Job Description

Application Closing Date

28th of June, 2026

Context of Role

WISH2 (Women’s Integrated Sexual Health 2) project aims to increase access to quality integrated and inclusive FP/SRH services among marginalized and hard to reach populations including young people and adolescents, people living with disabilities and those in humanitarian contexts. WISH2 is one of three components of the overarching WISH Dividend programme that is being procured by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO). IPPF is the prime contractor on Lot 2 – Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) covering the following countries: Burundi, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Zambia.

This role sits within output 3 of the programme, which aims to strengthen the enabling environment for SRHR by supporting countries to adopt and implement improved policy frameworks for SRHR, increased and more efficient domestic investment and more robust systems of accountability. In the context of increased threats to SRH rights, this output has an increasing focus on safeguarding the gains made by monitoring and countering the rollback of rights.

As part of the WISH2 regional team, the Regional Health Financing Senior Advisor will:

• Provide strategic input, technical support and quality assurance to ensure WISH2 delivers against or exceeds FCDO’s expectations in relation to health financing, with a focus on increasing the quantity and efficiency of domestic investment in SRH/FP in line with national commitments.

• Provide technical support to ministries of health in Ethiopia and other WISH2 ESA countries to address bottlenecks in the public financial management (PFM) system and support politically informed, data-driven advocacy to increase investment in FP/SRH.
• Support Health Financing Advisors in WISH2 ESA countries to implement a locally led approach to strengthening health systems and sustainable financing, ensuring milestones contribute to tangible results along the Pathway of Change in alignment with the Country Policy Overview and Engagement Plans (CPOEPs) and the programme Logframe.

Based in Ethiopia, the post holder will allocate approximately half of their time to supporting programme delivery in Ethiopia with the remaining time dedicated to supporting other WISH2 countries.

Role Purpose

To provide thought leadership, strategic guidance and technical assistance directly to government, in-country health financing advisors and partners to advance sustainable financing of Family Planning and Sexual and Reproductive Health and (FP/SRH) products and services in Ethiopia and across the East and Southern African (ESA) countries.

Deliverables

The Main duties and deliverables are

• Provide technical backstopping and strategic support to IPPF country staff on health financing and public financial management through the provision of technical advice, analysis and quality assurance of technical resources.
• Provide technical support and skills development on domestic financing including budget tracking, budget advocacy and public financial management to country stakeholders in Ethiopia and other WISH2 countries including government officials and civil society organisations, partners and programme staff.
• Contribute to the achievement of WISH 2 results framework, including the Pathways of Change, Logframe Indicators and Country Policy Overview and Engagement Plans (CPOEPs).
• Support the achievement of sustainability milestones related to domestic financing across WISH 2 ESA countries, through support to work planning, milestone identification and review and ongoing technical support to ensure that milestones contribute to programme objectives and are used to inform programme adaptation
• Proactively engage WISH 2 ESA consortium partners and other stakeholders to ensure a coherent approach across output 3, and alignment with other outputs, where appropriate.
• Lead the development of technical resources and global goods such as tools, training resources, advocacy materials and learning products to advance sustainable financing of FP/SRH in WISH 2 countries and across the sector more broadly.
• Ensure country teams are resourced with the right people to deliver programme objectives, by supporting recruitment of staff or consultants as needed.
• Mentor, coach and support Health Financing Advisors in WISH 2 ESA countries to ensure they are clear on programmatic goals and expectations and that they feel valued and supported in their role.
• Facilitate technical exchange and learning across WISH 2 country teams in ESA and WACA and, across the sector and ensure the application of global best practice within the programme.
• Contribute to documentation of results and the publication and dissemination of research and programmatic learning.
• Maintain expertise in Health Financing and Public Financial Management through engagement with sector initiatives and continuous self-development.

Essential Skills

The essential e xpertise and skills required are

• An MSc or relevant qualification or related comparable experience in health financing, public financial management, health economics or in a relevant field.
• Technical specialism in Health Systems Strengthening and Health Financing with a focus on domestic resource mobilisation, public financial management, political economy analysis and health budget advocacy
• Demonstrated ability to provide high quality, demand-driven technical assistance to national stakeholders including national and local governments, civil society organisations and other local institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Expertise in systems thinking, and the development and application of tools and approaches to diagnose health systems bottlenecks and to facilitative collaborative action-planning and prioritization.

• Significant expertise in working with national stakeholders and institutions to develop strong relationships and to build skills and competencies e.g. in health financing concepts or budget analysis
• In depth understanding of Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH)/communicable diseases in developing countries
• Proven ability to successfully manage and provide backstopping support to individuals and teams in remote settings through in-person and virtual engagement
• Ability to analyse, interpret and present data (eg government budgets) so that it is easily understood by non-experts
• Excellent skills in written and verbal communication
• Proven ability to network and manage relationships with clients, consultants and technical team members
• Self-starter as well as good team-worker
• Ability to actively contribute to programme design and adaptation in health systems strengthening, health financing, governance and beyond.
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to technical delivery of programmes.
• Demonstrated interpersonal skills that enables effective team building and problem solving.