Transforming Health Financing in Africa: Unlocking Fiscal Space, Driving Innovation, and Building Resilient, Equitable Systems.
Work Location
Addis Ababa
Expected duration
8 Months
Duties and Responsibilities
Background
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is implementing a flagship continental initiative aimed at transforming health financing systems across Africa over a three-year period (2026–2028). The project seeks to reposition health financing as a macroeconomic and sovereignty issue by strengthening domestic fiscal space, deploying innovative financing instruments, and institutionalizing data-driven governance systems.
The initiative operates across multiple layers:
- ECA Divisions and Sub-Regional Offices
- National governments and UN Country Teams
- Regional institutions (African Union, Africa CDC, AfCFTA Secretariat)
- Development partners, financial institutions, and private sector actors Given its multi-sectoral and multi-country nature, the project is implemented through a Project Delivery Unit (PDU) housed in the Office of the Chief of Staff, ensuring coherence, delivery discipline, and alignment with ECA’s strategic priorities. The Project Manager will lead the operational coordination and delivery management of the project, ensuring:
- Timely and high-quality implementation of activities and outputs
- Coherence and integration across all workstreams and stakeholders
- Effective monitoring, reporting, and adaptive management
- Alignment of delivery with the approved Theory of Change The role is primarily focused on execution, coordination, and delivery performance, comprise of:
1.) Delivery Coordination and Operational Management
- Translate the Theory of Change into a comprehensive and sequenced implementation framework
- Develop and maintain a consolidated delivery roadmap covering all outcomes and outputs
- Ensure coherence and integration across project components, including national health financing strategies, innovative financing instruments, data systems and interoperability platforms, capacity development initiatives, communication and advocacy activities
- Ensure alignment between technical outputs, timelines, and expected results
2.) Coordination with the Project Delivery Unit (PDU)
- Coordinate the work of the Project Management Team (PMT), including Programme Management Officers (PMOs), Financial management focal points, administrative support staff
- Coordinate the work of technical experts embedded in Divisions, ensuring alignment of outputs with agreed milestones, timely delivery of technical inputs, effective cross-divisional collaboration
- Maintain a matrix coordination model, ensuring, technical ownership remains within Divisions and delivery accountability is consolidated through the PDU
3.) Workstream Integration and Delivery Tracking
- Develop and maintain a Master Implementation Plan, including detailed workplans, milestones, and deliverables, interdependencies across outcomes, risk-adjusted timelines, track delivery progress across all components and:
- Identify bottlenecks and delays
- Propose corrective actions
- Facilitate coordination among implementing entities
4.) Country-Level Operational Coordination
Coordinate with ECA Sub-Regional Offices (SROs), UN Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams, National government counterparts and supports the functioning of National Working Groups (NWGs), Technical Working Groups (TWGs). Ensure consistent delivery standards across participating countries, including quality assurance timeline adherence and reporting harmonization
5.) Coordination of the Technical Multi-Stakeholder Task Force Coordinate and facilitate the Technical Multi-Stakeholder Task Force as a platform for technical alignment and knowledge exchange. Organize and manage regular Task Force engagements involved. Ensure the Task Force provides technical inputs to implementation planning, supports harmonization of tools, methodologies, and approaches, facilitates cross-country learning and replication. Consolidate Task Force outputs into actionable recommendations, adjustments to implementation plans, inputs to Steering Committee deliberations and ensure alignment between Task Force outputs and project delivery priorities.
6.) Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Coordinate the design and implementation of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework. Ensure definition and tracking of indicators, baselines, and targets. Facilitate adaptive management through feedback mechanisms, periodic performance reviews continuous learning integration.
7.) Resource Mobilization and Partner Coordination In close coordination with the Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Section (PRMS), support implementation of the project’s resource mobilization strategy.
8.) Stakeholder Coordination Manage day-to-day coordination with technical partners, implementing institutions, country-level stakeholders. Prepare briefing materials and updates for the Steering Committee and senior management engagements. Ensure follow-up on agreed actions and decisions
9.) Financial Coordination and Compliance Coordinate with financial management focal points to Track budget execution and ensure alignment of financial resources with delivery priorities. Support financial reporting in compliance with UN rules and procedures
10.) Risk and Issue Management Maintain operational risk and issue log, delivery risks, coordination challenges, external and contextual risks and propose mitigation measures and escalate critical risks to senior management
11.) Reporting Produce, monthly delivery dashboards, quarterly progress reports and annual results reports. Provide inputs to donor reporting, steering Committee documentation and senior leadership briefs
