Health Systems Strengthening Advisor- Abuja at RTI International

Details:

Act to End NTDs | East is a five-year project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) aimed at providing assistance to national neglected tropical disease (NTD) control programs for the control and elimination of seven targeted NTDs: lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, three soil-transmitted helminths (roundworm, hookworm, whipworm) and trachoma. Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) | East program was awarded to RTI International in 2018 and will continue until 2023.

Position Summary

The HSS Advisor will be based in the RTI Office in Abuja, Nigeria and will report to the Chief of Party for the Act to End NTDs | East project in Nigeria, with functional reporting to the HSS Lead in Washington, DC. In circumstances where there exist other HSS-related positions (e.g., Domestic Resource Utilization and Management [DRUM] Specialist or Cross-sectoral Specialist) the HSS Advisor will serve as the team leader for the HSS group of staff. The position requires in-country and international travel.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead in-country efforts to mainstream NTD activities into national and district-level health systems.
• Leverage professional understanding, experience, and relationships to partner with national and district-level MOH stakeholders and other public and private sector stakeholders.
• In collaboration with other Act | East team members, work with ministries to:
  • include NTD activities in country annual budgets with adequate funding; to clearly designate responsibilities for NTD control and morbidity management within the existing workforce and job descriptions;
  • include and monitor indicators among national health indicators;
  • monitor and support effective supply chain management for NTD supplies and activities, and
  • empower the NTD workforce by ensuring national policies are in place to fulfill essential NTD activities.
• Serve as in-country contact point for quality of STTA and provide any needed contextual tailoring of proposed activities.
• Support implementation of mainstreaming activities, including participatory planning activities, health systems and sustainability assessments, fiscal gap and space analysis, accountability and stakeholder mapping, and relevant activities under fixed amount awards (FAAs).
• In close collaboration with the Act | East HQ and country teams and host country counterparts, apply results of political economy assessment (PEA), or any assessment conducted by the program, to development of a mainstreaming or transition strategy for country programming.
• In collaboration with the HQ and/or in-country Cross-sectoral Specialist, leverage non-NTD sectoral platforms to support sustained MDA coverage and disease surveillance and coordinate support for advocacy activities with civil society.

 Minimum Required Education & Experience

• At least a Master's degree in public health, international development, public policy, or related field. Master’s degree and 6 years of experience or Bachelor’s Degree and 10 years of experience
• Minimum of 6 years global and/or in‐country experience in implementation of health systems strengthening programs and/or policy reform preferably addressing cross-sector issues.
• Demonstrated experience in implementing robust HSS programs in a developing country context, with technical expertise in one or more of the following areas: policy reform, service coverage, supply chain management, information systems, workforce alignment and/or related areas of health system strengthening.
• Demonstrated experience implementing HSS programs that incorporate non‐health sector and/or multi‐health sector programs.
• Neglected Tropical Disease experience desired, but not required.
• Host country nationals are preferred.

Skills & Abilities

Skills and abilities required to perform the essential job duties of this job are listed below. An addendum that clarifies additional skills and abilities for incumbents in this job may be used in addition to this description

• Demonstrated capacity to operate within the HSS community and function as a technical advisor on diverse matters related to HSS in developing countries.
• Demonstrated management, leadership, decision making, and interpersonal skills.
• Full professional proficiency in English with excellent oral and written communications skills.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office suite, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook.
• Demonstrated ability to create and maintain effective working relations with senior Government personnel, international organizations, NGO partners, host country governments, and U.S. Government Agencies.
• Willingness and ability to travel internationally and domestically, as required, up to 30% of time.