects of policy development and programming.
This project is dedicated to the creation of a leadership development program to strengthen the capacity of PWLE of hepatitis C.
This project aims to empower PWLE of hepatitis C with additional skills and knowledge – similar to PAN’s Positive Leadership Development Institute (PLDI) program – supporting them to realize their leadership potential to contribute to relevant and measurable change in their communities. This can take the form of informing public policy related to health; as well as further articulating principles and practices regarding meaningful engagement that can be adopted and used by policy-makers, community-based organizations and other PWLE of hepatitis C leaders. This will translate to people affected by hepatitis C having greater opportunity to engage/participate in collective action to both effect policy changes and support program planning, evaluation and service provision.
Evidence indicates that these principles and specialized leadership training have been instrumental in shaping community-led health services for those living with HIV, as well as informing provincial policies and frameworks – and we hope to achieve the same for PWLE of hepatitis C.
For complete duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and information on how to apply please see the posting on Charity Village
People with lived experience of hepatitis C are strongly encouraged to apply.