Chief Health, P4, Lilongwe, Malawi #52232 (Open to Non-Malawian nationals)

Overview

Lead health programs to improve child health outcomes in Malawi.

You have:

• An advanced university degree (Masters Degree or higher) in Public Health is required.
• A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional work experience in national health programming is required.
• Experience in health management at the national level is preferred.
• Fluency in English, both strong verbal and written skills, is essential.
• Experience working in a developing country is considered a strong asset.
• Background and/or familiarity with emergency situations is considered preferable.

Contract

This is a P-4 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 7 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 130,360 USD and 168,072 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, health...

UNICEF Malawi Country Programme (2019-2023) is aligned with the Government of Malawi’s Growth and Development Strategy (MDGS III) and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). The programme supports the Government of Malawi to meet its commitment to respect, protect and fulfil children’s rights in line with international conventions and standards. The country programme is guided by the principles of children’s rights, equity, gender equality, inclusion and resilience, and supports evidence-based, integrative and innovative programming. The vision is that ‘all girls and boys in Malawi, especially the most disadvantaged and deprived, realize their rights’. The programme focuses on: early childhood (parenting, high-impact social services, early stimulation and learning), middle childhood and adolescence (learning, multi-sectoral services, active citizenship), communities (decentralized services and systems, community ownership, social norms), programme effectiveness (monitoring, evaluation, HACT, Innovation, Social Protection and Social Policy and External Communication. The programme is based on ‘leaving no child behind’, realizing rights for all children in Malawi.

Within a lifecycle approach that encompasses three pillars, early childhood (pillar one), school age children (pillar two) and adolescents (pillar three), the Chief of Health coordinates the pillar one activities and within health team, ensures that every child has access to essential, quality and equitable health services. The Health Section in Malawi is at the forefront of promoting and ensuring investments in maternal and child healthcare, WASH, HIV, community resilience and capacity building among healthcare workers.

As Chief of Health, the office will rely on your strong management skills, strategic thinking and experience in health system strengthening to work with key stakeholders in Government, Civil Society, Academia and Development Partners to leverage partnerships, resources and most importantly, results for children. Malawi is a dynamic country to work in where you can also contribute your skills in responding to health emergencies such as the current polio outbreak, cholera outbreaks and the impact of climate change such as floods on the healthcare system. Your experience in working hands-on in the COVID-19 response and HIV and AIDS programming will be a great advantage to us.

With a renewed focus on primary healthcare towards universal health coverage as an essential component for cost-effective healthcare service delivery that leaves no child behind the Chief of Health will analyse current primary health care service delivery based on sound evidence and principles of dentralised public administration and public financing for children. You will work with our multidisciplinary taskforces to implement a “whole-of-child” approach to interventions for children aged up to 5 years that supports early learning and stimulation for pre-school children in community-based childcare centres.

How can you make a difference?

The Malawi Country Office therefore offers an exciting and rewarding career opportunity for you to join our dynamic Health team where you will be responsible for managing and supervising all stages of health programmes/projects (e.g. gender, maternal, neonatal, child survival, emergency preparedness, HIV/AIDS, ECD) within the country programme, from strategic planning and formulation to delivery of results. You will use your core competencies in effective inter-personal communication, conflict resolution, drive for results, ethics and integrity together with person-focused and care-driven management approaches to motivate the health team in achieving concrete and sustainable results.

In your role, you will be under the overall guidance of the Deputy Representative Programmes.

This job presents a unique and significant opportunity for a qualified, vibrant, motivated and committed person to be to contribute to the overall achievement of transformative results for children by delivering on the following key responsibility areas, but not limited to - you are however encouraged to read the attached and detailed job description Generic JD - Chief Health Level 4.pdf in order to view the full role and its requirements:

1. Strong and responsible managerial leadership with a focus on teamwork and nurturing staff morale
2. Programme development and planning through critical and strategic thinking
3. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results though establishing clear accountability frameworks that are adaptable to emergency contexts
4. Advisory services and technical support to Government and all other Development Partners, as well as internally to ensure effective cross sectoral collaboration
5. Advocacy, networking and partnership building, ensuring a responsive and dynamic UNICEF presence on the ground
6. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building to ensure internal and external programme efficiencies and sharing of lessons learned.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Education:

• An advanced university degree (Masters Degree or higher) in one of the following fields is required:

  • Public Health (preferred)
  • Medical Sciences (preferred)
  • Public Administration (advantageous)
  • Research (advantageous)
  • Behavioural/Social Sciences (advantageous)

  Experience:

• A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional work experience is required in:

  • National Health Programming
  • Health Management at national level (preferred)
  • Public Health (required)
  • Maternal and Child Health (required)
  • HIV/AIDS (required)
  • Epidemiology asset)
  • Health System Strengthening - public administration, public sector financing (asset)
  • Pediatric/Family health (asset)
  • Global/international health (asset)
  • Environmental health sciences (asset)
  • Health education (asset)

• Experience working in a developing country is considered as a strong asset

• Background and/or familiarity with emergency is considered preferable

Technical knowledge and skills required:

• Programme design and implementation
• Results based planning
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Supervisory and management skills
• Resource mobilization
• Networking and partnerships
• Knowledge management

Language:

• Fluency in English, both strong verbal and written skills, is essential.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability (CRITA) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: https://uni.cf/UNICEFValues

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others (8) Nurtures, leads and manages people.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

The position is not considered an elevated risk role. However, UNICEF reserves the right to conduct further vetting/assessment within the scope of child safeguarding as appropriate.

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

The vacancy announcement is open to all candidates – both internal and external candidates.

Potential interview questions