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Senior Associate / Health Economist
Abt Associates, Inc.

Location: Bethesda, MD
Work Authorization Required

The Senior Associate / Health Economist (home office support) for PATHS 2 in Nigeria is responsible for a broad range of planning, monitoring, coordination, capacity building, and implementation of tasks related to health financing reforms in Nigeria, namely expansion and strengthening of public health insurance and improving the allocation and management of health sector resources. The Health Economist will also be responsible for the design and follow-up of a demonstration activity in selected pilot Governorates/Districts, emphasizing the development of financing mechanisms, global budgeting, health insurance plans, analysis and costing of benefits, performance based contracting, utilization of services, reimbursement, and quality monitoring. The Health Economist will work with the Program Director, Resident Health Advisor and Federal Ministry of Health (MoH) and State Government and Local Governements of Nigeria.

The overall responsibilities of the Senior Associate / Health Economist activities include:

• In close collaboration with Program Director and Health Financing Advisor in Nigeria, provide strategic inputs for the PATHS2 Project in Health Financing and Health Economics, assuring responsiveness and quality, resolving problems, and ensuring that project work produces the required output results.
• Serves as the key liaison for all PATH2 strategic health financing and health economics issues.
• In collaboration with the project team and the client, develops scopes of work and work plans that clearly identify short and long-range achievable, sustainable strategies for improving financial systems in the Nigerian health sector.
• Identify technical assistance expertise required for the field activities, prepare scope of work, identify right consultants, review consultant reports for quality.
• Represent the PATHS2 Project, IHD and Abt Associates at international meetings, seminars and conferences in the areas of expertise along with program director and or Nigeria- based Health Financing Advisor.
• Keep informed and collaborate with other international donors and development agencies.
• Produce analytic papers and products related to specific international health topics and field work.
• Contribute to brainstorming and development of research agendas and special projects for improving health systems.

Specific responsibilities include the following:

Technical Support, Implementation, Monitoring and Dissemination:
• Consult with the Programme Director (PD), COP, Resident Health Financing Advisor and other US-based experts, take the lead in day-to-day contacts with health financing counterparts in the FMoH at the central, State Level and Local Governement level, and the Health Insurance Organization, and in monitoring their progress in implementing tasks in accordance with the implementation plan and other agreements.

Work in close collaboration with the PD, COP, HFA, to provide technical support for the following project activities:
• Building financing and insurance administration capacity.
• Developing benefit packages and corresponding financing schemes.
• Pilot testing of new components of the insurance model that expand consumer choice and the mix of contracted providers.
• Building capacity at Federal, State, Local levels to implement and sustain financing reforms.
• Building capacity in resource management at the central FMoH and pilot Governorates.
• Developing new methods of budget preparation, allocation, and monitoring.
• Institutionalizing and building capacity in National Health Accounts (NHA).
• Plan and coordinate appropriate workshops for training and building capacity of counterparts on their roles and responsibilities in the area of financing reforms.
• Provide technical guidance and respond to inquiries from the FMoH and DFID and represent the PATHS2 at workshops and meetings of other projects and donors, as they relate to the area of financing reforms.
• Participate in the development of work plans, technical reports, training materials, and other project products.
• Help maintain and ensure excellent working relationships with all in-country counterparts.

Project Management:
• Assist the Program Director in the management of the PATHS 2, including
• Identifying appropriate staff, consultants and in-country organizations.
• Drafting annual implementation plans, developing scopes of work, managing health financing budgets.
• Monitoring and evaluating progress and impact on country program.
• Assuring on-time completion of planning and implementation.
• Prepare SOWs for Short Term Technical Advisors (STTA) and provide the operational support to enable consultants to accomplish their work (includes setting schedules, organizing meetings and site visits, providing debriefings and answering questions).
• Supervise consultants as required and insure they fulfill the terms and conditions of their contracts, including review of all deliverables as specified therein.

Skill Requirements:

• Masters Degree (minimum) or a PhD (greatly preferred) in Economics, Public Health, Public Policy, Business, or other related field.
• 13-15 years of relevant professional experience with a Masters Degree, or 8-10 years with a PhD. Relevant experience includes health economics, health financing, decentralization, research, survey design, evaluation, reform design and implementation, and community-based health insurance.
• Experience with international donor organizations is highly desirable, especially with DIFD or other European donors.
• Superior writing, research, and presentation skills.
• Ability to convey highly technical material in a clear manner to a non-technical audience.
• Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills are required.
• Able to produce results within tight deadlines.
• Willing and able to travel frequently on short-term assignments to Nigeria.

If interested in this opportunity, please e-mail resume to: NigeriaJobs@abtassoc.com


Senior Associate / Health Economist
Abt Associates
Location: Bethesda, MD, USA
Last Date: June 5, 2008
Email: NigeriaJobs@abtassoc.com