Primary Health Care (PHC) Financing Specialist , P-4, TA , 364 days, ESARO, Nairobi, Kenya at UNICEF

How can you make a difference?

Under the supervision of the UNICEF ESARO HSS Specialist, and in close collaboration with System Strengthening Specialists in Health, HIV, Nutrition and Supply,  Social Policy and other relevant sections, and the Sr Immun. Specialist (Health Economics) outposted from HQ,  the incumbent will support countries in the ESA region of UNICEF indirect guidance and technical oversight on Health Financing (including Primary Health Care costing) to UNICEF Country Offices in the ESA region. The incumbent will also through regional level Health Harmonization for Africa (HHA) HSS partners, including WHO, work to align and coordinate on technical assistance to countries on PHC costing and to document and disseminate lessons learned from costing exercises and related advocacy efforts. The incumbent will also work closely with our colleagues in UNICEF WCARO working on similar PHC costing efforts, to align and produce regional level toolkits and public goods.

The incumbent of the post will:

• Coordinate and provide technical support to COs for Health Financing
  • Oversee regional office technical support to UNICEF Country Offices (COs) for the costing of their PHC packages
  • Support UNICEF COs to prepare, present, and summarize PHC costing findings for advocacy and use at country, regional and global levels.
  • Support technically UNICEF COs in the region to develop the relevant economic analyses aligning with their national context
  • Provide technical guidance on public financial management for Health
• Develop materials and guidance documents for economic analyses for health
  • Develop a package of guidance, tools, terms of reference, and methodology documents for estimating the costs of PHC packages, ensuring alignment with UNICEF global guidance and comparability across countries/regions
  • Contribute to cross-country analyses of findings in support of global-level comparisons
  • Develop generic materials and methodologies to support health financing-related requests from COs (including UHC, investment cases, community health, health insurance, costing, etc.)
• Strengthen health financing partnerships at the regional level
  • Engage actively with existing mechanisms (such as HHA), regional level UN entities, public and private sector partners, to advance health financing best practices
  • Advocate, during strategic discussions with Ministries of Finance and Health and other key decision-makers and stakeholders, including UNICEF COs, to influence agenda setting in favor of health and wellbeing of children, women, and young people
  • Collaborate with WHO, World Bank, other UN agencies, and implementing partners to support country-level technical assistance on public financing: costing, financial and fiscal space analysis, budgeting, and design of financing mechanisms to benefit children and women.
• Contribute to health systems’ strengthening agenda within UNICEF Regional Office
  • Collaborate with systems strengthening experts in Health, HIV, Supply, Nutrition, ECD, and other sections to ensure optimal integration and alignment of the PHC costing work with other ongoing initiatives.
  • Prepare strategic program materials for management use, information, and/or consideration.

Key expected results

The functions of this position are strongly aligned with UNICEF’s Health System Strengthening approach and

UNICEF ESARO regional priorities and will make significant contributions toward progress in health financing for primary health care. In this context, the incumbent is expected:

• to provide timely and high-quality technical assistance to countries in the region in PHC costing;
• presenting and summarizing PHC costing findings for advocacy and use at country, regional and global levels;
• developing materials and guidance documents for economic analyses for health; and contributing to health financing partnerships at the regional level and development of regional public goods (toolkits, capacity building materials, and documentation of lessons learned) for use in future PHC costing exercises

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Education:

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in health economics or public health with a focus on health economics or health financing or an advanced degree in economics or financing with a focus on Health Systems Strengthening and/or another related field is required.
• Good knowledge of theoretical and practical modeling is required
• Prior experience developing costing /using costing tools (OneHealth Tool, CHPCT, EQUIST) is a must

Experience:

• A minimum of 8 (eight) years of experience at the national and international levels in a relevant discipline, such as international public health or global development is required.
• Prior experience working with UNICEF country offices in Africa is required particularly in areas of economic analysis
• Preference will be given to candidates who have:
  • Knowledge and experience of health economic analysis, especially cost analysis
  • Knowledge of and experience with Public Financial Management in Health
  • Knowledge of analyses of global health financing issues and trends
  • Strong communication and relationship-building skills in both the national community (e.g. local universities, national research institutions) and the global health community, particularly among donors, multilateral partners, and implementers
  • Experience with Health Systems Strengthening applications and programs
  • Experience in strengthening public health financing and governance

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English (written and verbal) is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, or Spanish) is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People, and Drive for Results.

The functional competencies required for this post are:

• Analyzing (3)
• Deciding and Initiating action (2)
• Applying technical expertise (3)

The competencies:

1. Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (1)
2. Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
3. Works Collaboratively with others (1)
4. Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
5. Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
6. Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
7. Drives to achieve impactful results (1)
8. Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

View our competency framework at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

This VA is open to all internal staff and other UNICEF personnel (including consultants, JPOs, UNVs, TAs, etc.)