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 and Position Overview:

CHAI’s Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) team works with governments to build stronger, more resilient, and more equitable health systems, ensuring that everyone, especially the most vulnerable, can access high-quality primary health care. We support Ministries of Health to increase and optimize health spending, strengthen national systems (e.g., workforce, infrastructure, supply chains), and implement cross-cutting reforms that drive long-term improvements in service delivery and health outcomes. This includes work to improve the efficiency, equity, and impact of health financing systems – from resource mobilization and budgeting to strategic purchasing and public financial management. It also includes complementary work to strengthen the health workforce, including critical reforms to optimize workforce education/training, deployment, regulation, and performance management systems.

In Malawi, the goal of CHAI’s HSS program is to support the Ministry of Health (MoH) in operationalizing the Health Sector Strategic Plan III (HSSP III) through strategic initiatives in health financing and workforce development. By aligning scarce external/domestic resources and enhancing evidence-based workforce development and distribution. The program aims to build a sustainable and efficient health system that supports delivery of quality, affordable, accessible and integrated care. The CHAI Malawi HSS team works closely with the MoH and District Councils to sustainably strengthen health systems at the national, district, and facility levels.

CHAI is seeking a Program Manager based in Lilongwe, Malawi, who will lead a team that works closely with the Government of Malawi to advance critical health financing and health workforce reforms in alignment with the HSSP III. The Program Manager will report to the Senior Program Manager, Health Financing and Health Workforce.

This is a challenging but rewarding position which will directly strengthen the government’s capacity to deliver improved health services for the population of Malawi. It presents an opportunity to work closely with a government that is committed to finding opportunities to deliver a stronger health system for the people of Malawi.

Management responsibilities

• Manage a portfolio of health systems strengthening projects on key topic areas including health financing and health workforce, including work at both the national and subnational levels

• Manage and supervise a project team consisting of a mix of professionals and including both seconded and non-seconded staff, enabling high performance and professional growth

• Lead the team by fostering a culture of high performance and continuous improvement, including by providing mentorship support, establishing feedback culture, and resolving challenges for team members

• Develop and maintain work plans, mapping tasks to project milestones. Oversee regular check-ins, team meetings, and feedback processes to ensure accountability, streamline workflows, and improve team performance

• Monitor the program progress and deliverables against the work plan in order to ensure overall program targets are being met

• Manage project budget formulation, reforecasting, and annual work planning exercises across all grants in the portfolio

• Coordinate and manage reporting and documentation requirements and timelines (narrative, financial, and M&E)

• Proactively support in fundraising efforts for the health systems strengthening portfolio, backstopped by the CHAI senior management

• Support conceptualization of future HSS programming in Malawi, and identify new strategies for HSS program implementation, including potential partnerships with donors

Technical responsibilities

• Supervise the provision of technical assistance to the Malawi MoH on a broad range of health financing, health workforce, and health systems strengthening topics. Examples of the projects

  that this position will oversee include: supporting aid alignment towards the HSSP III as part of the “One Plan, One Budget, One Report” approach; supporting districts and health facilities in operationalizing planning, budgeting, and management tools; advancing the decentralization of health sector funding to the frontlines of service delivery through the direct facility financing reform; strengthening strategic purchasing of health services to drive efficiencies; evidence-based modelling for health workforce recruitment and pre-service education; operationalizing critical health workforce reforms such as civil service performance management and harmonized continuous professional development; and supporting local capacity-building of Malawi’s health financing ecosystem

• Provide technical oversight and guidance to key program deliverables, including thought leadership to resolve program implementation challenges, in order to ensure that evidence is translated into policy and practice

• Facilitate meetings with government, donors and external stakeholders to drive key strategic and operational reforms, including documenting and presenting policy recommendations to the MoH and other stakeholders in presentations, policy briefs, and reports

• Build the capacity and skills of the MoH to ensure local leadership and sustainability of the HSSP III reforms

• Coordinate network-building efforts of CHAI with both the government and external partners

• Perform any other relevant duties as assigned by the CHAI Malawi office leadership and the government

• Master’s degree in economics, health economics, health systems, public health, global health, health sciences, public policy, development studies or similar relevant subjects preferred; bachelor’s degree with relevant experience will also be considered

• Minimum of four years of professional experience for master’s degree holders and six years of experience for bachelor’s degree holders, preferably in health systems strengthening, health economics, health financing, health workforce, public health, public policy, public sector finance, consulting, or other relevant experience

• Knowledge and experience in health systems, health financing, and/or health workforce, particularly in low- and middle-income countries

• Strong program management experience including managing and recruiting teams, developing and executing budgets, creating and implementing work plans, and monitoring both program and staff performance

• Demonstrated fundraising experience, including building trusted donor relationships and effectively mobilizing funds towards key program priorities

• Outstanding analytical skills and advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint

• Strategically minded and able to think creatively about long-term program goals and objectives, and the detailed steps necessary to achieve these goals

• Structured thinker with translating complex information into actionable options for decision-makers

• Strong diplomatic and interpersonal skills and ability to build strategic relationships with government partners, donors and other stakeholders

• Demonstrated ability to deliver excellence in high-pressure situations, set priorities, and adapt to rapidly changing environments

• Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills without need for extensive structural or operational support

• Strong writer, facilitator, and oral communicator, able to distil and explain complex concepts to varied audiences

Advantages:

• Experience supporting governments and donors to make health policy decisions, particularly for health financing and health workforce

• Experience working in resource-limited settings and a multicultural office environment, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa

• Demonstrated experience successfully managing large teams of 10+ people through direct and indirect reporting lines

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