Program Officer (PO) at Results for Development (R4D)

Project Summary
In 2014, the Government of Nigeria (GoN) committed to reforming health care financing and service delivery in a Presidential Summit on Universal Health Coverage and enacted the Nigeria National Health Act. The Act officially recognized Nigerians’ right to health and established a Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) to make financial resources available for primary health care (PHC) services. These reforms have the potential to greatly strengthen Nigeria’s PHC system and improve population health. Federal and state governments in Nigeria are currently working to implement systems for channeling these new health care funds for service delivery and financing and setting up state-level demand side financing mechanisms.

To support these reforms, Results for Development (R4D), in partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and USAID, is working with public actors and a consortium of development partners to provide a technical assistance program to foster more equitable and sustainable health care financing to improve the health of all Nigerians. R4D is supporting change agents at both the federal and state-levels:

• The federal work engages key stakeholders in joint policy dialogue, generating evidence to inform health financing design options, and disseminating that evidence and practical implementation tools to states.
• For the state-specific work, R4D is working closely with the state governments of Kaduna and Niger to analyze their unique health systems contexts, design tailored demand-side financing programs, and support the implementation of those programs.

Together, these technical assistance programs will foster an enabling environment for creating health impact via more equitable and sustainable health care financing interventions.  

Opportunity

• R4D is seeking a Program Officer (PO) based in Abuja, Nigeria to support the day-to-day operations of the Nigeria Healthcare Financing Technical Assistance Program, alongisde other members of the DC and Nigeria-based project team.
• S/he will play an integral role in administrative, operational, and technical aspects of the project. The position is based in Abuja, Nigeria.

Responsibilities
The PO will be expected to provide project management, coordination, research, and communication leadership to oversee the progress of the project. S/he will drive R4D’s work at the federal level to improve the federal government’s ability to develop feasible, appropriate, and actionable health financing policies and strengthen capacity at the federal level. In doing so, s/he will work closely with the R4D Nigeria office, global-level leadership, and local partners. The areas of federal work the PO will be involved include:

• Support to the federal health budget formulation, execution, and monitoring with the Federal Ministry of Health, focusing on the routine supply-side budget process to align annual health budgeting with policy
• Working with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to define and operationalize its role as a facilitator and administrator of fiancing mechanisms in Nigeria
• Support the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to develop feasible, appropriate, and actional health financing policies for PHC, and communicate those policies effectively to state governments

Specific responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Leverage the evidence base to support development of appropriate health financing policies and strategies to inform decisions of governments, donors and other stakeholders
• Lead development of technical tools and other key external documents, working closely with government stakeholders
• Support the development of internal program documents such as funder reports, PowerPoints, and other documents
• Develop and maintain positive relationships with stakeholders, including federal and state level government officials, development partners, and partner organizations based in Abuja
• Conduct in-depth primary and secondary research and analyses, including through critical review of literature and interviews with experts

Qualifications

• MA with 3 years or experience OR a BA with 5 years of relevant global health experience
• Experience and interest in healthcare, healthcare financing, and policy development, with an emphasis on Federal and state-level budget formulation/execution/monitoring systems or processes
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with ability to prepare compelling presentations and written reports
• Strong qualitative and quantitative analytical skills
• Proven experience effectively working with and meeting the needs of various stakeholders in both Nigeria and globally
• Ability to think and solve problems in structured, logical, and creative manner
• Effectively able to work collaboratively in a team-based environment as well as independently to work on complex work streams/projects
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to connect with a wide variety of different stakeholders
• Comfortable working with a diverse team located in different geographies
• High level of proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, and Word
• Availability for 5-10% international and domestic travel
• Local applicants encouraged to apply

Preferred Skills:

• Experience working on large scale, multi-partner, donor funded and/or government projects in Nigeria
• Relevant work experience in a research institution, government, bilateral or multilateral development agency, consulting firm, NGO, or think tank
• Prior work experience in healthcare financing, economics, and/or political science
• Familiarity with existing regulations and framework around health care financing reform in Nigeria