Health Sector Budget Support Advisor Belgian Development Agency

Belgian Development Agency

Kampala, Other

Ref.: UGA/09/022-1B
Location: Uganda, Kampala.
Duration of the contract: 14 months.
Probable starting date: as soon as possible.

Overview

The Belgian development agency, BTC, mobilises its resources and its expertise to eliminate poverty in the world. BTC contributes to the efforts of the international community and works towards a society that provides present and future generations with sufficient resources to build a sustainable and fair world. Its 650 staff members in Brussels and overseas embody the commitment of the Belgian State and other development partners to international solidarity. They support more than 300 cooperation projects and programmes in some 20 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In view of the the further development of its activities the BTC is currently looking for a Health Sector Budget Support Advisor.

Monthly salary package:
Between 5.299,56 euro and 7.500,22 euro (this includes the gross monthly salary and the expat benefits: hardship allowance and expat allowance). The salary is calculated, depending on the composition of the family and the number of years of relevant experience.

Project:

Belgium has supported the Health Sector of Uganda with 18 million euros of sector budget support over the past 5 years and is a historical donor in the sector. It has contributed to the financing of the implementation of the HSSP II. The Belgian Development Cooperation is committed to a sector wide approach (SWAp) to health development and is, together with other actors, therefore advocating for co-ordination and partnership with all stakeholders involved in health sector.

Health Sector Strategic & Investment Plan

Uganda approved during the 2010 Joint Review Mission the “Health Sector Strategic & Investment Plan 2010/11-2014/15” (HSSIP) and a new MoU, called Country Compact under the IHP+, was signed. Belgium has decided to engage further budget support to the health sector through HSSIP during the next two years with a possible additional contribution of 10 million euros. Within this context, the Belgian Development Agency (BTC), responsible for monitoring of this support, will recruit a “Health Sector Budget Support Advisor”. Informing and working together with the Attaché for International Cooperation at the Belgian Embassy, who has the political responsibility of the Belgian support, he/she will provide input to the ongoing health policy and technical dialogue with the Government of Uganda. In coordination and liaison with the Health Development Partners (HDP) Group, the advisor will provide technical input to the health SWAp, HSSIP and the government’s reforms to be undertaken in the health sector.

Objectives
The Health Sector Budget Support Advisor will fulfil two main objectives:

The expert will be in charge of the disbursement report that advises on the release of budget support installments;
The expert will, in straight coordination with the Attaché and the HDP Group, monitor and follow up on Uganda’s health sector and contribute to advancing the health reform and HSSIP through policy dialogue;
The expert will report on this monitoring.

Function:

Report to the Attaché, BTC and the Budget Support Working Group with regards to HSSIP implementation and policy dialogue in the health sector, as provided in the Vademecum for Budget Support;
Provide technical and policy advice to the Attaché with regards to his/her positioning on health policy issues through regular meetings and brief notes. Assist and advise the Attaché in the Health Policy Advisory Committee (HPAC), HDP and other relevant meetings;
Report about the opportunity of disbursement of the different Belgian instalments;
The advisor will systematically check whether the conditions for disbursement, as defined in the Specific Agreement, are met;
She/he will then formulate a clear advice to the Attaché in this respect;
Support capitalization in order to feed into future Belgian interventions through documenting the implementation process and sharing experience;
Exchanging expertise and programme results with other BTC interventions and Belgian actors involved in the health sector and / or in budget support modalities;
Support Technical working groups where need arises;
Participate for the health sector in the meetings of the Joint Budget Support Framework (JBSF) Task Force if she/he gets the mandate of the HDP Group;
Participate actively in the processes on the development and the realization of the Indicative Cooperation Programmes (ICP) in Uganda;
Do sufficient field missions to test the policy dialogue issues to the reality in the field.
Field missions will be aligned as much as possible to Ministry of Health (MoH) and HDP Group initiatives or the BTC-Capacity Building Project in MoH;
Seek an active interaction with stakeholders in MoH and document the Belgian portfolio approach in the sector.

In regards to the Health Development Partner Group:

Ensure follow-up and analysis of HSSIP implementation;
Actively participate in the analysis of the sector policies and planning and specifically in analyzing priorities for action in the sector;
Actively participate in the technical working groups responsible for the programme follow-up with a focus on budget analysis and public finance management within the health sector, including the analysis of the Office of the Auditor General’s reports for the health sector;
Monitor identified risk factors (see technical note) and constructively collaborate with the partner authorities within the policy dialogue to implement mitigation actions;
Participate in the organisation and preparation of the annual sector reviews and related field missions;
Actively support donor coordination towards an active partnership approach to programme follow-up and policy dialogue with the Ugandan authorities, by providing support to the Attaché and the chair of the Health Development Partners group;
Establish, maintain and develop good working relations with the Government ministries (Ministry of Health, Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Office of the Prime Minister, etc.), relevant institutions and all partners involved in HSSIP;
Develop, maintain and share an in-depth knowledge and understanding of HSSIP and the health sector, including through networking with local actors (e.g. Civil Society Organisations);
Ensure the timely provision of input on the performance of the health sector to the taskforce of the Joint Budget Support Framework. Advocate and work proactively with all stakeholders in the planning, the implementation and the monitoring of all health sector related issues of JBSF.

Regulatory framework:
The follow-up of the Belgian contribution to the BS programme will be done according to the principles and tasks set out in following official documents:

Vademecum for Budget Support;
Specific Agreement on the contribution between Belgium and Uganda;
Implementation Agreement between DGD and BTC;
Country Compact signed by the Health Development Partners and the Government of Uganda (MoH);
The follow-up will be aligned as much as possible to the JBSF-framework.

Profile:

Doctor of Medicine;
Postgraduate degree in Public Health is a plus.

Experience:

At least 4 years of proven experience working with health sector reforms, budget support and donor coordination in low-income countries, preferably in Anglophone Africa;
Between 3 to 5 years of experience in working in the health sector, especially in health service organization and / or institutional strengthening are an important asset;
Knowledge and experience of Public Finance Management is desirable;
Experience with working in Monitoring and Evaluation methods is an asset;
Cooperative and networking attitude and experience of working in multi-disciplinary team settings;
Extensive professional experience in a multicultural context.

Other:

A high degree of questioning business as usual, drive, self-motivation and ability to work independently with minimum supervision;
Negotiation and diplomatic skills;
Analytical skills and critical attitude;
Good communicator;
Good reporting and writing skills;
English proficiency;
Knowledge of Dutch or French is an asset.

Interested?
Please apply not later than December 7th 2011, through our web site www.btcctb.org. Use our Standard CV and a letter of motivation to apply. You can find the model of our Standard CV on the page Jobs of our website. If you have any additional question, don’t hesitate to contact us at 02/505 18 65.

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