Save the Children is the world’s leading independent organisation for children. We work in around 120 countries. Our vision is to live in a world in which every child attains the right to survival, protection, development and participation.

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Senior Health Advisor, with in-depth contextual understanding, technical expertise, and networking skills to deliver CSP for the CO, will be responsible for proving technical support in program design with quality technical inputs and to contribution to the child survival breakthrough, drawing upon Health and Nutrition strategic priorities. The role will contribute to health and nutrition strategy development and the technical design and implementation of high quality programmes that deliver change for children in both emergency and development programming.

The role supports national advocacy and influencing, while driving strategic partnerships for new health related business development. It supports the design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems to demonstrate impact, while sharing learning across our programmes, teams and partners. The role will support Health and Nutrition Thematic Director and the team to ensure the CO health and nutrition thematic sector contribution to the CO CSP and to the survive breakthrough in particular while also contributes to respective regional health, capacities where they exist, and contribute to regional learning, evidence generation and knowledge management where appropriate.

The role will work closely with operations colleagues and with partners in Ethiopia CO, building their capacity and building ownership and agency of local organisations. This position will be expected to engage with the country health sector, and coordination mechanisms, as well as represent the organisation with key stakeholders such as the Ministry of Health and its structures including Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Regional Health Bureaus and other key health sector INGOs/CSOs. The role would be expected to provide support emergency preparedness, DRR and support the assessment, design and implementation of humanitarian responses with the Roving Health and Nutrition Advisors and other program staff in the CO.

The role includes on-job technical support at field level health experts where the incumbent is expected to travel to all Save the Children operation areas and spend approximately 50% of his/her time at the across range of priority issues including active technical support to existing maternal, newborn and child health and immunization projects.

In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Health and Nutrition Thematic Director

Staff reporting to this post: None while expected to provide coaching and mentoring support to Roving Health and Nutrition Advisors, operational and other technical colleagues and local partners

Budget Responsibilities: TBC

Role Dimensions: The role is expected to foster relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders including Save the Children members, the Country Office Programme Development & Quality team, advocacy colleagues, Regional Advisors, technical counterparts in other organisation, donors etc. The role is also expected to engage with internal technical working groups and communities of practice.

Context : Humanitarian and development

Primary Technical areas: Health

Primary Sub technical area: Child Health, Maternal and Newborn Health

Secondary Technical areas: Nutrition and WASH

Secondary Sub technical area: Sexual and Reproductive Health, Social Behaviour Change

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY :

Ensuring Quality Programme Design 25%LOE

• Technically contribute to the health and nutrition thematic sector on the development of health related strategies with particular emphasis on maternal, newborn and child and community health which will be part the contribution to CO CSP 2022-2024 and 2030 breakthroughs, especially the SURVIVE breakthrough.
• Serve as a member of the health and nutrition technical leadership at the CO to work closely with new business development colleagues to identify and pursue funding opportunities that allow for both integration into broader programmes and standalone health projects; engage with health technical partners including the ministry of health and its bodies such as
• Maternal and Child Health Directorate, Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), various national level technical working groups, clusters, donors and colleagues across Save the Children
• Take role in technical scoping, planning, and design and proposal writing during new programme development, and ensure that we design and deliver high quality integrated health programmes for children with public health resources, building on global best practice. Ensure that gender, disability and resilience considerations are reflected in our programme design and implementation.
• Promote optimal health programming approach as an overarching framework of the national maternal and newborn and child health and development strategies that supports working in collaboration and partnership with stakeholders at national and sub-national levels
• Capacity build, mentor and build a supportive health community across the Country Office, in conjunction with other public health colleagues in Nutrition and WASH.
• Provide inputs to the thematic planning and facilitating high level technical meetings and conferences within the sector.
• Support health program operation team to understand and contextualise global guidance, quality standards like quality benchmarks, common approaches, donor and stakeholder quality requirements and other quality parameters.
• Work with Child Rights Governance colleagues to ensure that a rights based approach is reflected in our programme design and implementation (in line with our child rights programming approach), with a strong focus on child participation.
• Promote a Health Systems Strengthening approach as the overarching framework that supports working in collaboration and partnership with governments and national bodies, local partners and working towards impact, scale and sustainability.

Ensuring Quality Program Implementation 50%LOE

• Provide oversight and guidance to the health programme implementation teams to ensure that programme components are technically sound, implementation methods are consistent with national and global strategies, acknowledged good practice (e.g. Save the Children Common Approaches); and are likely to achieve scale, as well as equitable and sustainable results.
• Promote and monitor integrated programming in a way that increases overall impact of health programmes at the community level.
• Closely work with and support roving health and nutrition advisors to technically support area specific update and situations analysis for both development and humanitarian conditions.
• Work with Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning (MEAL) teams to carry out gender and power analysis, and conduct quality monitoring against international standards through participatory methodologies that promote gender equality and social justice (including child-friendly and gender sensitive/transformative methodologies);.
• Contribute towards the creation of an organisational learning culture that promotes the use of disaggregated data, evidence and analysis (including gender and power analysis) and understands its link to quality and accountable programming;
• Contribute to strengthening the use of equality-focused programme principles and good practice across themes and sectors.
• Undertake field visits to project sites; work with implementation teams to understand impacts, operational challenges, and continuously identify opportunities for learning and improvement.
• Contribute to organisational learning on health ensuring that learning from our programmes is shared across the Country Office and our partners, as well as with colleagues in the wider regional and global health, nutrition and WASH community in Save the Children.
• Contribute to strengthening the use of health competencies within training and learning initiatives in the sector.
• Support Humanitarian colleagues (as needed) to develop emergency preparedness plans, and conduct sectoral assessments (including gender analysis and disability situation analysis using SC assessment processes and tools) and to design and deliver emergency response and recovery programmes.
• Ensure synergies between humanitarian Child Protection teams, data and programme design.

Networking & External Engagement: 25%LOE

• In alignment with the health and nutrition thematic priority and the CSP, engage in representing SC with partners and government in-country, and ensure that Save the Children is a partner of choice in Health.
• As part of the CO health technical leadership, in collaboration with business development team and other units, contribute in strengthening strategic partnerships in identifying partners and donors to strengthen health portfolio of the country office.
• Develop and strengthen strategic relations, bilaterally and in network, with key influencing health sector stakeholders, particularly ministry of health and its agencies such as Ethiopia Public Health Institute, Ethiopia
• Food and Drug Authority, Ethiopia Pharmaceutical Supply Agency and respective regional health bureaus and its structures as well as UN agencies and private and institutional donors in country.
• Ensure that Save the Children is influencing and learning from others through national technical coordination and networking bodies such as health clusters and working groups.
• Strengthen civil society engagement in national dialogues and policy processes through working closely with advocacy and child rights governance colleagues. Ensure that the diverse voices of children, girls and boys are equitably heard and represented in our Health work.
• Represent the program to National and Local government representatives, donors, partner agencies, etc. as required.
• Ensure the quality, clarity and consistency of technical components of internal and external reports (e.g. programme reports, sit-reps, internal updates), working closely with awards, and programme implementation and communications colleagues as needed.
• Leverage and liaise with technical colleagues from across Save the Children, including technical working groups and centres of excellence, ensuring that learning from the Country Office is shared with others and global lessons brought back.

Requirements

QUALIFICATIONS : BSC degree in Public Health , Health, Medical or related qualifications

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• Minimum of 12 years of experience in technically lead, manage and implement health development projects
• Understanding of the health sector, systems and policies in Ethiopia, and an understanding of the health priorities impacted on by the regional or neighbouring situation.
• Familiar with health systems, and health service provision including community health and the engagement of civil society organisations
• Experience and skill in building capacity and provide mentorship health program managers, specialists, officers and coordinators
• Experience and skill in identify and documenting learnings, best practices, and facilitate learnings
• Solid experience in designing and technically support the implementation of health programming that ensure programmes/projects towards impact, scale and sustainability
• Good experience in training, and capacity building of workforce and health staff
• Experience of the national context, strategies and policies to enable advocacy at national / regional level in order to hold duty bearers to account to realise children’s rights, including the right to health services and food.
• Skilled at networking, representation and partnership development in order promote learning, strengthen civil society and mobilise resources.
• Able to generate and use data and evidence to innovate, deliver, learn and share what works and what doesn’t work for children
• Experience of promoting quality and impact through at least one cross-cutting area: gender equality and inclusion, adaptive and safer programming; child rights; disability; migration and displacement.
• Demonstrated program design, monitoring and evaluation skills, including designing pathways to sustainable impact at scale.
• Commitment to Save the Children values