Senior Health Specialist/Senior Performance Specialist

Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank consists of two entities – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the International Development Association (IDA). It is a global development cooperative owned by 189 member countries. As the largest development bank in the world, the World Bank provides loans, guarantees, risk management products, and advisory services to middle-income and creditworthy low-income countries, and coordinates responses to regional and global challenges. Visit www.worldbank.org.

VPU context (GP, Region):

The Health, Nutrition and Population (HNP) Global Practice

The central contribution of the 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 Global Director, who has overall responsibility for the GP. The HNP Global Practice 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 are essential for achieving the major objectives of improving HNP outcomes.

Unit context (Department /  Country):

Global Financing Facility Context

The global community has made considerable progress over the past 25 years in improving the health and well-being of women, children, and adolescents. Rates of preventable death have dropped significantly in many countries and improvements have been seen across a range of key measures of health and well-being. But the progress has not been enough: too many women, children, and adolescents have been left behind, dying and suffering from preventable conditions, in considerable part because of a large financing gap, estimated at US$33 billion annually.

The Global Financing Facility (GFF) embodies the world’s commitment to ensuring that all women, children and adolescents can survive and thrive. Launched in 2015, the GFF is focused on prioritizing and scaling up evidence-driven investments to improve reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition in the world’s most vulnerable countries through targeted strengthening of service delivery systems—to save lives and as a critical step toward achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The GFF has pioneered a country-driven, collaborative model for global health linked to sustainable financing and results. At the core of GFF’s model is the development and implementation of a government-led, prioritized and costed national investment case that lays out the pathway to scaling up universal access to a basic package of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition services along with critical health financing and system reforms to accelerate progress toward UHC. By facilitating multistakeholder country platforms, the GFF supports its partner governments to mobilize and align both domestic and external funding behind national investment case priorities.

The GFF approach also enables other global health partners to achieve more by working better together and by empowering countries to lead. The GFF responds to developing countries’ long-lasting call for global partners to align once and for all behind their national health plans and priorities—fostering a permanent shift in the global health and development assistance paradigm.

The GFF partnership is led by the GFF Director; the day-to-day management of the GFF team is the responsibility of the GFF Practice Manager/ Head of Secretariat. The GFF secretariat, which is based at the World Bank and is situated in the HNP Global Practice, works to deliver on the GFF objectives. This includes working with countries to develop quality investment cases, managing the GFF Trust Fund, technical assistance to regional teams, and support to the GFF Investors Group, the governance mechanism for the GFF.

POSITION & CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS:

Position introduction:

The position will be responsible for tracking and analyzing the overall performance of the GFF program, including the performance of the Secretariat, against objectives set in the GFF 2021-25 Strategy and annual work plans and budgets.

Duties & Responsibilities:

The work program and tasks of the successful candidate will evolve based on need.  The role is anticipated to include the following range of duties and responsibilities:
• Organizational performance assessment: lead the analysis of the Secretariat performance to assess the degree of achievement of goals and objectives in the GFF work program, assess the value-for-money of the GFF work program and identify key performance highlights, gaps, drivers and barriers.
• Advise management:  Advise the GFF Leadership team on organizational performance issues through regular analytics.
• Strategies and Program of Work and Budget:  Contribute analysis of GFF performance to inform the preparation of the GFF strategies and programs of work and budgets.
• Performance systems:  Building on the existing GFF systems (e.g., work program deliverables, data portal, GFF workspace, eperformance), work with other members of the Secretariat and external expertise as needed, to identify gaps in the GFF performance management system and propose approaches to fill these gaps.
• Performance-driven culture:  Devise and implement activities to build a performance-driven culture within the GFF Secretariat.
• Portfolio analysis:  Work with other members of the Secretariat to prepare regular thematic analyses on aspects of the GFF portfolio (e.g., SRHR) to share the GFF contribution in these areas with key stakeholders (e.g., donors) and to identify gaps that need to be addressed.
• Reporting: Work with other members of the Secretariat to prepare reports from the GFF Secretariat.

Selection Criteria

• Minimum Education/Work Experience: Master in public health, political science, economics, or other relevant discipline and at least 10 years of relevant experience;
• Experience in tracking and assessing organizational performance in organization(s) similar to the GFF, preferably with experience setting up performance management systems;
• Experience in implementing approaches to instill a performance-driven culture in organization(s) similar to the GFF.
• Commitment to the GFF mission and knowledge of the technical aspects of the GFF model in order to be able to effectively track and assess its performance.
• Experience advising management on organizational performance issues;
• Strong analytical skills, including ability to use a variety of data and to consolidate findings as needed;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English (mandatory) and French (preferred);
• Strong capacity to work simultaneously on a variety of issues and tasks, independently and under pressure, adjusting to priorities and achieving results with agreed objectives and deliver against ambitious deadlines.
• Ability to deliver high quality work, with attention to detail;
• Preference for candidates with field experience in working with national governments in policy formulation as well as experience in supporting implementation of programs;
• Preference for candidates with experience in global health having developed and/or facilitated complex partnerships, including between NGOs, CSOs, multi-lateral institutions and governments;
• Preference for candidates having experience working in (or exposed to) World Bank operations.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

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