The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries, while strengthening the capabilities of governments and the private sector in those countries to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without our assistance. For more information, please visit: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

Analytics and Implementation Research Team

CHAI’s high-impact, transformational programs are built on our ability to apply a rigorous, analytical approach to identify actionable solutions, guide complex change processes, and measure program performance. Working at the intersection of CHAI’s global and country teams, CHAI’s Analytics and Implementation Research (AIR) Team is the organization’s central hub of robust analytics for decision-making. The team is comprised of public health scientists with training in biostatistics, epidemiology, health economics, mathematical modeling, and program evaluation. The team has programmatic expertise in CHAI’s core areas including vaccines, sexual, reproductive, maternal and neonatal health (SRMNH), HIV, human resources for health, health financing, hepatitis, diarrhea, pneumonia, and TB.

Sustainable Health Financing Program

CHAI’s health financing program supports governments implementing reforms towards the goal of universal health coverage; ensuring that patients can access the care they need without suffering financial hardship. CHAI staff work closely with Ministries of Health and national insurance schemes, often with permanent desks in government offices, to build capacity for and support evidence-based decision making. This includes work on the design, implementation and management of financing reforms to mobilize sustainable resources and ensure those resources go as far as possible to improve health outcomes and address health disparities. A cornerstone of this work is to support governments to define an essential health care package or benefits package, and supporting governments to finance, and to reliably deliver, this package of services through public and private sector at affordable rates.

The Role

This candidate will play a key role in a multi-country study of service delivery, financing and management bottlenecks that prevent patients from accessing affordable and quality integrated sexual and reproductive health and primary care services. The results of this study will aim to inform the policy dialogue on sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and universal health coverage (UHC) with practical interventions and recommendations. This will inform CHAI and the governments’ immediate work in these countries and in the Sub-Saharan Africa region. The countries where the study will take place include Malawi, South Africa and Nigeria.

Candidate Profile

AIR is seeking a Research Associate to support analytical and evidence-generating activities in collaboration with the sustainable health financing program and other program areas where CHAI works. S/he will be responsible for tasks including support for study design, protocol development, data collection tool development, training of data collectors, supervision and quality control in data collection, analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, data visualization, and preparation of dissemination materials and manuscripts. The ideal candidate would have strong quantitative and mixed methods skills as well as analytical skills and be familiar with global health and key health systems strengthening concepts and approaches. We are seeking a motivated and resourceful individual with superior problem-solving, communication, and analytical skills. This individual should be able to function independently and work collaboratively in a fast-paced, multi-cultural environment.

The Research Associate will be a member of CHAI’s Analytics and Implementation Research (AIR) Team. The Research Associate will report to a Senior Technical Advisor on AIR, and will work closely with members from both CHAI country teams and global teams. While the focus of the work will be primarily on sustainable health financing, the candidate will also be asked to be flexible and simultaneously juggle projects outside of this portfolio.

• Support design of study tools including a facility-based service availability assessment and bottleneck assessment to understand key challenges in service delivery and management
• Support design of study tools including a deep dive in financial management bottlenecks including financial flows analysis from central to facility level
• Coordinate input from country teams and global stakeholders in the development of assessment tools, ensuring alignment across countries where possible
• Provide guidance on sample size requirements and sample selection
• Develop materials and coordinate trainings for data collectors
• Design electronic data collection using SurveyCTO
• Develop and maintain data dashboards for program monitoring
• Provide support to ensure research activities comply with ethical standards and policies
• Lead analysis of quantitative data and mixed methods research  
• Collaborate with key stakeholders to develop dissemination materials, including presentations and manuscripts
• Participate in dissemination and stakeholder engagement activities, including stakeholder workshops to determine key interventions and strategies to address bottlenecks
• Contribute to the planning of high-impact strategies to improve service coverage through addressing health systems including financing bottlenecks
• Other responsibilities as needed

• Masters degree in public health, economics, or a related field
• At least 3 to 5 years of relevant work experience in a field requiring analytical problem-solving
• Applied research experience, including designing impact evaluation or operational research projects in developing countries
• Excellent skills in data management and statistical analysis, including use of software such as Stata or SAS
• Exceptional ability to work independently, to develop and execute work-plans, and to achieve specified goals with limited guidance and oversight in a fast-paced environment
• Exceptional diplomatic and interpersonal skills, and an ability to manage challenging multi-cultural, multi-stakeholder situations to achieve intended results
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including demonstrated capacity to synthesize evidence into effective presentations and actionable recommendations for broad range of audience, including Ministries of Health, global donors and policy makers
• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to make linkages between interventions/programs
• Self-motivated with proven ability to work under pressure, set priorities and generate results
• Demonstrated capacity to thrive in a work environment where juggling parallel deliverables is the norm
• Ability to travel extensively to focus countries and other locations as relevant to work (as permitted by COVID-related restrictions)

Advantages

• Knowledge of health financing, health systems strengthening, and universal healthcare programs in LMICs
• Experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Malawi, South Africa or Nigeria

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