Project Manager – Sustainable Health Financing Project

Job Description

Result of Service

Work Location

• Addis Ababa.

Expected duration

• 8 Months.

Duties and Responsibilities

Background The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) is implementing a flagship continental initiative aimed at transforming health financing systems across Africa over a three-year period (2026–2028). The project seeks to reposition health financing as a macroeconomic and sovereignty issue by strengthening domestic fiscal space, deploying innovative financing instruments, and institutionalizing data-driven governance systems.

The initiative operates across multiple layers:

• ECA Divisions and Sub-Regional Offices

• National governments and UN Country Teams

• Regional institutions (African Union, Africa CDC, AfCFTA Secretariat)

• Development partners, financial institutions, and private sector actors Given its multi-sectoral and multi-country nature, the project is implemented through a Project Delivery Unit (PDU) housed in the Office of the Chief of Staff, ensuring coherence, delivery discipline, and alignment with ECA’s strategic priorities.

The Project Manager will lead the operational coordination and delivery management of the project, ensuring:

• Timely and high-quality implementation of activities and outputs

• Coherence and integration across all workstreams and stakeholders

• Effective monitoring, reporting, and adaptive management

• Alignment of delivery with the approved Theory of Change The role is primarily focused on execution, coordination, and delivery performance, comprise of:

1.) Delivery Coordination and Operational Management

• Translate the Theory of Change into a comprehensive and sequenced implementation framework

• Develop and maintain a consolidated delivery roadmap covering all outcomes and outputs

• Ensure coherence and integration across project components, including national health financing strategies, innovative financing instruments, data systems and interoperability platforms, capacity development initiatives, communication and advocacy activities

• Ensure alignment between technical outputs, timelines, and expected results 2.) Coordination with the Project Delivery Unit (PDU)

• Coordinate the work of the Project Management Team (PMT), including Programme Management Officers (PMOs), Financial management focal points, administrative support staff

• Coordinate the work of technical experts embedded in Divisions, ensuring alignment of outputs with agreed milestones, timely delivery of technical inputs, effective cross-divisional collaboration

• Maintain a matrix coordination model, ensuring, technical ownership remains within Divisions and delivery accountability is consolidated through the PDU

3.) Workstream Integration and Delivery Tracking

• Develop and maintain a Master Implementation Plan, including detailed workplans, milestones, and deliverables, interdependencies across outcomes, risk-adjusted timelines, track delivery progress across all components and:

• Identify bottlenecks and delays

• Propose corrective actions

• Facilitate coordination among implementing entities

4.) Country-Level Operational Coordination

• Coordinate with ECA Sub-Regional Offices (SROs), UN Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams, National government counterparts and supports the functioning of National Working Groups (NWGs), Technical Working Groups (TWGs).
• Ensure consistent delivery standards across participating countries, including quality assurance timeline adherence and reporting harmonization

5.) Coordination of the Technical Multi-Stakeholder Task Force

• Coordinate and facilitate the Technical Multi-Stakeholder Task Force as a platform for technical alignment and knowledge exchange.
• Organize and manage regular Task Force engagements involved.
• Ensure the Task Force provides technical inputs to implementation planning, supports harmonization of tools, methodologies, and approaches, facilitates cross-country learning and replication.
• Consolidate Task Force outputs into actionable recommendations, adjustments to implementation plans, inputs to Steering Committee deliberations and ensure alignment between Task Force outputs and project delivery priorities.

6.) Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL)

• Coordinate the design and implementation of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework.
• Ensure definition and tracking of indicators, baselines, and targets.
• Facilitate adaptive management through feedback mechanisms, periodic performance reviews continuous learning integration.

7.) Resource Mobilization and Partner Coordination

• In close coordination with the Partnerships and Resource Mobilization Section (PRMS), support implementation of the project’s resource mobilization strategy.

8.) Stakeholder Coordination

• Manage day-to-day coordination with technical partners, implementing institutions, country-level stakeholders.
• Prepare briefing materials and updates for the Steering Committee and senior management engagements.
• Ensure follow-up on agreed actions and decisions

9.) Financial Coordination and Compliance

• Coordinate with financial management focal points to Track budget execution and ensure alignment of financial resources with delivery priorities.
• Support financial reporting in compliance with UN rules and procedures

10.) Risk and Issue Management

• Maintain operational risk and issue log, delivery risks, coordination challenges, external and contextual risks and propose mitigation measures and escalate critical risks to senior management

11.) Reporting

• Produce, monthly delivery dashboards, quarterly progress reports and annual results reports. Provide inputs to donor reporting, steering Committee documentation and senior leadership briefs.

Qualifications/special skills

• Advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in Economics, Public Finance, Public Policy, Health Economics, Development Studies or related fields is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with additional two years of qualifying work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in programme or project management is required Proven experience managing multi-country, multi-stakeholder initiatives is required Experience within international organizations (UN, MDBs, or equivalent) is highly desirable
• Demonstrated experience in Programme coordination and delivery, Results-based management and reporting, Stakeholder engagement in complex institutional environments is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of French is desirable.
• Knowledge of another official United Nations language is an advantage.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.