Federal Team Advisor at Palladium Group

Palladium is a global leader in the design, development and delivery of Positive Impact - the intentional creation of enduring social and economic value. We work with foundations, investors, governments, corporations, communities and civil society to formulate strategies and implement solutions that generate lasting social, environmental and financial benefits.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Federal Team Advisor

Ref ID: req23807
Location: Abuja
Employment Type: Fixed Term
Compensation Type: Monthly
Reports to: Technical Lead (based in Abuja)

Description
The UK Support to Health transformation in Nigeria through the Lafiya Programme is a flexible, demand-led strategic partnership with the Nigerian Federal and targeted State governments designed to address equity, improve and sustain health outcomes for the most vulnerable States with the worst health statistics. The desired objectives of the programme included fostering an enabling environment for UHC policy reform and implementation, institutional management capacity building and health system strengthening. This required the full engagement and participation communities with a view to contributing to ending preventable maternal and new-born deaths. The programme operated at the Federal level; and geographically in five states of - Borno, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano and Yobe. Following the ODA cuts, from 0.7% to 0.5% and the spend review handrails, the FCDO reprioritisation and business planning exercise beginning in the last quarter of 2020 and first quarter of 2021 the programme had to scale down some key interventions and consider reviewing the geographic scope going into the next financial years. Programme now focuses on contributing to three outcomes (1) Substantially increased health financing (SDG 3.c) (2). Improved coverage of quality integrated essential health and nutrition services and health emergency preparedness (SDG 3.8 and SDG 3.d) (3) Improved access to sexual and reproductive health services (SDG 3.7).

• Output 1: Strengthened governance for the delivery of integrated health and nutrition services.
• Output 2: Strengthened health financing, including use of Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) and innovative financing approaches.
• Output 3: Strengthened health workforce and health information systems, including use of data for decision-making.
• Output 4: Improved health security through a One Health approach, including response to emergencies.
• Output 5: Improved access to essential health and nutrition services in north-east Nigeria.
• Output 6: Improved access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, including strengthened access and demand in north-east Nigeria, and support to accelerate the demographic transition.  

Primary Duties and Responsibilities

• The Federal Technical Advisor (FTA) will deliver technical assistance to Federal MDAs, states’-based program colleagues, and spend time to influence, conduct advocacies, internal initiatives, at the discretion of his/her supervisor that include active participation in different TWGs. 
• This is a full-time role and requires in-person engagement with room for hybrid Technical Assistance delivery. 
• The Federal Team Advisor is a member of the Lafiya Senior Leadership Team.

Specific responsibilities
The Federal Team Advisor will be responsible for:

Programme Delivery and Oversight:

• Lead on programme technical, related budgeting, financial management and accountability in the implementation of all federal level activities and results under each of the programme outcome and output.
• Lead on the preparation of federal annual strategic plans, technical and operational work plans and budgets, Technical Assistance plans, performance improvement plans, and other plans as required.
• Quality assurance of all federal level Technical Assistance reports, including review and updating technical strategies for implementation, interventions, and activities and ensure alignment to key government priorities and Lafiya’s theory of change, results framework and annual workplans.
• Assume overall responsibility on effective implementation of Lafiya federal work plans and ensure on-time delivery within budget to meet client and stakeholder expectations.
• Responsible for forecast management at the federal including working with the team to minimise monthly forecast variance and annual budget variance.
• Monitor progress of federal activity implementation and progress towards milestones.
• Maintain up to date logs of issues and risks; work to resolve issues, manage, and mitigate risks; and escalate material issues and risks as appropriate.
• Ensure Lafiya’s federal Technical Assistance and programme delivery continues to demonstrate good value for money.

Team Management and Leadership:

• Assume overall responsibility for effective and professional management of Lafiya’s federal engagements ensuring integrity and professionalism in line with Palladium Code of Conduct.
• Lead, guide, mentor and manage the performance of any assigned direct reports and ensure appropriate leadership, guidance, mentorship and management of consultants.

Stakeholder Management:

• Provide strategic and technical representation of the programme at key federal level fora, meetings and coordination platforms, donor meetings, inter-agency working groups, and various key fora as assigned by the supervisor.
• Establish and maintain effective and collaborative working relationship with other FCDO programmes, Federal Ministry of Health, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, National Health Insurance Authority, Federal Ministry of Budget and Planning, National Population Commission, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and other key government ministries, departments, and agencies; and key stakeholders including civil society organizations, community structures and development partners.

Internal:

• Close working relationship with the State Team Leads.
• Regular communication with technical and operational teams. 
• Close relationships with other Palladium programs and keep them informed leverage and learn lessons.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s Degree or higher in Public Health, Policy and Governance, Health Economics and any other relevant field required.
• Progressive years’ experience of which at least 3 in managerial/coordination positions with International Health Organizations.
• Experience in specified technical areas including health system strengthening, Policy support, health security, demography, technical tools and materials development, and monitoring and evaluation is highly desired.
• Experience in strategy development and working across sectors or disciplines is highly desired.
• Expertise in working with donors, project design, proposal development, and monitoring and evaluation, with the ability to turn concepts and strategy into measurable action.
• Ability to work with multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary teams.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills and ability to facilitate collaboration.
• Capacity to understand the Nigerian context, portfolio, and overall programmatic needs, coordinate the relevant technical assistance from within and outside the health sector.
• Ability to transfer technical knowledge and skills and commitment to stay informed with best practices.
• Demonstrated problem solving, analytic, financial, and evaluative skills.
• Attention to details and ability to perform multiple tasks and balance competing priorities effectively and efficiently within required timeframe.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.

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