COVID-19 Advocacy and Accountability Officer (Jigawa) at Options Consultancy Services Limited

Options Consultancy Services Limited was established in 1992 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marie Stopes International. We are a consultancy organisation providing technical and management expertise in the health and social sectors to governments and international development partners to transform the health of women and children.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: COVID-19 Advocacy and Accountability Officer

Reference: LAFIYA
Location: Jigawa
Contract type: Full time, fixed term contract

Details

• Options Consultancy Services seeks a COVID-19 Advocacy and Accountability Officer in Jigawa State to provide support and guidance on accountability issues relating to COVID-19 and health security more broadly in collaboration with the Advocacy and Accountability Coordinator and in partnership with the PERL focal person in the state.

Responsibilities
The summary purpose and objective of the role is to:

• Deliver guidance and innovative approaches towards COVID-19 community preparedness and response to strengthen health systems resilience.
• Engage directly with high-level political actors at federal and state levels to encourage increased public health spending as means to tackle Covid-19 and kick-start UHC reforms
• Provide strategic guidance to CSO coalitions at the state level and other CSOs for effective and efficient performance on accountability relating to COVID-19

Main Duties
Facilitate the implementation of prioritized activities as agreed with stakeholders and in line with the COVID-19 approved 2nd concept note such as:

• Strengthen the capacity of CSO situation rooms to serve as key accountability platforms for effective stewardship by government actors
• Engage existing community structures such as CHIPS, WDCs, FHCs, SLAMs and CSOs in community-based surveillance with clear communication at ward and village levels.
• Support the ongoing advocacy at national level to review the NH Act, including provisions for robust health security funding as part of UHC financing reforms.
• Support tracking of funds from all sources into the state for Covid-19 and how it is being spent (in partnership with PERL).
• Support CSOs to undertake spot checks for PHCs, secondary facilities and isolation centres to assess how Covid-19 funds are being used as well as the main funding gaps.
• Engage directly with high-level political actors at federal and state levels to encourage increased public health spending as means to tackle Covid-19 and kick-start UHC reforms.
• High-level targeted advocacy for financing a PHC-driven UHC reform that can deliver equitable access to public health services.
• Amplify demand from civil society, SLAMs and WDCs for faster implementation of BHCPF alongside the Covid-19 response in order to increase access to the basic health package.
• In collaboration with PERL, support and strengthen the capacity of CSO situation rooms across States for effective monitoring and reporting.
• Engage and advocate to state legislatures and Ministries of Finance to establish dedicated budget line for public health emergency preparedness and response

Provide guidance on accountability issues relating to COVID-19 and health security more broadly to be taken up by the Civil Society advocacy groups/platforms in collaboration with the Advocacy and Accountability Coordinator and in partnership with PERL.

• Support the ongoing advocacy at state level including provisions for robust health security funding as part of UHC financing reforms.
• Engage with high-level political actors at the federal level to encourage them to increase public health spending as means to tackle COVID-19 and kick-start UHC reforms.
• Facilitate efficiency through priority-setting and resource tracking including COVID-19 resources.
• In collaboration with PERL, build the capacity of CSOs for effective monitoring and tracking of C19 resources

Identify and support documentation of lessons that will feed into health security discussions and round table at the federal but also for state and LGA level discussions with relevant legislators and stakeholders:

• Develop monthly and quarterly reports as required for program documentation and learning
• Ensure any resources or training materials developed are shared across supported states
• Identify and share lessons to feed into the lafiya programme knowledge and learning platform

Person Specification

Qualifications:

• An MSc or relevant qualification or related comparable experience in health economics, public health, community / primary health care, social sciences or in a relevant field.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant experience of working on primary health care, epidemiology in Nigeria including advocacy and accountability interventions/framework.
• Experience and understanding of LGA and ward development systems, and building a resilient health system including workshop facilitation, data collection, analysis, and report writing
• Previous working experience with DFID and/or other international agencies.
• Experience of developing strong relationships with government officials within health and finance authorities at national, State and LGA level and with civil society organisations in Nigeria
• Experience of developing the capacity of counterparts/institutions including government officials, community structures and civil society organisations

Skills and attributes:

• Excellent interpersonal, written, and oral communication skills in English required, working knowledge of Hausa and other local languages preferred
• Technical specialism in Health Systems Strengthening, community preparedness and response or other related area
• Knowledge about the Nigerian health system at the local, state and federal level
• Ability to design training materials for a diverse range of audiences
• Proven ability to network and manage relationships with clients, consultants and technical resource persons
• Self-starter as well as good team-worker
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to technical delivery of programmes.
• Demonstrated interpersonal skills that enables effective team building and problem solving.
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to technical reporting and strategic development

Other Requirements:

• Commitment to Equal Opportunities
• First-hand experience of FCDO policies and programming.
• Right to live and work in Nigeria

To succeed in this role, you will have:

• Technical background in health security, community health systems and accountability of health results
• Strong understanding of the Nigerian health system
• Good connections with state and non-state actors in the health sector in the state
• Experience of working with the media to communicate advocacy messages.
• Proven skills in capacity building and analysing data and packaging it for targeted advocacy

Salary
Commensurate with experience

Application Closing Date
16th October, 2020.