The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries, while strengthening the capabilities of governments and the private sector in those countries to create and sustain high-quality health systems that can succeed without our assistance. For more information, please visit: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

CHAI Health Workforce Background

A skilled health workforce is the backbone of every health system and therefore an essential pre-condition for progress toward universal health coverage (UHC). However, as warned by the United Nations commission, there is an urgent need of global investment to create new health sector jobs and prevent a projected shortfall of 18 million health workers by 2030. The gap is most acute in Africa (with a shortage of 4.2 million), which bears 24% of the global burden of disease yet has only 4% of the world’s health workforce.

CHAI assists governments to develop their health workforces by enhancing their capacity to train highly qualified health workers and by strengthening national systems to finance, deploy, and manage those health workers.

CHAI’s approach to national heath workforce strengthening emphasizes three strategies: (i) improving the quality and strategically increasing the scale of education for health workers, (ii) expanding and optimizing health workforce financing, and (iii) providing technical assistance to governments to strengthen their overall health workforce planning and management systems.

Two key principles guide CHAI’s approach to workforce development. The first is focusing on the right kind of health workers—from community health workers to midwives, nurses, health managers, general physicians and medical specialists—based on national need and service delivery objectives. CHAI’s approach also emphasizes sustainability by building the institutional capacity of the schools and universities where health workers are trained, training new generations of health professions educators, and developing systems and individual capabilities within governments to better plan and manage their own health workforces.

CHAI’s health workforce programs vary by country, as they reflect the major barriers and opportunities to workforce development in that specific context, as well as the priorities of the host government. Currently, CHAI is focused on health workforce programming in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi,  Rwanda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Position Overview

The government of Rwanda developed the National Strategy for Health Professions Development (NSHPD) 2020-2030, a 10-year plan to strengthen and expand the Rwandan health workforce though improved and expanded pre-service training. The strategy outlines national health workforce targets for 37 cadres of providers, and the necessary inputs to training institutions to scale up enrollment and graduation to meet those targets.

The government has created a Human Resources for Health Secretariat (HRH Secretariat) to manage implementation of the strategy. The HRH Secretariat has requested CHAI’s support to set up the Secretariat team and functions, and initiate implementation of the NSHPD.

CHAI is currently seeking a highly motivated individual with outstanding technical capabilities to support the HRH Secretariat to establish a robust M&E system for the NSHPD. The M&E Technical Adviser will be responsible for initiating all NSHPD M&E activities, including design and set up of the M&E system, refining the indicator framework, design and implementation of the baseline evaluation, design and implementation of an evaluation of major reforms, design and set up of micro-evaluation fund for Rwandan academic applied research, and supporting training institutions with reporting into the M&E framework for the program at large. They will also facilitate periodic reviews of the program and implement the process evaluation at the end of the grant period; the tools and processes established should also be usable to conduct periodic process evaluations by the HRH Secretariat and MOH throughout the 10-year strategy.

The desired candidate must have excellent planning, management, writing, analytical, organizational, communication and cultural sensitivity skills as they will be working closely with government and external partners. The candidate must have a passion for results and a commitment to excellence. The ideal candidate has a background in monitoring and evaluation systems design and study management, as well as demonstrated experience leading a large and complex work stream. Although categorized as a “technical adviser,” this role is not limited to advising and will be responsible for co-producing many of the deliverables related to design and implementation of the M&E system, including documenting M&E frameworks and metrics; collecting and analyzing data, and writing reports and developing presentations as needed.

This position will work in direct support of the HRH Secretariat Head of Department in Charge of Teaching Coordination and Quality Assurance and MOH, while formally reporting to the CHAI Rwanda Health Workforce team lead and will coordinate with the CHAI Health Workforce Global Team and other technical teams at CHAI as needed.

This position is based in in Kigali, Rwanda with some national and very limited international travel.

Activities are anticipated to start in January 2021 and run through at least December 2021. Extension of this role is contingent on performance and funding availability and is at the discretion of the CHAI Rwanda Health Workforce team leadership.

• In close cooperation with the HRH Secretariat, co-manage the design and implementation of the National Strategy for Health Professions Development (NSHPD) monitoring and evaluation system:
  • Refine indicator framework for the program
  • Design and implement baseline evaluation
  • In consultation with external technical experts, design and execute credible and feasible outcome/impact evaluation for the program, including comprehensive baseline data collection at the outset of the program
  • Design and implement discrete project evaluations
  • Design and set-up “micro-evaluation fund’ for Rwandan faculty and partners to conduct applied research activities within their domains
  • Operationalize systems for data collection, verification, analysis, reporting, and use; including training (as needed) and supporting teaching institutions to manage and report on necessary data
  • Work closely with information systems developer to establish systems that can generate reports and display dashboard for key indicators
• Design tools and processes for periodic process evaluations for the program to answer key implementation questions and provide relevant and timely recommendations to improve the program
• In collaboration with HRH Secretariat Team, identify and design additional evaluations or studies as appropriate
• Oversee the program’s routine monitoring systems in close coordination with the HRH Secretariat and ensure monitoring data is available and presented in an effective way to inform programmatic decision-makingAnalyze, synthesize, and present M&E data on an ongoing basis to a wide range of internal and external stakeholders, and make corresponding recommendations to NSHPD program management
• Facilitate periodic (e.g. biannual) reviews to report routine monitoring data to stakeholders
• In collaboration with HRH Secretariat Team, author internal reports, external reports and scientific papers as required
• Partner closely with designated counterparts in the HRH Secretariat, MOH, and MOE/University of Rwanda monitoring and evaluation departments and engage in intentional bi-directional capacity building
• Liaise with HRH team, implementation partners and external experts to ensure a collaborative and high-quality approach to monitoring and evaluating the program

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent plus 6 years work experience
• Fully understands the rationale for program monitoring and evaluation and can anticipate and mitigate challenges in implementing M&E systems
• Extensive theoretical understanding of evaluation and research design:
  • Applied research experience, including designing impact evaluation or operational research projects in developing countries
• Demonstrated ability to be self-directed and work collaboratively and effectively in high-pressure, fast-paced environment and handle multiple tasks simultaneously
• Exceptional diplomatic and interpersonal skills, and an ability to collaborate effectively with a wide range of partners and stakeholders
• Excellent project management skills, specifically demonstrated experience in delivering complex projects with extended timescales:
  • Proven track record in managing challenging multi-stakeholder situations to achieve intended results
• Demonstrated quantitative and qualitative analysis skills with proficiency in relevant software/coding packages
• Excellent organizational, problem solving and analytical skills
• Strong oral and written communication skills, including the ability to effectively synthesize large amounts of information and potentially complex analyses for consumption by a wide audience
• High attention to detail

Preferred Experience

• Master’s degree in epidemiology, biostatistics, public health, economics or relevant subject matter with 3-5 years of work experience; or relevant PhD degree with 2-3 years of work experience
• Experience living or working in low-income country
• Experience working closely with government partners
• Experience developing and implementing M&E systems for large, complex programs
• Knowledge of global health workforce challenges and solutions