State Coordinator – Karnataka / Assam

About YRG MERF

Established in 1993, YRGMERF is a leading non-governmental organisation in India dedicated to improving health outcomes through integrated healthcare, inclusive partnerships, and research-driven interventions. Guided by the principles of integrity and sustainability, the organisation addresses both immediate and emerging public health challenges, with a strong focus on prevention, care, support, and treatment—particularly in the area of HIV and other infectious diseases.

In India, the TIFA project aims to strengthen national health security through coordinated action across government systems and community stakeholders. This approach is designed to build a resilient ecosystem capable of detecting, preventing, and responding to emerging infectious disease threats.

As part of this initiative, a decentralised community-based surveillance model will be implemented, aligned with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC)’s Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP) and the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) framework. The model enables community platforms such as Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and Mahila Arogya Samitis (MAS) to identify and report early warning signals using IHIP tools, thereby strengthening community ownership, improving early detection, and enabling timely public health response.

Role Overview

The State Coordinator is the senior-most project person in the state and is responsible for all field operations in the districts. This includes managing the District Coordinators, liaising with the State Health Mission and state IDSP office, overseeing community mobilisation, ensuring training quality, and maintaining relationships with the district health administration. The State Coordinator spends roughly 60% of the time in the field (district visits, training supervision, government meetings at the district level) and 40% at the base (state-level coordination, reporting, planning).

Key Responsibilities

Field Operations Management

• Directly supervise two District Coordinators in the State. Conduct weekly calls and fortnightly in-person reviews with each District Coordinator to track progress against the monthly operational plan
  
• Conduct at least required field visits per month across the two districts, to ensure mentoring of community sentinels done at least 2 times in a quarter in addition to frequent visits to the community sentinels in the outbreak geographies.
  
• Oversee the mapping of stakeholders, rewards and recognition systems including identification and engagement of community sentinels as per the agreed criteria and get approvals from the State ISDP and District Surveillance teams. Ensure that the selection process is inclusive and reaches hamlets and tribal settlements, not just main village clusters
  
• Supervise the conduct of all training workshops in districts: verify venue readiness, review training content with the District Coordinator before each session, attend at least the first session of each training batch to assess trainer quality and participant engagement, and review participant feedback forms
  
• Support in feasibility run of the IHIP community reporting tool, monitor the rollout of IHIP community-based reporting in the districts. Work with District Coordinators to troubleshoot technical problems (network connectivity, device issues, IHIP module errors) and report systemic issues to the Project Lead
  
• Manages coordination efforts among various stakeholders to ensure closing the loop for each community signals reported from the field. Review the community signals who are facing challenges in continuing the activities.
  
• Manages development or adaption of video based SOP, sensitisation materials, FAQ and user guides, demand generation materials in local languages.
  
• Ensure that the 24-hour verification protocol is being adhered to: review verification logs weekly, identify Medical Officers or facilities where verification is consistently delayed, and escalate to the DSO or Block Medical Officer as needed
  

Government Liaison

• Maintain regular contact with the State Health Mission, state IDSP unit, and the Directorate of Health and Family Welfare. Keep state authorities informed about project progress and seek their guidance on alignment with state health priorities
  
• Attend District Health Action Plan meetings, district IDSP review meetings, and other relevant government coordination forums in the project districts. Ensure that SCS activities are reflected in government records and are not running invisibly alongside official programmes
  
• Facilitate the relationship between District Coordinators and the district health administration (DHO, DSO, Block Medical Officers). Where new District Coordinators need introductions or where relationships are strained, the State Coordinator steps in to resolve issues
  
• Coordinate with the Veterinary, Forest, Agriculture Department at state and district level to facilitate the joint surveillance sessions planned under Activity 6
  

Reporting and Quality

• Manage online performance tracker to monitor fortnightly state-level progress updates for the Project Lead covering: community mobilisation numbers, training completion, IHIP reporting status, government coordination activities, challenges encountered, and proposed solutions
  
• Review all data submitted by District Coordinators before it goes into the DATA QUALITY CONTROL tracker. Verify figures against field visit observations and training attendance sheets. Do not forward data that has not been independently cross-checked
  
• Contribute to quarterly donor reports by providing the State-specific narrative and data sections
  
• Document good practices, community responses, and operational learning from the districts. Share these with the Program Associate for inclusion in project knowledge products
  
  

Requirements

Qualifications and Experience

• Post-graduate degree in veterinary health or public health with experience in NHM, Disease surveillance, zoonotic disease surveillance, and IDSP is mandatory
  
• Minimum 7 years of experience in health programme management in the State
  
• Established relationships with State health authorities are a strong advantage
  
• Fluency in English, Kannada/Assamese, and Hindi
  
• Willingness to travel extensively within the project districts (estimated 12–15 days per month)
  
• Valid two-wheeler or four-wheeler driving licence (districts include areas with limited public transport)
  

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Benefits

• 24 days of annual leave, in addition to public holidays.
  
• Health insurance coverage
  
• Opportunity to work in a collaborative and inclusive environment.
  
• Scope for learning and professional development