Senior Advisor, Systems Strengthening - ICHSSA 2 at Project Hope

Position Summary

• Project HOPE is seeking to engage a Sr. Advisor (Systems Strengthening) to support USAID/Nigeria’s Integrated Child Health and Social Services Award (ICHSSA 2) program in Lagos State.
• The purpose of the ICHSSA 2 is to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS on orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). The project will ensure that OVC are cared for and protected by their households, communities, local and state governments.
• The Sr. Advisor (Systems Strengthening) reports to the Country Representative and will be responsible for providing technical leadership and TA for the ICHSSA 2 Lagos Program with emphasis on strengthening social service systems and building capacity of the social service workforce (formal and informal).
• S/he will work closely with the project leadership and staff to ensure program success and will be responsible for designing and implementing workplan and leading program activities as it relates to stakeholder engagement and systems strengthening for the OVC program at State and LGA levels.
• The Sr. Advisor will provide technical leadership on all aspects of health systems to improve the quality of OVC service delivery by local and State government in Lagos State, as well as lead efforts in resource mobilization from the Private sector.
• S/he will lead the technical team to produce quarterly, semi-annual and annual quantitative and narrative reports, including relevant information on lessons learnt, challenges encountered, and opportunities identified for improvement.

Principal Responsibilities
Programme Implementation and Systems Strengthening:

• Contributes to program success and technical quality of assigned activities and apprises Country Representative and others as appropriate on matters of concern.
• Monitors ICHSSA Lagos program by reviewing information, reports, and data and assessing quality through regular exchange and communication with program teams. Collaborates with technical and monitoring and evaluation teams to monitor achievement of program and subproject objectives, indicators, and data collection.
• Functions as the primary liaison for ICHSSA 2 Lagos to HQ departments.
• Builds program team capacity in technical areas and Systems Strengthening by training and mentoring and updating staff on technical developments.
• Leads, contributes to the development of, and ensures completion of program planning documents for assigned programs, including Work plans, Detailed Implementation Plans, Quarterly and Annual reports, and Start-up or Close-Out plans.
• Coordinate and contribute to capacity building activities for Ministry and Social service workforce at State, LGA and CBO level
• Ensures program utilization of up-to-date quality technical materials and guidelines that meet international standards including program design frameworks.
• Provides technical guidance on activity implementation and evaluation plans (consults with other technical staff especially M&E as needed).
• Review monthly project budget reports, identify variances, and contribute to future period projections. Ensure annual budget align with performance objectives.
• Supports the development, implementation, and management of service agreements of ICHSSA Lagos.

Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning:

• Works with the Director, M&E, and SI Manager to ensure that Project HOPE Nigeria has strong M&E systems in place for program.
• Responsible for program reporting on behalf of Project HOPE Nigeria including donor and Project HOPE reports
• Ensures quality data is captured at all levels, managed properly, and utilized for monitoring progress to target of programs. Helps to develop M&E related procedures, data tools, data management.
• Participates in developing & disseminating technical abstracts, articles, conference presentations & strategy papers.
• Contributes to sharing of “lessons learned” from ICHSSA Lagos.
• Other duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in Public Health, Statistics, Social Sciences, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Health Informatics or a health-related field is required
• At least 10 years of professional work experience designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation activities for complex programs in developing countries.  Previous experience on USAID programs and health or social welfare-focused programs preferred
• Familiarity with the Nigerian Health system including government planning and budgeting processes at Federal and state levels
• Strong skills in negotiating with and engaging Ministry of Health officials at all levels of the health system.
• Familiarity with the challenges and opportunities of strengthening health systems in Sub Saharan Africa
• Experience working with private sector actors involved in health service delivery
• Demonstrated experience in setting up and managing M&E systems that track performance as per the objectives of this project (e.g., OVC services, performance against each result area)
• Demonstrated computer skills in Epi Info, SPSS, GIS and Microsoft Office Suite applications including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook and advanced skills in the use of analytical tools
• High degree of familiarity with community-based data bases such as DHIS 2 – its use, customization, and interoperability of related data management platforms.
• Demonstrated results with capacity building/training, and implementing training programs and workshops in Monitoring, Evaluation and Research;
• Demonstrated experience and understanding of PEPFAR MER Indicators, particularly OVC outcomes indicators and PEPFAR 3.0
• Fluency in English.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

• The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Physical Demands: 

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee must be mobile in an office environment and able to use standard office equipment.
• Must be able to communicate in verbal and written form and must be able to travel internationally.
• Project HOPE employees may be required to travel or work in countries where working conditions are classified as “hardship.”

Work Environment:

• Typical office environment with exposure to a minimal noise level.
• Emergency deployments may be in resource-deprived environments with austere living conditions.
• Travel for extended periods may be by air and/or other modes of transportation.
• While international travel is not a regular part of every job, programmatic needs may require it intermittently.
• Project HOPE employees may be required to travel or work in countries where working conditions are classified as “hardship.”