Country Engagement and Health Financing Specialist

This position is posted on April 18, 2023. While we review all applications on a rolling basis, please note that we will prioritize applications received within the first two weeks of the posting. Thank you.

This role is posted by Last Mile Health (LMH) on behalf of Financing Alliance for Health (FAH). FAH is the hiring organization for this role and all future roles posted on behalf of FAH. FAH is a collaborative partner with LMH, and Community Health Impact Coalition for the Africa Frontline First Initiative (AFF) under the leadership of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. 

This position is only open to candidates who are located and authorized to work within Sub-Saharan Africa Remote or in Nairobi. This position has a fixed term contract until March 2024, with potential for renewal.

Financing Alliance for Health Overview

Financing Alliance for Health (FAH), partners with the government on all steps of financing to strengthen, and sustain community health systems, leveraging primary health care to attain universal health coverage. (FAH partners long-term with Ministries of Health and Ministries of Finance teams to develop different and changing financing sources). FAH draws on private sector knowledge of financial structuring and access to private sector and development finance opportunities to increase and diversify funding options for governments to scale and sustain community health systems. 

The aim of our work is to increase access, coverage and utilization of quality primary health services at household level, in a culturally appropriate manner so as to reduce morbidity and mortality. Community health systems have a proven track record of economic, social and health impact through the thousands of jobs created for predominantly female, marginalized and young community health workers (CHWs).

Africa Frontline First Initiative Overview 

The Africa Frontline First (AFF) Initiative is a collaborative initiative that supports the scaling and strengthening of integrated and sustainable community health delivery in Sub-Saharan Africa. 

Africa Frontline First (AFF) Initiative aims to support ten countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to build high-functioning, resilient, country-led community health service delivery with an expanded and institutionalized health workforce of 200,000 CHWs by 2030. Anchored within the local context and health reform journey of each country, these shifts in community health service delivery will contribute to reduce excess morbidity and mortality from COVID-19, Malaria, TB, and HIV, prevent maternal and child mortality, advance health security, and accelerate economic recovery at the community level following the pandemic. In turn, these investments in community health are critical to progress on the health SDGs, including ending AIDS, TB, and Malaria, expanding universal health coverage (UHC), and as well as ensuring effective pandemic preparedness and response to COVID-19 and future pandemics. 

AFF works cross three pillars:

• Financing: Advocate, design and support implementation of sustainable funding mechanisms that enable transformed financing
• Political Prioritization: Cultivate regional political will and champions to support accelerating community health reforms, including domestic financing
• Community leadership: Partner with countries to ensure that financing mechanisms contribute towards achieving national community health goals

Role

Reporting to the Program Director, Building Integrated Readiness for Community Health. The Country Engagement and Health Financing Specialist will work directly with country providers and provide them advice, guidance, oversight, and monitoring in executing their program workplan. In addition to working with the assigned countries, this role will provide technical advice across all countries on the Global Fund funding process. This is an exciting opportunity for the right candidate to pioneer a transformative initiative, dedicated to scaling and sustaining integrated, resilient community health systems across ten African countries.  

This position is only open to candidates who are located and authorized to work within Sub-Saharan Africa Remote or in Nairobi. This position has a fixed term contract until March 2024, with potential for renewal.
 

What You'll Do

• Plan, supervise, monitor, follow up and report on, together with BIRCH providers, all aspects of AFF in-country activities for the countries in your portfolio. 
• Review progress reports from country implementing partners to make recommendations for review by the BIRCH Director.
• Serve as a liaison between AFF’s financing, political prioritization, and impact teams and the 3-5 countries in your portfolio
• Support development of narrative and budget components of GC7 funding request development and other health programming and financing technical support with BIRCH providers, Ministry of Health, and other relevant actors including Global Fund team. 
• Provide technical advice to all countries in AFF’s portfolio, on key Global Fund processes, information, and technical guidelines. 

This role includes 30% travel.  

What You'll Bring

• Master’s degree in health economics, economics, or public health with a health financing focus, or related field
• Several years working in health financing and health economics
• Experience working with ministries of health and finance, donors and implementing agencies, and strong communication skills to knowledgeable and effectively interact with key actors
• Experience with the Global Fund funding request development process, including previous experience as part of writing teams, country coordinating mechanisms, technical guidance to Ministries, or in review of funding requests
• Established track record of carrying out analytical work and preparing high-quality technical reports, policy briefing materials, and presentations
• Strong and compelling writing skills
• Culturally nuanced with extensive experience across multiple countries/regions on the African continent, with high preference for experience working with Francophone countries in Africa
• Diplomatic and patient, with ability to understand specific nuances of country contexts (political, cultural, economic, etc
• Working proficiency in French required (Bilingual is strongly preferred) with additional language skills are an added advantage

You'll Impress Us If

• Previous experience with health financing a strong asset, particularly working with Global Fund applications or implementation is preferable but not essential

FAH values the diversity of the people it hires and serves within the community. Our diversity is committed to fostering a work environment where individuals' strengths and uniqueness are recognized, appreciated, respected and responded to in ways that fully develop their potential.

FAH has a zero-tolerance approach to any harm to, or exploitation of, a vulnerable child or adult by any of our staff, partners or representatives. We are committed to preventing all undesirable behaviour at work. This includes, child abuse and exploitation, sexual harassment and abuse.