• Senior Technical Support (STS) for WISH2ACTION
• All members of the Options’ team and STTA for WISH2ACTION 
• Consortium partners for WISH2ACTION  
• Government counterparts and key health sector stakeholders in Bangladesh

Options Consultancy Services Limited was established in 1992 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marie Stopes International. We are a consultancy organisation providing technical and management expertise in the health and social sectors to governments and international development partners to transform the health of women and children. We provide information, expertise and influence to governments, health workers, NGOs and businesses to catalyse change so that health services can be accessed by the people who need them most.

WISH2ACTION is part of the DFID’s Women’s Integrated Sexual Health (WISH) programme; it will provide approximately £132m to deliver integrated sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services in 13 countries in Africa and 3 in Asia. The WISH programme builds on previous successful initiatives supported by DFID and others to expand sexual and reproductive health care services and support countries which have made FP2020 commitments to achieve them. The programme is expected to ensure that women are able to safely plan their pregnancies and improve their sexual and reproductive health, particularly the young and marginalised.

WISH2ACTION is led by the International Planned Parenthood Foundation (IPPF) with the following consortium partners: Options (national ownership lead); Marie Stopes International (service delivery partner); International Rescue Committee (service delivery partner); Development Media International (social norm and behaviour change lead) and Handicap International (inclusion of disabilities).

The programme will increase access to family planning and integrated sexual and reproductive health services for women, men and young people across Africa and Asia through a combination of: (i) rights-based provision of private sector sexual and reproductive health information and services, and strengthening of public sector health information and services; (ii) addressing barriers to family planning uptake at individual, interpersonal, community and institutional level; and (iii) improving policies, government financing and commodity security to create an enabling environment for family planning and sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The programme is designed to contribute to the following four outputs: 1) Community/individual choice: people have the knowledge and community support to make informed SRHR decisions and advocate for quality services; 2) National Ownership: improved policies, government financing, commodity security and public sector SRHR capacity and services; 3) Private Sector Access: access to quality, voluntary FP and other SRH services, eliminating barriers for young and marginalised women; and 4) Global Goods: evidence-based innovations and practice shared globally to increase women’s choice and access to SRHR services.

Options will lead the National Ownership component. Options’ approach is to support governments to increase domestic funding for SRHR, and to develop and implement evidence-based policies and plans to meet commitments that create an enabling environment for SRHR, addressing the unmet need for SRHR, particularly among the poor, youth under 20, and people with disability. The following results will help achieve stronger national ownership for SRHR:

• Evidence-based approach within national and sub-national governments that use data to drive financial, policy and quality of care decisions and actions.
• Strengthened financial, policy and quality of care demonstrated through leadership by national and sub-national governments.
• Functional and sustainable accountability systems that track SRHR commitments and key indicators, and use this evidence to hold leaders to account.

The Health Financing Advisor is responsible for designing, leading and coordinating the implementation of strategies to increase government investments in SRH in Bangladesh and contribute to the overall national ownership goals. S/he works in close collaboration with national and local government counterparts, consortium partners, and is responsible for the achievement of the quarterly Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and logframe indicators relating to domestic financing for Bangladesh.

Provide technical support to government for increased allocation and more efficient spending on SRH and Family Planning (FP) in Bangladesh

• Build effective relationships with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), and other relevant authorities at national and local level;
• Develop a technical assistance plan to support health authorities increase domestic investments in SRH/FP;  
• Carry out budget tracking and analysis exercises in close collaboration with relevant government counterparts and facilitate validation of the results with selected stakeholders;
• Work with relevant government counterparts to analyse, interpret and present health budget data and support its use for decision-making;
• Support the MoHFW effectively negotiate with the Ministry of Finance to secure increased investments in SRH/FP;
• Assist relevant health authorities to make better use of domestic resources for SRH/FP, for example by prioritising budgetary allocation to high impact interventions, and/or strengthening budget holders’ capacity to fully execute their resource envelope;
• Undertake a market analysis of essential SRH/FP commodities to support forecasting and budgeting processes;
• Support interventions to strengthen the use of facility level and other monitoring data during planning and budgeting processes;
• Support the MoHFW to leverage other financing mechanisms (such as the Global Financing Facility (GFF)) to increase available resources for SRH/FP.

Build effective partnerships with actors engaged in budget advocacy for SRHR in Bangladesh

• Maintain relationships with key stakeholders engaged in budget tracking and advocacy, including WISH consortium partners;
• Build capacity of civil society organisations to understand and use budget data and effectively engage in the budgeting cycle.

Support the Evidence and Accountability Advisor to ensure effective use of data to hold government accountable for SRH/FP outcomes

• Support the development of specific messages and materials for promotion of increased domestic financing for family planning;
• Support the packaging and use of data from global and regional initiatives such as Track 20, PMA2020, FP2020, Advance Family Planning (AFP) to reinforce national ownership.

Report on progress towards domestic financing for SRHR/FP through the consortium monitoring, evaluation and learning system

• Contribute to the development of logframe indicators relating to domestic financing for Bangladesh;
• Collect baseline data and milestones for these indicators during the inception period;
• Ensure the achievement of the KPIs relating to domestic financing for Bangladesh and ensure the availability of evidence required as proof of this achievement;
• Ensure learnings relating to health financing are documented and communicated to other WISH Lot 2 country teams, Options TD and Regional Financing Lead.

Identify need for short term technical assistance and coordinate of their inputs

• In consultation with the Regional Health Financing Lead, support identification and coordination of short term technical assistance to achieve domestic financing goals and results

Contribute to the broader national ownership output in Bangladesh

• Contribute to a country engagement strategy on national ownership with measurable and attributable sustainability indicators;
• Feed into the design and implementation of the political economy analysis (PEA) framework, particularly in relation to domestic financing
• Support the development and implementation of a WISH transition plan for Bangladesh.

Criteria

Essential

Desirable

Qualifications

• At least a Master’s Degree in public health, health economics, health management or a related field.

✓

Experience

• At least ten years’ work experience in a highly competitive and busy work environment, with significant experience in the provision of technical assistance for health;

• Solid understanding of the health sector, including the relationship between national and sub-national levels;

• A solid understanding of Public Financial Management (PFM) including annual budget cycles, Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks (MTEFs) and the principles of transparency and accountability, particularly health budget tracking and advocacy;

• Strong analytical skills with experience in analysing and interpreting annual budgets, particularly health budget tracking and advocacy;

• Considerable experience in leading the delivery of donor-funded programmes, particularly those funded by DFID.

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Skills and attributes

• Excellent time management and organisational skills;

• Excellent interpersonal skills, with experience interacting with government officials, development partners, civil society and other health sector stakeholders;

• Excellent influencing skills, with an ability to identify and act on opportunities to build buy-in and support among decision-makers;

• Strong written and verbal communication skills with a demonstrable ability to present complex financial concepts in easy to understand language for a range of audiences;

• Sound monitoring evaluation skills, including the design and delivery of logical frameworks;

• Proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint.

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

✓

Other requirements

• Commitment to equal opportunities;

• Fluency in written and spoken English;

• Fluency in written and spoken French.

✓

✓

✓