Opportunity
Abt Associates seeks a Health Economist to work on the five-year, $199 million USAID-funded Health Finance and Governance (HFG) Project. The Health Economist will provide HFG project technical assistance to countries undergoing health financing reform, and provide technical expertise on health economic analytical work within countries and with USAID centrally. The successful candidate will develop relationships in USAID/Washington, USAID missions, with major development partners, and with ministries of health and finance and other key stakeholders in countries. The Health Economist will strengthen the evidence base around successful approaches to improving health financing, particularly within the areas of insurance and provider payment, as a way of expanding access to essential health services in country. The Health Economist will also contribute evidence to build a compelling case for continuing global and bilateral donor funded projects to improve health finance and governance, and strengthen health systems to reach national and international sustainable development goals. S/he will also provide technical contributions to business development.
Opportunity
Abt Associates seeks a Health Economist to work on the five-year, $199 million USAID-funded Health Finance and Governance (HFG) Project. The Health Economist will provide HFG project technical assistance to countries undergoing health financing reform, and provide technical expertise on health economic analytical work within countries and with USAID centrally. The successful candidate will develop relationships in USAID/Washington, USAID missions, with major development partners, and with ministries of health and finance and other key stakeholders in countries. The Health Economist will strengthen the evidence base around successful approaches to improving health financing, particularly within the areas of insurance and provider payment, as a way of expanding access to essential health services in country. The Health Economist will also contribute evidence to build a compelling case for continuing global and bilateral donor funded projects to improve health finance and governance, and strengthen health systems to reach national and international sustainable development goals. S/he will also provide technical contributions to business development.
Key Roles and Responsibilities
Support public and private sector stakeholders in the design, implementation, and evaluation of health financing reforms to reach universal health coverage (UHC);
Manage a country team/program working on health financing reforms, strengthen connections between country teams, provide strategic guidance for country programs, and train national partners;
Provide technical guidance for and manage clients, as well as develop workplans, reporting and other requested support at the country and home office level;
Work with HFG health financing leads, and IHD HSS technical leads to document and communicate results and lessons learned of project activities focused on health financing/UHC, including authoring/co-authoring technical papers and journal articles;
Provide short-term expert technical assistance to other Abt international and national projects to strengthen health financing, insurance, and provider payment systems to achieve UHC;
Track opportunities for expanding policy and health economic work and provide technical contributions to new-business proposals
Preferred Skills / Prerequisites
An advanced degree in health economics, economics, or equivalent, and relevant work experience in health financing and/or UHC;
Expertise in provider payment systems and health insurance essential; knowledge of tuberculosis (TB) a plus;
Demonstrated experience conducting health financing research, with publications or policy contributions; knowledge of quantitative research essential, while qualitative research a plus;
Excellent conceptual and research skills, with ability to think strategically and to analyze and integrate diverse information from varied sources to draw conclusions and recommendations;
Demonstrated ability to work effectively with and train various actors such as Ministry of Health units, other ministry and government agencies, donors, and NGOs;
Ability to deal sensitively in multi-cultural environments and build effective working relations with clients and colleagues in a complex and politically sensitive environment;
Familiarity with USAID and experience working on USAID-funded projects is a plus;
Expertise in developing country context policy development and/or policy implementation at either the national or sub-national level;
Strong organizational skills including timely follow-up; excellent written and verbal communication skills;
Willingness to travel ~25% of the time
Minimum Qualifications
MA/MBA with 7 - 10 years of experience OR PhD with 4 - 6 years of experience OR the equivalent combination of education and experience.