Senior Program Officer, Advocacy, Child Survival (REACH)

Senior Program Officer, Advocacy, Child Survival (REACH)

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Seattle, WA or Washington, DC, United States

Your Role

As the Senior Program Officer (SPO) you will lead the development and coordinate the execution of the policy and financing advocacy strategy for the Resiliency through Azithromycin for Children (REACH) program to achieve the expected results in key geographies. You will work towards using the child health and child survival framework towards finding opportunities for alignment with the REACH program (mass drug administration of azithromycin for impact on child mortality).

You will understand and shape domestic and global financing channels, finding opportunities for mobilizing and using resources. This position will work closely with multi collaborator partnerships and platforms towards identifying and addressing policy and financing barriers and working to achieve scale and impact in priority geographies.

You will work closely with the REACH Program strategy team and the regional and country teams, philanthropic partnerships team as well as other cross foundation teams. The work involves collaboration with a range of external foundation grantees and partners, including government advisors at both federal and subnational levels.

The SPO will develop and manage a portfolio of grants and contracts requiring high-level grant management skills, monitoring and evaluation, focused on policy and financing advocacy supporting adoption and scale in child survival and the expected results for the REACH program.

You are a strategic problem solver who can critically and creatively work to leverage opportunities to advance country-specific outcomes by addressing policy and financing barriers.

You are an effective communicator who is able to effectively collaborate and connect a range of external foundation grantees and partners to integrate and elevate REACH in-country and donor agendas, communicate high-impact evidence and data and influence actions and trust at all levels.

You will explore opportunities to align the REACH program with child health strategies and accelerating impact for child survival.

What You’ll Do

• Develop and lead the execution of a policy and financing advocacy strategy for REACH linking with child survival and child health towards impact and scale in key geographies;
• Track and analyze key trends in child health policy and financing relevant towards achieving the REACH program goals;
• Develop and manage a portfolio of strategic investments to meet the goals of the REACH program;
• Support communications activities working closely with the communications team to build salience and visibility for REACH and child survival;
• Leverage existing multiple partners and platforms to build trust and jointly plan expansion within existing and new countries;
• Support partners to implement strategies that support the packaging and dissemination of compelling communication and tactics context-specific communication tools and packages to increase support and trust in the REACH intervention;
• Maintain an in depth understanding of policies and financing trends for child health programs using innovative interventions towards fast tracking reduction in child mortality;
• Engage with the program teams to align on policy and financing priorities and metrics for impact;
• Foster, maintain and manage existing partnerships and alliances and identify new partners to help support and advance the objectives of the REACH strategy;
• Develop and manage partnerships and alliances to advance and refine policy, advocacy, and communications strategies based on field and financial data, particularly related to REACH and child health;
• Represent the foundation to external constituencies. This could include formal and informal presentations such as making speeches, attending conferences, committee representation and other meetings;
• Write informative briefings and reports, and other materials on key areas and other relevant issues for foundation leadership.

Your Experience

• Outstanding knowledge, experience and expertise in technical advocacy and communications related to policy and financing advocacy, including understanding of child health programs and achieving scale and impact through innovative interventions. Work experience in an LMIC is an added advantage;
• Experience and/or proven ability in engaging with government partners and diverse customers on development and health;
• Experience in working with financing mechanisms at country level and across a wide group of partners is a plus;
• Experience communicating around policy and advocacy efforts, and in working with governments, academic institutions, NGOs, the private sector (in addition to the media and government), and professional associations preferred. Hands-on experience including interaction with senior level policy makers, coalitions, and private sector partners;
• Understanding of the key issues concerning child health or broader health and development areas, as well as financing for new interventions;
• Understanding of bilateral and multilateral institutions and mechanisms including how they fund development programs at national and regional level;
• Experience in strategic portfolio development, including setting of strategic direction for programs aligned with policy goals;
• Experience or high ability to work in a complex, matrixed environment – requiring cultural awareness, and a collaborative nature that knows the benefits of seeking consensus;
• Demonstrated ability to provide vision and influence others in a constructive, optimistic manner, while building and sustaining collaborative relationships;
• Exceptional project and team management skills including demonstrated ability to lead teams and organizations from strategy development through execution, develop shared goals and execution plans, facilitate meetings, manage budgets, developing partner consensus, and work both autonomously and collaboratively;
• Ideally, candidate will have experience managing a grant portfolio; either as a grantee – receiving and reporting on a grant or as a grant manager – with direct responsibility for grant making and management;
• Ability to work with flexibility, entrepreneurship, and diplomacy both individually and as part of a complex team effort. A proven track record to effectively manage and adapt within a changing environment;
• Ability to travel up to 25% domestically and internationally;
• Advanced degree in public policy, finance, international relations, public health, development or a related field;
• 7+ years of related experience, or equivalent experience.

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