Health Specialist Risk-Informed Health Systems

Purpose of the Position

Under the overall guidance of the Senior Adviser Health, Health Systems Strengthening team and in liaison with the Senior Advisor for Health in Emergencies, the incumbent is to provide technical support to, and strengthen capacities of, regional and priority country offices and fragile or countries at risk for crises, for mainstreaming equity focused and evidence based policy dialogue, decentralized monitoring for equity in programming and development of risk-informed and resilient health systems, undertake operational research and documentation to guide the formulation of programmes in countries ready to go to scale with decentralized monitoring and contribute to the acceleration of results for deprived children. Tools used for mainstreaming and operational research will take into account risk for emergencies and are made flexible and resilient in order to continue during and after a crisis has occurred.

Key Expected Results

Regional and Country Office Support:

• Provide technical support to regional and country offices for strengthening equity-focused national policies and decentralized planning and monitoring with particular focus on under 5 children and pregnant women, the poor and communities at risk for emergencies. This includes supporting reviews of the evidence on health inequalities and vulnerabilities to crises and bottlenecks including those that are caused by acute and chronic crises, setting explicit equity targets and equity-focused corrective actions and programming including a special emphasis on fragile, at risk and emergency contexts.
• Contribute to building the capacity of UNICEF staff and national counterparts in design, initiation and scale-up of decentralised monitoring, including definitions and types of inequities, measurement methods, planning tools, monitoring and evaluation.
• Provide technical support to build capacity of regional and country offices to understand emergency risk and conduct health sector risk analyses and integrate this into their planning for development health programs to ensure that they are risk-informed and contribute to the resilience of health systems, services and communities.

End Result(s):

• Reviews of the evidence on health inequalities to support regional and priority and fragile, at risk and emergency country offices in the design and implementation of decentralized monitoring that takes into account emergency risk. UNICEF staff and national counterparts with improved capacities in design, initiation and scale-up of risk-informed decentralized monitoring.
• RO and CO have the capacity to integrate risk into the planning of their health programs so that they are risk informed and contribute to resilient health systems, services and communities.

Documentation, development of guidance and tools:

• Contribute to the design and implementation of documentation and evaluation frameworks of country level implementation and scale-up of risk-informed equity focused national and decentralized planning and monitoring; Guide the documentation of operational lessons for learning and practical adaptation of equity focused national and decentralized planning and monitoring for key maternal, neonatal, and child health interventions in select countries including fragile, at risk and emergency settings.
• Contribute to the development and documentation of analytical pogromming and monitoring frameworks to prevent, assess and repair the impact of emergencies in the functioning of health systems for children and women.
• Based on the review of operational lessons learned and an overall desk review of existing documents pertaining to health and fragile states, disaster risk reduction, climate change adaptation and resilience for the health sector, support the development of guidance and tools for risk-informed analysis and planning for health systems.

End Result(s):

• Documentation and evaluation frameworks of country level implementation and scale-up of risk-informed decentralized monitoring.
• Guidance and tools for risk-informed analysis and planning for health systems.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Reporting:

• Support the development and implementation of country specific risk-informed equity monitoring tools used for equity focused national and decentralized planning and monitoring. Support the development of monitoring and evaluation tools for Risk-informed Health Systems and Services.
• Work closely with select UNICEF Regional and priority Country Offices including those in emergency, at-risk or fragile countries, to monitor, analyze, and report progress on the implementation and scale-up of risk-informed national and decentralized planning and monitoring for deprived children and those at risk of crises, including coverage and outcome indicators, the identification and reduction of bottlenecks including those cause by crises, and the assessment of the implementation of programme interventions to reach deprived children more effectively, with a especial emphasis on fragile, at risk and emergency contexts.
• Work closely with select UNICEF Regional and priority Country Offices including those in emergency, at-risk or fragile countries, to monitor, analyze, and report progress on the implementation and scale-up of monitoring and evaluation of Risk-Informed Programmes for resilient health systems and services.
• Identify funding gaps and resource mobilization requirements; drafts funding proposals, and supports the preparation of the Health Systems Strengthening Team and the Health in Emergencies Team reports for management, Board, donors, budget reviews, annual reports, etc.

End Result(s):

• Reports on progress in the implementation and scale-up of risk-informed decentralized monitoring for deprived children and Risk-informed Health Systems and Services.
• Funding proposals, reports for management, Board, donors, budget reviews, annual reports, etc.

Research and analysis:

• Undertake research for developing the evidence base on the intermediate determinants of inequalities (supply, demand, quality, enabling environment) in priority countries with different contexts (middle-income countries, low-income countries, fragile states), including a special emphasis on emergency contexts.
• Undertake empirical reviews, operational research and documentation of promising approaches for reducing bottlenecks and removing barriers in reaching deprived children with health and nutrition services in priority high burden countries with different contexts (fragile states, low-income countries, middle-income countries), including a special emphasis on emergency contexts.

End Result(s):

• Research for developing the evidence base on the intermediate determinants of inequalities in priority countries and fragile, at-risk and emergency contexts.
• Empirical reviews, operational research and documentation of promising approaches for reducing bottlenecks and removing barriers.

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

• An advanced university degree in public health, health economics, or social sciences is required.
• Eight years of relevant work experience at national and/or international levels in public health analysis, health equity including substantive work on humanitarian response, preparedness and disaster risk reduction.
• Broad knowledge and experience with decentralized monitoring, as well as extensive research and publication record is required.
• Broad knowledge of the Humanitarian Reform process, Hyogo Framework for Action, and the Resilience agenda of humanitarian and development actors.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of a second UN language (i.e. Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) and/or the local language of the duty station is considered an asset.

Competencies of Successful Candidate

• Communicates effectively to varied audiences, including during formal public speaking.
• Able to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment.
• Sets high standards for quality of work and consistently achieves project goals.
• Has good leadership and supervisory skills; co-ordinates group activities, ensuring that roles within the team are clear.
• Translates strategic direction into plans and objectives.
• Analyzes and integrates diverse and complex quantitative and qualitative data from a wide range of sources.
• Quickly builds rapport with individuals and groups; maintains an effective network of individuals across organizational departments.
• Identifies urgent and potentially difficult decisions and acts on them promptly; initiates and generates team- and department-wide activities.
• Demonstrates, applies and shares expert technical knowledge across the organization.