Consultant for Health Financing (DRM and PFM activities) at Palladium Group

Project Overview and Role

• Health Policy Plus (HP+) is a USAID-funded five-year $185 million project awarded to Palladium in August 2015. HP+ has a mandate across global, country, and subnational levels to strengthen and advance health policy priorities in HIV, family planning and reproductive health (FP/RH), and maternal health. It aims to improve the enabling environment for equitable and sustainable health services, supplies, and delivery systems through policy development and implementation, with an emphasis on voluntary, rights-based health programs, and by strengthening in-country partners’ capacity to navigate complex environments for effective policy design, implementation, and financing aligned to their priorities. HP+ provides technical assistance to governments, civil society, and the private sector to effectively engage in domestic resource mobilization (DRM), put in place sustainable financing and accountability mechanisms, and make progress toward global, national, and subnational health goals.
• HP+ has been engaged by the USAID Nigeria Office to conceptualize and design activities to improve sustainable financing for Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and tuberculosis (TB) programs at the national level and in two USAID priority states – Lagos and Kano. These activities will span an initial period of 2 years, will continue efforts started by the Health Finance and Governance (HFG) project and complement current Strengthening Integrated Delivery of HIV and AIDS Services (SIDHAS) and Sustaining Health Outcomes through the Private Sector (SHOPS) Plus projects’ activities. 

Responsibilities

• The Health Financing Consultant will be responsible for taking the primary lead on Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) and Public Financial Management (PFM) support for HP+ Nigeria activities on Sustainable Health Financing of HIV/AIDS and TB Programs. (S)he will work with the larger team on DRM and PFM at the national level and in Lagos and Kano States.
• The Health Financing Consultant will technically supervise and collaborate with the Program Coordinator at the national level, State Coordinators and PFM Consultants at state level to ensure delivery of outputs per project workplan.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead in conduct of intensive public expenditure reviews for HIV and TB financing at the national level with development of recommendations to improve budget expenditure efficiency.
• Provide technical support as necessary to support HIV and TB budget allocation and execution activities at the national level.
• Provide technical support to the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) to develop a DRM Strategy identifying sources of funds, including national and state sources across tax-based, insurance, private sector sources and projected external partner resources. As a sub-activity to the formulation of the Strategy, support NACA to develop language for inclusion of HIV testing and treatment services in the National Health Insurance Law.
• Provide technical assistance to NACA in design of strategies to ensure private sector participation and maximization of contributions, particularly for financing the AIDS Trust Fund.
• Participate in co-design and development of an outcome-based provider payment model for TB at the state level. 
• Participate in design, preparation and facilitation of workshops and roundtable engagements with stakeholders as necessary.

Requirements

• Master's Degree in Public Health, Economics, Statistics, or other related discipline.
• At least eight (8) years of relevant work experience in health financing policy, health financing reforms and capacity building. Demonstrated expertise in PFM and resource mobilization an advantage.
• Sound understanding of TB, HIV epidemic and programs in Nigeria. Significant experience in HIV/AIDS, TB programming; health insurance. 
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office Suite (MS Excel, Word, PowerPoint, etc).
• Ability to meet tight deadlines and attention to detail.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Strong English writing, oral communication, and reporting skills.
• Flexibility, adaptability, and resourcefulness. Ability to take initiative and/or respond independently to situations.

Duration:

• A term of eight months with a scheduled to end in March 2020, possibility of renewal.