POSITION DESCRIPTION
Job title: Regional Health System Advisor
Work station: The MDG center regional offices in Dakar, Senegal
The MDG Centre West Africa
The MDG Centre was established in July 2004 by The Earth Institute at Columbia University and the UN Millennium Project with a broad purpose of assisting countries to develop operational strategies for achieving the MDGs, and to support their implementation at both local and national levels.
In early 2006, The MDG Centre reorganized to establish two sub-regional centers covering East and Southern Africa (based in Nairobi) and West and Central Africa (based in Bamako). The MDG Centre West and Central Africa (WCA) is currently working in the following countries: Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal and its rapidly expanding to other countries in the region.
The West Africa MDG Centre focuses on two complementary scales:
At the national level,  provide support to national Governments to develop Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)-based national strategies and plans
At the sub-national level, assist local governments to develop and implement MDG-based local development plans and strategies and assist pilot Millennium Villages Project (MVP) sites and Millennium Cities Initiative (MCI) to achieve MDGs at local level. .
The MVP Health Sector Summary
The MVP health model is based on provision of an essential package of services to rural populations that are extremely poor, have limited and often unsatisfactory interactions with formal health care systems, incur high opportunity cost to health service utilization (even when services are free), and have limited means of transport. Achieving sustained improvements in health outcomes therefore requires clinical services that are available, accessible, appropriate, and acceptable to all villagers. Also necessary are proximity and outreach interventions that target families in their homes, build trust and ownership throughout the community, and address cultural beliefs and socio-economic and behavioral barriers to care.
The goal of this phase of the MV project is to develop the functionality of a health system which uses real-time information system  with real-time feedback for adaptive implementation and adaptive management.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
Health team leadership :
Coordinate, lead and be responsible for the MDG  centre WCA health sector (RMNCH, CHW, WASH , Nutrition,  Malaria, HIV, TB etc. ) and liaise with other MDG Centre WCA sectors  such as Education, Gender, Community development  Infrastructure, Water and sanitation , Agriculture, business development and the Millennium Village Information Systems group.
Technical and scientific leader of the health sector in Millennium Villages of West and Central Africa
Direct program and management support
The primary responsibility of the regional health coordinator is to ensure MVP WCA site teams attain the health related MDGs. 
To achieve this goal, the health coordinator will manage a team of health specialists at the MDG Centre who together provide  technical and scientific support to the respective health   sector coordinators at MVP sites around child health, nutrition , maternal health and family planning, and progress towards reducing the burden HIV, TB and malaria.
This will require a broad understanding of national policies and actors, the technical content of interventions; the effective use of survey data and routine monitoring of real timeinformation to identify gaps; strong facilitation and team management skills; and the ability to flexibly and responsively problem solve.
Towards the later years of the project, additional efforts will be required to assist sites in sustaining and transitioning infrastructure, staffing and programs through effective work with local and national government actors.
Travel to the sites is anticipated approximately 25% of the time.
Budget Support
Liaise with sub-sector coordinators to develop technical guidelines to assist field teams with yearly budget preparation;
Review budgets from field teams, ensuring alignment with project strategy, agreed annual program priorities  and budget  allocation;
Conduct technical review of requests to implement non-budgeted activities and make recommendations to Millennium Promise Operations team
Reporting
Write up and disseminate best practices, lessons learned and success from implementation of interventions;
Liaise with health coordinators and sub-sector coordinators to prepare annual report on health sector
Operations Research & New Projects
Monitor ongoing research projects in the field, and share lessons and results with other sites;
Actively seek out potential partners and develop strategies for new partnerships with government, NGOs, Private Sector, WHO, UNICEF, UNAIDS, WFP, GFATM, Red Cross etc. Partnerships are relevant in commodities, training, professional services, programs, funding etc
Implementation Research
Research and Policy Development: Identify policy challenges and recommend to director of MVP health and MDG director targeted research to determine best practice; propose policy to overcome challenges in MVP sites; cost proposals at village, district and national levels; policy challenges include user fees, professionalized CHW system, scale-up to district/national.
Ensure  that research and special projects benefit all sites not just concentrated in one site
Assist  the HIV/AIDS/TB coordinator based in NY for the implementation of the different activities  
Country-level support to promote achieving health related MDGs
The health system advisor will work with MOH, UN Country Teams including WHO, UNICEF, WFP, UNFPA, UNAIDS and other related organizations such as AMREF to assist national government in preparing health-related strategies and costed action plans for health as part of MDG-based poverty reduction strategies in all countries in his panel . Particular focus on the MVP countries (Senegal , Mali, Nigeria and Ghana)
Other responsibilities will also include technical support to Ministry of Health, GFTAM, NACA and other stakeholders in the preparation of health related surveys, data gathering and dissemination instruments, reporting, monitoring and evaluation. Particular focus on the MVP countries (Senegal , Mali, Nigeria and Ghana)
Lead regional efforts to lobby and advocate for strategies and policies (local, district and national) that are consistent with the MV approach
Establish and maintain contacts with key people in ministries of health and planning, and relevant district officials
Key Policy issues for national advocacy
Free services
Work with the ministry of health in the various countries to ensure that extreme poor have free access to essential health services at the point of service
Review  the various financing models proposed in each country  especially the health insurance schemes work to adopt them in the MVP areas
Quality of Health Care- work with partners and communities in ensuring that quality of services provided is regularly interrogated and improved.
Design policies that address the most vulnerable members of the society especially the old, women, children and the very poor.
HealthSystemsStrengthening
Work at the regional/district level to ensure that the vertical funds are also applied to address certain essential  horizontal health system needs
Fund raising  for  health systems strengthening at the district level
Focusing on the utilization of Global Fund support for health systems strengthening to ensure optimal application.
Scale Up/ Sustainability:Identify some quick win interventions within the MVP that can be scale up to the district level and advocate for support from different partners e.g. LLIN mosquito bed nets for all sleeping sites and regular, community wide deworming of school children
Support of district wide scale up (millennium districts approach) for health as a model that governments can learn from in terms of scaling up health interventions.
Address other policy issues as they come up
Knowledge building/information dissemination/other responsibilities
As a member of the EI team, the Health System Advisor will also:
Represent proactively the MV project and the MDG Centre WCA  at key international conferences and meetings
Support outreach to the UN system, development partners, civil society, and governments.
Carry out additional research and data analysis, and
Provide guidance and support on health system issues to the Director.
Perform other duties as assigned by the Director of MDG centre WCA
Desired Qualifications and skills
Master’s degree in public health, Medicine or related field
Five to ten (5-10) years working experience with substantial experience designing, implementing, or evaluating Health programs
Training and/or experience in program design and implementation oversight
Strong decision making and problem solving skills
Good quantitative skills and research skills.
Facility to translate scientific findings to implementation
Facility with interpreting data to inform operational decision making
Ability to multi-task and work independently
Team player / excellent communication and interpersonal skills
Ability to manage a team of colleagues in the MDG center and in MVP sites
Willingness to work long hours and under time pressure
Expertise in behavior change, participatory education methods, and community development
Proficiency in computer skills.
Excellent oral and written communication skills in English and French;
Willingness  to travel between 30-50% of the time in the region,
Terms of offer
CIP/MDG Center offers a regionally competitive salary with an excellent benefits package. The employment contract is for a period of one year with the possibility of renewal with a three months initial probation period.
Women Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply.
Applications
Applicants should apply by email, sending a cover letter summarizing their relevance to this position, a full C.V. names and contact information of three referees knowledgeable about the candidate’s professional qualifications and work experience to recruitment@mdgwca.org . “Application for Regional Health System Advisor MDG-WCA” should be clearly marked on the subject line of the email message.
Applications will be considered until 31st December 2012 or until the position is filled.
Only short-listed applicants meeting the above requirements will be contacted.
We invite you to learn more about us at:
www.mdgwca.org
www.millenniumpromise.org,
www.unmillenniumproject.org,
www.mdgwca.org