IntraHealth International Jobs in Kampala; Human Resources for Health Policy and Planning Team Leader

Job Title:        Human Resources for Health Policy and Planning Team Leader
Job Ref:    14-0018
Job Location:   Kampala, Uganda
Employer:    IntraHealth International
Job Type:    Proposal (Contingent Upon Award)


About IntraHealth:
Building on 20 years of experience in Uganda, IntraHealth is collaborating with the Ugandan government and national health associations to train health workers and strengthen health care services. The country’s critical shortage of health workers has an especially detrimental effect on Uganda’s ability to increase citizens’ access to high-quality health care.

Uganda has worked hard in recent years to improve the health of its population. However, as the top cause of death, HIV/AIDS continues to challenge the capacity of the health system to respond, as do other leading causes of death such as communicable diseases and malaria.

Uganda has only one health worker for every 607 people and is able to fill fewer than 60% of public-sector health positions. Although 87% of the population is rural, health worker positions in rural regions draw fewer candidates than the more attractive jobs in urban sites. Problems related to performance, retention, skills, motivation, and absenteeism also shape the health workforce environment. Addressing these challenges requires better management of the existing health workforce, improved strategies to attract and retain health workers in rural and remote areas (especially for services such as HIV/AIDS), and more attention to preservice education and in-service training for health professionals.

Job Overview:
The HRH Policy and Planning Team Leader is responsible for developing the overall framework and action plan for change to policy improvements in human resource systems. This framework will be geared to the legal, regulatory, and policy barriers at all levels of a country system, and thereby improve national workforce assessment, planning, and deployment. The HRH Policy and Planning Team Leader will monitor team progress to ensure adherence to overall goals and objectives and assist team members in the development of strategies and outcomes specific to policy analysis, advocacy and policy implementation.

The HRH Policy and Planning Team Leader will work directly with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and other relevant ministries and the districts to provide technical assistance in the areas of policy analysis, review and development; strategic human resources planning, including health workforce projection, action planning; and costing S/he will lead and provide technical support for activities in developing capacities for human resource policy development, planning and systems strengthening in the health sector. S/he will apply her/his extensive knowledge of the health sector planning primarily to work at the national and district levels.

Job Requirements:
• Master’s degree in HR Planning/ Management or similarly relevant degree and at least 8 years relevant experience.
• Additional degree in International Health or Public Health preferred.
• Experience in HR policy and strategic planning development and implementation in Uganda or the region is preferred. .
• Excellent interpersonal, facilitation and communication skills and team working
• Excellent written and oral communications skills in English
• Proven ability to direct and manage a team to achieve technical goals on a large, complex project, preferably for USAID
• Demonstrated diplomatic and interpersonal skills and ability to work in a complex and changing environment with all levels of stakeholders
• Proven customer-service (client-focused) management skills
• Demonstrated experience to develop and work within approved work plans
• Computer literacy in MS Office applications including Word, Excel, Power Point, and Outlook
• Willingness to travel 25% within the country and internationally on occasion

Job Duties:
• Lead development of IntraHealth’s strategy for HRH policy and planning that reflects national strategies and supports capacity building at all levels of the MoH and relevant ministries.
• Offer technical leadership in sharing and developing new and improved strategies, tools and interventions for improved human resources planning, availability and productivity and in documenting evidence of success and/or challenges of the interventions.
• Identify key issues and constraints that can be overcome by policy, legislative or other initiatives, working in collaboration with MoH and district health agencies.
• Develop short and long-range plans and funding priorities with MoH and others to improve health care workers’ work environment.
• Build local professional capacity and expertise in human resources planning and personnel policies and develop innovative strategies for building this local capacity at national and district levels.
• With staff and partners, support counterparts to identify the need for policy changes through policy forums, policy analysis and review of model policies in public/private sectors.
• Support development and implementation of career ladders for all professional cadres.
• Advocate for and support the development and implementation of effective health workforce planning and performance systems.
• Effectively increase the capacity of key stakeholders to advocate for supportive policies, alliances, and networks.
• Build capacity in the training institutions for leadership and management training.
• Supervise data collection, data analysis, report writing and determinations of findings.
• Supervise direct staff and manage team of staff assigned under the HRH Policy and Planning Team.
• Organize and lead work teams for assigned activities, including preparing budgets, tracking expenditures, and ensuring work is high-quality and proceeds according to plans, timelines and on budget.
• Create and strengthen linkages with relevant partners such as the MoH, Ministry of Finance, the World Bank and others to encourage complementarity and synergy in the investments in HRH in Uganda.

Deadline Date: 02/05/2014

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