Back Health Financing Technical Advisor

Description

Position Title: Health Financing Technical Advisor

Reports to: IMB Chief Policy and Partnership Officer

Location: Kigali (with 25% domestic travel to PIH sites in Butaro, Kirehe and Kayonza Districts)

Employment Type: Full Time

Organization profile:

Partners In Health is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1987 that helps build and sustain public health systems in underprivileged and underserved communities in ten countries around the world. Partners In Health (PIH) fights social injustice by bringing the benefits of modern medical science first and foremost to the most vulnerable communities around the world. PIH focuses on those who would not otherwise have access to quality health care. PIH partners with the world’s leading academic institutions to create rigorous evidence that shapes more sound and all-inclusive global health policies. PIH also supports local governments’ efforts to build capacity and strengthen national health systems. As of today, PIH runs programs in 11 countries (Haiti, Peru, Rwanda, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Malawi, Lesotho, Russia, Kazakhstan, Navajo Nation), where it provides direct care to millions of patients, through public facilities and community engagement.

Known locally as Inshuti Mu Buzima (IMB), PIH began working in Rwanda at the invitation of the Government of Rwanda to strengthen the public health systems in rural Rwanda in three rural districts (Kayonza, Burera and Kirehe). Since then, PIH-IMB has developed impactful, innovative, scalable healthcare delivery models, several of which have been scaled by government to serve the entire country’s population. Today, each PIH-supported hospital is envisioned as a Center of Excellence for one of the following Clinical Areas of Focus: Oncology; Maternal-Neonatal-Child and Adolescent Health; and Non-Communicable Diseases, Mental Health and Surgery. Through investment in cross-cutting priorities at the district level covering our health systems strengthening values of the 5Ss (Staff, Stuff-tools and resources, Space-Infrastructure, Systems, and Social Support), each PIH-IMB supported District offers a model of opportunity to the rest of the country in the delivery of the highest quality of care and being exemplar. Through close partnership with the Ministry of Health, the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC), and District authorities, PIH-IMB works nationally to advocate for evidence-based policies aimed at improving access to higher quality healthcare for all Rwandans.

Position Overview:

The Health Financing Technical Advisor position offers a unique opportunity to contribute towards Rwanda’s spearheading change to achieve universal health coverage. The Health Financing Technical Advisor will be half-time seconded to the Rwandan Ministry of Health, providing health-financing accompaniment to both IMB-supported sites and the Rwandan government, help shape PIH’s evolving health financing strategy, and play a key role as part of a unique health financing team responsible for new areas of work for PIH.

The Health Financing Technical Advisor will report to the Chief Policy and Partnership Officer and Head of the Department of Planning, Health Financing and Strategic Information of the Ministry of Health, while working closely with Health Financing and Policy and Partnership teams based in Boston, as well as various global cross site teams including Mental Health, Non Communicable Diseases, Oncology, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent, and Reproductive Health, and Community Health. During their secondment, the Health Financing Technical Advisor will work as a key advisor and technical contributor on projects set and prioritized by the Ministry of Health.

Responsibilities:

The Health Financing Technical Advisor’s responsibilities will focus on priorities set for their secondment to the Ministry of Health (including economic evaluation, health sector costing and strategic planning), and priorities set by IMB leaderships (including costing and economic analysis of IMB programming).

The Health Financing Technical Advisor will collaborate with the PIH Global Health Financing Team to leverage economic analysis, strategic planning and health financing policy reform towards the goal of universal health coverage. The Health Financing Technical Advisor will use tools like costing and economic analysis of PIH-supported health programs and innovations as proof of concept for the scale up of critical health interventions. At the request of the MOH, the Health Financing Technical Advisor will provide accompaniment in national strategic planning and costing efforts, as well as health financing policy reform, provide technical assistance in economic evaluation, defining priorities including health benefits package, enhancing strategic purchasing, and resource mobilization.

This will include:

Secondment to Rwandan Ministry of Health (50%):

• Work at the request of the Rwandan Ministry of Health in technical areas pertaining to health sector costing and strategic planning, domestic resource mobilization, economic evaluation, priority setting and health financing policy
• Participate in technical working groups and steering committees, meeting management (as/when needed), and technical writing
• Other responsibilities as assigned

  IMB Strategy Development, Economic Analysis, and Capacity Building (50%):

  • Advise on financial sustainability approaches for IMB interventions through comprehensive costing models which can be easily understood, budgeted for and scaled/replicated by IMB or the Rwandan government
  • Support knowledge management and resource mobilization for IMB’s strategic plan through

    costing of the 5 S’s (Stuff, Staff, Space, Social Support, Systems) for IMB innovations

    • Conduct quantitative analyses, including economic analysis and costing, cost-benefit analysis, economic evaluation to support IMB’s goals towards UHC and innovative rural healthcare delivery.
    • Support the shaping of PIH’s health financing strategy by developing case studies for publication, documentation, and conducting literature reviews on health financing policy topics in order to formalize the team’s overall approach to equitable health financing.
    • Serve as an Advisor and Capacity Builder for the IMB Internal Evaluation Working Group (IEWG) members by providing technical support and trainings on economic evaluations and cost analyses projects that will feed into IMB programmatic decision-making, fundraising and external reporting channels.
    • Provide capacity building training to colleagues at IMB-supported sites and government partners on planning best practices and costing tools.
    • Other responsibilities as assigned

      Qualifications:

      • Advanced degree in health economics, public health, public policy, business or other relevant disciplines preferred;
      • At least 5 years of experience in a relevant field (e.g., health financing, health economics, financial management, health systems, management consulting, health policy) in the public or private sector with increasing responsibilities;
      • Highly skilled in analytics and information management, with excellent analytical, problem solving, and quantitative cost modeling skills;
      • Demonstrated experience leading complex projects, from strategy design to implementation, including costing and economic analyses, preferably in the public health sector;
      • Excellent communication and presentation skills with the ability to write in a clear and concise manner, as well as distill complex analyses into data visualization;
      • Direct experience working with government institutions, informing development of government strategy, policy, and operational plans, preferably in health financing or health system
      • Ability to think strategically and work proactively in a fast-paced environment;
      • Ability to learn on the job quickly and absorb and synthesize a broad range of information;
      • High level of proficiency in Microsoft Office, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
      • Interest in social justice and global health strongly desirable
      • Fluency in spoken and written English required, with fluency in French and