Independent Contractor, RMNCH Financing

Independent Contractor, RMNCH Financing
Location: Lilongwe, Malawi
Duration: 94 days

Organization Overview

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems.

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life-saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease.

Over the following two decades, CHAl has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work in conjunction with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skillsets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with majority of our staff based in program countries. Learn more about our exciting work: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

CHAl is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.

Program Overview

CHAl’s health financing program supports Ministries of Health, Finance, and government insurers, to substantially and sustainably improve population access to essential health services, toward the goal of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Financing for health is often insufficient and overly reliant on donors and individuals paying out of pocket at facilities. Donor contributions for health have plateaued and, in many countries, are likely to decline in the coming years.

While domestic resources for health are increasing, the rate of growth in government spending fluctuates, is often insufficient to meet population needs, and may not be spent efficiently. Countries supported by the global health financing team include Benin, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe.

CHAl’s health financing strategy supports governments to address these challenges through priority setting and benefits package design; investment in upgrading health systems to deliver an optimized package of services; and strengthening or improving domestic financing through public financial management and strategic purchasing. At the request of governments, our strategy for health financing is expanding to include work in health systems and management, with a focus on building primary health care systems as the foundation of equitable UHC. This work builds on CHAl’s experience in sexual, reproductive, maternal, and child health, infectious diseases, and health workforce, among other areas. At CHAI, staff work closely with government partners to support evidence-based decision making and to design systems to ensure resources go as far as possible, enabling providers to deliver quality care that patients can afford and access.

Position Overview

The goal of the CHAI Malawi Health Systems Strengthening program is to support the Government of Malawi to progressively move toward UHC through sustainably mobilizing additional resources for health sector and ensuring they are distributed and utilized equitably, efficiently and effectively for the delivery of high-quality health services.

The CHAI Malawi Health Systems Strengthening team works closely with directorates across the Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MoHS), including the Department of Planning and Policy Coordination (DPPC), to provide technical assistance, develop analytical tools, and strengthen capacity to plan and manage spending in Malawi’s health sector.

The Malawi MoHS launched the Health Sector Strategic Plan III (HSSP III) 2023-2030, which articulates the Government of Malawi’s bold vision for reforming the country’s health system and accelerating progress towards UHC. The HSSP III proposes a transition to strengthened aid coordination through the “One Plan, One Budget, One Report” model, under which the HSSP III will be the overall guiding document for all government and donor investments until 2030. As part of this approach, the MoHS is finalizing the development of Multi-Year One Plan (MY OP) that defines the government’s multi-year operational priorities and maps available resources against these priorities, with the goal of identifying areas for improving allocative efficiencies and donor alignment towards health sector objectives.

Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health (RMNCH) is a key program area highlighted in the HSSP III, focusing on family planning, maternal care, newborn survival, child health, adolescent health, and nutrition. The RMNCH program prioritization process should be embedded with the broader MY OP framework, with prioritized interventions for RMNCH translated into measurable service delivery targets and subsequently costed to estimate resource requirements These costed priorities will then be mapped against projected domestic and partner funding to assess alignment and identify financing gaps. This approach ensures that RMNCH investments are fully integrated within national planning processes and supported by realistic, evidence-based resource allocation.

CHAI Malawi seeks an Independent Contractor (IC), RMNCH Financing, who will be based in Lilongwe, Malawi. The IC will support the Mohs,particularly the Reproductive Healt Directorate (RHD) and the DPPC, to ensure that the priority RMNCH interventions are included and costed in the broader MY OP framework. The IC will support in generating decision-relevant evidence for the government prioritization process and contribute to improved sector alignment and efficiencies in response to declining external financing.

This is a challenging but rewarding position which will directly impact the government’s capacity to deliver improved health services for the population of Malawi. It presents an opportunity to work closely with a government that is committed to finding opportunities for sustainable financing of the health sector and delivering a stronger health system for the people of Malawi.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical assistance to the MoHS in the development and operationalization of the MY OP, ensuring that RMNCH priority areas are adequately covered within the broader MY OP framework
• Collaborate with RHD, DPPC, and other relevant government stakeholders to define, map, and cost the RMNCH service delivery targets and priorities to be embedded within the MY OP framework
• Support the MoHS to validate and disseminate the MY OP, particularly the RMNCH components, and monitor progress in achieving the identified targets through Technical Working Groups (TWGs) and the “One Report” joint sector review mechanisms
• Provide technical assistance to the MoHS in ensuring that MY OP informs ongoing resource mobilization and grant-making processes, including the Global Fund Grant Cycle Eight (GC8), GAVI, the Health Services Joint Fund, etc., with a specific focus on RMNCH priorities
• Support the institutionalization of MY OP processes within the MoHS directorates including RHD and the wider health sector through hands-on capacity strengthening, including the development and handover of resources to support this approach
• Support the documentation and cross-country dissemination of lessons learned through the development of policy briefs or knowledge products on key findings
• Build strategic relationships and facilitate meetings with government, donors and external stakeholders to drive operational and policy changes related to the aforementioned scope of work
• Backstop fundraising and resource mobilization efforts for the team, including through targeted technical and coordination support
• Contribute to the development of program workplans, budgets, policy briefs and reporting for internal and external audiences
• Lead preparation of activity budgets and ensure timely liquidation of all activities once completed, in line with CHAI and donor best practices and policies for sound financial management
• Lead activity logistics in collaboration with the CHAI Finance and Operations teams, including disbursing allowances to meeting participants and ensuring that  services such as venue hire, conferencing, printing, etc. are available for activities as relevant
• Perform any other relevant duties and lead day-to-day implementation of activities as assigned

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health, Health Sciences, Health Economics, Health Systems, or a closely related field.
• Minimum of two years of professional experience in relevant areas, such as RMNCH planning and program implementation, health systems strengthening, health economics, public sector finance, consulting, or other relevant experience
• Demonstrated knowledge and experience in RMNCH programs, health systems, governance, and health financing, particularly in low- and middle-income
• Outstanding qualitative and analytical skills and advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
  Strategically minded and able to think creatively about long-term program goals and objectives, and the detailed steps necessary to achieve these goals
• Structured thinker with experience analyzing and interpreting complex datasets to identify key trends and to translate them into actionable options for decision-makers
• Strong diplomatic and interpersonal skills and ability to build strategic relationships with government partners, donors and other stakeholders
• Demonstrated ability to deliver excellence in high-pressure situations, set priorities, and adapt to rapidly changing environments
• Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills without need for extensive structural or operational support
• Strong writer, facilitator, and oral communicator, able to distill and explain complex concepts to varied audiences, with demonstrated skills in report writing.

All applications should be sent to: recruitmentmalawi@clintonhealthaccess.org

Closing date: 27th February 2026