Senior Technical Advisor, IHR and NAPHS Coordination needed at Resolve to Save Lives

Position Summary:

• The primary function of the Senior Technical Advisor, IHR and NAPHS Coordination is to strengthen the capacity of the national IHR focal point to coordinate the development of the 5-year strategic and annual operational NAPHS, ensure tracking of NAPHS implementation, conduct subnational health security assessments, and develop annual State-level improvement plans that align with state priorities.
• This is a full-time position and may require frequent travel to the field. The Senior Technical Advisor will report to the Principal Advisor and Manager, Prevent Epidemics, Nigeria.

Core Duties and Responsibilities:

IHR Monitoring and Evaluation Framework and NAPHS and Implementation

• Guide the development and execution of NAPHS and sectoral plans, integrating insights from previous assessments (AARs, Simex, STAR, 7-1-7).
• Provide technical assistance to the IHR National Focal Point to ensure compliance with the provisions of the International Health Regulations (2005)
• Partner with relevant RTSL and external experts (e.g., IHR implementation, surveillance, financing, legislation, and strategic advocacy) to strengthen the country health architecture for the success of preparedness initiatives.
• Synthesize and apply strategic learning to improve program delivery and develop clear, evidence-informed proposals to support new initiatives.

Stakeholder Engagement and Collaboration

• Build partnerships with national and international entities to enhance IHR capacities and NAPHS execution.
• Collaborate with the NCDC to identify and disseminate best practices, lessons learned, and other relevant information related to health security implementation and strengthening of capacities in Nigeria.

Capacity Development

• Facilitate and implement initiatives to strengthen and sustain the leadership and management capabilities and culture of officials and teams implementing health security (e.g, PMEP)
• Align people and processes to establish a multisectoral governance and accountability tool; contribute to preparing and disseminating the quarterly NAPHS bulletin to the relevant stakeholders.

Strengthening State and National Level Coordination and Advocacy

• Support ongoing capacity building for state-level emergency preparedness and response, particularly subnational assessments, and the development of State Action Plan for Health Security (SAPHS).
• Collaborate closely with the NCDC and other NAPHS implementing Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) to advocate and mobilize domestic funding for the NAPHS and SAPHS implementation.
• Travel to the states routinely to provide training and other technical support to the state teams.

Required Qualifications:
Education

• Master’s degree or higher in Public Health or related field

Experience

• 10+ years of experience planning, developing and implementing public health or health systems strengthening programming within or with government at the national or subnational levels.
• 5+ years of experience in health sector strategy development and implementation, complemented by a background in providing technical assistance or mentorship to public health personnel or implementing partners.

Leadership skills

• Proven ability to coach and guide senior-level partners from diverse backgrounds.
• Resilience and adaptability when confronted with complexity, paradox, or ambiguity.

Management skills

• Proficient in designing, overseeing, and evaluating programmatic, financial and partner aspects of projects.

Data and Quality Improvement skills

• Skilled in performance metrics, monitoring, and evaluation to drive informed decisions.
• Experience with program evaluation, knowledge management, and quality improvement techniques.
• Able to assist groups to adopt quality improvement methods into routine practice.
• Proficient in data analysis, including generating summary statistics, charts, and offering actionable insights.

Training and Facilitation Expertise

• Strong facilitator; can design clear agendas and practical curricula and toolkits.
• Skilled at using best practices in adult learning and behavioral change theory.

Communication skills

• Articulate and responsive in both verbal and written communication.
• Exhibits cultural competence; empathy, humility, and discernment when interacting across different contexts.

Desired but not required:

• Extensive experience at the national or subnational level in multi-sectoral coordination, strengthening health security capacities and responding to emergencies and disasters, including infectious disease outbreaks.
• Knowledge of International Health Regulations (2005) and its monitoring and evaluation framework (IHRMEF)
• Management or quality improvement credentials (e.g., MBA, PMI, Lean Six Sigma, PMDPro).
• Specialized training in epidemiology, infectious diseases, health, outbreak and/or emergency management.
• Have experience in epidemic response and preparedness e.g., in an emergency operations center, or participated in Joint External Evaluations or After-Action Review exercises.
• Understands Nigeria’s health financing system, including the national and state level budget cycle and processes.