Program Director – Health Financing (Global)

Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non-profit global development partner. We collaborate with change agents around the world — government officials, civil society leaders and social innovators — to create strong systems that support healthy, educated people. We help our partners move from knowing their goal to knowing how to reach it. We combine global expertise in health, education and nutrition with analytic rigor, practical support for decision-making and implementation and access to peer problem-solving networks. Together with our partners, we build self-sustaining systems that serve everyone and deliver lasting results. Then we share what we learn so others can achieve results for development, too.

We have a unique and vibrant culture at R4D. Diversity, equity and inclusion are at the heart of our work environment and help advance our mission. Diversity—of ideas, identities, perspectives and backgrounds—is vital to who we are and what we do. We seek people who embrace these values and will help reinforce them. Our work culture is collaborative, creative and entrepreneurial. We operate based on trust and respect. Teams across the organization frequently collaborate on programmatic work and support each other in continuously building a better R4D.

Opportunity:

R4D seeks a Program Director with health economics and/or health financing expertise to provide technical leadership and management acumen to a variety of health financing and health systems strengthening initiatives. The Program Director will also be expected to build a pipeline of impactful work within the Sustainable and Equitable Health Financing Practice at R4D. Examples of current and expected future initiatives include:

· Global Fund Analytical and Technical Support on Sustainability, Transition and Efficiency:** R4D is a pre-qualified service provider under this Global Fund IQC and will provide a range of technical services relating to sustainability, health financing, transition and efficiency of HIV, TB, and malaria programs at country and portfolio level.

· Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center:** SPARC, a resource hub hosted by Amref Health Africa with technical support from R4D, aims to generate evidence and strengthen strategic health purchasing in sub-Saharan Africa to enable better use of health resources. SPARC will partner with the WHO Health Governance and Financing team on work related to Cross-Programmatic Efficiency Analysis (CPEA).

· USAID-funded projects such as

· the Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services program (MTaPS)

· the Local Health System Sustainability program (LHSS)

· bilateral health financing and health systems strengthening projects and

· future procurements related to health policy and financing.

The Program Director will report to the Senior Program Director of the Sustainable and Equitable Health Financing practice and will collaborate with other members of the R4D team. The location of the position is flexible. R4D welcomes applicants from all countries.

Responsibilities:

The Health Financing Program Director will serve as a member of R4D’s management team and will provide technical and thought leadership to the above program opportunities and new business opportunities within the Sustainable and Equitable Health Financing portfolio. Specific responsibilities may include the following:

Global Fund Analytical and Technical Support on Sustainability, Transition and Efficiency:

1. Lead scoping discussions with the Global Fund on specific requests for assistance
2. Organize and manage teams of R4D staff, consultants, and local partners as needed to respond to requests for assistance
3. Provide technical expertise on a variety of health financing assistance activities, including
   1. Strengthening health financing strategy development
   2. Implementation of health financing strategies and tax policy assessments
   3. Integration of HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria services into health insurance systems, benefit packages, and provider payment arrangements
   4. Implementation of cross-sectoral planning, prioritization of budgets, improved budget execution, and broader work on public financial management reforms
   5. Assistance to design or support donor coordination plans or other multi-donor initiatives;
   6. Assessment of strategic purchasing and provider payment arrangements
   7. Tracking of health expenditures using globally accepted methodologies, such as the System of Health Accounts 2011, National AIDS Spending Assessments, and Public Expenditure Reviews; and strengthening country capacity to produce and use health expenditure data.

Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center

1. Lead implementation of the WHO/SPARC partnership in building Cross-Programmatic Efficiency Analysis (CPEA) capacity in Africa. In partnership with WHO, design and facilitate a regional workshop for African countries that have implemented the CPEA framework to share learning from implementation and identify policy actions
2. Identify SPARC technical partners in countries where there is interest to implement the CPEA framework and design and conduct training in partnership with WHO.
3. Provide coaching support to technical partners in target countries to implement the CPEA framework, facilitate peer support and joint learning during implementation of the analysis and production of reports and policy briefs
4. Facilitate regional learning among partners and policy makers based on the results of implementation of the CPEA framework in additional countries
5. Support the development and adaptation of key findings and identify potential policy action.
6. Provide thought leadership and technical support to SPARC’s SHP technical partners consortium
7. Provide support to coaches as they contribute to country engagements
8. Provide mentorship to improve writing skills and coauthor outputs with partners; author journal articles from technical partners’ outputs
9. Co-lead a strategic purchasing technical series of webinars
10. Co-lead skills-building workshops on strategic purchasing for both technical partners and prospective coaches
11. Support the production and implementation of the strategic purchasing curriculum

Broader portfolio responsibilities:

1. Lead and contribute to new business initiatives in health financing and health systems strengthening, helping to grow the Sustainable and Equitable Financing portfolio
2. Provide technical quality assurance for analytic products published by R4D staff and consultants
3. Coach and mentor junior staff on best practices for health financing
4. Provide overall technical guidance and quality assurance on ongoing R4D health financing projects, including existing and future buy-ins to the MTaPS and LHSS programs; tasks could include
   1. Lead the design and implementation of program activities related to health financing for strengthening global pharmaceutical systems
   2. Design analytics on existing purchasing arrangements that will inform modifications for existing policies and strategies
   3. Increase efficiency of resource allocation and use
   4. Improve the mobilization of additional and sustainable resources
   5. Provide technical expertise and capacity building to improve the health financing aspects of pharmaceutical sector governance, tracking of pharmaceutical expenditures, use of pharmaceutical data for decision making, and costing and optimization of current pharmaceutical system spending

Qualifications:

Consideration for this pivotal role will be given to health policy or international development professionals with 1) experience and expertise in health financing and/or health economics; 2) experience providing project management and technical assistance to USAID- or other donor-funded initiatives; and 3) the ability to meet rigorous timelines, track results, effectively manage staff and multi-stakeholder relationships, and support decision-making at the national and sub-national level to create positive change.

Successful candidates are likely to have the following qualifications:

• Advanced degree in health financing, health economics, public health, or a related field
• At least 10 years of experience with a Master’s, or 7+ years with a doctoral degree, working on health systems strengthening, health financing, or UHC reforms
• Demonstrated leadership showing strategic thinking in designing and executing projects, including steering work planning, managing and mentoring junior colleagues, and overseeing compliant and cost-effective use of resources to deliver on objectives
• Ability to liaise confidently and effectively with donor agencies, host-country counterparts and government officials, and representatives from other key stakeholders such as NGOs
• Strong skills in process facilitation and stakeholder management across diverse groups, including government and development partners
• Ability to effectively lead and manage diverse teams, including remote management through virtual means
• Demonstrated experience designing and facilitating workshops, meetings, and trainings
• Demonstrated ability to translate complex technical analysis for policy and lay audiences
• Ability to set priorities and handle multiple competing time and resource demands; highly organized
• Full professional fluency in English, including excellent written and verbal communication skills, report writing and presentation skills. Additional language abilities also valuable.