Evidence and Accountability Advisor at Options Consultancy Services Limited

Options Consultancy Services Limited was established in 1992 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marie Stopes International. We are a consultancy organisation providing technical and management expertise in the health and social sectors to governments and international development partners to transform the health of women and children.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Evidence and Accountability Advisor

Location: Kano
Programme: WISH Lot 1
Contract Type: Full time, fixed term contract - up to 36 months

Description

• We’re recruiting an Evidence & Accountability Advisor for the UKAID funded Women’s Integrated Sexual Health programme.
• The successful applicant will work closely with the Options team & consortium of partners to leverage existing coalitions & enable effective accountability mechanisms to track Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) & Family Planning (FP) commitments and outcomes in Kano and Jigawa.

Main Purpose of Job

• The Evidence and Accountability Advisor will be responsible for facilitating the use of evidence to hold the State governments of Kano and Jigawa accountable for their SRH commitments.
• S/he will leverage existing coalitions to facilitate effective accountability mechanisms to track SRH and Family Planning (FP) commitments and outcomes
• The Advisor will work closely with the Health Financing Lead based in Kano as well as the Regional National Ownership Lead based in Abuja; Options’ staff in London, and consortium partners to ensure evidence and accountability approaches strategically strengthen government stewardship over SRH/FP in Nigeria.

Main Duties
Lead the implementation of accountability approaches in Nigeria:

• Develop state-specific advocacy and accountability tools to track domestic financing, quality assurance and policy commitments;
• Identify and establish accountability mechanisms, including building capacity of civil society, media and others to undertake tracking and advocacy
• Where existing mechanisms are in place (e.g. State Level Accountability Mechanisms set up by Options), support the broadening of their mandate to include SRH and FP priorities;
• Support existing civil society coalitions to strategically use evidence to influence budget allocation and spend for SRH and FP;
• Strengthen capacity of civil society and other stakeholders to ensure commitments and resources for SRHR are met by the Kano and Jigawa State Governments.

Support the development and the review of Costed Implementation Plans (CIP) or Action Plans:

• Work with Kano and Jigawa State Ministries of Health and Technical Working Groups (TWGs) to identify blockages and priority areas to include these into an action plan with clear indicators;
• Work with State Governments to identify a core set of activities and indicators linked to commitments that can be tracked internally by the respective Ministries of Health, TWGs and externally through accountability mechanisms.

Support the routine generation and use of SRHR data for decision-making and advocacy:

• Engage with consortium partners and service delivery teams in Nigeria, particularly in Kano and Jigawa States, to develop and implement a coordinated approach to ensure local data is used to inform and influence national priorities;
• Support use of data for decision-making, advocacy and accountability in Kano and Jigawa States;
• Engage with service delivery teams to generate and use quality of care data from public and private sectors in Kano and Jigawa States;
• Use relevant data and tools such as FP2020 rights and empowerment principles and Advanced Family Planning’s principles of advocacy, ownership and use of evidence to facilitate programme implementation in Nigeria;
• Contribute to the generation (where relevant), analysis and packaging of evidence to inform and influence state-level ownership of SRHR programmes;
• Support the development of State scorecards to track SRHR coverage and policy commitments;
• Work with service delivery leads to make evidence understandable, relevant and meaningful to different stakeholders (i.e. Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), influencers, parliamentarians) to guide accountability and advocacy efforts;
• Work with the Health Financing Lead to ensure strategic use of budget tracking scorecards with Ministries of Health and Finance;
• Support the implementation of an evidence driven culture to facilitate decision-making for better investment and coverage of SRHR services.
• Ensure effective reporting of progress towards evidence and accountability
• Contribute to the development and achievement of logframe indicators relating to evidence and accountability for Nigeria;
• Support the collection of baseline data and set milestones (or targets) for these indicators during the inception period Ensure regular progress and reporting of achievements as per logframe and contribute to wider learning;
• Ensure deliverables are met related to evidence and accountability activities.
• Coordinate short-term technical assistance to support delivery of evidence and accountability activities
• Provide guidance and inputs on short term technical experts needed to support the delivery of evidence and accountability activities in Nigeria.

Note: this job description reflects the present requirements of the post. As duties and responsibilities change and develop the job description will be reviewed and be subject to amendment in consultation with the job holder.

Person Specification
Qualifications:

• Undergraduate Degree in Public Health, Health Management or related field.

Experience:

• At least ten years’ work experience, with significant experience in the provision of technical assistance including remote support
• Strong work experience on quality of care, accountability, advocacy and evidence use
• Solid understanding of the health sector, including the relationship between national and sub-national levels
• Considerable experience in leading the delivery of donor-funded programmes, particularly those funded by DFID

Skills and Attributes:

• Excellent influencing skills, with an ability to identify and act on opportunities to build buy-in and support among decision-makers
• Excellent interpersonal skills, with experience interacting with government officials, development partners, civil society and other health sector stakeholders
• Excellent time management and organisational skills
• Excellent management skills, including in the provision of remote management support
• Strong written and verbal communication skills with a demonstrable ability to present complex concepts in easy to understand language for a range of audiences
• Sound monitoring evaluation skills, including the design and delivery of logical frameworks
• Proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint

Other Requirements:

• Commitment to equal opportunities
• Fluency in written and spoken English
• Fluency in written and spoken French

Benefits Include

• Basic salary will include the following allowances and benefits: housing, transportation and meals.
• Medical insurance
• 25 days paid annual leave per annum in addition to local bank or public holidays
• Pension scheme including an employer contribution of 10% of your basic salary

Application Closing Date
28th September, 2018.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV's with a summary note of your skills and experience to "Claire Gaulier" at: [email protected] Candidates should state the role in the subject header.

Click Here For More Information

Note

• Applications will be reviewed and invited to interviews on a rolling basis.
• Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted for an interview
• Interviews will be organised directly with shortlisted applicants on a rolling basis.
• Options is an equal opportunities employer
• Overseas candidates require to have the right to work in Nigeria.