Job Title: Senior Operations Officer – HIA Program
Job ID: 122269
Job Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Job Stream: Technical Assistance & Advisory Services
Company: International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Background / General description:
Improving the Investment Climate in Africa is one of three core priorities of the IFC strategy in Sub-Saharan Africa. Investment Climate Advisory Services in Africa are implemented jointly by IFC’s Private Enterprise Partnership for Africa (PEP Africa) and the Investment Climate Department (CIC). PEP Africa is the Regional Advisory Services facility for IFC in Africa. As part of its strategy, the Investment Climate Business Line is increasingly working on specific sectors and has been engaged in the health sector in Africa since 2009, as part of IFC’s Health in Africa Initiative (“HiA”). HiA aims to: (i) step up engagement and support of Africa’s private health sector, through new financing instruments (e.g. regional equity funds and lines of credit); (ii) conduct identified country level operational analysis and provide Technical Assistance (TA) to support agreed policy and regulatory reforms, leading to stronger private sector engagement with the government which contributes to social goals in countries; and, (iii) develop and adapt a set of statistical indicators to benchmark country performance on private sector engagement effectiveness across countries.
In Nigeria HIA is engaged in three separate but interrelated activities:
Designing a platform for scaling-up coverage of NHIS
Nigeria’s National Health Insurance Scheme (“NHIS”) is a parastatal organization established in 1999 to promote, regulate and administer the implementation of social health insurance in Nigeria as a vehicle for increasing access to and affordability of healthcare. Although the NHIS’s mandate is to achieve universal coverage by 2015, the scheme is not mandatory and currently covers a total of 4.5m people or less than 3% of Nigeria’s population. Nigeria’s Ministry of Health and the NHIS have requested HiA assistance in designing a platform for scaling up NHIS and achieving universal health coverage in Nigeria. In response, IFC has engaged a consulting firm to deliver on three objectives: i) Develop an operating platform (IT and business practices) ii) Recommend a suitable regulatory environment for the health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and providers, that enables NHIS to scale up rapidly in an efficient manner; and iii) Develop a financing strategy for scaling up.
Supporting the Government’s private health sector strategy
The Minister of State for Health requested World Bank Group (WBG) assistance in developing a strategy “to unlock the market potential for health services and commodities within the country by creating an enabling environment for the private sector”. This is one of the four pillars of the Minister’s official schedule aiming to “save one million lives”. In response to this request a joint World Bank/HiA team conducted a “Rapid Diagnostic of the Private Health Sector in Nigeria” from December 2011 to February 2012. At the recommendation of the WBG the Minister of State decided to convene an inaugural Private Health Sector Summit to validate and deepen the findings of the Rapid Diagnostic and kick-start a public private dialogue to set the foundations for reform. The Summit came up with several recommendations to be followed up by a steering committee made up of private and public sector representatives.
African Health Markets for Equity
African Health Markets for Equity (AHME) is a $60M investment by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and Department for International Development (DFID). It is a partnership of Marie Stopes International, Population Services International, Society for Family Health, PharmAccess, Grameen Foundation and IFC/WB through the HiA). It aims at increasing equitable access to affordable, quality high impact health services and products among the poor. This would be achieved by scaling up and broadening the scope of social franchising and other private provider networks while expanding the coverage of demand side financing mechanisms (vouchers, health insurance, etc.) among the poor. HiA will lead the policy & regulation component to ensure that health franchises and related AHME interventions are aligned with national policies, appropriately regulated and fully integrated into national health strategies.
Duties and Accountabilities:
Key tasks to be undertaken by the Senior Operations Officer will include, but not be limited to: – Managing the NHIS project: representing HiA in the NHIS Project Steering Committee, reviewing draft reports and presentations, facilitating stakeholder events and fostering a productive relationship between NHIS and the consulting firm providing technical assistance. – Taking a leading role in the Public Private Dialogue forum convened by the Minister of State for Health: leading provision of technical assistance to the working groups and the forum itself, facilitating technical workshops, hiring and managing consultants and supporting the PPD forum secretariat. – Managing implementation of the Policy & Regulation workstream of AHME in Nigeria: organizing and facilitating AHME stakeholder forums, hiring and managing consultants to provide technical assistance for implementation of the reforms agreed at stakeholder forums, ensuring AHME activities are aligned and fully integrated into national and state health strategies. – Managing the relationships between HIA and the World Bank office in Abuja, the World Bank Nigeria Health Nutrition and Population (HNP) team, the IFC office in Lagos, other development partners and government agencies active in health financing related work in the country. – Performing all the administrative and project management tasks expected of an IFC Advisory Services Project Leader. – Attending meetings, making presentations and drafting documents related to HIA in Nigeria.
Selection Criteria:- A minimum of a Master’s degree in public health, public policy, international affairs, or business. – At least 10 years of experience in policy development, private sector development, or management consulting, preferably in the health sector. – Strong leadership, organizational, research, and oral presentation skills. – Good understanding of policy making in developing countries and economic development issues. – Proven ability to work cross-sector, with experience advising both governments and the private sector. – Proven ability to work in a team and multicultural environment, with minimal supervision and to deliver high quality work within deadlines, and to meet team objectives. – Hands-on and action-oriented approach. – Excellent oral and written communication skills in English; French language skills desirable. – Enthusiasm for and commitment to development work. – Willing to travel to remote areas. – Field experience in developing countries is a plus. – Understanding of the Nigerian health system and experience interacting with senior Nigerian health sector officials strongly preferred.
Closing Date: 28 October, 2012.
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