Job Opportunities at Options Consultancy Services

Contract Type: Short term technical assistance

Details

• Options Consultancy seeks a short term consultant to work with the Lafiya Kaduna team to identify advocacy and accountability opportunities for improved allocation, release and expenditure on health

Responsibilities
The consultant will be expected to:

• To undertake a political economy analysis to understand how the ministry of health and related institutions operate in planning, budgeting, release and expenditure for effective health care delivery
• To provide an analysis of the power relations of stakeholders making decisions relating to planning, budgeting, release and expenditure, including the ministry of health and related institutions, and how these power relations influence planning, budgeting, release and expenditure of health funding
• To identify areas of political traction for the ministry of health and related institutions on improving public investment for health
• To identify enablers and blockers for improved public investment for health, as well as the interests and incentives of decision makers
• To consider and examine the specific interventions needed to support and strengthen both the ministry of health and related institutions improve public investment for health.
• To identify and map out the opportunities and challenges for the state, ministry of health and related institutions in improving public investment for health

Person Specification
To succeed in this role, you will have:

• Postgraduate qualification, in the Social Sciences including Political Sciences or Health Economics
• At least 6-8 years of relevant experience of working on health financing, health systems strengthening, and accountability in Nigeria
• Experience conducting applied political economy analysis
• Proven ability to facilitate workshops or focus group discussions to generate information
• Experience conducting qualitative research with a range of stakeholders
• Demonstrated ability to integrate, synthesize and communicate complex ideas verbally, in writing and in other visual formats.
• Proven ability to develop relationships with state and local governments and civil society

Salary
Commensurate with experience.

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Contract Type: Consultancy

Job Description

• Options Consultancy Services seeks a consultant to assess the capacity of a sample of Ward Development Committees (WDC) and propose a capacity development plan to address identified gaps.
• The consultant will also help establish a State Led Accountability Mechanism (SLAM) in Jigawa state.

Responsibilities

• The consultancy will provide Lafiya programme and other key actors with a deeper understanding of the level of knowledge and functionality of Ward Development Committees (WDC), establish a State Led Accountability Mechanism (SLAM) in Jigawa and provide recommendations on addressing knowledge and capacity gaps in collaboration with relevant stakeholders.
• The assignment will be used to provide a baseline on levels of capacity and functionality of WDCs and the newly established SLAM and will inform programme interventions to strengthen the SLAM and WDCs in advocacy and accountability on prioritisation of health investment for human capital development.

Qualifications
Person specification:

• Postgraduate medical qualification, or a PhD in the Social Sciences/Health Policy with at least 3years post qualification experience, or a master’s degree with 7years post qualification experience.

Expertise/skills:

• Technical expertise in PHC, health systems strengthening, and accountability, particularly the primary health system strengthening (PHC) approach.
• Proven ability to manage relationships with government ministries, state and local governments, service providers, communities, and other stakeholders.
• Familiarity with Nigeria’s health system is a strong asset.
• Knowledge of, and experience with applying and facilitating capacity or organisational development tools
• Demonstrated ability to integrate, synthesize and communicate complex ideas verbally and in writing.
• Excellent analytical and conceptual skills.
• Fluency in Hausa and English.

Experience:

• At least 8-10 years of relevant experience of working in strengthening PHC system in developing countries through community participation or enhancing accountability. Prior experience with community work linked with PHC and/or accountability mechanisms is an added advantage.
• Experience in health system strengthening (HSS), workshop facilitation, data collection, analysis, and monitoring and evaluation.
• Previous working experience with DFID and/or other international agencies. 
• Experience working with the national, state, or local governments in Nigeria is an advantage.

Salary

• Communserate upon experience

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Contract type: Short term technical assistance contract

Job Description
Options Consultancy Services seeks a consultant who will work with the Lafiya Kaduna team to develop support strategies for the implementation of Nigeria’s HCD vision with a particular focus on health but working closely with other actors involved in addressing the other components of HCD in Nigeria

Responsibilities
The consultant will be responsible for:

• Providing an in-depth analysis and understanding of the Nigerian Human Capital Development Vision at federal level, including institutional arrangements for implementing it and progress or challenge since its establishment in 2018 and plans and intentions for roll-out in the states.
• Identification and justification of the HCD platforms through which CSOs will be convened.
• Identification of change agents who have the potential to be HCD Champions.
• Informing Lafiya programme strategies on how to support implementation of the HCD vision at federal level and within targeted states starting with a pilot in Kano State
• Feeding into discussions on the development of indicators to measure human capital development under the Lafiya logframe, including advising on available data sources, means of measurement and limitations.

Person Specification
To succeed in this role, you will have:

• Postgraduate medical qualification, or a PhD in the Social Sciences/Health Policy with at least 3 years post qualification experience, or a Master’s degree with 7 years post qualification experience.
• Research skills – Epidemiology, Statistics and Qualitative study with a focus on key areas of Human Capital Development with a minimum of 7years post qualification experience.
• Verifiable experience in the following areas: 
• Human Capital Development and discussion around HCD reporting frameworks and tracking mechanisms
• Stakeholders mapping and strategic engagement 
• Conducting multi-sectoral PEA 
• Government of Nigeria (GoN) policies and strategy on HCD, policy reviews and analysis
• Civil Society advocacy and accountability mechanisms
• Strategy development 
• Innovative and Sustainable Financing
• Multi-sector Project Management in health, education, sustainable livelihood

Salary

• Commensurate with experience.

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Contract type: Full-time, 1 year fixed-term contract

Details

• Options Consultancy seeks a Technical Officer/Advisor who will provide technical support to our long-term programmes in Africa and South Asia, through a mix of remote support and travel to the country offices.
• The post-holder will have the opportunity to contribute ideas and evidence for developing new concepts and proposals, working closely with our experienced international teams.

Responsibilities

• The role of the Technical Officer/Advisor Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) is to provide technical support to programmes that strengthen health systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
• The post-holder will be able to appreciate the complexities of health systems including the political context in which they function, provide specific support for one or more of the health systems build blocks, and be able to critically appraise data and evidence on Health Systems and Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Adolescent and Child Health (RMNCAH).
• S/he will be responsible for ensuring programmes have access to the latest global evidence and for supporting evidence generation and learning from and between programmes.
• Strong interest in and contribution to developing new proposals is expected.

Person Specification
To succeed in this role, you will have:

• An M.Sc or relevant qualification or related comparable experience in public health, sexual and reproductive health, public policy, political science or research and evaluation
• Experience in delivering technical work on health systems in Africa
• Experience in providing remote and in-person technical assistance to counterparts, across a range of overseas programmes
• Experience in using data and evidence to build programmes and to influence policy and practice
• Experience in developing new concepts and technical design of programmes
• Fluency in written and spoken English. Fluency in French highly desirable.

Salary
Commensurate with experience.