Community Health Advocacy Officer

Last Mile Health (LMH) saves lives in the world's most remote communities by partnering with governments to bring critical primary care services to the doorsteps of people living in the last mile. Last Mile Health is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization with offices in Liberia, Boston and New York. For more information, visit www.lastmilehealth.org.

The Community Health Advocacy Officer, Health Investment & Policy, will have primary responsibility for developing and executing the Liberia Advocacy Strategy as part of a proposed partnership award with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This proposed partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation aims to inform broader global advocacy for community health workforce programming in conjunction with a related investment with USAID/UNICEF/ Integrating Community Health (ICH) which strengthens and unifies learning around community health across multiple countries, grants and delivery models. The Community Health Advocacy Officer will support the refinement and implementation of the Liberia advocacy strategy that addresses cost-effectiveness, quality, feasibility and potential for scale to support the Liberia Ministry of Health, policymakers, other Ministries within the Government of Liberia (Education, Gender, Youth and Sports) and funding audiences (e.g. donors, the Ministries of Health and Finance) for continued investment and sustainment of the National CHA Program in Liberia.

• Work with key stakeholders across the Ministry of Health and partners to development analysis of learnings from the National Community Health Assistant Program in order to inform an integrated advocacy strategy
• Work with key stakeholders across the Government of Liberia (Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, etc) to track developments in administration changes and to assess and strategize around priorities and critical junctures for increased advocacy opportunities to create an enabling and influencing environment
• Conduct and develop stakeholder mapping of relevant advocates and partnerships of different sectors and levels within the Government of Liberia and Ministry of Health and build new alliances to further additional investments and opportunities for the National CHA Program
• Gather and analyze evidence and information to create a menu of revisions, amendments and additions to the National Community Health Services Policy and National Community Health Assistant Programs service delivery package
• Work with key stakeholders to finalize and implement a tailored Liberia advocacy strategy including north star principles and key messaging to integrate into relevant materials and multi-sectoral advocacy opportunities at the national and county levels
• Plan with and support Government of Liberia leadership team to attend global forums for increased CHA program advocacy; and in global learning exchange opportunities with other country governments to share and learn best practices in community health programming, advocacy and health financing and investment  
• Support the National Community Health Systems team to implement and continuously evaluate and iterate the Liberia Advocacy Strategy in partnership with the Ministry of Health leadership team

• A Master’s degree in public policy, public health, international development or related subject
• Minimum of 4 years work experience in policy and international development, preferably in advancing health system strengthening alongside government counterparts
• Minimum of 3 years previous management experience, preferably an integrated team of national and international staff members
• Demonstrated experience in project and operational management in complex environments
• Experience motivating and empowering staff members to achieve key performance indicators
• Experience working with national governments and as a technical expert/technical assistant
• Ability to diplomatically navigate complex government processes and stakeholder dynamics, proactively problem solving to negotiate and achieve results and consensus with multiple influencers
• Experience working with national governments at the field level
• Mission-driven with a commitment to health and social justice
• Demonstrated ability to multi-task in time-sensitive manner
• Fluent in English and excellent verbal, and written communication skills
• Familiarity with technical aspects of community health systems (e.g. training and supervision, supply chain, human resources for health, quality improvement, governance, etc.)
• Strong communication and inter-personal skills; ability to interface with diverse stakeholder in a range of multi-disciplinary settings