Organisation
Options Consultancy Services Limited (Options) was established in 1992 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marie Stopes International. Options is a leading provider of technical and management expertise in the health and social sectors. We work in partnership with national and state governments, international development agencies, the private sector and civil society to strengthen programmes and policies to support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in health and poverty reduction.
Our work focuses on providing expertise in sexual and reproductive health, maternal newborn and child health, HIV and AIDS, citizen voice and accountability, gender, social inclusion and equity to enhance institutional effectiveness to support strengthening of health service delivery.
Programme Background
The Maternal and Newborn Improvement (MANI) Project is run by an Options-led consortium with six sub-contracted organizations. The MANI Project is component three of DFID’s wider MNH programme in Kenya that focuses on improving maternal and newborn health outcomes across six counties: Bungoma, Homa Bay, Garissa, Nairobi (Embakasi & Kamukunji sub-counties), Kakamega and Turkana. The MNH programme addresses the three common delays women face in accessing and utilizing quality maternal and neonatal health care.
The MANI project delivers results for women and newborns under the following three outputs:
- Output 1: Strengthening health systems to manage and deliver quality maternal and newborn health (MNH) services, to ensure that women and newborns receive quality services (in Bungoma county)
- Output 2: Increasing demand for and uptake of MNH services to ensure that mothers and newborns seek and access appropriate care (in Bungoma county)Output 3: Establishing and managing the County Innovation Challenge Fund (CICF) to test and scale innovative approaches to address priority challenges across the three delays (all six counties)
Main purpose of job The Technical Fund Manager for the CICF is the technical lead for the fund. S/he is responsible for ensuring that the CICF delivers technical impact in line with DFID’s goals and priorities. The Technical Fund Manager supervises a small technical team, and works in close partnership with the CICF Fund Manager (KPMG) on all CICF matters.
Key Performance Areas
**Strategic direction and impact:*** provide strategic, technical oversight to the fund, ensuring that the CICF delivers technical impact in line with DFID’s strategic priorities
Representation: assist the Team Leader and KPMG in representing the CICF with external stakeholders, including DFID, national and county government, partner organizations, and other stakeholder groups, continuously building relationships and raising the profile of the CICF
Technical fund management services: directly and through the technical team, provide high quality technical services to the CICF:
- Award selection phase: support the identification and selection of high potential funding applications through: selection and oversight of the Application Evaluation Panel (AEP), drafting of technical memos and secretarial services for the Grants Selection Committee (GSC), facilitating capacity development workshops for CICF grantees (project design, M&E, evidence generation, etc.), conducting technical due diligence assessments of potential grantees, etc.
- Project implementation phase: drive CICF impact and manage grantee performance to stay on track to delivery results through: desk reviews of grantees’ quarterly reports, routine field visits of grantees’ activities, reprogramming of grantees’ targets where necessary, ongoing grantee capacity building in technical areas, impact reporting and populating performance dashboards, management of grantee performance in close partnership with KPMG, conducting routine risk analysis and negotiating risk mitigation measures, quality assurance to ensure high quality grantee implementation, etc.
Learning and knowledge dissemination: promote internal and external technical learning generated through the CICF’s activities through a mixture of modalities, including Annual Learning Events, quarterly newsletters, grantee capacity development, dissemination forums, and other innovative approaches
Project management: effectively plan, deliver and evaluate the implementation of CICF activities in close partnership with KPMG, manage competing priorities in a fast paced fund, and critically reflect and improve on fund management strategies to increase the fund’s impact
People management: effectively source and manage 2 Technical Fund Officers and short term consultants to support priority CICF activities, and build a high functioning CICF technical team Partnership and team work:build a strong and cohesive CICF Fund Management Team in partnership with KPMG, and strong relationships with Options HQ, ensuring a coordinated and effective approach **
Person specification
- Master’s degree in the health sciences, public health, demography or a related discipline
- Minimum of five years of experience in MNH program implementation, and/or MNH-related M&E experience, including management level experience
- Previous experience with the technical management of donor funds
- Demonstrated ability to develop individual and institutional technical capacity
- Strategic thinking skills and the ability to translate a strategic vision into tangible impact
- Strong analytical and critical thinking skills, including the ability create policy change, ensure that the fund is contextually appropriate, and adjust the fund’s technical approach where necessary
- High attention to detail and the ability to deliver high quality technical services with minimal external supervision
- Strong verbal communication skills and effective interpersonal style; ability to engage and build relationships at multiple levels Fluency in English and Swahili
HOW TO APPLY:
- To apply, please send your CV with a summary note of your skills and experience to Megan Burley opportunities@options.co.uk. Candidates should state the role in the subject header
- Closing date for applications is Friday 9th December. However, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and recruitment may be closed early if the right candidate is found, therefore early applications is advised
- Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted for interview.
