Program Officer

Public Health Program

Open Society Institute–New York

Application Deadline: February 29, 2012

The Open Society Foundations work to build vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable to their citizens. To achieve this mission, the Foundations seek to shape public policies that assure greater fairness in political, legal, and economic systems and safeguard fundamental rights. On a local level, the Open Society Foundations implement a range of initiatives to advance justice, education, public health, and independent media. At the same time, we build alliances across borders and continents on issues such as corruption and freedom of information. The Foundations place a high priority on protecting and improving the lives of people in marginalized communities.

Investor and philanthropist George Soros established the Open Society Foundations, starting in 1984, to help countries make the transition from communism. Our activities have grown to encompass the United States and more than 70 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. Each foundation relies on the expertise of boards composed of eminent citizens who determine individual agendas based on local priorities.

The Open Society Foundations' Public Health Program (PHP) aims to build societies committed to inclusion, human rights and justice, in which health-related laws, policies, and practices are based on evidence and reflect these values. The program works to advance the health and human rights of marginalized people by building the capacity of civil society leaders and organizations, and by advocating for greater accountability and transparency in health policy and practice. The PHP engages in five core strategies to advance its mission and goals: grantmaking, capacity building, advocacy, strategic convening, as well as mobilizing and leveraging funding. The PHP works in Central and Eastern Europe, Southern and Eastern Africa, Central and Southeast Asia, and China.

The Open Society Foundations seek a full-time program officer (PO) to work with the Accountability and Monitoring in Health Initiative (AMHI) and the Global Health Financing Initiative of the Public Health Program.
AMHI, one of ten initiatives within the PHP, seeks to strengthen meaningful and sustained engagement by affected communities in the development, implementation, and monitoring of health budgets, policies, programs and practices; promote government accountability to citizens; and foster an informed and open dialogue about the governance of public health systems, provision of health services, and advancement of health and rights.

The initiative’s objectives are to: (1) promote accountability and inclusion in health policies and practice by building the field of applied budget work and community monitoring, supporting and documenting clearly defined and effective frameworks and methods that foster the participation of marginalized groups; (2) develop and strengthen the capacity of advocacy groups to promote health policies and practices grounded in human rights using evidence collected through applied budget work and community monitoring; (3) promote transparency, openness and participation in health policy processes by fostering access to budgetary and policy information in all stages of the policy cycle, and supporting the informed involvement of communities in holding authorities accountable through monitoring the provision of health services; and (4) support and engage in advocacy related to international health policy, funding commitments and transparency, using the tools and results of applied budget work and community monitoring.

AMHI provides financial support, technical assistance, training and mentoring to civil society organizations to carry out advocacy strategies in two priority areas of intervention: 1) the promotion of citizen participation and community monitoring of health services, including the evaluation of public policies and services and participatory policy-making and oversight activities; and 2) applied budget work, including access to information, budget monitoring and analysis, as well as evidence-based engagement of stakeholders to promote oversight. AMHI also supports the use of applied budget work and community monitoring to advance the goals of other initiatives within the PHP, particularly the Roma Health Project, Mental Health Initiative, International Harm Reduction Development Program and the International Palliative Care Initiative.

The Global Health Financing Initiative works to ensure that global funding for health, and in particular HIV and TB, is raised, allocated and used in ways that meet the health needs of marginalized persons, strengthens civil society engagement, promotes and respect human rights, and leads to greater accountability and transparency. The initiative has four key objectives: 1) to strengthen civil society engagement with global health donors and financing mechanisms; 2) to advocate for policies and practices of global health donors that support civil society engagement, address the needs of marginalized groups, and protect and promote human rights; 3) to promote greater accountability and transparency in global health funding, and 4) to advocate for increased funding for health.

The Global Health Financing Initiative aims to support monitoring and advocacy focused on documenting how funds from global health donors and financing mechanisms are used at the country level and the extent to which services are available, accessible, acceptable, and of good quality and meet the needs of marginalized groups in the global South and East. To achieve this third objective, the initiative supports grantmaking and capacity building activities focused on community and health budget monitoring; research to document donor trends, policies, practices, and impacts; and advocacy directly and through grantmaking to press for accountability at the national and global levels.
The full-time program officer will be based in the Open Society Foundations New York office and will work approximately two thirds on the AMHI portfolio and one third jointly with AMHI and the Global Health Financing Initiative, with a focus on the latter’s third objective.


Responsibilities
Grant Making
• Develop, in collaboration with other PHP initiatives, a portfolio of grants on capacity building and applied budget work that advance the objectives of AMHI and the other initiatives.
• Develop a portfolio of grants that advance the joint objectives of AMHI and the Global Health Financing Initiative as they relate to monitoring global health funding at the community, national, and international levels.
• Document and provide ongoing assessment and evaluation of AMHI and the Global Health Financing Initiative’s grant portfolio;
• Solicit and review grant proposals and assess alignment with the objectives of the two initiatives, noting capacity and technical assistance needs; organize proposal reviews by other AMHI and PHP staff and external reviewers; and oversee the preparation of dockets.
• Maintain ongoing, active relationships with grantees and oversee the implementation of funded grants.
• Conduct site visits to identify new grantees and partners and to monitor existing grants to ensure progress; troubleshoot when needed.
• Provide support to grantees to identify technical assistance needs and ensure that technical assistance is adequately provided.
Capacity Building
• Together with grantees, define organizational and project-level capacity building needs.
• Support the AMHI and Global Health Financing Initiative senior program officers in the development and management of relationships with an active group of technical assistance providers, consultants, and mentors to support the various capacity needs of grantees.
• Coordinate consultants and technical assistance providers to develop a range of skills-building workshops and events;
• Identify learning opportunities for grantees that support their development.
• Identify and develop peer exchange and horizontal learning opportunities for grantees and technical assistance consultants, and facilitate these meetings as required.
Strategy
• Collaborate closely with the AMHI team to develop strategies for integrating community monitoring and applied budget work, and with AMHI and the Global Health Financing Initiative for strategies related to transparency, global fund monitoring and capacity building.
• In collaboration with the AHMI and Global Health Financing Initiative’s senior program officers and in partnership with the public health coordinators within the OSF Network, determine country-level priorities, strategies, and activities.
• Build and manage relationships with other OSF entities, funders, and interested parties who may be resources to AMHI, the Global Health Financing Initiative, and their grantees.
• Provide ongoing assessment and evaluation of AMHI’s overall
strategy.

Learning, Documentation and Advocacy
• Facilitate learning between AMHI’s as well as other PHP and OSF initiatives about budget monitoring opportunities and efforts.
• Coordinate and edit documentation of promising and proven practices in applied budget work.
• Disseminate information on best practices at national, regional and international levels.
• Organize events to discuss and publicize issues relevant to the work of AMHI and the Global Health Financing Initiative.
• Assist grantees and partners in monitoring and presenting the results of their work.
• Represent AMHI and the Global Health Financing Initiative in meetings and other fora.
• Develop scopes of work, coordinate and oversee research on global health donor trends, policies, practices, and impact.
General Program Administration
• Track and manage budgets for the above work.
• Contribute to the general administration of AMHI, the Global Health Financing Initiative, and the PHP.

The program officer will report to the AMHI Senior Program Officer (SPO) for AMHI work and to the Senior Program Officers for AHMI and the Global Health Financing Initiative for joint work.


Qualifications
Experience
• Ideal candidate will have master’s degree in a social science, e.g. in economics, political science, public administration, public policy, public health.
• Five to eight years relevant experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience conducting applied budget work at a national or international civil society organization, applied research center or academic institution.
• Three to five years’ experience developing and undertaking advocacy strategies in national and/or international settings; experience using results of civil society research and monitoring efforts a plus.
• Three to five years’ experience directly carrying out applied budget work, including access to information strategies, budget research and analysis, assessment of the budget and policy process in diverse contexts, and research on accountability and oversight; experience with capacity building, training, a plus.
• Experience in project management, including managing consultants, and developing and managing project budgets.
• Experience in grant-making and managing grants a plus.

Abilities
• An understanding of the health and human rights issues faced by the PHP’s focus populations, including: people living with HIV/AIDS, TB; people who use drugs; people with intellectual disabilities; Roma; the dying; sex workers; and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons.
• A nuanced understanding of how the budgetary process, the policy cycle and oversight mechanisms work in at least one country, preferably in a range of countries.
• An understanding of civil society approaches for conducting advocacy with the results of budget research and analysis in at least one country, preferably in a range of countries.
• Knowledge of global health financing mechanisms and donors, including governance structures and country-level operations.
• Capacity for critical thinking and complex problem solving.
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills.
• Excellent oral and written English. Familiarity with Russian a plus.
• Ability to effectively manage several projects simultaneously in a fast-paced work, environment.
• Ability to listen and communicate clearly and effectively with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds.
• Ability to work as a team member and independently, with a high level of self-motivation.
• Ability and willingness to travel extensively.

Start Date
As soon as possible
Compensation
Commensurate with experience. Excellent benefits package.


To Apply
Please email resume and cover letter with salary requirements before February 29, 2012, to: humanresources@sorosny.org. Include job code in subject line: PO-PHP AMHI/GHFI
OR

Open Society Foundations
Human Resources – Code PO-PHP AMHI/GHFI
400 West 59th Street
New York, New York 10019
FAX: 646.557.2672

No phone calls, please.

The Open Society Foundations are an Equal Opportunity Employer.