Position Summary:
The Sabin Vaccine Institute is seeking a consultant for its Sustainable Immunization Financing (SIF) Program to be responsible for field activities in Kenya. The consultant will lead economics-focused studies that will generate cost and cost-effectiveness data to inform evidence-based immunization policy development. S/he will maintain working relations with EPI teams, senior policymakers and elected officials as well as with representatives from the SIF Partner Group: World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the World Bank and the GAVI Alliance. S/he will also work directly with civil society organizations, the private business sector and media counterparts to increase immunization program stakeholdership in each country to promote the inclusion of economic evidence in immunization policy and decision-making.
The consultant will act as a facilitator to these principals, collecting and analyzing country-level data, identifying resource needs, fostering teamwork, and developing creative approaches to domestic immunization finance. S/he will work closely with Sabin Senior Program Officers to develop strategies to help build technical and managerial capacity among counterparts in ministries of health, finance and planning to incorporate tools and approaches to support evidence-based decision-making and to promote other efforts related to sustainable immunization financing. The consultant will report frequently to Sabin staff, both informally and formally.
This consultancy is based in Nairobi, Kenya. The consultant will be contracted for an initial one year term, with the possibility of renewal for up to five years.
Scope of Work and Deliverables:
• Coordinate immunization costing or cost-effectiveness study. This will entail:
o Leading in-country stakeholder consultation/project introduction
o Carrying out baseline assessments in collaboration with local decision makers
o Consulting on strategy proposals for economic evaluation studies
o Conducting/overseeing research study data collection and analysis
o Establishing multidisciplinary technical working group on immunization, in conjunction with SIF team members and local officials
o Conducting stakeholder engagement and assessment to scope feasibility and resource availability for establishing an immunization-focused Center of Excellence
o Presenting results of selected economic evaluation to internal country stakeholders (EPI program, NITAG)
o Preparing policy brief/informational product with key findings from economic evaluation
o Conducting stakeholder consultations to support drafting of immunization fund regulations and/or development of an implementation framework
o Hosting workshops to initiate drafting on legislative proposal prioritized through stakeholder consultations
• Work closely with Sabin Senior Program Officers to plan and implement all activities related to working with national counterparts to analyze the current immunization system and organize sustainable immunization financing advocacy efforts in assigned program country. This will entail:
o Reviewing basic immunization system documents, particularly financing components
o Contacting and interacting with senior government officials (ministries of finance, health) and with legislators/parliamentarians to assess government immunization planning, levels and trends of fiscal support and health legislation affecting immunization
o Contacting representatives of the national Interagency Coordinating Committee for immunization (WHO, UNICEF, World Bank, other partners) to discuss national comprehensive Multi-Year Plan (cMYP) and other program documents relevant to financial sustainability
o Orienting and educating new collective actors on immunization issues
o Attending meetings of National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) and building relationships with key members
• Assess how well collective actors are carrying out their advocacy activities. This will entail:
o Continuous engagement and individual consultations with national institutional counterparts, the ICC members and other collective actors
o Attending ICC meetings
o Preparing and sending monthly advocacy activity reports to Sabin
• Prepare annual reports summarizing program activities, which identify actors who contributed to the program’s work and to overall immunization system fiscal sustainability
• Distribute feedback reports and other materials from Sabin to the collective actors in each program country
• Represent the SIF Program in regional and global meetings as assigned by Sabin
• Assist with preparing annual work plans
• Perform other duties as assigned by the SIF Project Manager and Sabin’s Executive Vice President
Experience and Educational Requirements:
The successful candidate will be a seasoned global health or economic development professional with extensive field experience in this region.
• Bachelor’s degree required, advanced degree preferred
• Minimum of 3 years related professional experience
• Experience leading epidemiology or economics-focused research studies
• Experience with public finance and public expenditure management
• Possess the initiative and diplomatic skills necessary to instrument collective action by an array of national and international immunization actors
• Detail oriented and organized
• Comfortable using web-based tools, including the SIF management information system
• Proficient in written and oral English and preferably other local languages
• Ability to travel with notice
• Authorization to live and work in Kenya
Organization Summary:
The Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) is a U.S. non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization of scientists, researchers and advocates dedicated to reducing needless human suffering from vaccine-preventable and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Since its founding in 1993 in honor of Dr. Albert B. Sabin, the developer of the oral polio vaccine, Sabin has been at the forefront of global efforts to eliminate, prevent and cure infectious and neglected tropical diseases. Sabin develops new vaccines, advocates for increased use of existing vaccines and promotes expanded access to affordable medical treatments in collaboration with governments, academic institutions, scientists, medical professionals and other non-profit organizations. For more information please visit www.sabin.org.
Program Summary:
Sabin’s Sustainable Immunization Financing (SIF) program is engaged in African, Asian, and Eastern European countries. After eight years of immunization financing work in Kenya, this project expands on previous SIF work in Kenya to build economic, financial and budgetary evidence to support sustainable financing, planning and decision-making for immunization programs. The first part of the project’s aim is to build country technical capacity through the adaptation, incorporation and use of economic tools developed through the ProVac initiative to generate economic evidence for immunization policy decisions. The project’s second aim is to increase national immunization funding and immunization program ownership by strengthening alliances between key public institutions (ministries of health, ministries of finance and parliaments) as well as community service organizations and the domestic private sector. The program provides these groups with the information they need to better understand the benefits of improved health and the contribution that immunization can make in this regard and it supports their acting collectively to achieve sustainable immunization financing. For more information please visitwww.sabin.org/sif.
HOW TO APPLY:
To be considered, please submit your cover letter, resume and compensation requirements via e-mail tojobs@sabin.org. Please be sure to reference “Consultant: SIF Program Officer” in the subject line. Your cover letter should: (1) address the reasons for your interest in this consulting opportunity; and, (2) describe the knowledge, skills and abilities you would bring to the Sabin Vaccine Institute and its Sustainable Immunization Financing Program. No phone calls, please. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.