Global Health Fellows Program
Technical Advisor III: Senior Health Systems Advisor (Private Sector Financing)
Office of Technical Support, Asia Bureau, United States Agency for International Development
Location: Washington, DC
Assignment: Two year fellowship
GHFP II-P4-172
The Global Health Fellows Program (GHFP-II) is a five year cooperative agreement implemented and managed by the Public Health Institute in partnership with Global Health Corps, GlobeMed, Management Systems International and PYXERA Global. GHFP-II is supported by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
GHFP-II’s goal is to improve the effectiveness of USAID health programs by addressing the Agency’s immediate and emerging human capacity needs. The program seeks to accomplish this goal first through the recruitment, placement and support of diverse health professionals at the junior, mid and senior levels. These program participants include fellows, interns, corporate volunteers and Foreign Service National professionals. The program then provides substantial performance management and career development support to participants, including annual work planning assistance, and ensures that professional development opportunities are available.
Looking to the future, GHFP-II also seeks to establish a pool of highly-qualified global health professionals that will ensure the Agency’s ongoing technical leadership and effectiveness. This objective is supported by an extensive outreach program that brings global health opportunities and specialized career advice to a diverse range of interested individuals, with a particular focus on those underrepresented in the field of global health.
BACKGROUND:
The Office of Technical Support (Asia/TS) within the Asia Bureau provides leadership on development issues in the Asia region through analysis, strategy development, program design, technical assistance, and information dissemination. It provides this leadership in the areas of Economics, Agriculture, Population, HIV/AIDS, Health, Nutrition, Education, Productive sector development, Information technology, Social sciences, democracy and governance, conflict mitigation, Natural resources management and environment.
The Office leads the Bureau’s strategic thinking in technical areas, reviews the performance of Bureau offices and programs, and advises Asia offices on the appropriate allocation of resources. The Office serves as the Bureau’s principal point of contact and coordination on all substantive technical aspects of programs in sectors of assigned specialization.
- It helps Missions develop new country strategic plans,
- Conducts periodic reviews of Mission program performance, and
- Provides technical oversight of Mission programs.
Asia/TS makes recommendations for allocating Bureau resources among missions and prioritizes sector programs throughout the region. Within the Office of Technical Support, the Health Team is responsible for providing technical input on all health related programs and matters in the region.
The Health Team provides technical leadership and support to 17 USAID field teams across the region in implementing evidence-based interventions proven to save lives and reduce disease burden. While the scope of work covers traditional health sectors such as family planning, maternal and child health, infectious disease, nutrition, and health systems, we are also invested in navigating and managing complex adaptive systems, which better reflect the dynamism of Asia. The Health Team engages in cutting-edge programs that address gaps and unfinished agendas in health across Asia. Some areas of interest include:
- Unacceptably high rates of neonatal and maternal mortality, along with persistent malnutrition and high levels of stunting, inconsistent with economic growth;
- Implementation research studies on Universal Health Coverage in Indonesia and Burma. These efforts will provide policy makers and managers rapid cycles of information to strengthen countries’ paths to achieving Universal Health Coverage and provide lessons learned for other countries in Asia pursuing sustainable health financing schemes;
- Leveraging the use of private sector funds and stewardship of care provided in the private sector to support the continuation of health sector activities in Kazakhstan and channel the robust private sector in India to help end preventable child and maternal deaths;
- Ensuring that programs in middle-income countries are gradually phased out of receiving USAID funding using non-disruptive, sustainable practices which do not upend the gains made to date;
- Political Economy Analysis as a tool to deepen contextual understanding of health problems and to illuminate different possible solutions;
- Urbanization and health with application of USAID’s 2012 Urban Strategy in the health sector;
- The Global Health Security Agenda and the emergence of novel infections and drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis and malaria; and
- Attending to equity in monitoring and planning health programs, going below the surface of national and sub-national indicators.
In addition to supporting Global Health priorities, the Asia Bureau provides technical assistance to countries that have not been designated as priority countries for the Global Health Bureau programming purposes, as is the case of work currently planned in Laos and Timor Leste with Asia Bureau funds. One of the policies of the Health Team is to look at strategic future programming and to design research and interventions that will enable missions to keep abreast of and manage technical changes in the field. Included in this approach is consistent collaboration with colleagues in the Economic Growth sector, as well as Democracy Rights Governance. The Team also works closely with the Lab and the Global Health Bureau, as well as DCHA. Going forward, the expectation is to develop closer relationships with Bureau for Policy Planning and Learning and Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment, key players in innovation and financing. We have added an urban component to our programming, adapting the Agency’s 2012 Urban Strategy and the Policy, Planning, and Learning Bureau’s current implementation guide for urban programming due to the recent significant urban growth in the region and potential inequities among residents of urban slums as an area of concern. The Team also works with interagency partners, such as the Department of Defense and Department of State, to support civilian-military partnerships, particularly when it comes to Global Health Security.
INTRODUCTION:
To leverage Asia’s significant economic growth to further support improved health, the Team is reviewing ways to capture that growth in public-private partnerships. The Bureau is actively engaged in helping missions look at domestic resource mobilization and health financing initiatives that capitalize on the existing Asian capacity for innovation and risk taking. To this end, the Team is seeking a Senior Health Systems Advisor (Senior Advisor), who while fluent in the basic technical health areas of the Agency, is creative and willing to explore and advise on new ways of doing development and prepare officers in the field to capitalize on their changing economic context.
S/he will be an integral part of a six person Health Team and receive day-to-day guidance from the Health Team Lead as his/her onsite manager.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
The Senior Health Systems Advisor will be responsible for:
Adoption and Implementation of Multisectoral Approaches:
- Providing assistance to missions in developing strong strategies for leveraging public and private resources that achieve shared health outcome goals;
- Disseminating information on the drivers of change when countries are adopting Universal Health Coverage;
- Exploring and promoting the use of contractual mechanisms that exist in within the Agency which can support adaptive programming including gift authority, Broad Agency Announcements around Global Development Partnerships and Development Innovation Accelerators, and Development Credit Authority;
- Organizing opportunities with other operating units such as The Lab and Center for Innovation to learn how the Team may implement new ways of doing business within Agency policy;
- Providing strategic thinking support to missions that includes analyses focused on Political Economy and sustainability; and
- Serving as an activity manager on discrete programs being implemented by our implementing partners.
Provision of Technical Support to Field Programs:
- In collaboration with the Office of Health Systems within the Global Health Bureau, working on program and activity designs that increase domestic resource mobilization from private resources, including the expansion of health insurance markets;
- Providing input to missions across Asia on the Global Financing Facility implementation, its impact on program design and the impact it may have on overall resourcing for maternal health; and;
- Monitoring and engaging in the community of practice on developments in urban health programming, particularly as it intersects with Domestic Resource Mobilization, Universal Health Coverage and equity;
- Tracking new areas of development that can contribute to keeping the programming and portfolio on the cutting edge of development, bring up creative ideas for the team to explore doing business differently.
Technical Training and Professional Development:
- Together with the Asia Bureau Senior Technical Advisor and the Regional Development Mission for Asia Senior Technical Group Health Systems Advisor, developing an adult learning course which would serve as an opportunity for mission health officers to improve their knowledge and understanding of current health insurance and innovative financing activities;
- Participating in any organized training opportunity (such as an anticipated May 2016 workshop on DRM) to ensure that health officers expand their skills; and
- Working closely with health officers to develop the language and context necessary to understand the UHC landscape, specifically health care financing, improving their fluency and facilitating dialogue with other donors and senior host country partners.
- Furthering the spread of Political Economy Analysis as a tool for developing programs
Country and Bureau Backstopping:
- Backstopping assigned countries across the Bureau’s geographic range in activities such as participating in GH Country Team calls, working with the Desk Officer, being the initial point of contact within the Bureau for the Country Health Team, contributing to routine reporting requirements and strategies or country plans that may be revised, as well as providing support to mission health teams on a temporary basis as necessary. Country assignments depend on personal interest, prior experience and the country portfolio.
- Contributing to the Bureau’s Performance Plan and Report, Health Implementation Plan and Portfolio Review, as necessary and developing familiarity with the budget for health activities.
Communication and Collaboration:
- For each country backstopped, working closely to facilitate information sharing and collaborative work platforms among the Asia Bureau desk officer, mission health staff and Global Health Bureau.
- Coordination and outreach with the US Department of State, US Centers for Disease Control and Surveillance, US Department of Health and Human Services, the Foreign Service Training Institute, the World Bank and other multilaterals on country and region-specific issues.
- Writing formal memos and emails to different audiences to promote transparent and timely communication. These writing products may include briefing papers for senior managers, talking points for conferences, informational memos for the field, and weekly health notes.
International and domestic travel approximately 30-35%.
Training and professional development (7%)
- Keeping abreast of literature and latest developments in the fields of health systems strengthening and the greater development field.
- Deepening knowledge of health systems strengthening.
- Participating in interagency and intra-agency working groups as appropriate to SOW.
- Participating in professional continuing education and skills training within the purview of GHFP-II.
REQUIRED SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE & EXPERIENCE:
- Master’s degree or higher in public health, finance, health economics, health systems strengthening or a related social science field.
- Minimum ten (10) years’ experience in health systems strengthening, health economics, health finance or private sector partnerships, with at least three (3-5) years’ experience in an international or resource challenged setting.
- Experience and familiarity with working in the Asian development context highly preferred.
- Demonstrated ability in strategic planning and design, coupled with hands on program management skills that show prior experience in taking ideas to actualization.
- Demonstrated track record in creating public-private partnerships and engaging the private sector to help achieve shared development outcomes.
- Experience working cross sectorally and bringing in advances from governance, urbanization, and financing to bear in supporting health programs. Proven ability to apply innovative approaches, work independently and apply new methods to solve problems, while remaining efficient in a fast-paced, changing and challenging institutional environment.
- Experience working with USAID Missions, other donor organizations, host country governments and non-governmental organizations, including universities and research bodies.
- Ability to absorb and synthesize a broad range of information, including financial, regulatory, clinical, demographic, marketing and scientific information.
- Excellent ability to communicate, influence and convince verbally and in writing. Understanding of the institutional processes that can promote communication.
- Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to build relationships and communicate effectively with people of varied professional, educational and cultural backgrounds.
- High Degree of independent judgment, ingenuity and originality to interpret possibilities of program change because of shifting country context and changing economic and political scenarios.
- Fluency in a foreign language is preferred.
- Ability to travel internationally.
- US citizenship required.
SALARY AND BENEFITS:
Salary based on commensurate experience and earnings history. The Public Health Institute offers a comprehensive benefits package including professional development programs.
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