Consultant - Health Financing Emergency Response

Overview

Provide technical guidance on health financing emergency response.

You have:

• Advanced university degree in medicine, health, economics, or public health.
• At least five years’ experience supporting and leading health financing and health systems related work, with a focus on global coordination and dissemination.
• Expert knowledge of English.
• Intermediate knowledge of French.
• Expert in knowledge translation, management, and brokering; Coordination and global liaison skills; Excellent writing and editing skills; Sound analytical skills; demonstrated knowledge of health financing systems and related concepts.
• Expertise in capacity building and web platforms.

Purpose of consultancy

The Alliance for Health Policy & Systems Research seeks to contract an individual consultant to provide technical guidance, expertise, and coordination with respect to the global level work to facilitate the delivery of the programme of work on the health financing emergency response. The consultant will work with the Alliance and WHO’s health financing team to conduct analytics and contribute to the development of health financing related reports and capacity building efforts.

Background

The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR), in collaboration with WHO’s Department of Health Financing and Economics (HFE), is supporting a programme of policy support and implementation research to assist countries facing critical health financing transitions (‘health financing cliffs’). These arise when countries experience sharp reductions in external health assistance amid broader macroeconomic and fiscal pressures, creating an urgent threat to the continuity of essential health services and the pursuit of universal health coverage (UHC).

The shifts in the global political and economic context requires changes to how domestic and external financing is channelled and used. In the absence of reforms at all levels of the system, the fragile progress made towards UHC remains at risk of backsliding and becoming even further away from the 2030 sustainable development goal (SDG) target. The problems of dependency, inefficiency, and undue fragmentation are all being laid bare in the face of donor cuts, with countries struggling to sustain service delivery, maintain supply chains, and retain health workers. While many governments are taking action to mitigate immediate risks, there remains a need for better evidence, analytics, technical support, and policy guidance to support both short-term response and longer-term health financing reforms. Immediate action is needed to provide guidance, as well as to disseminate and share best practices as to how to better align external health financing flows (including from GHIs) with domestic public financial management systems and health system priorities, and to identify specific bottlenecks for efficient and sustainable financing approaches.

In response to this urgent context, the Alliance and HFE are leading a programme of work designed to help countries understand, navigate, and respond to these financing transitions. This tailored country support and analytics are complemented by work to provide clear guidance, best practices, capacity building, and convening at the global level. The coordinated efforts at country, regional and global levels ensure a constructive feedback loop between the various functions to support evidence-informed policy.

Deliverables

1. Webinar and related materials to disseminate WHO’s guidance paper on “Responding to the health financing emergency”: Contribute to the development of inputs to disseminate and share experiences related to the navigating the the health financing challenges associated with reduced external assistance. Expected by: March 2026.
2. Provide report summarizing the quantitative indicator analysis performed to lead countries in their quantitative analysis of the effect of blended payment on key outcomes of UHC. Expected by: March 2026.
3. Review and provide a summary of the quantitative analytical plans across countries monitoring the adoption of the matrix of indicators of the effect of blended payment on key outcomes of UHC. Expected by: April 2026.
4. State of Health Financing outline and methodological approach: Work with WHO’s health financing team to pull together inputs into a coherent outline for the report. Expected May 2026
5. Country studies on the impact and response to aid reductions in two countries: Work with analytical teams and country offices to facilitate the development and completion of two country reports. Expected June 2026.
6. Report on support provided to work on paying providers for primary care: Contribute to the Alliance in one other Alliance-HFE colviding technical feedback to up to six research teams being supported under the research programme on paying providers for primary care. Expected July 2026.
7. Synthesis of country results on the effect of blended payment on key outcomes of UHC. Expected September 2026.
8. Synthesis of country experiences on impact and response to changes in aid for health: Work with Alliance and health financing team to develop synthesis report as a cross country synthesis and with implications for other settings and the global health architecture. Expected October 2026.
9. Training and relevant capacity building materials, including related to WHO’s Health Financing Progress Matrix: Advise on and provide inputs into cross-country learning and capacity building activities, including relevant trainings, in support of aligned and sustainable health financing systems that can support UHC. Expected November 2026.
10. Completed State of Health Financing report: Contribute to the development, publication and dissemination of the report through working closely with the health financing team across all three levels of the organization. Expected January 2027.

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational Qualifications

Essential: Advanced university degree in medicine, health, economics, or public health.

Experience

Essential: At least five years’ experience supporting and leading health financing and health systems related work, with a focus on global coordination and dissemination. Desirable: Focus on global coordination and dissemination of health financing-related work to country, regional and global entities. Experience working on issues related to public health services, efficiency-related issues, and sustainability and transition from donor assistance.

Skills/Knowledge

Essential: Expert in knowledge translation, management, and brokering; Coordination and global liaison skills; Excellent writing and editing skills; Sound analytical skills; Project management skills; demonstrated knowledge of health financing systems and related concepts; with an ability to review policies and practices in health financing and overall health systems. Desirable: Expertise in capacity building and web platforms

Languages and level required

Essential: Expert knowledge of English

Desirable: Intermediate knowledge of French

Location

Off site: Home-based

Travel

The consultant is not expected to travel

Remuneration and budget (travel costs are excluded)

Remuneration

Band level B – USD 7'000 - USD 9'980 per month

Living expenses (A living expense is payable to on-site consultants who are internationally recruited)

N/A

Expected duration of contract

11 months

Additional Information

• This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test may be used as a form of screening.
• If your candidature is retained for interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO 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 through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.
• WHO is committed to workforce diversity.
• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• Applications from women and from nationals of non and underrepresented Member States are particularly encouraged.
• WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.
• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.
• Consultants shall perform the work as independent contractors in a personal capacity, and not as a representative of any entity or authority. The execution of the work under a consultant contract does not create an employer/employee relationship between WHO and the Consultant.
• WHO shall have no responsibility whatsoever for any taxes, duties, social security contributions or other contributions payable by the Consultant. The Consultant shall be solely responsible for withholding and paying any taxes, duties, social security contributions and any other contributions which are applicable to the Consultant in in each location/jurisdiction in which the work hereunder is performed, and the Consultant shall not be entitled to any reimbursement thereof by WHO.
• Consultants working in Switzerland must register with the applicable Swiss cantonal tax authorities and social security authorities, within the prescribed timeframes (Guidelines issued by the Swiss Mission are available at: https://www.eda.admin.ch/missions/mission-onu-geneve/en/home/manual-regime-privileges-and-immunities/introduction/Manuel-personnes-sans-privileges-et-immunites-carte-H/Non fonctionnaires et stagiaires.html

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Potential interview questions

Added 5 months ago - Updated 4 months ago - Source: who.int