Senior Evidence Generation and Learning (EGAL) Officer

OVERVIEW OF THE STRATEGIC PURCHASING AFRICA RESOURCE CENTRE (SPARC)

The Strategic Purchasing Africa Resource Center (SPARC) is a resource hub aimed at strengthening strategic purchasing capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa by connecting existing regional expertise and matching it with country demand to make better use of resources for health. Our vision is to empower countries with knowledge and practical tools to make access to affordable and quality health care a reality for all. SPARC is creating a network of regional experts who can support the development of practical, home-grown solutions that meet countries’ strategic purchasing needs. SPARC is hosted by Amref Health Africa, a foremost Africa based NGO, as part of its strategic move to support health financing reforms in Africa. SPARC’s core partner – Results for Development (R4D) – provides technical support to SPARC.

JOB SUMMARY

Under the leadership of the Technical Lead, the Senior EGAL Officer will lead SPARC’s Evidence Generation and Learning programmatic pillar to ensure that SPARC achieves its mission of becoming the “go-to” resource center for strategic purchasing evidence in sub-Saharan Africa.

S/he will be responsible for a wide variety of activities related to identifying, managing, packaging, and disseminating of key information to advance the technical practice and provide practitioners with the tools needed to advance strategic purchasing within their health systems. Specifically, the Senior EGAL Officer will lead and support learning events, the SPARC technical consortium and other learning communities including Amref Health Financing community of practice, to develop mechanisms for creating and sharing knowledge, produce resources and guidance, and facilitate ongoing content development and engagement of a learning community. This role will be based in Nairobi, Kenya, with frequent travel across Africa and occasionally beyond.

SPARC is a small team with an ambitious work plan and team members must be able to work in a fast-paced, results-driven environment. The ideal candidate is highly-motivated, a fast learner, resourceful, flexible, independent, energetic, with excellent communications skills, cultural sensitivity and experience working with senior leaders.

PRINCIPAL RESPONSIBILITIES

• Lead the implementation of SPARC’s knowledge management strategy, including developing annual workplans and budgeting for SPARC’s EGAL activities
• Work collaboratively with R4D to support the technical partners that form SPARC’s technical consortium, including identifying and onboarding new partners as needed, developing a learning agenda with new and existing partners, design activities with partners, generate and package evidence for dissemination
• Provide guidance, management support, mentorship and effective leadership to direct reports
• Collaborate with the Senior coaching and mentoring officer and country engagement team to create and implement a systematic approach for capturing, packaging and disseminating learnings from SPARC’s country engagements for internal and external audiences
• Lead the concept development and execution of knowledge sharing events including two large scale annual dissemination events, seminars/webinars, workshops, conferences, and peer learning sessions
• Identify relevant platforms to disseminate SPARC’s work such as conferences and symposia and author abstracts for submission
• Review the content for SPARC digital platforms ensuring high quality and engaging content are delivered.
• Contribute to the redesign and management of SPARC’s knowledge hub to ensure information is organized and easily accessible.
• Support the operationalization of Amref’s Health Financing Community of Practice (CoP) in conjunction with the chair and the core operating group
• Support program reporting as required
• Contribute to new and existing projects such as the USAID supported Frontier Health Markets and the CPEA work as assigned by the Technical Lead

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

MINIMUM EDUCATION

• Master’s Degree or PhD in health financing, health economics or any related field.

EXPERIENCE

• At least seven (7) years’ experience design and facilitating health financing research, collaborative learning and knowledge generation and dissemination activities.

COMPETENCIES

• Demonstrated interest in and capacity to deliver knowledge management and/or organizational learning programs.
• Demonstrated proficiency in establishment and nurturing of Communities of Practice and learning networks including promotion of engagement, collaboration and knowledge exchange in the communities.
• Excellent facilitation, program/activity management, and written and oral communication skills.
• Demonstrated interest and experience in strategic purchasing highly desirable.
• Creative problem-solving and ability to work with humility, under tight deadlines and achieve results
• Strong interpersonal skills and experience working with cross cultural and geographically dispersed teams.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office products at expert level.
• Willingness to travel across the African continent.
• Fluency in speaking, reading and writing in English. French proficiency would be an advantage.