Regional Technical Advisor, Health Financing- West Africa

Experience / Training

This position offers a unique opportunity to work closely with governments who are leading change in the region to achieve ambitious goals of universal primary health care as a key first step towards universal health coverage. CHAI has received a growing number of requests for support from governments in West Africa, including Burkina Faso, Benin, Mali, and Senegal and is seeking a Regional Technical Advisor with relevant experience in health financing and health systems strengthening to support those efforts. The Regional Technical Advisor will provide health financing technical assistance to country teams and governments, help shape CHAI emerging primary health care and health financing strategy in West Africa, and play a key role as part of a growing global health financing team responsible for building out new areas of work for CHAI across sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.  This is a challenging, fast-paced and rewarding position.

The specific country support activities will vary based on government priorities and requests.

The Regional Technical Advisor will report to a program manager in the global health financing team, who is leading CHAI health financing work in the West Africa region. The Regional Technical Advisor will be based in Dakar or Ouagadougou, travel to other CHAI program offices in the region, and will interact with key government stakeholders, donors, and the broader local and international community. He/she must therefore be fluent in French and have excellent communication and relationship management skills.

Key responsibilities include the following:

• Support governments and country teams supporting governments in developing and implementing health financing strategies, including through the design set up and management of national health insurance reforms and subsidy programs including free care or user fee repeal. This will include work related to strengthening necessary institutions and management systems as well as strategic purchasing including priority setting and benefits package design and provider contracting and payment.
• Directly contribute to CHAI’s strategy on health financing and primary health care globally and at country level, including in country programs in Burkina Faso, Benin and other countries based on need with a focus on West Africa. Share learnings across countries in West Africa and the Sub-Saharan African region more broadly.
• In relevant countries, support governments in designing primary health care reforms, including changes in service delivery, financing and management, at sub-national, regional and national levels. This includes conducting assessments of health systems bottlenecks and public financial management challenges, developing and implementing plans with government that address service delivery, financing and management bottlenecks, and costing and assessing resource gaps and working with governments to mobilize external and domestic resources for their strategies.
• Support governments and country teams to expand work in public financial management including budgeting and expenditure management work from national to sub-national levels, addressing challenges in financial management, including through assessments and discrete pieces of work to improve data use in decision making, performance and financial management.
• Support knowledge sharing efforts across countries. This includes direct knowledge sharing and the development of relevant documents, publications, and case studies.
• Maintain technical expertise in health financing and stay abreast of key challenges.
• Other responsibilities as requested by manager.
• This role requires up to 50% travel within the West-Africa region and amount of travel will vary based on needs and in accordance with travel restrictions.

Qualifications

• 7-10+ years of years of experience in a relevant field (e.g. health financing, health economics, financial management, health systems) in the public or private sector with increasing responsibilities;
• Advanced degree in health economics, public health, public policy, or other relevant disciplines;
• Experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa and preferably in Francophone West Africa;
• Direct experience working with government institutions, informing development of government strategy, policy, and operational plans, preferably in health financing or health system;
• Demonstrated experience leading complex projects, from strategy design to implementation, preferably in the public health sector;
• Ability to think strategically, handle ambiguity and work in a very fast-paced, limited-structure, multicultural environment;
• Affinity for analytics and information management, with strong analytical, problem solving, and quantitative modeling skills;
• Excellent communication and presentation skills with the ability to write in a clear and concise manner, including for technical documents such as national plans and guidelines;
• Entrepreneurial mindset, including ability to work independently, self-motivate, and take initiative;
• Ability to learn on the job quickly and absorb and synthesize a broad range of information;
• High level of proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, and Word;
• French fluency and professional working proficiency in English is required.

Salary

Salary will be discussed during the first interview.

How to apply

Please start your application on CHAI’s career portal online.