Ondo State Primary Health Care Development Board NSHIP Verifier Internship Program 2017

Background

• With funding from the World Bank, the Nigerian government has been implementing Nigeria State Health Investment Project (NSHIP) in three states - Ondo, Nasarawa and Adamawa since December 2011.
• This Results-Based Financing (RBF) project has two distinct components: 1) strengthening service delivery mainly at the health facility level and 2) strengthening institutional performance at the federal, state and local government area (LGA) levels. After 4 years of implementation, gains have been recorded within the States, which consequently has led to a planned scale-up of NSHIP to other states. With an additional financing (AF) of about 145 Million USD, and in keeping with the presidential initiative to rehabilitate the North east, the project will be extended to the five additional North Eastern States of Borno, Yobe, Taraba, Gombe and Bauchi. This Expression of interest is for candidates intending to serve in the current NSHIP States.

Aim

• The NSHIP verifier internship program is a local capacity building program designed to meet the demands of the NSHIP implementation. It adopts the use of theoretical and practical learning methods to explain the concept of Performance Based Financing (PBF). The program aims to:
  • Select a qualified pool of candidates with health background, through a very rigorous and merit-based process
  • To train successful candidates in a one-month intensive internship program
  • Provide a set of skilled verifiers that will be engaged to conduct verification of services delivered at the primary health facilities in the project states and also carry out coaching and mentoring activities in the eight project states.
  • To have an adequate number of verifiers, one for every ten health, to adequately execute the project objectives
  • To have a pool of verifiers that can be called upon as the project expands to cover other local government areas in the project states

Program Curriculum

• The PBF Training Course Guide will be the primary manual used during the internship program. It consists of 31 modules covering all the relevant aspects of PBF. The training structure will involve in-class theory on concepts of Performance Based Financing, as well as practical field exercises and IT training.

Basic Principles

• A mixed team from NPHCDA, SPCHDA and the Results-Based Financing-Technical Assistance (RBF-TA) Firm shall conduct the selection of interns. The process will be led by the RBF-TA that will subsequently be charged with the management of all verifiers on the project.
• All Candidates, (having satisfied the pre-selection criteria) will be sent the PBF implementation user manual for review
• All selected candidates will take a transparent computer based Test on practical knowledge of PBF and the PBF Implementation User Manual.
• The selection procedure and the test will be organised in such a way as to obtain the best quality index.
• Successful candidates in the test will therefore undergo a one-month intense internship course, at the end of which, the best (by order of merit) will be recruited as verifiers in the selected project states.

Eligibility Criteria
Candidates will be selected based on the level of compliance with the following weighted pre-selection criteria, with the final selection made based on the highest cumulative scores on:

• Motivation letter
• Curriculum vitae
• Scanned copies of academic documents (degrees and training certificates)
• Letters of reference (at least 2)
• Nationality
• Health-related educational background (minimum qualification: Community Health Officer)
• At least 2 years working experience in the health sector
• Working experience in the implementation of Performance-based financing approaches
• Age not older than 40years
• Satisfactory IT skills with working knowledge of Microsoft software (Excel, Word, PowerPoint)

Candidates shall indicate in their motivation letter, the state they are applying to work in, among the three NSHIP states. Residence or being an indigene of one of the project states, with knowledge of the culture and local language will be an added advantage.