Main purpose of job
Health Systems Strengthening Advisor is responsible for designing, leading and coordinating the implementation of strategies to increase government investments in SRH in South Sudan and contribute to the overall national ownership goals. S/he works in close collaboration with the country lead, and consortium partners, and is responsible for the achievement of the quarterly Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and logframe indicators relating to domestic financing.
Note: All levels of position in the organisation assume some degree of responsibility for safeguarding. Your accountabilities will align with the level and scope of the position and appropriate training will be provided.
Main duties
Provide technical support to the country team on strategies for influencing increased allocation and more efficient spending on SRH and Family Planning (FP):
- Support the country team with strategies which will result in effective relationships with the Ministry of Health (MoH), and other relevant authorities at national and local level.
- Develop a technical assistance plan to support health authorities increase domestic investments in SRH/FP.
- Carry out budget tracking and analysis exercises in close collaboration with relevant government counterparts and facilitate validation of the results with selected stakeholders.
- Innovate and implement strategies to work with relevant government counterparts to analyse, interpret and present health budget data, and support its use for decision-making.
- Identify strategies to support the MoH effectively negotiate with the Ministry of Finance to secure increased investments in SRH/FP.
- Assist relevant health authorities to make better use of domestic resources for SRH/FP, for example by prioritising budgetary allocation to high impact interventions, and/or strengthening budget holders’ capacity to fully execute their resource envelope.
- Undertake a market analysis of essential SRH/FP commodities to support forecasting and budgeting processes.
- Design effective strategies which will enhance interventions to strengthen the use of facility level and other monitoring data during planning and budgeting processes.
- Support the MoH to leverage other financing mechanisms (such as the Global Financing Facility (GFF)) to increase available resources for SRH/FP.
Build effective partnerships with actors engaged in budget advocacy for SRHR in the region:
- Establish and maintain relationships with key stakeholders in South Sudan and engage in budget tracking and advocacy at the national and subnational levels, including WISH consortium partners.
- Building capacity of civil society organisations to understand and use budget data and effectively engage in the budgeting cycle.
Support the country team to ensure effective use of data to hold governments accountable for SRH/FP outcomes.
- Support the development of specific messages and materials for promotion of increased domestic financing for family planning.
- Support the packaging and use of data from national and subnational initiatives such as FP2030, Advance Family Planning (AFP) to reinforce national ownership.
Report on progress towards domestic financing for SRHR/FP through the consortium monitoring, evaluation and learning system:
- Contribute to the development of country specific, regional and global logframe indicators relating to domestic financing.
- Collect baseline data and milestones for log frame indicators relating to domestic financing during the first three months of beginning of implementation of the programme in South Sudan.
- Ensure the achievement of the KPIs relating to domestic financing for South Sudan and ensure the availability of evidence required as proof of this achievement.
- Ensure learnings relating to health financing are documented and communicated at all country, regional and global levels.
Identify need for short term technical assistance and coordinate of their inputs.
- In consultation with the country team, support identification and coordination of short-term technical assistance to achieve domestic financing goals and results.
Contribute to the broader national ownership output in South Sudan.
- Contribute to a country engagement strategy on national ownership with measurable and attributable sustainability indicators.
- Support the development, implementation and review of a WISH transition plan in South Sudan.
Support the development of Options’ country and international presence.
- Participate in in-country SHRH focused conferences, workshops and meetings to establish relationships with external stakeholders.
- Support the development of WISH learning products including, abstracts and scientific papers for publications.
Please note that you may also be required to carry out reasonable additional ad-hoc duties, at the request of your line manager.
Key skills
- Excellent time management and organisational skills.
- Excellent interpersonal skills, with experience interacting with government officials, development partners, civil society and other health sector stakeholders.
- Excellent influencing skills, with an ability to identify and act on opportunities to build buy-in and support among decision-makers.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills with a demonstrable ability to present complex financial concepts in easy-to-understand language for a range of audiences.
- Sound monitoring evaluation skills, including the design and delivery of logical frameworks.
- Proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint.
Key Experience
- At least five years’ work experience in a highly competitive and busy work environment, with significant experience in the design, implementation and evaluation health system strengthening projects.
- Solid understanding of the health sector, including the relationship between national and sub-national levels.
- A solid understanding of Public Financial Management (PFM) including annual budget cycles, Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks (MTEFs) and the principles of transparency and accountability.
- Strong analytical skills with experience in analysing and interpreting annual budgets, particularly health budget tracking.
- Capacity to translate evidence into convincing advocacy documents.
- Solid stakeholder engagement and relationship building capacity.
- Considerable experience in leading the delivery of donor-funded programmes, particularly those funded by FCDO.
Formal education/qualifications
At least a bachelor’s degree in public health, health economics, health management, economics, or a related field.
- To apply, please fill in the form.
- Closing date for applications is: 02 May 2025.
- Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted for interview. Interviews will be held week commencing: 05 May 2025.
- Please note that this role will be subject to full pre-employment background checks including criminal record check, identification check, employment references and right to work verification (where appropriate).
