Senior Health Systems Strengthening Advisor at Malaria Consortium

Malaria Consortium is one of the world’s leading non-profit organisations specialising in the comprehensive prevention, control and treatment of malaria and other communicable diseases among vulnerable and under privileged populations. We increasingly find our work on malaria can be effectively integrated with other similar public health interventions for greater impact and therefore expanded our remit to include child health and neglected tropical disease interventions.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Senior Health Systems Strengthening Advisor

Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Grade: 11
Role type: National
Travel involved: Up to 40%
Department: Technical Length of contract: Five years
Reporting to: Line manager: Team Leader, SUNMAP2
Direct reports: Supply Chain expert, Budgeting and financial management expert
 
Country and Project Background

• Malaria is highly endemic in Nigeria and it remains one of the leading causes of childhood and maternal morbidity and mortality in the country. Nigeria is deeply committed to making progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and it recognizes the fact that, without firm efforts to control malaria, achievement of the targets related to child mortality, maternal mortality, and reducing the burden of communicable disease will not be possible. Malaria therefore constitutes a significant development challenge for Nigeria.
• Interventions for reducing malaria burden in the country are documented in the national malaria strategic plan with Government taking the lead in its implementation with the support of all the RBM partners.
• The DFID funded and Malaria Consortium led malaria programme, SUNMAP, provided technical assistance and other support to the Nigeria National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP) covering the period 2008 to 2016.
• The anticipated follow on project, SUNMAP2 has been designed to strengthen the management and technical capacity of NMEP, State Malaria Elimination Programme (SMEP) and their stakeholders to drive the implementation of the National Malaria Strategic Plan, 2014 to 2020 and achieve its ambitious targets.
• This will include short term technical assistance and technical assistance embedded in NMEP in key areas of programme management, evidence generation and use, and capacity building across all project outputs and ultimately reducing Nigeria’s malaria burden and strengthening the Government of Nigeria’s health systems capacity to ensure long term programme and impact sustainability.

Job Purpose

• The Health Systems Strengthening Expert will provide technical leadership on all aspects of health systems to improve the quality of service delivery in both the public and private health sectors using malaria as the entry point into the health system at Federal and State levels.
• He/she will lead the design and oversight of interventions which use the WHO Health Systems framework and Malaria Consortium’s approach to health systems strengthening to facilitate changes required to embed and institutionalise SUNMAP2 into the Nigeria Health system at Federal, State and LGA levels.
• The position holder will work closely with the project team and Short Term Technical Assistance (STTA) to implement evidence-based approaches to achieve the projects outcomes.
• The position holder will serve as a resource for up-to-date technical information on how malaria can be used to strengthen health systems including providing technical support to NMEP, SMEP and other key stakeholders.
• He/She will supervise a team of two experts and support them to implement work plans in a coherent and harmonised manner.

Scope of Work:

• The position holder will lead the development, working with the project team and STTA, of SUNMAP2’s strategy on health systems strengthening using malaria as an entry point into the health system at Federal, State and LGA levels.
• He/She will be the focal point for the DFID health systems programme to ensure coordination and harmonisation.
• He/She will harness and coordinate expert inputs from STTA into strategy development, oversight and implementation. He/she will support project team members to adapt the strategy into all streams of work and build capacity of project teams and implementing partners to deliver the projects health systems strengthening strategy.
• He/She will provide and coordinate HSS technical assistance to the National and State Ministries of Health, including their Malaria Elimination Programmes. This will require them to identify gaps which can be addressed through technical assistance.
• He/She will support NMEP in its efforts in harmonisation, partner coordination and donor alignment.
• He/she will also look to engage with broader health issues such as the sustainable goals for development.
• The position holder will lead the projects efforts towards the institutionalisation of specific malaria control interventions such as seasonal malaria chemoprevention and integrated community case management.
• He/She will represent the programme on relevant technical working groups, such as the Capacity Building working group under the Programme Management subcommittee.

Key Working Relationships:

• The Senior Health Systems Strengthening Expert will mobilise and coordinate with a broad range of stakeholders to embed the project within the Nigeria health system at Federal and State levels.
• They will work closely with the National Malaria Elimination Programme, State Malaria Elimination Programmes in the six SUNMAP2 supported states, public and private sector actors in the malaria control landscape and SUNMAP2’s STTA providers.
• Along with the Team Leader/Project Director he/she will liaise periodically with DFID Nigeria.
• He/She will be a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) of the project.

Key Accountabilities (Percentage level of effort)
Strategic contributions (10%):

• Lead the development of project strategy papers on health systems strengthening in which malaria is an entry point into the health system. This should include financing for sustainable programme impact and alignment with the sustainable goals for development.
• Contribute to the development and improvements in the projects value-for-money approach, in particular related to effectiveness and impact optimisation.
• Contribute to the development of a framework for technical quality improvement for the project
• Provide strategic technical support to the National Malaria Elimination Programme (NMEP), including support in the coordination of partners, harmonisation of tools and approaches, and donor alignment.

Technical leadership and Oversight (40%):

• Provide technical support to the project’s technical team in relation to WHO’s Health Systems Framework, the National Malaria Strategic Plan, 2014 to 2020 and SUNMPA2’s health systems strengthening strategy.
• Oversee the institutionalisation of malaria interventions implementation into the health system at Federal and State levels, from intervention design to quality assurance of implementation
• Oversee data-driven adaptation of SUNMPA2’s HSS strategy to achieve project output and outcome targets. This will require working closely with other teams within the project and collaboration with partners and other organisations.
• Periodically carry out sustainability capacity assessments, working with the Senior MEAL Expert in this regard.
• Provide technical support to Ministry of Health in areas such as Planning and Programme management. This includes sustainability of interventions such as SMC and iCCM.
• Work with the Team Leader and the Senior Malaria Expert to embed malaria control activities into the broader health systems to improve programme and impact sustainability.
• Remain abreast of relevant technical developments in HSS and share them with the project team and with NMEP and SMEP.
• Facilitate the use of data and experiential learning to inform quality improvement of project implementation and technical assistance
• Contribute to the use of information management tools such as dashboards to support decisionmakers at national and state levels to make better use of data, include data from SUNMAP2
• Line manage two technical experts, and in so doing provide them with inspiring technical leadership

Learning, Sharing and Positioning (25%):

• Work with the Senior MEAL Expert to spearhead the use of a learning agenda approach including accountability within the project and amongst key stakeholders such as NMEP and SMEP.
• Help to operationalise the learning agenda approach, results measurement and documentation
• Develop guidance documents on how malaria interventions should be embedded within the health systems and monitored using the project results measurement framework. This may require checklists, SOPs or guidance instructions.
• Work with the Senior MEAL Expert to lead the documentation of experiences and lessons learnt from the project including production of learning briefs, learning papers and general documentation (e.g. narrative reports, infographics)
• Disseminate lessons learned to national and global audiences through conference presentations, peer-reviewed publications, and technical reports

Technical quality and continuous improvement (10%):

• Facilitate the regular use of project and other information for technical quality improvement
• Facilitate the development and embedding of standards of annual operational planning and budgeting into NMEP and SMEP.

Capacity building and institutional strengthening (10%):

• Lead in building project capacity in health systems strengthening approaches through writing of capacity building tools and work guidance documents.
• Organise periodic technical strategy meetings to update the project team on new developments and current trends in using malaria as an entry point into health systems strengthening in Nigeria, in the region and globally.
• Work closely with long term technical assistance (LTTA) to NMEP to strengthen its institutional capacity for programme management, and health systems strengthening.
• Lead capacity building efforts to strengthen both individual and institutional technical capacities within the National Malaria Elimination Programme, and State Malaria Elimination Programme (SMEP) and LGA levels working with State Malaria Service Delivery Experts.

External Representation (5%):

• Participate in national or regional technical working groups as relevant
• Make presentations at national, regional or global conferences showcasing the HSS approaches we are using in the project, including how programme and impact sustainability are achieved.

Person Specification
Qualifications and Experience:

Essential:

• Postgraduate Degree in Public Health or Development related fields, with a focus on health systems strengthening approaches
• At least 8 years working in technical role with an excellent understanding of health systems
• Significant experience in intervention design and implementation of large-scale health projects
• Familiarity with the challenges and opportunities of strengthening health systems in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA)
• Experience with value-for-money measurements
• Familiarity with the Nigerian health system, including government planning and budgeting processes at Federal and State levels.

Desirable:

• Significant knowledge in communicable diseases control
• Experience of supporting development of learning processes and structures, ideally in an NGO context
• Experience working with private sector actors involved in health services delivery

Work-based skills:
Essential:

• Excellent skills in public health, and in particular related to malaria Strong analytical ability
• Excellent writing and presentation skills 
• Management of high performing teams, including ability to delegate efficiently and technically support teams
• Mentoring and coaching skills with respect to junior staff 
• Strong skills in negotiating with and engaging Ministry of Health Officials at all levels of the health system
• Ability to work in a multicultural team
• Results-oriented attitude to work
• Excellent time management skills
• Ability to work independently with little support 
• Practical organisational skills with the ability to manage a fluctuating workload, prioritise and reprioritise when necessary and meet tight deadlines
• Able to travel to SUNMAP2 supported states for up to one week at a time to oversee implementation activities
• Attention to detail
• Problem solving mind-set
• Positive work attitude; a team player

Desirable:

• Excellent project management and planning skills
• Demonstrable publication writing skills include peer reviewed publications
• Advocacy skills

Core Competencies
Delivering results:
LEVEL D - Inspires wider teams to achieve outstanding results and to manage risks:

• Proactively improves effectiveness and performance of other senior staff to increase ability to meet objectives, acquiring new skills when appropriate
• Encourages mitigating risks amongst the teams/ groups they work with/ manage
• Ensures the quality of all internal/ external work of own and others

Analysis and use of information:
LEVEL D - Analyses the external environment confidently:

• Generates a range of policy options and appraises them based on the internal and external evidence
• Develops ways of applying new knowledge and ensures lessonâ€ï¿½learning with self and wider team
• Analyses the significance of external events and situations for Malaria Consortium

Interpersonal and communications:
LEVEL C - Adapts communications effectively:

• Tailors communication (content, style and medium) to diverse audiences
• Communicates equally effectively at all organisational levels
• Understands other’s underlying needs, concerns and motivations and communicates effectively in sensitive situations
• Resolves intra-team and inter-team conflicts effectively

Collaboration and partnering:
LEVEL C - Builds strong networks internally and participates actively in external networks and think tanks:

• Builds strong networks internally
• Participates actively in external networks and/or think tanks. 
• Engages with relevant experts to gather and evaluate evidence
• Shares and implements good practice with internal and external peers

Leading and motivating people:
LEVEL C - Effectively leads and motivates others or direct reports:

• Gives regular, timely and appropriate feedback
• Acknowledges good performance and deals with issues concerning poor performance
• Carries out staff assessment and development activities conscientiously and effectively
• Develop the skills and competence of others through the development and application of skills
• Coaches and supports team members when they have difficulties

Flexibility/ adaptability:
LEVEL C - Supports others to cope with pressure:

• Responds positively to change, embracing and using new practices or values to accomplish goals and solve problems and supports others to do the same 
• Adapts team approach, goals, and methods to achieve solutions and results in dynamic situations
• Sets realistic deadlines and goals for self or team

Living the values:

• LEVEL D - Acts as a role model in promoting Malaria Consortium’s values:
• Champions and takes ownership of corporate decisions, values and standards and ensures team members implement them in a positive manner
• Acts as role model internally and externally in promoting Malaria Consortium’s values 
• Is accountable for ensuring that cultural awareness is demonstrated across the area (s) they manage 

Strategic planning and thinking and sector awareness:

• LEVEL C - Keeps up to date with the internal and external environment:
• Takes into account economic, political and other business factors when drawing up medium and long-term plans, covering both public and private sectors
• Looks beyond the immediate operations to prospects for new business
• Engages with appropriate internal and external sources to establish major influences on future plans

Salary
Competitive.

Application Closing Date
15th November, 2019; 23:59

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

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