Health Financing Senior Technical Advisor 184 views0 applications

OVERVIEW

Do you believe that everyone deserves access to affordable, quality healthcare? Are you fed-up with the status quo of foreign assistance in the health sector? Are you driven by creativity and bold ideas? Are you inspired by exceptionally talented, diverse, impact-oriented colleagues? Do you thrive in a dynamic, high-growth, fast-paced environment? Then consider a job with ThinkWell, a growing, flexible health systems organization, with both global influence and local grounding. Our focus is on driving transformation in the global health space by always questioning and disrupting conventional wisdom about what works or what can or cannot be done.

ThinkWell implements the Strategic Purchasing for Primary Health Care (SP4PHC) project, which is supported by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project is working with government agencies in Burkina Faso, Indonesia, Kenya, Philippines, and Uganda to design and test policy options to more effectively purchase primary health care services, with a focus on family planning (FP) and maternal, neonatal, and child health (MNCH).

ThinkWell is recruiting a regional Senior Technical Advisor (STA) for Health Financing to provide technical support and drive business development in the francophone West Africa region. This position will be a key part of a small team that provides thoughtful technical support to SP4PHC country teams and shapes the project’s learning agenda. The STA will report to the SP4PHC Deputy Director and serve as a subject matter expert in health financing in the West Africa region, with a focus on strategic purchasing reforms, financing for reproductive health services, and public financial management. The STA will provide high-level technical advice and strategic guidance to the Burkina Faso team as well as to external partners (government ministries, local entities, etc.) in Burkina Faso and across the region.

Recognized leaders in their technical area, STAs at ThinkWell leverage that expertise to support program design and execution. They are responsible for growing their portfolio and for ensuring high-quality technical project execution while playing a leading role overall in the firm. The regional STA will manage the design and implementation of new programs of work, and supervise country-based staff in West Africa as needed.

This position would ideally be based in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, but other locations may be considered.

WHAT YOU’LL DO

SP4PHC-specific tasks

• Collaborate with Burkina Faso team and learning partners to develop knowledge products as part of the project’s learning agenda
• Facilitate knowledge diffusion between country teams
• Share learnings from the project with different local, regional, and global audiences in the domains of health financing, family planning, maternal health, and primary health care through conferences, webinars, and existing global learning platforms
• Provide technical support to other SP4PHC country teams in Africa.

Technical activities

• Design and support technical initiatives in areas of specialization
• Prepare high quality written deliverables including technical briefs and reports, journal manuscripts, and blogs
• Develop monitoring, evaluation, research and learning tools, indicators, and plans
• Communicate with other ThinkWell technical advisors globally to build, share, exchange, and disseminate technical knowledge.
• Present at conferences and participate in technical working groups on ThinkWell project-related technical innovations, priorities and results.
• Build ThinkWell reputation as a thought leader in the field.

Organizational leadership and development

• Represent ThinkWell in West Africa, actively engage key local and regional stakeholders, cultivate new business partnerships and concepts.
• Build project portfolio in West Africa in collaboration with the Burkina Faso country director, Design Lab, program managers and other firm and country leaders.
• Establish and manage the implementation of new programs of work, supervising country-based staff as needed.
• Consult and coordinate with key stakeholders within government, donors, and other entities to build ThinkWell program division and reputation.
• Play a firm-wide leadership role, participate in company initiatives and teams to build intellectual and human capital in technical area of specialization.
• Participate in company initiatives and teams to build intellectual and human capital in health financing.

WE ARE

ThinkWell core values are our fundamental organizational guiding principles. They define our corporate culture, influence our behavior at work and help us achieve our mission. Our values are:

Think big

Influence the conversation

Empower others

Be exceptional

Always question

Relate authentically

Evolve by learning

Requirements

YOU ARE

ThinkWell core competencies are foundational skills that align with our values and must be modeled and demonstrated in order to thrive at the firm.

An entrepreneurial, results-oriented ‘do-er’ with a willingness to take risk, think big and fearlessly challenge conventional wisdom.

A change maker who makes independent judgement with an open mind, influences the conversation, and is open to disrupting conventional business as usual.

Strong orientation to empower others and create an enabling, learning environment so that others can take initiative, assume responsibility and be accountable.

A collaborative worker with a cooperative spirit who engages constructively with colleagues from different cultures, orientations, and operating lenses (political, technical, funder, business partner, etc.) and is able to maintain positive relations in a virtual world.

Principally motivated by a growth mindset, meaning the pursuit of knowledge, experience, and self-improvement. You always question, evolve by learning, and embrace change.

Authentic, honest, direct, self-aware, and open to giving and receiving feedback.

Your qualifications

1. A graduate degree and 10+ years of relevant work experience;
2. Substantive, relevant work experience in the specific area of technical expertise in the areas of health financing and policy, strategic purchasing, and public financial management;
3. Adept at communicating technical information to non-technical audiences;
4. Established track record of writing technical reports, journal articles and blogs;
5. Demonstrated interest and ability in growing staff, mentoring, and coaching junior professionals;
6. A senior leader, able to rally staff around ThinkWell’s mission and priorities;
7. A thoughtful systems thinker with grounded, pragmatic understanding of the complexities of our work;
8. Recognized as a leader in the area of technical specialty; strong international, professional network in the field
9. Demonstrated ability to engage effectively with external strategic partners, donors, and stakeholders;
10. New business development, proposal writing, and fundraising experience;
11. Full bilingual English and French fluency, other languages a plus;
12. Outstanding cross-cultural communication skills, including the ability to relate respectfully with staff at all levels, ages, genders, nationalities, and orientations as well as across work areas;

13. Ability and willingness to travel up to 25% of your time.