The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the leading UN organization in Reproductive Health and Population and Development is recruiting a Health Systems Specialist for the Country Office in Abuja.
HEALTH SYSTEMS SPECIALIST
Duties and responsibilities
Under the general supervision of the Representative and direct supervision of the Maternal Health Adviser, the Health System Specialist will serve within a multi-disciplinary country office team to provide technical assistance, policy guidance and programme support on health system strengthening elements that will enable effective and efficient delivery of quality and equitable reproductive health services. The Health Systems Specialist will undertake the following duties:
Provide Guidance on UNFPA Policy and Programme Development
Scan the environment to inform the CO on developments within the aid environment, political and economic situation in the country and provide timely information to management; Support planning and delivery of an integrated policy, programme and technical support by the country office to further the advancement of the ICPD-PoA in the country;Provide technical guidance and support for implementation of health systems strengthening strategies
Support institutional and technical capacity building for FMoH, SMoH and other relevant ministries on health system strengthening and its components, including costing, economic analyses, resource tracking, human resource for health production, deployment and retention, etc at national and sub-national levels; Provide technical support to design, planning and implementation of health systems’ strengthening strategies, especially health financing and Human Resource for Health strategies in order to increase physical and financial access of quality SRH services; In collaboration with government counterparts and partners, facilitate the conduct and dissemination of studies related to assessment of health system performance in general and specifically on relevant economic evaluation of reproductive health interventions, analysis of effects and impacts of changes in government macroeconomic policies on the health sector etc. Support institutionalization of resource tracking mechanisms in the health sector that is inclusive of health accounts, public expenditure reviews, routine expenditure tracking that capture data for reproductive health services; Facilitate the identification of resource gaps for RH intervention and provide technical support to the Country Office and FMoH on how the gap can be filled through appropriate resource mobilization efforts. Generate advocacy and policy arguments around the economic and financing investment cases for investing in SRHR with complementary interventions to improve the efficiency of the system and for scaling up pro poor interventions; Support government in the production of annual health sector reports that reflect health system performance at national and sub-national levels; Identify and leverage national, regional and international expertise as may be required on health system strengthening for the country;Support UNFPA’s partnerships to advance ICPD agenda
Support UNFPA to foster partnerships at national and sub-national levels with the aim of advancing SRH through an effective and efficient health system, including the use of coordinated and integrated approaches; Support UNFPA’s interface within the UN system and with other development partners to improve development partners’ harmonization, coordination and partnership platforms; Support UNFPA’s interface with the Federal Ministry of Health while at the same time providing policy and programmatic support aimed at strengthening health systems. Contribute to UNFPA’s collaboration within the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) platform on issues relating to Health system strengthening, Social protection, health financing, etc;Monitoring and knowledge management
Support the FMOH in strengthening its M&E systems as well as other related systems that are critical to health systems strengthening.
Others
Undertake any other duties as may be assigned by the Representative and/or Deputy RepresentativeRequired Competencies:
Values
Core Competencies
Achieving results Being accountable Developing and applying professional expertise/business acumen Thinking analytically and strategically Working in teams/managing ourselves and our relationships Communicating for impactRequired Skillset
Strategically positioning UNFPA programmes Providing conceptual innovation to support programme effectiveness Generating, managing and promoting the use of knowledge and information Providing a technical support system Strengthening the programming capacity of implementing partners Facilitating quality programmatic results Internal and External relations and advocacy for results mobilizationExemplifying integrity
Demonstrating commitment to UNFPA and the UN system Embracing cultural diversity Embracing changeQualifications and Experience
The Ideal Candidate should: