Senior Country Engagement Officer (Anglophone Africa) at Amref International University (AMIU)

Overview of the Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Centre (SPARC) The Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center (SPARC) is a resource hub aimed at strengthening strategic purchasing capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa by connecting existing regional expertise and matching it with country demand to make better use of resources for health. Our vision is to empower countries with knowledge and practical tools to make access to affordable and quality health care a reality for all. SPARC is creating a network of regional experts who can support the development of practical, home-grown solutions that meet countries’ strategic purchasing needs. SPARC is hosted by Amref Health Africa, a foremost Africa based NGO, as part of its strategic move to support health financing reforms in Africa. SPARC’s core partner – Results for Development – provides technical support to SPARC. Since launching the initiative in November 2017, SPARC has been on a journey to build momentum and capacity for strategic purchasing across sub-Saharan Africa, by expanding and connecting the growing critical mass of expertise, understanding and sharing practical experience on the continent and supporting countries to overcome political and technical barriers to using limited resources to promote equitable access to quality primary healthcare services. Building on its learnings so far, SPARC aims to scale up its impact, by strengthening its network of expertise, generating and sharing more practical tools and experiences on the continent and as a result, helping more countries advance strategic purchasing. In addition, SPARC is strengthening its strategic partnerships to expand its reach and sustain its impact in Africa. For example, SPARC is a member of the implementing network of the USAID supported Frontier Health Markets Global Technical Assistance project, a 5-year project led by Chemonics International aimed at supporting governments and private sector actors to holistically develop robust and resilient health markets. SPARC is also working in partnership with WHO to scale up the use of the Cross Programmatic Efficiency Analysis tool (CPEA) in Africa. Job summary: Senior County Engagement Officer (Anglophone Africa) Under the leadership of the Technical Lead, the Senior Country Engagement Officer, Anglophone Africa will co-lead SPARC’s country engagement pillar with the Senior Country Engagement Officer for Francophone Africa. S/he will be responsible for managing the lifecycle of a country engagement, including the smooth onboarding of selected partners, scoping and design of the engagement, and technical guidance throughout the engagement process in Anglophone African countries.

This role will be based in Nairobi, Kenya, with frequent travel across Africa and occasionally beyond.

PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Co-lead development of SPARC’s country engagement strategy
• Co-lead the development of annual workplans and budget for the country engagement pillar
• Provide guidance, management support, mentorship and effective leadership to direct reports
• Lead country scoping and other stakeholder engagements upon country requests and propose bestfit approaches to provide support to the country
• Develop concept notes, terms of references, presentations and other relevant documents during the country engagement process
• Work collaboratively with the coaching and mentoring officer to identify suitable experts/ “Coaches” that can provide support to the country engagement
• Support the “Coach” in providing technical assistance to policy makers and stakeholders to ensure streamlined and effective country engagement activities
• Provide day-to-day management of specific country engagements, ensuring work is completed against the scope, timelines, and budget
• Document the country engagement process to facilitate regional learning across engagements, teams and pillars working with the Evidence Generation and Learning (EGAL) team
• Support the design of new projects and contribute to business development proposals
• Contribute to new and existing projects such as the USAID supported Frontier Health Markets and the CPEA work
• Support program reporting as required

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPETENCIES

SPARC is a small team with an ambitious work plan and team members must be able to work in a fast-paced, results-driven environment. The ideal candidate is highly-motivated, entrepreneurial, resourceful, flexible, independent, energetic, with excellent communications skills, cultural sensitivity and has demonstrated experience supporting technical assistance projects.

MINIMUM EDUCATION

Degree in Public health, Health Economics, Social Sciences or other relevant fields.

EXPERIENCE

At least 7 years’ experience providing program support to health financing related technical assistance projects in preferably anglophone Africa.

COMPETENCIES

1. Excellent knowledge of UHC, health financing and/or health economics landscape in Africa
2. Good experiential understanding of the complexities and nuances of designing, deploying and managing technical assistance/country engagement programs in anglophone Africa
3. Strong verbal and written communication skills
4. Strong interpersonal skills working with cross cultural and multi diverse teams
5. Demonstrated team leadership and program management skills
6. Excellent analytical skills, as well as the ability to express facts and ideas in a clear, convincing and organized manner
7. Highly organized and able to set priorities and handle multiple competing time and resource demands
8. Proficiency in Microsoft Office products at intermediate level
9. Willing to travel across Africa
10. Fluency in speaking, reading and writing in English. Proficiency in speaking, reading and writing in French is appreciated.