Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest private
foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It was
launched in 2000 and is said to be the largest transparently operated
private foundation in the world.
Job Title: Senior Program Officer
Responsibilities
The
Africa Engagement Team within GPA focuses on managing our relations
with governments and other key partners in our high priority African
countries. The team includes three Country Representatives, based in
Ethiopia, South Africa and Nigeria as well as Program Officers based in
our country offices and Seattle.
The Senior Program Officer (SPO)
Health, Nigeria will be one of the senior positions within the Africa
Team and will be based in Nigeria (after orientation in Seattle). This
role will partner with the Integrated Delivery Team and other foundation
teams on health issues and also engages in high-level government
relations to further foundation programmatic work in Nigeria. They will
help lead the foundation’s Policy & Advocacy work in Nigeria as well
as support and drive the foundation’s engagement in Africa. Drawn from
the priorities set out by the foundation’s program strategy teams, this
role is focused on maximizing the health and development outcomes of the
foundation in Nigeria.
Qualifications
• Master’s degree or equivalent in a relevant field.
• 15+ years
of international experience including a good understanding of the
political landscape in Africa and knowledge of development and other
issues, including: governments, multilateral institutions, civil society
organizations, the private sector, and health sector.
• Deep knowledge of Nigeria, especially the health policy sphere, and of how government decisions are made and influenced.
•
Recent significant experience working in Nigeria is required. This
should include working closely with grantees, partners, and governments,
as well as bilateral and multilateral donors.
• Deep knowledge of
Primary Health Care at both national and state levels and an
understanding of health systems strengthening and primary health care in
both public and private sectors.
• At least five years of previous professional work experience within primary health care systems strengthening in Nigeria.• Ability to travel within region and to the U.S. at least 35% of the time.
• Strong interpersonal and influencing
skills with proven success engaging with senior level executives, and
government officials in Nigeria and on a global scale.
• Ability to
think strategically about the foundation’s programmatic work and the
intersection of the public and private sectors.
• Ability to staff
and advise senior foundation leadership, being both responsive to their
concerns and able to give them clear advice on the best courses of
action.
• Strong public presentation skills and ability to develop and maintain positive and productive relationships with partners.•
Demonstrated experience working in cross-team, cross-unit collaboration
programs and proven ability to adapt to the networking and
coalition-building demands of a matrixed organization. Ability to
influence without authority.
• The ability to stay calm and poised under pressure and remain focused in a rapidly changing environment.
• Demonstrated initiative to solve problems with high energy and a positive attitude.
• Demonstrated commitment to the foundation’s core values, mission, and programs and to serving our grantees.
•
Excellent oral and written communication skills and a demonstrated
ability to create persuasive and clear oral and written communications.
• Fluency in English is required and ability to speak at least one major Nigerian language fluently is strongly desired.
Key responsibilities include:
•
Support the development and implementation of the foundation’s
strategic approach in Nigeria for key health programs and advocacy
goals.
• Collaborate closely with Integrated Delivery on the
development and implementation of the Nigeria PHC Systems Strengthening,
and other foundation health teams to support and advance strategic
goals and cross-cutting efforts.
• Support foundation teams to
accelerate Nigeria’s progress on health goals identified by the
government and the foundation by facilitating the work of foundation
teams active in the health sector.
•
Develop background documents, briefs, and presentations, including
carrying out relevant literature reviews, landscape analyses, and data
analysis.
• Organize and prepare for high-level foundation leadership trips to Nigeria.
•
Track current regional and national economic, political, social, and
other trends impacting Nigeria and other countries where foundation
programs work, and inform appropriate foundation personnel on actions or
pending actions that would impact their work.
• Contribute to
foundation-wide global health policy and advocacy priorities,
particularly: Vaccine Delivery, Nutrition, Family Planning, Maternal
& Newborn Child Health, Integrated Delivery and other health related
programs.
• Help identify key opportunities for the foundation in other African countries within the region.
• Serve as the main point of
contact for the foundation with the technical staff of the Federal
Ministry of Health (FMOH) and state health agencies, as well as other
health focused development partners.
• Contribute to developing a
foundation for the Health Sector Plan for Nigeria. Development of this
plan will serve to bring a broad health sector perspective to the
foundation’s portfolio of investments and identify synergies across
existing areas of work and gaps that need to be addressed via foundation
support. The development of the foundation Health Sector Plan will be
facilitated in part by Nigeria Technical Panel meetings in country (up
to two per year) that this role will help to organize in collaboration
with Nigeria Working group and Integrated Delivery.
• Engage with
government and donor experts and agencies on health related matters at
federal, state and local government levels. Under guidance of the
Country Representative, support health sector relationships by meeting
with Governors, Ministers, Directors, Ambassadors & heads of
international organizations.
• In collaboration with foundation
teams, analyze and evaluate partnership and alliance opportunities in
Nigeria to increase visibility on issues on health that we work on,
offer compelling evidence, promote policies, boost political will and
bring in new resources in support of achieving programmatic goals.
• Serve as a liaison between relevant foundation program and advocacy staff and the Africa Team.
Reporting Relationship & Location
This
position will report to the Country Representative located in Abuja,
Nigeria. The position will also have a “dotted line” with the Deputy
Director, Country PHC, Integrated Delivery. The dotted line role will
make the position responsible for delivering specific tasks and
objectives related to the implementation of the Nigeria PHC Systems
Strengthening Strategy.
How to Apply
As part of our standard hiring process for new employees, employment
with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be contingent upon
successful completion of a comprehensive background check.
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