As part of this effort, the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) Country Office in Abuja (Nigeria) would like to recruit a  Maternal Health Adviser to serve as Senior Adviser on Millennium Development Goal 5 Millennium Development Goal 5 (MDG5) to the H4  (the four UN agencies (UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO, the World Bank), the country and the Ministry of Health.  S/he will provide policy and strategic direction and   technical advisory support for the implementation  of  initiatives related to family planning, human resources for maternal health, and in particular midwifery, and Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (EmONC), and community involvement and participation for the reduction of maternal mortality .  S/he will foster effective coordination around MDG5 between government and civil society partners.   This post will be particularly strategic as to the H4 to achieve the MDG5.

The  Maternal Health Adviser will :

A. Provide  technical leadership to develop the MDG 5 component of United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), the UNFPA Country Programme and Annual Work Plans

B. Enhance political and social environment for Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)

C. Leverage resources for MNCH package implementation from provincial governments and other development partners, including private sector and civil society actors

II. Technical Support and Capacity Building

In line with the H4’s joint statement on maternal and newborn health, the  Maternal Health Adviser will work with government and civil society to strengthen national capacity to:

A. Conduct needs assessments and ensure that health plans are MDG–driven and performance–based

- Update needs assessments for Family Planning, EmONC, and Human Resources for Health including skilled birth attendance
- Identify gaps and priority areas of work to reach universal coverage of Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) and Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)

B. Cost national plans and rapidly mobilize required resources

C. Scale-up quality health services to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health, especially for family planning, skilled attendance at delivery and emergency obstetric and newborn care, ensuring linkages with HIV prevention and treatment

C. Address the urgent need for skilled health workers, particularly midwives

D. Address financial barriers to access, especially for the poorest

E. Tackle the root causes of maternal mortality and morbidity, including gender inequality, low access to education–especially for girls–child marriage and adolescent pregnancy, obstetric fistula and post-partum depression

F. Strengthen monitoring and evaluation systems
- Contribute to the monitoring & evaluation and development of annual work plans for accelerating the reduction of maternal mortality
- Contribute to the preparation of the country performance-based and results-driven annual and other reports
- Contribute to the creation and sharing of knowledge by summarizing and documenting results, lessons learnt, success and best practices, strategies and approaches to control maternal mortality

G. Perform such other tasks as may be assigned by the supervisor within the field of his/her skills.

III. Managerial Functions:

• In the context of fostering effective coordination around MDG5 between government and civil society partners, s/he will lead the organization and participate actively in meetings and desk reviews and undertake monitoring missions to assess progress of the maternal health programmes, implementation, including appropriate substantive and administrative follow-up actions

• Provide support to the process of technical/annual and financial reviews of the UNFPA thematic funds through the preparation of internal documents to assess progress of implementation

• Undertake any other assignments as may be given by the UNFPA Country Representative

• Integrity and commitment to UNFPA’s mandate and values
• Performance management, developing people, coaching and mentoring
• Work in teams
• Analytical and strategic thinking in the area of reproductive health
• Knowledge sharing and continuous learning
• Communication

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:

• Conceptual innovation in the provision of technical expertise – conceptual innovation;
• Leveraging the resources of national governments and partners, and building strategic alliances and partnerships – building strategic alliances; and,
• Job knowledge / technical expertise – excellent knowledge of own discipline.

Apply now!