Job Title: Programme Officer
Hiring Organization: Amref Kenya
Location – Locality: Nairobi
Location – Region: Kenya
Industry: NGO
Job Type: Full Time
Salary: KES
Date Posted: 05/31/2024
About
The Role
The Programme Officer will manage the implementation of Amref’s Learning for Life (L4L): Building a Resilient and Responsive Health Workforce in Africa programme in Kenya. This 4-year programme in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, will be implemented in Kenya, Senegal and Zambia during this first phase. The estimated ratio of health workers per population in Africa is 11.2 workers per 10,000 people, far below the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended ratio of 44.5. It is estimated that the global shortage of health workers will increase from 12 to 18 million by 2030, translating to a shortage of six million health workers. Africa also has the world’s fastest growing population, which presents governments and policy makers with both opportunities and challenges to ensure sufficient livelihood opportunities for its young population. To address these challenges and accelerate the current Universal Health Coverage (UHC) gains, Amref is implementing this innovative, multi-country, multi-million dollar programme with the ultimate goal of contributing to increased and sustainable job creation within primary health care (PHC) sectors across Africa.
Reporting
to the PHC Technical Advisor, the Programme Officer will provide technical
support during the implementation of the Learning for Life programme’s pillars
of health employment, health entrepreneurship, and health ecosystem building.
This will stakeholder engagement for continued relevance and alignment of the
programme interventions with the national and sub-national levels’ needs and
priorities. S/he will facilitate the assessment, training, and convening of
ecosystem players to strengthen the primary healthcare health workforce,
including Community Health Workers. S/he will also strengthen the Ministry of
Health, training institutions’ and other relevant public and private 2 sector
players’ capacity to strengthen the production and absorption of a
fit-for-purpose health workforce.
About
You
You are a
people person who understands the importance and power of building strong
relationships to drive a common and ambitious goal. You are a problem solver,
looking at each challenge as an opportunity to find innovation in the way of
doing things. You are highly organised and have great attention to detail. You
are committed to achieving stellar results and success and are not afraid to
dig in get your hands “dirty”.
Stakeholder
and partner engagement and management are skill sets that you pride yourself
in. You thrive under pressure, can prioritise, are resilient and have a high
level of EQ. You are a great communicator and a team player, who’s pragmatic
and driven, and ultimately has a passion to deliver impact!
Principal
Responsibilities
PHC
Health Care Workers Employment
Provide
technical expertise, operational support, and supervision throughout all stages
of the programme’s processes to ensure optimal implementation in-country and
coherence with the multi-country programme.
Participate
in strategic discussions to inform programme implementation within the
programme partnership, and with external stakeholders, to foster collaboration
and innovation.
Collaborate
with critical stakeholders in conducting cross-sectoral assessments to map out
health sector and adjacent industries needs to ensure the relevance of the
programme interventions.
Work with
the National and County Governments, Regulatory Bodies and Training
Institutions to co-develop, review, or adapt country-specific curricula
responsive to training and health ecosystem needs across community, middle, and
tertiary levels.
Collaborate
with critical stakeholders and subject matter experts to develop training
resources that include experiential learning and critical thinking modules to
enhance essential soft skills in leadership among young leaders in primary
healthcare settings.
Provide
strategic guidance and continuous support supervision to tertiary, midlevel,
and community institutions to sustainably train and absorb primary healthcare
workers, and leaders with a focus on youth.
Facilitate
the establishment of knowledge exchange platforms to improve practice in health
worker training institutions of primary healthcare workers, promoting
peer-to-peer learning exchanges and communities of practice.
Support
young leaders with mentorships and scholarships to pursue specialized or
advanced skills including soft skills in the health ecosystem.
Support
the day to day management of activity budgets, including processing and
accounting of field resources and other financial transactions in liaison with
finance teams.
Support
the development and review of necessary regulations per country and region
towards cross-border labour movement and harmonization of curriculum and
qualifications.
Health
Entrepreneurship Support
Work with
critical stakeholders in public and private sectors to conduct targeted mapping
and vetting of entrepreneurship opportunities in the health and related
sectors.
Conduct
entrepreneurship skills and opportunities mapping among youth and provide
training geared towards addressing health ecosystem needs.
Work with
critical stakeholders to develop and deploy training programmes and networks
that enhance the health workforce and affiliated entrepreneurs’ skills in
business development, social entrepreneurship, and supply chain considerations.
Develop,
test, and scale sustainable innovative business models, such as Social
Franchising, Social Marketing and other entrepreneurship models, management
platforms and community groups.
Research
and Advocacy
Support
comprehensive in-country assessments to identify priority gaps in health worker
training programmes, employment, and entrepreneurship opportunities within the
health ecosystem to inform strategic planning and resource allocation.
Support
the development of evidence-based advocacy and policy and guidelines to enhance
health worker training programmes, employment, and entrepreneurship
opportunities.
Provide
technical support in developing and reviewing necessary policy guidelines and
regulations in-country and the region to harmonize health training programme
standards and access to regional training and employment opportunities.
Monitoring,
Evaluation and Learning
Provide
technical support in monitoring and evaluation of the programme to track
progress, ensure accountability, and determine impact.
Support
national health worker data monitoring and audits as required by ensuring
reporting in the iHRIS, National Health Workforce Accounts, CHW registry and
programme-based tools.
Lead in
documentation, institutionalization and dissemination of achievements, best
practices and lessons learnt in implementing programme interventions.
Policy
Engagement and Partnership and networking
Facilitate
stakeholder policy engagement, including youth, to address identified gaps in
the health sector.
Build and
sustain effective close working partnerships with the health and related
sectors, government counterparts, regulators and county stakeholders for
programme visibility and relevance.
Collaborate
with internal and external stakeholders during National and County technical
meetings, conferences and workshops to support the co-design and
institutionalization of programme interventions.
Represent
the programme in relevant partner consultative meetings as delegated by the
supervisor.
Programme
development
Participate
in concepts development and writing to promote programme growth.
Education
& Knowledge
The ideal
candidate should have a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in the health sciences.
Master’s
degree is an added advantage.
Training,
knowledge and experience in implementing curricula and capacity building of
health workforce.
Experience
Should
have at least 3 years relevant work experience in health workforce related
project management, capacity building, curriculum development, and health
entrepreneurship.
Strong
understanding of health systems, training methodologies, and entrepreneurship
principles.
Demonstrated
ability to work effectively with government representatives, for-profit private
sector entities, regulatory bodies, donors and other stakeholders.
Proficiency
in data analysis, report writing, and presentation skills.
Experience
in working with health care workers at health facilities, and community levels.
Experience
in working with project funded by large donors.
Willingness
to travel domestically and internationally as required
Skills
and competencies
Excellent
oral and written communication skills
Good
coordination, problem solving and networking skills
Excellent
stakeholder engagement skills
Excellent
report writing skills
Ability
to work independently and in isolation
Decision
making and problem-solving skills
Ability
to work under pressure, and within strict time limits
The
ability to plan, organize and prioritize work
