Background

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.

Duties and Responsibilities

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.

• Support and assist the CO to identify opportunities, lessons learned and best practices in the country and using south-south learning platforms to advance SRH outcomes by strengthening health systems;
• Build capacity of UNFPA programme staff on health system related issues;
• Contribute to the CO’s oversight, documentation and knowledge management practices, in collaboration with the M&E officer and programme officers, particularly in the development,  implementation and monitoring of results-based programmes with measurable indicators; (e.g. CPD, OMP, COAR, field missions, Scheduled and Specialized Audits and/or other required M&E processes;

Others

•  Undertake any other duties as may be assigned by the Representative and/or Deputy Representative

Competencies

Required Competencies:

 Values

• Exemplifying integrity
• Demonstrating commitment to UNFPA and the UN system
• Embracing cultural diversity
• Embracing change

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 impact

 
Required 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 mobilization

Exemplifying integrity

• Demonstrating commitment to UNFPA and the UN system
• Embracing cultural diversity
• Embracing change

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications and Experience

The Ideal Candidate should:

• Be a Nigerian National
• Possess a minimum of a post-graduate University Degree in public health, medicine, sociology, demography, gender, economics, international relations, international development, public administration, management, Health Economics, Health System Strengthening or other related field.
• Possess a  minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible professional experience, including at least 3 years of experience in health system strengthening related programmes.
• Have some experience working directly with the FMOH or better still, working in FMOH.
• Have knowledge and experience in planning and development.
• Have knowledge of global health  and development initiatives.
• Have  experience in policy analysis, health financing,  economic evaluation and macroeconomics.
• Have excellent oral and written English skills.
• Have advanced computer skills.

Related Programme Skills

Because the nature of work is programme focused, involving other groups and various timelines and activities, related skills of good time management, managing deadlines and good team relationships are essential. Knowledge of the UN system is desirable.

Please note that UNFPA will respond only to those applicants in whom it has a further interest. Qualified women are encouraged to apply.

*UNFPA reserves the right to appoint at the indicated or lower level and prior to the closing date.

UNFPA  – Because everyone counts