Health Systems Support Technical Assistant

The Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) entered into an agreement with for Sweden in December 2015 in order to support Zambia’s Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH&N) specified in the Programme Document dated 1st October, 2015. The Ministry of Health is the main implementer while the Provincial Health Offices will play a key role in supportive supervision and monitoring. The support to the provinces covers all the districts in these provinces and all government owned health facilities. In January 2017, the United States Agency for International Development USAID and Sweden entered into an agreement in which USAID will support the expansion of the programme into two additional provinces, Luapula and Muchinga for the period 2017-2020. The provinces covered would include Eastern and Southern provinces. The overall goal of the programme is to improve the health of women, children and adolescents by supporting integrated primary health services at district level including health facilities in the target provinces. The programme includes the health systems strengthening elements such as recruitment of key health staff, support for renovation and construction works, capacity building for health care provider and procurement of vehicles and supplementary commodity procurement (eligible categories) and effective Supply Chain Management. Another key component of the programme is increasing the use of quality Health Information for decision and management. The Ministry of Health (MOH) therefore seeks to recruit a suitably qualified and experienced person to be appointed to the position of Health Systems Support Technical Assistant.

Location: Ministry of Health (HQ)

Reports to: The RMNCAH&N Coordinator and Deputy Director Planning and Budgeting

• The Officer will primarily provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Health (MOH) under the Directorate of Policy and Planning in the carrying out of Government to Government (G2G) related activities with regards to evidence based planning, performance monitoring and overall programme reporting.
• In addition, the officer would be build capacity of provincial and district personnel in planning and performance monitoring.

Specific Responsibilities

• Support Provincial Health Office (PHOs) and District Health Office’s (DHOs) in capacity building on evidence based planning at community, health centre, hospital, district, and provincial levels
• Facilitate the integration of G2G activities into the Annual Action Plans at all levels in line with the GRZ Annual Planning and Budgeting cycle
• Ensure timely reporting and disbursement of G2G grants to District Health Offices (DHOs), district hospitals, health facilities, and communities
• Regularly monitor the performance of the G2G key indicators as regards to relevance, trends, and make appropriate recommendations to the Ministry on action required
• Support the linkage of action plans and budgets with Microsoft NAV Dynamics
• Support the coordination of the RMNCAH and Nutrition research agenda
• Expand the platform for dialogue and joint financing of Performance Based Financing (PBF) by fostering internal and external partnerships through the Zambia health SWAp coordination mechanism.
• This shall be achieved by maintaining regular dialogue on PBF with key stakeholders at all levels of the health system, and leveraging resources from partners
• Support the process of disseminating best practices and lessons learned on the through regular updates to the senior management, and presentations at other national fora; and
• Support the Ministry in the development of Consolidated Annual Action Plans and Budgets presented to partners and the MOF.

Minimum Qualifications and Experience

• Full Grade 12 School Certificate with five O level credits including English and Mathematics
• A minimum of a diploma or equivalent in Public Health, Economics, Information Systems or related fields;
• A solid understanding of the Zambian Health Sector and Health System;
• At least 10 years administration/management experience at District, Provincial or National level in the Health Sector in Zambia;
• Extensive experience in program management and planning;
• Excellent writing, communication, and organizational skills;
• Significant experience working with government and non-government partners at sub-national and national level
• Ability to lead a multi-disciplinary team of professionals within and outside the project setting;
• Strong computer skills including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook
• Fluency in written and spoken English and
• Willingness to travel extensively within the country.

How to Apply

All interested persons meeting the above experience should send their written applications to the undersigned with copies of academic and professional qualifications, detailed Curriculum Vitea and three references including their contact numbers.

Address for the Headquarters position:

The Permanent Secretary,

Ministry of Health,

Ndeke House,

PO Box 30205,

Lusaka.