Program Officer – County Support Strategic Purchasing for Primary Health Care 436 views0 applications

O V E R V I E W

ThinkWell is a health sector development organization with deep experience in designing, implementing, evaluating, and diffusing new solutions to persistent health system challenges. Using approaches rooted in analytics, we have supported health financing reforms in over 30 countries.

ThinkWell is implementing the Strategic Partnership for Primary Health Care (SP4PHC) project, a five-year program focused on improving how pooled government resources are used to pay for primary healthcare services – especially family planning (FP) and maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) in the context of pro-poor health financing schemes. The project is operating in five countries of which Kenya is one.

The SP4PHC Kenya team is recruiting a Program Officer to champion its work in Makueni County. The Makueni Program Officer will work closely with the County Department of Health and the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). The candidate will be responsible to facilitate discussions, share evidence and propose ideas towards optimization of processes for the strategic purchasing of FP and MNCH services.

The successful candidate will have experience in providing technical advisory services to the county and will have political skills to navigate county partnerships. The successful candidate will also be responsible for preparing progress reports. The candidate should be prepared to work independently, and as part of a small, distributed team. Open, frank, routine communication will be a priority, using calls as well as project team software to build a collaborative environment with the wider SP4PHC team.

Job Location: This is a full-time position based in Makueni County, Kenya.

Reports to: SP4PHC Kenya Country Director

R E S P O N S I B I L I T I E S

Technical support to the County

The candidate will undertake the following functions:

1. Facilitate communications between County Department of Health and NHIF on strategic purchasing of PHC services, with a focus on FP and MNCH.
2. Support county efforts to increase uptake of NHIF’s Linda Mama scheme in public facilities. This includes:

· Supporting County Government efforts to build awareness of NHIF opportunities in public providers.

· Supporting monitoring of NHIF claims and accreditation data by County Department of Health

· Support County Government to track flow of NHIF claims and reimbursements, from claims submission to claims reimbursement to the county to the flow of funds to facilities.

· Support County Government to develop innovative mechanisms to increase demand for MNCH and FP services

1. Work with County Government to identify and implement ways to utilise NHIF funds to align incentives between County Department of Health and providers.

· Review public financial management procedures and by-laws relating to NHIF funds.

· Share best practice from other counties with current county administrators and assembly members.

· Advocate and facilitate reform as appropriate.

· Support the County Government to monitor impact of changes in terms of claims volume and improved access

1. Liaise with non-governmental organisations, community-based organisations, and other development partners working on MNCH and FP in the county, and identify areas for collaboration including, for example:

· Raising community awareness of NHIF Linda Mama benefits, or

· Quality improvement programs for MNCH and FP services.

1. Act as focal point for communication with NGO partners as applicable.

Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)

The candidate will undertake the following functions:

1. Work with the County to conduct monitoring and evaluation of MNCH and FP services including developing key metrics, guide data collection and analysis, and share findings periodicaly with relevant stakeholders.
2. Provide technical advisory support and develop facility plans to improve MNCH and FP indicators i.e. needs analysis as indicated from the M&E reports identification of skills or knowledge gaps and addressing the same through capacity building and training, identify and address reasons for input gaps at facility level e.g. forecasting.
3. In collaboration with County Department of Health focal person, conduct supervisory facility visits to implement MNCH and FP performance monitoring and evaluation.
4. Design and test approaches to monitor quality of care
5. Collect data to report on project indicators as guided by the Country Director.

Planning

The candidate will work with the County Government to support budgeting for MNCH and FP services during the annual work-planning cycle, and support the utilization of funds dedicated to MNCH and FP.

1 Provide technical advisory support in the development of annual work plans, with a focus on the inclusion of MNCH and FP.

2 Support the inclusion of output-based payments (including but not limited to those based on NHIF income) into county planning.

3 Support the use of funds from the Global Financing Facility (GFF) to incentivize improved counselling and increased choice of family planning methods.

4 In collaboration with County focal person, facilitate adherence to MNCH and FP plans such as those financed by GFF.

Other

5 Produce high quality reporting content and documents as necessary, based on guidance from the Country Director

6 Perform any other related duties that may be assigned by the immediate supervisor.

QU A L I F I C A T I O N S

1 Master level qualification in public health, nursing, biostatistics, health economics or M&E with a minimum of 3 years of relevant health systems work experience for example with a development agency, NGO, county government.

2 Bachelor’s degree public health, nursing, biostatistics, health economics or M&E with a minimum of 5 years of relevant health systems work experience, for example in a development agency, or development NGO; county government

3 Previous experience and proven track record in providing technical advice to counties in strategic and operational planning, monitoring and evaluation, and quality management in the health sector

4 Prior work experience linked to FP, MNCH or reproductive health highly desirable

8 Proficiency in MS Excel and other MS Office products

9 Expert level written and verbal communication skills;

10 Fluency in English and Kiswahili

S K I L L S AN D C O M P E T E N C I E S

1 Ability to work as part of a team with good interpersonal and relationship building skills and demonstrated ability to work constructively within an inter-cultural environment.

2 Experience on learning projects or structured learning and dissemination activities.

3 Ability to work under pressure, independently and with limited supervision.

4 Demonstrated ability to operate in both office and field settings.

5 Team player with positive attitude.