Senior Program Associate, CPEA SPARC

Results for Development (R4D) is a leading non-profit global development partner. We collaborate with change agents around the world — government officials, civil society leaders and social innovators — to create strong systems that support healthy, educated people. We help our partners move from knowing their goal to knowing how to reach it. We combine global expertise in health, education and nutrition with analytic rigor, practical support for decision-making and implementation and access to peer problem-solving networks. Together with our partners, we build self-sustaining systems that serve everyone and deliver lasting results. Then we share what we learn so others can achieve results for development, too.

We have a unique and vibrant culture at R4D. Diversity, equity and inclusion are at the heart of our work environment and help advance our mission. Diversity—of ideas, identities, perspectives and backgrounds—is vital to who we are and what we do. We seek people who embrace these values and will help reinforce them. Our work culture is collaborative, creative and entrepreneurial. We operate based on trust and respect. Teams across the organization frequently collaborate on programmatic work and support each other in continuously building a better R4D.

Opportunity:

R4D seeks a Program Officer with health systems expertise to provide technical and program management support to a health financing initiative within the health portfolio, specifically the Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center (SPARC) initiative and the Cross-Programmatic Efficiency Analysis.

SPARC

The Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center (SPARC) – a resource hub hosted by Amref Health Africa with technical support from Results for Development (R4D) – is aimed at strengthening strategic purchasing capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa by connecting existing regional knowledge and expertise and matching it with country demand to make better use of resources for health. SPARC is not just a resource center — it is a movement. SPARC is engaging individuals from stakeholder groups across sub-Saharan Africa to understand, talk about and advocate for strategic purchasing to make better use of limited resources for universal health coverage (UHC).

Cross-Programmatic Efficiency Analysis (CPEA)

The Cross-Programmatic Efficiency Analysis (CPEA) diagnostic approach, developed by WHO, detects inefficiencies resulting from the way in which health programmes and related services are articulated within the context of the overall health system. This approach implemented in more than 14 countries, helps to identify and address duplications, misalignments and overlaps between shared functions that are common across specific health programmes. R4D has been awarded a contract to support a work programme which focused on country support, as well as cross-country learning and dialogue. It will leverage experience to date to enable CPEA to serve as a critical bridge between the overall health system and individual health programmes. This bridge is both critical to improve the efficiency with which resources are used across the system to maximize outcomes, but also to enable a more sustainable investment approach.

The Senior Programme Associate will support program management of SPARC and CPEA and will contribute to implementation, and monitoring of activities to ensure deliverables are achieved. The Senior Programme Associate will report to the Program Officers on SPARC and CPEA and will collaborate will other members of the SPARC and CPEA teams. This position is estimated at 70% LOE SPARC and 30% CPEA; position location is flexible.

Responsibilities

The Senior Program Associate will serve as an integral member of both teams providing day-to-day program support across SPARC and CPEA workstreams. Specific responsibilities include:

Administrative

• Facilitating and supporting routine business processes, such as recruitment, procurement, financial/budget analysis, contracting, and payments
• Performing and supporting internal administrative processes critical to the functioning of a rapidly growing team and organization
• Providing organization and logistics support for the convening of stakeholder meetings, workshops, and other collaborative forums.

Technical

• Contributing to the development of high-quality work products, including presentations, concept notes, thought pieces, briefing materials, blog posts, newsletters, meeting summaries, and e-communications to share with both internal and external audiences.
• Contributing to technical activities, such as conducting qualitative and quantitative analysis on technical and policy issues related to health systems and financing
• Coordinating and developing project deliverables (reports, workplans, tracking progress against targets, etc.)
• Support synthesis of technical input and feedback received into knowledge products
• Support project management including tracking timelines and budgets, funder reporting, and consultants.
• Participates fully as a member of R4D by contributing, assisting, and participating in projects, activities, and initiatives as requested by management

The candidate is expected to be self-motivated, able to work independently within a multi-functional team, and have a high degree of flexibility to be responsive to the needs of colleagues and other project stakeholders.

Successful candidates are likely to have the following qualifications:

Qualifications

• BA with minimum of 3 years of relevant work experience in network building, operations, and/or communications at a research institution, government, bilateral or multilateral development agency, consulting firm, NGO, or think tank OR a MA with 2 years of experience in network building, operations, and/or communications.
• Excellent analytical and critical thinking skills
• Exceptional oral & written communications skills
• Experience working in a team environment
• Demonstrated interest in health, health financing, and/or social sector policy development
• Ability to deliver high-quality outputs and results within tight timeframes
• Familiarity with routine administrative and project management functions
• High level of proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, and Word
• Full professional fluency in written and spoken English; French fluency highly desired.