Public Health Fellowship – Job Opening (August 2022)

Type: 8-month Fellowship to start in August 2022

Experience: Undergraduate degree, or 2+ years of equivalent experience with teaching and data-focused research preferable

Division: Global Health and Rural Development (non-profit sector)

Positions Available: 1
This is a full-time, unpaid fellowship, with room and board provided.

Co-founded by a native of the village where we are based, Oda Foundation builds local leadership and supports health and education, for those who need it most. Since 2013, we have taken a long-term approach to building relationships, hiring a 95% local, Nepali team. In 2016, the Kalikot District Development Committee recognized Oda Foundation as Kalikot’s most effective health and education organization.

Oda Foundation in located in Nepal’s Kalikot District, a remote patchwork of villages. Rigorous topography, impacts of Nepal’s civil war, and meagre economic opportunity make the Karnali Zone one of the most impoverished and forgotten regions in all of Nepal, said by UNICEF to be an area enduring a “Silent Emergency.” The mountainous region is accessible by only one road, with many villages like Oda only accessible via hours on foot. Nepal is the 12th poorest country in the world, and on many measures, Kalikot is its most deprived region. Our communities struggle with malnutrition and extreme poverty, and they have difficulty accessing professional health care and education. Gender and caste discrimination block women’s access to economic opportunity, education, and equal healthcare. 

The Oda Foundation began its work by providing medicine and health care from a local home. We have since expanded over the last 10 years to have a fully functioning health clinic, including out-patient services, lab testing, emergency care, pharmacy, birthing and women’s health care, and public health initiatives. We have supported upwards of 80,000 patient visits, with more each day. Moving forward, our goal is to integrate our health system within the government to create a more sustainable health care infrastructure. 

Oda Foundation's Public Health Fellow works most intimately with the Oda Foundation’s healthcare team, contributing to healthcare efforts and helping to shape the organization’s public health approach. The Public Health Fellow will first be oriented to Oda’s public health priorities and ongoing initiatives through exposure to our primary healthcare center’s management and operational system. The Fellow will subsequently contribute to ongoing research, staff and community trainings, data analysis, healthcare reporting needs, and various implementing activities. Additionally, the Public Health Fellow will engage in conversations around healthcare and organization-wide policies, procedures, and initiatives, giving this role a great degree of exposure into Oda’s higher-level decision making process.

Much of this job entails working with and communicating effectively among marginalized Nepali communities with little to no English comprehension. Thus, the Public Health Fellow will arrive in Kathmandu, Nepal in early August and will take an intensive Nepali language course before traveling out to the Oda Foundation’s site in Kalikot. The intensive language course will be taken in a group setting, with all Fellows participating.

While public health initiatives will be this role’s primary focus, it is a strength of the Oda Foundation Fellowship program that Fellows understand the integrative nature of Oda’s work and their role within it. Maintaining their immediate responsibilities, the Public Health Fellow is strongly encouraged to pursue any of their interests outside of healthcare that may align with ongoing Oda Foundation programming. In previous cohorts, Fellows have also supported in an operational fashion through: social media management, media content generation, report and grant writing support, quarterly board meeting participation, strategic partnership generation, and more!

Key Responsibilities:

  • Health research, data, and analysis: assisting the healthcare team with research, data and analysis. Projects include but are not limited to:

    • Household data collecting for all wards the Oda Foundation serves 

    • Assessing data using the Oda Foundation’s electronic health record system and SPSS

  • Preventative healthcare programs: pursuing the integration of healthcare awareness into other programs including Oda Youth Program sessions, women’s circles, and student and community workshops.

  • Needs assessment: assessing the needs of the health department and finding solutions to fill those gaps or conduct any necessary research, often working with the team to teach and disseminate research and evaluative methods

  • Trainings and development: coordinating partnerships and opportunities to better the clinic staff's understanding of data analysis and methods of tracking data / making assessment; this can involve using you own knowledge and online resources to identify relevant and needed curriculum for staff and community workshops

  • Operations: assisting Oda Foundation staff with a variety of clinic and programming operations

Required Qualifications and Experience 

  • Strong written and spoken English language

  • University degree in one of the following or a related field: Health, Public Health, International Development, Social Work, Anthropology; we are also open to other degrees or background that supports the experiences in a Public Health Fellowship!

  • A strong desire to work on sustainable community development approaches

  • A strong interest in developing the health sector within Nepal

  • Strong ability to be self-driven and coordinate your own projects

  • Enthusiasm and a connection with Oda values as listed below

Desired Qualifications and Experience

  • Experience designing and/or implementing monitoring and evaluation methods

  • 1-2 years of professional experience

  • Experience living in a rural community (preference given to experience living in a rural community in a developing country)

Additional, once-in-a-lifetime experiences that you will gain:

  • Learn a new language, including funded language classes in Kathmandu at the start of the fellowship

  • Expand your knowledge of rural development through first hand experience

  • Collaborate on research projects

  • Have the autonomy to decide where you make impact

  • Explore your passions within the field of rural community development

  • Work with an energetic and incredibly inspiring team of Nepali professionals

What previous fellows went on to achieve:  

  • Admission into top graduate programs at Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Institute of Development Studies, and more

  • Promotion to full-time work with the Oda Foundation

  • Impactful careers in arts, health, policy, and education sectors

How To Apply

For more information about our organization please follow us on Instagram, @odafoundation. You can also look around our website - blog posts from many previous Fellows are a helpful resource that show the breadth of work possible, and the impact of this once-in-a-lifetime Fellowship! Please contact Oda Foundation Fellowship Coordinator, Lucy Martin-Patrick, with any questions or comments during the application process at lucy@odafoundation.org.

Applicants should send a resume and cover letter outlining how they meet the specific requirements of the position to info@odafoundation.org by May 15, 2022.  Application materials will be viewed and interviews will be determined on a rolling basis. 

While we sincerely appreciate all applications, only those candidates selected for interview will be contacted. Please note the selected candidate will be required to submit a liability waiver and proof of international travel insurance.

Oda Foundation Values

Before sending in your application, please review our team values listed below. Oda’s values were created with the purpose of cultivating a positive working environment for all team members. In order to do so, when hiring, we look for candidates who represent these values.

Care and Compassion

  • We will demonstrate our compassion and caring through our action and words

  • We will take time to ensure each person feels listened to, secure, understood and is treated compassionately

  • We will be approachable and contribute to creating a calm and friendly atmosphere

  • We will provide a safe and caring setting for patients and staff, and an efficient, effective experience

  • We will meet people's needs for information and involvement

  • We will be considerate, calm and proactive in solving problems

  • We will not be aggressive or passive aggressive to anyone

Respect, Dignity & Justice

  • We will demonstrate respect for all staff through our words and actions

  • We will all follow Oda rules, policies and procedures

  • We will accept fair and equitable punishment for all

  • We will be polite and courteous in our communications and actions

  • We will demonstrate respect for dignity, choice, privacy and confidentiality

  • We will recognize and value uniqueness, diversity and different cultures

  • We will be sincere, honest and constructive in giving, and open to receiving, feedback

  • We will maintain a professional attitude and appearance.

Effectiveness

  • We will demonstrate a commitment to doing our best

  • We will be proactive in problem solving and above all, our work commitments. 

  • We will be responsible and reflect on our actions

  • We will be accountable for our actions

  • We will focus on our work and practice time management by meeting all proposed deadlines.

  • We will encourage and explore ideas for improvement, innovation and creativity.

  • We will seek out opportunities to enhance our skills and expertise

  • We will work together to achieve high quality services

  • We will use our knowledge and enthusiasm to implement positive change and overcome challenges

Teamwork & Communication

  • We will understand and value each other's role and contribution

  • We will be fair, thoughtful, welcoming and kind to colleagues, fellows and guests.

  • We will communicate with each other and express our successes and our concerns.

  • We will offer support and encouragement to others

  • We will maximize each other's potential and contribution through shared learning and development

  • We will recognize, share and celebrate our successes, big and small

  • We will practice coordination and collaboration interdepartmentally

  • We will have a positive outlook and motivation

  • We will demonstrate commitment to the Oda foundation, patients, staff and our guests.

Honesty and Responsibility

  • We will build trust by displaying transparency and doing what we say we will do

  • We will commit to doing what is right

  • We will welcome feedback as a means of informing improvements

  • We will use our resources and each other's time efficiently and wisely

  • We will maintain and enhance public confidence in our service

  • We will be a positive role model

Thank you so much for your interest. We look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, check out our Instagram @odafoundation for more Oda Foundation news and updates.