Chief of Health at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) - For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

We are recruiting to fill the vacant position below:

Job Title: Chief of Health, P-5

Job Number: 503739
Location: Abuja
Work Type: Fixed Term Staff

Purpose of the Position

• The Chief, Health Section reports to the Deputy Representative for general guidance and direction.
• The Chief is responsible for managing and leading all stages of health programs/projects (gender, maternal, neonatal, child survival, emergency preparedness) from strategic planning and formulation to delivery of results, and for leading and managing the health team including establishing plans of action to achieve concrete and sustainable results according to plans, allocation, results based-management approaches and methodology (RBM) and UNICEF's Strategic Plans, standards of performance and accountability framework, and does so in consultation with the Regional Health Advisor.

Job Description
Managerial leadership:

• Establish the Section's annual work plan with the Health team; set priorities/targets and performance measurement. Monitor work progress and ensure results are achieved according to schedule and performance standards.
• Establish clear individual performance objectives, goals and timelines; and provide timely guidance to enable the team to perform their duties responsibly and efficiently. Plan and ensure timely performance management and assessment of the team.
• Supervise team members by providing them with clear objectives and goals, direction and guidance to enable them to perform their duties responsibly, effectively and efficiently.

Program Development and Planning:

• Lead/support the planning and conduct/update of situation analysis to establish comprehensive/updated strategic plan for program development, design and management of health related programs. Keep abreast of national/regional/global development trends and priorities to determine the strategies, approaches and priorities for programming to address the country's health needs.
• Lead, coordinate and supervise the development of health programs (as a component of the CO and/or UNDAF programs) and establish plans of action, program goals and results using results-based planning methodology and terminology (RBM).
• Oversee the timely preparation of the (health) program recommendation and related documentation for inclusion in the Country Office Program recommendation ensuring alignment with the overall UNICEF's Strategic Plans, regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.
• Consult and collaborate with internal and external colleagues and partners to provide technical guidance and operational support on program planning, management and implementation and to ensure synergy, integration, coherence, and harmonization of programs/projects initiatives with UNICEF Strategic Plans and priorities.

Program Management, Monitoring and Quality Control of Results:

• Coordinate, plan and/or collaborate with monitoring and evaluation initiatives to establish benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators, to assess/strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results in health programs.
• Participate in major monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews and annual sector reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine required action/interventions to achieve results.
• Assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths/weaknesses in program and management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
• Monitor programs/projects to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution.
• Plan, approve, monitor and control the use of program resources (financial, human, administrative and other assets) certifying/verifying compliance with organizational rules, regulations and procedures, donor commitments and standards of accountability and integrity. Ensure timely reporting and liquidation of resources.
• Submit program/project reports to donors and other partners to keep them informed on program progress and critical issues.

Advisory Services and Technical Support:

• Advise key government officials, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners on policies, strategies and best practices and approaches on health and related issues to support program development planning, management, implementation and delivery of results.
• Participate in strategic discussions to influence policy discussions and agenda setting to promote health and development issues especially in the areas of gender, emergency preparedness and maternal, neonatal and child survival and development.

Advocacy, Networking and Partnership Building:

• Build and strengthen strategic partnerships with health sector government counterparts, national stakeholders and global partners/allies/donors/academia through active networking, advocacy and effective communication of UNICEF mission, goals and programs and resource mobilizations needs.
• Develop communication strategies and implementation plans and activities for maximum communication impact and outreach to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and support fund raising for UNICEF and Country Office health programs (maternal, neonatal and child survival).
• Participate and/or represent the UNICEF in inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on health and related issues to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNDAF process in development planning and agenda setting. Collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues UNDAF planning and preparation of health programs/projects.

Innovation, Knowledge management and Capacity building:

•  Promote critical thinking and innovative approaches and good practices for sustainable health programs/projects initiatives.
• Keep abreast, research, benchmark and implement best and cutting edge practices in the health management and information systems. Institutionalize and share best practices and knowledge learned.
•  Lead and/or develop policies and procedures and introduce innovation and best practices to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programs and projects.
• Lead/plan/implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders to promote sustainable results on health related programs/projects.

Requirements
Education:

• A Medical or Advanced University Degree in public health, pediatric health, family health, health research, global/international health, health policy and/or management, environmental health sciences, bio-statistics, socio-medical, health education, epidemiology or other health related sciences is required.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in public health planning and management and/or in relevant areas of maternal and neonatal health care, health emergency/humanitarian preparedness, at the international level some of which preferably in a developing country is required.
• Relevant experience in health program/project development and management in any UN system agency or organization is an asset.

Language:

•  Fluency in English is required.

Competencies of Successful Candidate
Core Values:

• Commitment
• Diversity and inclusion
• Integrity

Core Competencies:

• Communication (III)
• Working with people (III)
• Drive for results (III)

Functional Competencies:

• Leading and supervising (III)
• Formulating strategies/concepts (III)
• Analyzing (III)
• Relating and networking (III)
• Deciding and initiating action (III)
• Persuading and influencing (II)

Remarks:

• The successful candidate for this emergency recruitment MUST be available to commence work within 31 days of receiving an offer.

Application Closing Date
10th April, 2017.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note:

• The employment is conditional upon receipt of medical clearance, any clearance required, the grant of a visa, and completion of any other pre-employment criteria that UNICEF may establish.
• Candidates may not be further considered or offers of employment may be withdrawn if these conditions are unlikely to be met before the date for commencement of service