Fund Director, Access to Health

Background Information – Myanmar

UNOPS Myanmar

Myanmar is one of UNOPS’ leading offices in Asia, acting as fund manager for three of the largest development programmes in the country, namely the Access to Health Fund, the Livelihood and Food Security Fund (LIFT) and the Joint Peace Fund (JPF). In addition, UNOPS is Principal Recipient for the Global Fund in Myanmar and for the Global Fund’s regional artemisinin-resistance initiative targeting drug resistant malaria in the greater Mekong sub-region. UNOPS also provides procurement, infrastructure and project management services to a wide range of organizations in the country. UNOPS plays a critical role in ensuring that the quality of services provided to its partners meets stringent requirements of speed, efficiency and cost effectiveness.

Access to Health

The Access to Health Fund aims to improve health outcomes for vulnerable populations in conflict-affected areas of Myanmar. The Fund works with key stakeholders to increase people’s access to health services (maternal, newborn and child health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, combating HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria) and to strengthen health systems.

The Access to Health Fund is supported by the governments of the United Kingdom, Sweden, the United States, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Norway. Two other donors support the Fund’s activities, including Takeda, a private donor, provides dedicated funding to Access, with a focus on health services for marginalized and vulnerable populations in conflict-affected and hard-to-reach areas, and on health system strengthening.

Background Information – Job-specific

The Fund Director will lead the Access to Health Fund Management Office by providing leadership and strategic direction, and promoting best practice in performance and delivery of the Fund’s mission and goals. The Fund Director will need to demonstrate strong management skills and be an advocate of continued external support for health in Myanmar. The incumbent will have exceptional ability to support health work in challenging environments, including conflict areas. They will also need excellent partnership skills, working with a broad range of stakeholders to achieve tangible results for people in need.

*** While the duty station for this position will be Yangon, Myanmar, the incumbent is expected to be based in Bangkok, Thailand temporarily until an appropriate Myanmar visa can be obtained.***

Functional Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the UNOPS Myanmar Country Director & Representative, working closely with the Board composed of the Fund’s Donors, and in close coordination with key stakeholders, the Fund Director will be responsible for:

1. Stakeholder Management

• Establish solid working relationships based on trust with the Fund Board, current and potential partners and key stakeholders.
• Manage Access to Health communications with stakeholders regarding Fund activities, progress and exceptions, enabling their ability to accept handover of Fund deliverables.
• Advise the partners on issues that may impact the achievement of their outcomes.
• Manage the information flows between the Fund Board, the UNOPS Myanmar Director and Representative and the UNOPS team dedicated to Access to Health.
• Represent Access to Health and UNOPS at external events and meetings.
• Represent Access to Health in the UNOPS Management Group (MG) to ensure coordination, effective delivery and information sharing.
• Seek new donors for the Access to Health Fund, if required.

2. Delivery and Performance

• Oversee the implementation of approved programme plans, manage the delivery of the programme’s outputs, and initiate corrective action where necessary.
• Authorize, monitor and control work packages to be delivered by the UNOPS team or by implementing partners.
• Advise the Fund Board on architecture and processes to strengthen Access to Health’s engagement at all levels
• Identify and manage risks, advising the Fund Board and UNOPS Myanmar Director and Representative of deviations that have or will exceed set tolerances as approved in the programme plan.
• Monitor and evaluate performance of service providers.
• Represent UNOPS at Fund Board meetings on a periodic basis as ex officio, non voting member in order to discuss key issues and propose solutions to challenges that arise.
• Monitor progress of the programme at a strategic level and ensure periodic progress and updates are made to the Fund Board.

3. Procedures

• Ensure compliance with UNOPS organizational policy and UNOPS Financial Rules and Regulations.
• Manage the Access to Health Fund Management Office to ensure performance of the Fund in the areas of programmatic/technical results delivery, financial management (budget/cash flow/expenditure), work planning and resource mobilization, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), administrative (including regular reporting and audit results) and procurement operations.
• Manage budgets, cash flow and obligations, taking accountability for expenditures against the budget; ensure that deliverables are met and payments to contractors, grantees/ implementing partners and personnel are received on time.
• Understand and manage UNOPS pricing policy and related corporate charges as they apply to Access to Health.
• Ensure implementing partner capacity is commensurate with funding requirements.
• Ensure appropriate measures have been documented in a Closure Plan to facilitate the transition of operations in the final stage of delivery.

4. Knowledge Management

• Provide feedback to Practice Leads on policy, supporting guidance with an aim towards continuous improvement of UNOPS policies complete lessons learned as per reporting format.
• Support UNOPS Myanmar’s efforts in being a centre of excellence for programme management.

Impact of Results

The Fund Director will ensure that the Access to Health Fund continues to improve access to health for vulnerable populations in Myanmar, continues to deliver value for money, and continues to nurture constructive relationships with the Fund’s partners – including donors, implementing partners, the UN, and others.