Jobs
Senior Health Economist Job at The World Bank, Abuja, Nigeria
The World Bank, a member of the World Bank Group, is a vital source of
financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the
world. Our mission is to fight poverty with passion and professionalism
for lasting results and to help people help themselves and their
environment by providing resources, sharing knowledge, building capacity
and forging partnerships in the public and private sectors.
We are not a bank in the common sense; we are made up of two unique
development institutions owned by 188 member countries: the
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the
International Development Association (IDA).
We are recruiting to fill the below position:
Job Title: Senior Health Economist
Ref No: 151432
Location: Abuja
3 years Term Appointment
Background / General Description
- Established in 1944, the WBG is one of the largest sources of
funding and knowledge for development solutions. In fiscal year 2014,
the WBG committed $65.6 billion in loans, grants, equity investments and
guarantees to its members and private businesses, of which $22.2
billion was concessional financing to its poorest members. It is
governed by 188 member countries and delivers services out of 120
offices with nearly 15,000 staff globally.
- The vision of the World Bank Group (WBG) is the eradication of
extreme poverty by reducing the number of people living on less than
$1.25 a day to 3 percent by 2030, and the promotion of shared prosperity
by fostering income growth of the bottom 40 percent in each country. To
achieve that vision, in 2013 the WBG Board of Governors approved a
strategy for the organization.
- The strategy leverages the combined strength of the WBG
institutions and their ability to partner with the public and private
sectors to deliver customized development solutions backed by finance,
world class knowledge and convening services. It has three components:
(1) maximizing development impact by engaging country clients in
identifying and tackling the most difficult development challenges; (2)
promoting scaled-up partnerships that are strategically aligned with the
goals; and (3) crowding in public and private resources, expertise and
ideas.
- On July 1, 2014, the WBG launched the architecture underpinning
the strategy and instrumental to its success: the new fourteen Global
Practices and five Cross-Cutting Solution Areas that, in concert with
the WBG regions, will design solutions to address clients' most pressing
developmental challenges, and ultimately, enable the WBG to meet its
twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty and boosting shared
prosperity.
Health, Nutrition Population Global Practice
- The central contribution of the Health Nutrition and Population
(HNP) Global Practice to the World Bank's twin goals is to enable the
achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC), in which all people are
effectively covered by essential health services, and nobody suffers
undue financial hardship as a result of illnesses. In the quest for UHC,
the HNP Global Practice is building on progress made in the framework
of the Millennium Development Goals, an array of analytical and advisory
services, strategic partnerships with partner institutions and other
financing agencies, and an active lending portfolio. The HNP Global
Practice includes staff members in Washington, DC and many country
offices.
- The HNP Global Practice is led by a Senior Director, who has
overall responsibility for the GP. The Senior Director is assisted by
the Director, who serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the Practice.
The HNP Global Practice Management Team, which is the group that leads
and manages the HNP GP, consists of the Senior Director, the Director
and eight HNP Practice Managers. The HNP Global Practices works with and
across multiple sectors, in recognition of the fact that HNP outcomes
often depend on actions that lie outside the HNP sector. Accordingly, a
capacity to work across GP boundaries, forge coalitions and influence
multi-practice solutions is essential for achieving the major objectives
of improving HNP outcomes.
Nigeria Country Context
- About 900,000 children and mothers die each year in Nigeria
mostly from preventable causes. Over the last decade the trend in
health, nutrition, and population (HNP) outcomes in Nigeria is mixed
with a 36 percent decline in the under-five mortality rate (U5MR) but no
change in the prevalence of malnutrition. Fertility and maternal
mortality have also not changed. The limited progress on HNP outcomes is
consistent with the picture in service delivery where over the last
quarter century the coverage of key health interventions has stagnated
at low levels. The limited coverage of important interventions is
further aggravated by poor quality of care.
- The job of the Senior Health Economist will be to support the
Nigerian government and the country team in addressing the difficult
health financing challenges the country faces. The Bank plays a critical
leadership role on communicable disease programming in Nigeria and the
candidate is expected to dialogue with other key actors in the health
and other relevant sectors, provide technical value-added support to
government counterparts, and be able to manage donor relations towards a
more systematic approach to combating communicable diseases in the
country.
- The Health/Operations Specialist will also contribute to the
Unit's operational and analytic work programs as a tool to strengthen
health systems and to improve health outputs and outcomes.
- Input-related issues explain little of the problem, indeed
Nigerians have better physical access to health facilities than their
neighbors in West Africa. There are also more health workers per capita
than in much of Sub-Saharan Africa. While much of the needed inputs are
in place, the lack of significant progress is likely due to poor quality
management, lack of incentives and inadequate accountability
mechanisms. Thus the Bank's HNP portfolio aims at increasing the focus
on results, strengthening accountability, and building management
capacity. This is exemplified by the Saving One Million Lives (SOML)
Program for Results (PforR) and the performance-based financing (PBF)
supported under the Nigeria State Health Investment Project (NSHIP)
- Health care financing is mostly out-of-pocket and public
expenditure is unlikely to increase much. It is difficult to get
reliable information on health care financing in Nigeria as efforts by
the Bank (which is currently carrying out a resource tracking survey)
and other partners can attest. While keeping in mind the limitations of
the data, there are a few salient points on which there is widespread
agreement: (i) there is high out-of-pocket (OOPs) expenditure
representing about two/thirds of total health expenditure. This is
consistent with the wide use of the private sector, low levels of public
expenditure on health, and limited use of risk pooling; (ii) public
expenditure is inefficient, partly because there is little non-salary
recurrent budget. What little there is does not end up at health
facility level; (iii) public health expenditure, currently about 1.2
percent of GDP and about 7 percent of budget, may increase modestly as a
result of economic growth and increased commitment to health (as
exemplified by the recent signing of the “National Health Act”).
However, the Government's heavy dependence on oil (which accounts for
about 75 percent of its revenues), makes it unlikely that overall public
revenues will increase substantially over the medium term. In this
context increases in public expenditure on health are likely to be
modest in the next few years.
Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group
staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain
his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a
3 year term appointment.
Duties and Accountabilities
The Senior Health Economist will be based in the World Bank Country
office in Abuja and, working in close collaboration with the Bank team,
including Lead Health Specialist and the task-team leaders (TTLs), will:
- Play a lead role in supporting the Nigerian Federal and State
Government and country health teams in strengthening health system
performance including financial protection and resource mobilization;
- Closely collaborate with the IFC to build effective
public-private partnerships and help grow the private sector, especially
in those parts of the country where it is under-developed;
- Actively support the teams implementing the SOML PforR and the
NSHIP by participating in supervision missions, providing analytical
support to the task teams and clients, and spending time in the field to
understand the real challenges facing implementers and beneficiaries;
- Help ensure close coordination with: (i) government; (ii) a
variety of international and local development partners; and (iii) the
CMU and Bank team across other sectors;
- Carry out such tasks as the Practice Manager assigns to support
the development of the Bank's work in health, nutrition, and population
in Nigeria.
- Play a critical role in the HNP team';s evolving work program of
analytical and advisory activities (AAA) related to health care
financing in general and specific activities related to resource
tracking, public expenditure reviews, and development of national health
accounts;
- Support the implementation of the National Health Act (NHA) by
providing technical assistance to the National Health Insurance Scheme
(NHIS) and National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA);
- Carrying out such AAA as would help strengthen the team's
ability to provide timely and effective advice to the Federal and State
Governments;
Selection Criteria
The selected candidate should have the following minimum qualifications/ experience:
- Advanced degree in Health Economics (or social sector economics) and at least 8 years of relevant experience;
- World class knowledge and experience of health economics in developing countries, preferably in a variety of country settings;
- Strong knowledge and understanding of Health, Nutrition and
Population issues, political economy, institutional economics, and
governance;
- Proven analytical and quantitative skills including significant
journal publications. Knowledge of impact evaluation will be an asset.
- Excellent English language writing and oral communications
skills. Must be a compelling speaker and an effective advocate for
effective health policies;
- Strong diplomatic skills and success working in teams both as a team member and as a team leader.
- Demonstrated ability to deal sensitively in multi-cultural
environments and build effective working relations with clients and
colleagues. Proven ability to function effectively in multi-disciplinary
teams;
- Knowledge of results-based financing (RBF) mechanisms would be an advantage.
- In addition to the above, the successful candidate is expected to demonstrate the following competencies:
- Client Orientation - Maintains client relationships in the
face of conflicting demands or directions and provides evidence-based
advice and solutions based on sound diagnosis and knowledge.
- Drive for Results - Identifies the needed resources to
accomplish results involving multiple stakeholders and finds solutions
to obstacles affecting key deliverables.
- Teamwork (Collaboration) and Inclusion - Shows leadership in
ensuring the team stays organized and focused, and actively seeks and
considers diverse ideas and approaches.
- Knowledge, Learning and Communication - Leads in the sharing
of best practice, trends, knowledge and lessons learned across units
and with clients and partners, articulating ideas verbally and in
writing in a clear and compelling way across audiences of varied levels.
- Business Judgment and Analytical Decision Making - Gathers
inputs, assesses risk, considers impact and articulates benefits of
decisions for internal and external stakeholders over the long term.
Application Deadline 30th July, 2015.
How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online