Technical Advisor at GIZ Nigeria

A.       Background

BACKUP health is mandated for the period April 2020 to August 2023 to support governmental and civil society partners to leverage and make efficient use of funding from global (health) financing mechanisms, such as GFATM, Gavi and GFF, towards the strengthening of their health systems. This boosts the effectiveness and sustainability of the measures receiving financial support and creates value for money in the investments. On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), BACKUP has selected four focus countries with personnel in country: Cameroon, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi and Nigeria. Further countries are eligible to apply for demand-based support. In the context of co-financing by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), BACKUP has selected six additional focus countries with personnel working in country: Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Uganda. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) has been co-financing BACKUP since 2013. The focus countries of the SDC are Ethiopia, Niger and Tanzania (without personnel working in country). Since 2021, BACKUP has been receiving additional funding from the French agency Expertise France for training to strengthen national health systems. P4H covers six focus countries with local personnel. Cambodia, Cameroon and Tanzania were selected on behalf of BMZ. Chad and Mozambique were selected for SDC co-financing.

To achieve its goal and objectives, the project is currently collaborating directly with partners in focus countries in six main areas:

Strengthen national coordination of global health financing: to ensure that the management (planning and implementation) of globally financed programmes is coordinated and based on national strategies, and in turn leads to health services that are targeted towards group-specific needs.

Strengthen capacities of selected institutions in the partner countries to set and achieve health-system strengthening priorities in connection with global financing: these priorities may include improved human resource competencies for strengthening health systems and improved organisational competencies for managing global financing, such as data, financial and risk management, as well as the technical capacities required for specific health systems functions.

Improve the management of health services at the decentralized level particularly with regard to the integration of globally financed programmes:  for example, by analysing existing models of community-based health services integration and implementation, then using the findings to propose a new model for integrated management of health services.

Mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the broader national health systems: this is primarly aimed at supporting recovery of health systems from the impact of COVID-19 through capacity strengthening for frontline workers, laboratory response, surveillance, risk communication etc.

Supporting sustainable, resilient and equitable health financing:
The P4H network assists countries in reforming their national health financing and effectively integrating external sources of funding.

Strengthening capacities for Vaccine Manufacturing in the Africa Region: This component is seeking to establish knowledge base through tertiary institutions, and manufacturing capacities for vaccine production in the Africa region, working through selected countries and regional hubs.

Participation by civil society, key and vulnerable populations, human rights and gender equality are critical factors for programme success and serve as cross-cutting topics for the project. BACKUP seems to increase community representation and involvement in programme design, planning, implementation and monitoring.

B.        Responsibilities

BACKUP Health seeks to employ a qualified technical advisor who will work in close collaboration with the BACKUP team (in country and headquarter). The position holder will work with a wide range of partners in government, development sector, implementing partners as well as civil society organisations at the national level, as well as a limited number of state engagements.

 The technical advisor has the following core responsibilities:

• Establish partnerships with national, bi- and multilateral stakeholders and development partners in the Nigerian health sector
• Based on overall BACKUP strategy and mandate, contribute to the ongoing development of the BACKUP portfolio and technical assistance approach in Nigeria
• Support the coordination and monitoring of the implementation of ongoing Global Fund, Gavi and GFF related projects and consultancies where relevant to the BACKUP portfolio
• Support the coordination and implementation of strategies aligned with key national policies and priorities in collaboration with multiple stakeholders
• Provide advisory and capacity development services to BACKUP partner institutions and organizations in Nigeria, with a special focus on identified states

In this context, the position holder performs the following tasks in close collaboration with the BACKUP team (in country and headquarter) as well as other teams of relevant programmes in the country:

C.       Tasks

1.         Technical advice (capacity development)

• Identify technical assistance (TA) needs and opportunities for support in BACKUP’s areas of cooperation, such as strengthening national coordination, the health system and the management of health services at community levels.
• Provide technical assistance based on the identified needs as well as analyze and incorporate cross cutting themes such as community, rights and gender related to the interventions.
• Provide technical contributions to policies, guidelines and tools as may be required by programme activities.
• Organise, conduct and/or facilitate training sessions in relevant areas of work for government and civil society partners.

2.         Management and coordination

• Plan consultancy and financial support to be provided by BACKUP based on the overall strategy of the project and specific partner needs.
• Operationalize the monitoring framework for the contribution of interventions in the country to overall project objectives and indicators.
• Provide technical backstopping to local and international TA providers in his/her field of expertise.
• Prepare, attend and report on governance, programmatic and technical working group coordination meetings.
• Manage and coordinate BACKUP interventions in the country (monitoring, technical and financial reporting, logistical management of workshops and field trips).
• In cooperation with colleagues at national level, plan and support visits from TA providers and BACKUP headquarter staff.
• In cooperation with colleagues at national level and international levels, support knowledge management for BACKUP by collecting and documenting good practices and lessons learned on Global Fund-related processes and TA approaches as well as for Gavi and the GFF.

3.         Communication and networking

• Promote partnerships and linkages between key stakeholders related to the Global Fund, disease specific as well as health system actors as well as for Gavi and the GFF and to the commissioners of the programme (BMZ and FCDO).
• Represent BACKUP in adhering to the programme’s principles, guidelines and agreements in all related engagements and interventions
• Support transparent communication and information sharing between all involved institutions and counterparts related to the Global Fund, Gavi and the GFF.
• In cooperation with colleagues at national level, prepare BACKUP communication and coordinate public relations through national, regional and global publication of project outcomes (e.g. in journals, news feeds and social media).

4.         Coordination with other teams of relevant programmes in the country

Coordinate planning, execution and monitoring of all national, regional and district activities jointly with other teams of relevant programmes in the country to ensure a coherent and seamless support in the health sector from GIZ.

Conduct regular meetings with other program´s project managers if applicable to update on progress, report on results and seek guidance on key challenges.

 5.         Other duties/additional tasks

The position holder performs other duties and tasks at the request by the BACKUP / GIZ management.

D.       Required qualifications, competencies and experience

Qualifications

§  University degree (master’s level) in an area that is relevant to the program objectives, with a focus on public health, public policy or development studies. A master’s degree in public health (management) would be an asset.

 Professional experience

• At least 5 years professional experience in a comparable position
• Work experience in the health sector in Nigeria with national public and/or private institutions (e.g. disease control, health service delivery, community development)
• Experience with health programmes financed by domestic and external resources
• Experience providing capacity building and technical advisory services

 Other knowledge, additional competencies

• Good understanding of global health architecture
• Experience with Global Fund and/or German Development Cooperation would be an asset
• Experience working with government stakeholders at the national and sub-national levels is an added advantage
• Highly motivated professional
• A team player willing to take on responsibility
• Strong managerial and organisational competence
• Possessing a positive attitude to change
• Tolerance to ambiguous situations and stress
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to effectively interact in complex cooperation systems with various stakeholders (including senior government officials, civil society and key population representatives, project implementers and beneficiaries)
• Good communication and writing skills
• Language skills: Excellent spoken and written English
• Good IT knowledge
• Willingness to upgrade knowledge as required by the tasks to be performed
• Willingness to travel regularly between main office in Abuja and GIZ/partner offices in decentralized (state) level, as well as upcoming travels outside of Nigeria as may occur.