ThinkWell implements the Strategic Purchasing for Primary Health Care (SP4PHC) project, which is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The project is working with government agencies in Kenya, Burkina Faso, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Uganda to design and test policy options to purchase primary healthcare services more effectively and accelerate the achievement of UHC in developing countries.

In Kenya, the SP4PHC team works in 9 counties and at the national level with the Ministry of Health, Council of Governors, NHIF and other stakeholders. The Senior Technical Advisor (STA) – learning and SI facilitates discussions, shares evidence, and proposes ideas to optimize the health financing function and related processes to promote strategic purchasing for primary healthcare. The STA has experience leading the generation of evidence for policy influencing, particularly on health financing, as well as identifying and providing strategic information needed to inform program strategy at the county level.

Responsibilities

The STA will report to the Country Manager. This position is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Technical Leadership in learning

• Lead the development/review of ThinkWell’s learning agenda in Kenya, including delivery of all learning products as scheduled.
• Prepare high-quality written deliverables, including technical briefs and reports, journal manuscripts, and blogs in collaboration with the technical teams in Kenya and beyond.
• Facilitate knowledge diffusion from learning activities to inform strategy and policy reforms on health financing, particularly strategic purchasing for primary healthcare.
• Effectively share/facilitate others to share learnings from ThinkWell’s work with different local, regional and global audiences through conferences, webinars, and existing global learning platforms.
• Continuously build internal capacity, particularly for the county teams, on technical writing and evidence presentation for policy influence.
• Build ThinkWell reputation as a thought leader in the field.

Organizational leadership and development

• Actively engage key stakeholders and cultivate new partnerships on health financing learning in Kenya – cultivating a culture of knowledge sharing to improve practice.
• Contribute to new business development in collaboration with the Country Manager, Regional Director, Design Lab and program managers.
• Participate in company initiatives and teams to build intellectual and human capital in health financing and strategic purchasing.
• Manage research partners and consultants as the focal contact person.

M&E and learning/SI

• Develop monitoring, evaluation, research and learning tools, indicators, and plans.
• Lead data analysis to synthesize outputs/outcomes and develop insights for decision-making.
• Provide technical leadership in carrying out baseline assessments and mid-point and end-of-project reviews.
• Produce high-quality reports and other documents as stipulated in the projects’ documents or as required for the Country’s leadership and donors.
• Develop and implement a data quality assurance plan and provide technical support to improve the quality of data and reporting systems.
• Coordinate project reflection and learning sessions in conjunction with project partners.
• Perform other duties as may be assigned by the supervisor.

Requirements

• A graduate degree and 8+ years of relevant work experience; a PhD in health economics, public health or policy is preferred.
• Substantive, relevant work experience in the specific area of technical expertise in the areas of health financing and policy, strategic purchasing, and public financial management, particularly leading knowledge and evidence generation for policy and strategy.
• Adept at communicating technical information to both technical and non-technical audiences;
• Established track record of writing technical reports, journal articles and blogs;
• Demonstrated interest and ability in growing staff, mentoring, and coaching junior professionals;
• A senior leader able to rally staff around ThinkWell’s mission and priorities;
• A thoughtful systems thinker with a grounded, pragmatic understanding of the complexities of our work;
• Recognized as a leader in the area of technical speciality; national solid and professional network in the field
• Demonstrated ability to engage effectively with external strategic partners, donors, and stakeholders;
• New business development, proposal writing and fundraising experience is an added advantage;
• Fluent in English
• Outstanding cross-cultural communication skills, including the ability to relate respectfully with staff at all levels, ages, genders, and nationalities, as well as across work areas;
• Ability and willingness to travel up to 25% of your time within Kenya.