Consultant (Health Financing and Investment Program)

Terms of reference for a 5 months assignment to support the Health Financing and Investment program at AFRO

Background:

The Health Financing and Investment (HFI) program is one of the 9 programs under the UHC Life course cluster. The main objective of the HFI program is to support countries to strengthen their Health Financing Systems and enhance progress towards UHC through generation of evidence and provision of high-quality technical guidance.
The program seeks to support countries to develop and implement robust health financing policies, strategies and health financing reforms; provide countries with tools and frameworks to formulate results-oriented health budgets, sound pooling arrangements and efficient purchasing strategies; build the capacity of countries to conduct and institutionalise health expenditure tracking and generate evidence to inform policy dialogue and decision making.
The program acknowledges the value propositioni of the P4H network, of which WHO is a founding member, and which Coordination Desk is mainly based in WHO/HQ/HGF/PHF.
To this end the HFI program seeks to recruit a consultant for 5 months to provide technical support to the work of the HFI unit program with technical work (50%) and in the facilitation of stakeholders’ collaboration in health financing in the framework of the P4H network and offerings (50%).

SUMMARY OF DUTIES

Tasks to be performed by the consultant will include but not limited to:

Technical work: (50%)
• Support countries to build institutional capacity to generate evidence to guide sound decision making and priority setting in the health sector including undertaking economic evaluations, costing, cost effectiveness analysis and health technology assessment,
• Assess the impact of health status on economic growth and generate evidence on the social economic impact of diseases on the economy.
• Adapt methodologies and develop frameworks to guide countries in undertaking analytical work in the areas of efficiency, equity and monitoring of financial risk protection.
• Reduce the information gap by producing regional and country-specific analyses, monitoring reports and scientific papers, and disseminating data and evidence through databases and publications;
• Build country capacity in undertaking expenditure tracking.
• Lead and coordinate support to countries to Institutionalize the production of high-quality Health Accounts data and foster uptake of results in policy dialogue and decision making.
• Update the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database and analyse and produce reports on national and regional trends;
• Build country capacity in developing equitable resource allocation formulae.
• Support countries to strengthen their public financial management systems.

Facilitation of stakeholders’ collaboration in Health Financing in the framework of the P4H network and offerings (“P4H part”): (50%)
• Support the deployment and follow-up of P4H Country Focal Persons (CFP) in AFRO with a focus on WCO-contracted P4H CFPs:
o Support P4H CFPs’ deployment processes in countries
o Follow-up P4H CFPs’ work including on the basis of the P4H CFP M&E framework
• Facilitate the running of the Leadership for UHC program
o Facilitate the processes of selection of countries, participants, and any WCO needed support in the programme
• Support the documentation of HF processes in country in the P4H web platform
o Follow-up the documentation in AFRO countries’ dedicated pages
o Support the information sharing regarding the P4H web platform within WHO/AFRO
o Participate in the P4H web platform development in the AFRO region (content and users)
• Support and follow-up any P4H activities in WHO/AFRO as per opportunities and needs
• Support the connection between WHO/HQ/HGF/PHF/P4H-CD and WCOs in all required communications and engagements related to offerings and activities of the network (webinars, regional exchanges…)

Method of work:
The consultant will work under the supervision of the Team lead for the HFI program and in close collaboration with the HFS focal point at AFR as well as IST HFS focal points.
The consultant will work closely with the WHO/HQ/HGF/PHF/P4H-CD in all tasks related to the “P4H” part of his/her work.

Skills/knowledge:
• Demonstrated knowledge of the principles and methods of health economics, health financing and social protection assessments and analyses.
• Proven ability to synthesis of evidence, summarize findings and produce clear and accurate reports with proposals for recommended actions.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills with ability to write in a clear and concise manner and give technical advice and guidance, taking into consideration the views of multiple stakeholders and partners in resource-limited contexts.
• Proven interpersonal skills with ability to promote consensus, communicate progress and results, and resolve issues in a proactive manner, while ensuring effective work practices and ethics, diplomacy and courtesy.

Experience:

Essential:

At least seven years’ experience in health economics, econometrics, financial analysis and evaluation of health projects at national and international levels, including experience in economic and financial analysis, conducting National Health Accounts exercises, with experience in data collection and management.

Desirable
Experience or sound understanding of WHO or the UN.

Education:
Essential
Post-graduate degree in Health Economics, social statistics, quantitative economics as related to public health or social science.

Desirable
PhD in statistical methods, Health economics or Econometrics.
Experience with the P4H network.

Competencies:
Respecting individual and cultural differences; producing results : communication in an effective and credible way ; analytical skills. Knowledge of computer applications is desirable.

Language:
Proficient in English, with working knowledge of French.

Duration of assignment:
The duration of the assignment is 5 months.

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i P4H enhances its members' contributions to UHC, gives them leverage and creates synergies by:
● Connecting stakeholders across health, finance, social and other relevant sectors and with all other levels
● Incentivizing and facilitating collaboration and joint programming
● Developing products and services to support capacity building for national coordination and inclusive dialogue on UHC financing and social health protection
● Practically linking accountability, ownership and evidence based and result oriented approach.