Health Adviser, British Embassy Mogadishu at British High Commission Nairobi

Main purpose:

• Somalia is an important global geographic priority and matters to the UK. The UK plays a prominent role among international actors in the country, as the UNSC penholder on Somalia, historically a leading donor, and a major player in training military forces.
• The Somalia Network operates across four sites: the British Embassy Mogadishu, the British Office in Hargeisa, the British High Commission in Nairobi and the Somalia Team in headquarters. The UK in Somalia brings together approximately 50 staff across a range of disciplines and government departments.
• This Health Advisor role will play a critical leadership and delivery position within the UK’s humanitarian and development partnerships in Somalia (including Somaliland). It will also support UK Government global health security objectives in relation to disease outbreak risks. The position sits in the British High Commission Nairobi within the Humanitarian, Resilience and Human Development Team but with regular travel and engagement with platforms in Mogadishu and Hargeisa.
• The postholder will work closely with the ministries of Health in Mogadishu and Hargeisa to shape and deliver the UK’s new approach to development. This means shifting UK partnership from a donor to investor mindset; focusing on systems strengthening no service delivery; utilising deep technical assistance over grant giving; and pivoting from internationally delivered to locally led approaches. A core part of this will be corralling multilateral health financing instruments, of which the UK is a major donor, with bilateral funding investments to strengthen a more coordinated and coherent approach to health financing which has affordability and sustainability at it’s heart. Understanding and engaging with the private sector needs to be a key part of this.
• The postholder will also lead on the health and nutrition elements of the Somalia Network’s programme and policy approach to humanitarian crisis. This will included advisory oversight for programming, and engagement on disease outbreak surveillance, preparedness and response.

Roles and responsibilities:

The post holder will provider advisory leadership across policy, programme and disease outbreak risk assessment and surveillance. They will work across all Somalia Network platforms, delivering objectives across UK partnerships in Mogadishu and Hargeisa. This will require regular travel.

Specifically this role will be responsible for:

Technical leadership for UK health policy and diplomacy in the context of systems strengthening (30%):

• Oversight and delivery of the UK’s health strategy in Somalia (including Somaliland) covering diplomacy, multilateral finance, and bilateral investment tools to support sustainable health systems strengthening.
• Lead engagement with the Ministries of Health in Somalia and Somaliland, supporting them to radically rethink their health financing and delivery strategies in the context of radical changes in global financing.
• Lead UK engagement with the Global Health Institution in Somalia (including Somaliland) where the UK is a major donor (e.g. GAVI, Global Fund, World Bank) ensuring their are well integrated into wider donor positioning, linking to Headquarter teams on this.
• Represent the UK in the Health Donor Group, potentially taking on the chair role at the next appointment cycle.
• Lead UK engagement with a wider set of Somali health stakeholders, including the private sector, think tanks and civil society.
• Providing high quality technical information and advice in a timely manner for briefings, communications pieces, analyses, case studies and results data.
• Increase the UK’s ability to achieve outcomes through health diplomacy and networking, using politically informed approaches linked to the work of UK seniors and other teams across post especially humanitarian, governance and climate.

Technical leadership for health and nutrition programming within a humanitarian context (40%):

• Lead advisor on approx £10M per annum bilateral humanitarian and basic services programming covering health, nutrition, and WASH.
• Lead on engaging in the design of process of the next phase of World Bank health financing in Somalia, including an assessment of UK readiness to invest and evaluation of the UK instruments to channel pooled finance and ongoing influence of the World Bank in this fragile setting.
• For bilateral programming, working closely with a lead programme manager to ensure high quality technical programming; robust partner oversight; and effective finance, risk and results management. Ensuring concepts of system strengthening within humanitarian programmes and the humanitarian-development nexus are considered from the outset.
• Engage with FCDO and wider Centrally Managed Programmes working in Somalia (including Somaliland). This included UK supported work on Sexual and Reproductive Rights (WISH-D).

Technical leadership for disease outbreak surveillance, preparedness and response (20%):

• Understanding and tracking disease surveillance systems across Somalia (including Somaliland). Ensuring robust analysis and timely early warning, and supporting systems strengthening.
• External engagement with national health security partners in Somalia (including Somaliland) across Government, UN, NGO and Red Cross, fostering greater coordination and collaboration.
• Internal engagement within FCDO and across UK home departments
• Lead on disease outbreak risk assessment for BEM and BOH internal Crisis Management Plans, and support internal disease outbreak preparedness and responses.

Contributing to the FCDO health cadre’s delivery across FCDO through 10% work and continuous professional development.

• The successful candidate will have a demonstrable track record of delivering health outcomes at Expert level in the health technical competencies. You will be recognised for your technical knowledge and/or skill which will be underpinned by experience working on technical issues. More information is available in the health technical competency framework Health: Technical Competency Framework, May 2024

If you are successful and are not already accredited to the health cadre, you will have the option of seeking accreditation and will be supported to do so.

Essential qualifications, skills and experience  

• Health sector relevant degree level qualification (or over 10 years of experience at an expert level in the sector).
• Over 12 years of professional experience in roles relevant to this job specification.
• Must have the right to live and work in Kenya.
• Experience of designing and delivering health programmes at scale in fragile and conflict affected developing country contexts.
• Experience of working with a range of stakeholders including government, donors, implementing partners and multilaterals on health policy and programming.
• Strong health system strengthening experience.
• Experience of delivering health outcomes at expert level in the health technical competencies.
• Strong communication (written and verbal) and interpersonal skills;
• Personal resilience

Desirable qualifications, skills and experience  

• A demonstrable track record of resilience or experience in Somalia or very similar country contexts 
• Ability to work at pace and under pressure to tight deadlines.
• Ability to prioritise against multiple demands.