Manager, Primary Health Care Financing

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems. 

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life-saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work in conjunction with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.  

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skillsets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with majority of our staff based in program countries. Learn more about our exciting work: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org.

CHAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion, and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.

Program Overview

Nigeria is the second largest contributor of maternal and newborn mortality globally, with 512 maternal deaths per 100,000 births. Most maternal and neonatal deaths are caused by a small number of preventable and/or treatable conditions that can be addressed at the primary care level. Efforts to improve service coverage through increased spending have been largely unsuccessful and key coverage statistics have remained relatively constant. The Nigerian government has demonstrated its commitment to ensuring universal health coverage (UHC) in the State through the improvement of primary health care (PHC). The country’s second and overarching 5-year National Health Strategic Development Plan (2018-2022) sets priorities for the national health system. The National Health Act (2014) provides a framework for the delivery, financing, and standards of the National Health System. This Act birthed the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) - a demand and supply financing mechanism that aims to provide a basic package of SRMNCH services to the rural poor that is currently being operationalized across the country.

CHAI’s health financing program is working with countries across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia to support Ministries of Health, Finance, and government insurers to substantially and sustainably improve access to essential health services for their populations, towards the goal of universal health coverage. CHAI is supporting the Nigerian Government to identify and implement actionable strategies to improve Primary health care through improved planning processes, service delivery enhancements and to address sustainable health care financing. At the request of state Governments and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, CHAI is working with the Federal Government and the governments of Kano and Kaduna to operationalize the investment strategies for achieving the delivery of a Minimum Package of defined essential health care services at Primary health care level over the next four years. In addition, CHAI works with state health insurance agencies and primary healthcare boards in six states (Bayelsa, Ekiti, Kaduna, Katsina, Niger) to expand health insurance coverage of vulnerable populations, specifically pregnant women and children under five, to ensure they can access high quality essential health services without paying out of pocket.

Overview of Position

CHAI is seeking a Program Manager with relevant experience in service delivery and health care financing to lead CHAI Nigeria’s emerging primary health care work. The Program Manager will support work at the National and State levels and lead a dynamic team of people with diverse backgrounds. The Program Manager will be expected to travel 20% of their time within Nigeria. 

This is a challenging, fast-paced and rewarding position. The Manager will report to CHAI’s Director for Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal and Neonatal Health (SRMNH) and play a leadership role as for building out new areas of work for CHAI in response to government requests. This Manager will work with key government stakeholders to develop plans and proposals, engage donors, and mobilize resources, operationalize plans and conduct monitoring and evaluation. He or she will be responsible for documenting and sharing learnings with other CHAI Nigeria teams, CHAI’s global health financing and health workforce teams, as well as in-country partners.

• End to end project management. This includes working with state and national team staff on workplan development, weekly monitoring of program activities, progress tracking, report development, and coordination of regular check-in calls with country and global teams.
• Provide adequate technical guidance and support to other program staff to optimize workstreams in line with CHAI values and ensure high technical quality and relevance of plans and outputs by conducting brainstorming sessions, reviewing drafts, providing feedback, and supporting preparations for government engagements.
• Oversee program implementation in line with grant documents and ensure alignment with Government priorities and accountability to program funders.
• Collaboratively design theories of change and results frameworks and execute program monitoring of work and process evaluation.
• Represent and communicate CHAI’s work both within CHAI and to external partners, funders, and government stakeholders. Coordinate the dissemination of CHAI’s learnings from implementation and lead the development of dissemination materials and toolkits using appropriate channels. This includes leading the development of abstracts for submission to conferences, and posters or presentations if invited to present, as well as manuscripts for submission to academic journals. Support uptake of tools and approaches across other CHAI country offices. Engage and build relationships with partners working in similar areas.
• Provide support to the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), National Health Insurance Agency (NHIA), Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) at National level, working collaboratively as an active member of the relevant finance and PHC technical working groups to inform National strategies and implementation, ensure state governments are well informed about national level events and policies, and adjust ongoing CHAI programs to align with national level updates.
• Lead proposal development efforts by identifying gaps and funding opportunities, developing new concepts to secure funding to expand CHAI’s work in this area, and coordinating the proposal writing, budgeting, review, and submission process.
• Working with the Program Director and Country Director, participate in donor engagement activities and actively map funding opportunities through donor landscaping and relationship building with donors and partners.
• Manage monthly and annual program budgets including monthly program expense reviews and adjustments ensuring alignment with grant budgets and compliance with donor requirements.
• Write and present narrative and financial reports for donors and contribute to global reporting across CHAI as required.
• Stay abreast of the evolving health financing landscape, in Nigeria, monitoring key trends in the field.
• Support technical health financing learning within the CHAI Nigeria teams by sharing webinars, online courses, and journal articles, and requesting training sessions from the health financing global team and information sharing sessions from other country teams.
• Building capacity of other progam staff on cross-cutting hard and soft skills including written and oral communications, work planning and time management, stakeholder management, and problem solving, by providing written and verbal feedback, mentorship, and providing opportunities to practice.
• This role requires taking initiative to identify new opportunities and take on other responsibilities as needed and as requested by manager.
• Any other responsibilities as directed by the Program Director and Country Director.

• 6-8 years of experience including experience in the health sector in low and middle income countries
• Program management experience, working end to end from strategy development to proposal development, through implementation, monitoring and evaluation and reporting, as well as program budgeting and operations
• Ability to write persuasively using evidence and to explain complex concepts to a variety of audiences including donors and partners as well as senior government officials
• Strong facilitator and oral communicator able to explain complex concepts to a variety of audiences
• Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously and quickly adapt to changing priorities
• Entrepreneurial attitude, ability to self-motivate and propose new initiatives
• Full proficiency of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Strong interpersonal skills and proven ability to build relationships in a multicultural environment
• Ability to coach teams and lead performance development initiatives for program team members
• Strong technical and scientific writing skills preferred
• English language fluency

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