Senior Technical Advisor, Accountability and Health Financing at ActionAid Nigeria

ActionAid is an anti-poverty agency that prioritises work with people living in poverty and exclusion; promoting values and commitment in civil society, institutions and Governments with the aim of achieving structural changes in order to eradicate injustices and poverty in the world. ActionAid Nigeria is an affiliate of ActionAid International, an International Non-Governmental organisation registered in Netherlands with its headquarters in Johannesburg South Africa. ActionAid International works in more than 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and America.

We are inviting applications from qualified candidates to fill the position below within the organisation:

Job Title: Senior Technical Advisor, Accountability and Health Financing, (DFID Health Project)

Location: Abuja
Grade: 10
Responsible to: Team Leader, DFID Health Project, with dotted line report to Director of Programmes, ActionAid Nigeria
Line Management: Dotted Reporting line from State Advocacy and Policy Officer

Details

• ActionAid Nigeria is seeking a dynamic Senior Technical Advisor to lead the federal and state-level policy and advocacy workstream of an upcoming multi-million pound health programme to:
  • Design and deliver an eight-year advocacy strategy to increase governmental financial resources for basic health services at the federal and state level;
  • Build the capacity of Nigerian civil society to ensure that: (i) communities have adequate information about their health rights; (ii) the voices of communities are heard by health policy-makers and stakeholders; and (iii) that health policy and health services are responsive to their needs.
  • As part of the programme’s senior management team, the post-holder will work closely with the Team Leader and other senior technical advisors to provide stewardship to the programme, and to oversee implementation of programme activities by regional teams.
  • Please note that this role is subject to the successful award of the contract. The project is due to commence in late 2019/early 2020. The role will be for a minimum of two years and may be extended for the full duration of the project (eight years).

Job Purpose

• The Senior Technical Advisorwill be responsible for delivering an eight-year advocacy strategy to increase government financial resources for basic health services at the federal and state level.
• They are expected to build the capacity of Nigerian civil society to ensure that communities have adequate information about their health rights; that the voices of communities are heard by health policy-makers and stakeholders; and that health policy and health services are responsive to their needs.
• The post-holder will also work closely with eachstate project team to provide stewardship to the programme, and to oversee implementation of programme activities by regional teams.

Specific Responsibilities
Programme Management and Reporting:

• Oversee the development of annual workplans and budgets, and quarterly mobilisation plans including preparing/revising work plans and budget plans in close consultation with consortium members and implementation partners based on agreed project activities;
• Build strong and mutually beneficial relationships with state-level government and other stakeholders, including civil society organisations, networks and movements, women’s rights movements, youth movements and disabled people’s organisations;
• Provide oversight on communication and advocacy actions of the project results;
• Ensure that inputs for the realisation of objectives of the projects are processed in a timely and transparent manner;
• Prepare and implement the strategy for project implementation;
• Lead and ensure the effective implementation and management of project deliverables;
• Supervise and monitor progressagainst annual and quarterly work plans and budget plans;
• Attend quarterly meetings with the Programme Management Team;
• Ensure there is regular communication of progress or challenges to the broader ActionAid Nigeria team, as well as the Programme Management Team.

Management:

• Collaborate with the ProgrammeManagement Team tomanage the policy and advocacy work stream, coordinate work across the state level to ensure the highest standards of programme quality, delivering all outcomes on time and within budget;
• Coordinate closely with other StateAdvocacy Advisors and the wider programme team to ensure strong alignment and synergies between programme work streams;
• Effectively practice adaptive management principles, ensuring agile programme delivery, responding to challenges to meet programme milestones within budget;
• Maintain knowledge of the latest innovations and best practice in health policy and advocacy programming, and continually evolve programme implementation to offer the highest levels of value for money to the donor;
• Coordinate and supervise the project personnel, fixed assets, financial assets and other resources in accordance with ActionAid policies and procedures; and in line with the donor agreement;
• Lead a multi-state Project Team to deliver a cutting edge innovative advocacy work stream, including activities such as training, workshops, community mobilisation, data collection, analysis, stakeholder engagement and capacity building;analyse the performance of all parties in delivering outputs as described in project agreements and work plan in line with specific project outputs;
• Leading innovation and change,establish a culture of excellence in respective teams that values innovation and continuous improvement;
• Champion feminist leadership principles and values including commitment to diversity and inclusion.;
• Ensure personal and team culture that demonstrates ActionAid International’s values including: Mutual Respect, Equity and Justice, Integrity, Solidarity with People Living in Poverty and Exclusion, Courage of Conviction, Independence and Humility.

Financial Management:

• Support the preparation of quarterly and annual narrative and financial reports to DFID and ActionAid;
• Participate actively in developing periodic/annual plans and budgets;
• Ensure there is regular communication of progress or challenges to the broader ActionAid Nigeria team andprogramme team;
• Oversee, monitor, revise and ensure correct administrative and financial management of the project.

Internal Relationships:

• ActionAid Nigeriaand ActionAid UK staff, and other project staff within the consortium.

External Relationships:

• Government, Civil Society Organisations, networks and movements, women’s rights movements, youth movements and disability rights groups.

Persons Specifications
Education/Qualifications:

• Postgraduate degree in a relevant subject; - Essential
• Excellent written and spoken English. - Essential
• Masters of Public Health or advanced degree in social sciences or management; - Desirable
• Membership of relevant professional institute. - Desirabl

Experience/ Knowledge:

• A minimum of 12 years’ relevant work experience, of which 6 years must be on health accountability programmes or similar projects; - Essential
• Deep understanding of the Nigerian health system, civil society, and social justice movements at local government authority (LGA), state and federal level; - Essential
• Demonstrable experience in   designing and implementing complex, multi-year advocacy strategies to meaningfully influence policy change at the state level; - Essential
• Experience managing large projects teams and delivering results through others; - Essential
• Knowledge of policy, CSOs, media and youth movements landscape in Nigeria; - Essential
• A good understanding and clear commitment to human rights-based approach and women’s rights. - Essential
• Experience working in an international development organisation; - Desirable
• Experience working on projects funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) or other similar donors; - Desirable
• Experience in community-based work and engagements with CSOs; - Desirable
• Good knowledge of women’s rights, gender equality and human rights; - Desirable
• Existing working relationships with civil society and feminist networks in Nigeria - Desirable

Skills/Abilities:

• Strong communication and writing skills; - Essential
• Excellent research, analytical and writing skills; - Essential
• Proven strong and charismatic management and leadership skills and experience; - Essential
• Excellent strategic planning and analytical skill; - Essential
• Demonstrable IT skills; - Essential
• Proven experience of excellent networking and relationship-building skills;  - Essential
• Excellent organisational skills and co-ordination skills in meeting tight deadlines; - Essential
• Strong negotiation skills; - Essential
• Uses effective strategies to facilitate organisation change initiatives and overcome resistance to change by involving others, listening and building commitment. - Essential
• Highly numerate. - Desirable

Personal Qualities:

• A strong commitment to human rights and socio-economic justice and proven track record in exercising human rights; - Essential
• An appreciation of the need for innovative ways of learning and knowledge development;  - Essential
• Self-motivated person able to work without close supervision;- Essential
• Strong team player, able to work closely with others remotely, ability to meet tight deadlines and multiple priorities; - Essential
• Effectively practices adaptive management principles, ensuring agile programme delivery, responding to challenges to meet programme milestones within budget. - Essential
• Flexibility to travel; - Essential
• Willing to work additional hours at crucial times - Essential
• Ability to relate with  ActionAid Nigeria’s mission, values and objectives; - Desirable

Application Closing Date
13th February, 2019.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should kindly download and complete the "Application Form" below and send together with their Applications in an MSWord attachment to: [email protected] Subject line of emails must state clearly, job title of position applied for and location e.g Senior Technical Advisor, Accountability and Health Financing (DFID Health Project) – Abuja

Click Here to Download Application Form (MSWord)

Click here for more information

Note

• Only electronically submitted forms will be considered. Scanned application forms will be disregarded.
• ActionAid offers competitive terms of employment. Applications from women and candidates from the North East and North West are particularly encouraged.
• While we respect all applicants, interview dates will be communicated only to shortlisted candidates.