Overview
The Project Specialist (Health Systems) will provide strategic, technical, and management leadership for the health and care systems transformation component of a multi-year project, and support the wider UNDP Viet Nam health governance portfolio.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead planning, implementation, stakeholder engagement, monitoring and reporting for the health and care systems transformation component of Transforming Systems, Sharing Growth: The Australia–Viet Nam Partnership.
- Oversee annual work planning, budgeting, procurement planning, risk management, monitoring, donor reporting and partner coordination for the component.
- Coordinate UNDP and WHO inputs to ensure proper sequencing, integration, alignment with government priorities, and reflection in project monitoring, reporting and learning.
- Supervise assigned personnel and support strong performance, quality delivery and effective coordination with relevant stakeholders.
- Provide support to UNDP Viet Nam’s Health Governance Portfolio within the Governance and Participation Team, including programme oversight and quality assurance, partnerships, resource mobilization and strategic development.
- Supervise relevant UNDP Health Governance personnel, including component managers, technical personnel, consultants and interns.
- Guide and support in ensuring that the portfolio remains aligned with UNDP’s country programme, national health priorities, and emerging opportunities in health governance and health systems strengthening.
- Ensure complementarity of interventions with UNDP’s climate health and environmental health portfolio.
- Provide technical and strategic advice to UNDP senior management and other UNDP units on relevant health governance and health systems strengthening topics.
- Provide oversight and quality assurance of projects, programmes and planned workstreams within the Health Governance Portfolio.
- Advise and support in the identification of opportunities for new partnerships, resource mobilisation and project development.
- Participate in technical meetings and partner consultations, as delegated.
- Support knowledge generation, policy briefs, technical notes, communications materials, lessons learned and strategic analysis.
- Ensure that gender equality, disability inclusion, social inclusion, climate resilience, environmental sustainability, integrity, conflict-of-interest management and private-sector due diligence are reflected across relevant areas of work.
- Provide technical direction across the portfolio’s health systems strengthening workstreams.
- Support and coordinate UNDP technical support to national and subnational partners on selected policy, regulatory, institutional and implementation reforms.
- Ensure that activities are grounded in a systems approach, linking policy, regulation, institutional capacity, workforce, data, financing, procurement, service delivery, quality, inclusion and accountability considerations.
- Guide and support teams and partners to identify practical reform entry points, manage technical complexity, strengthen implementation quality, and use partner feedback, monitoring data and emerging evidence to adjust workplans, inform policy dialogue and document lessons for wider uptake or future programme development.
- Support coordinating the strategic development of WHO-UNDP collaboration on health governance and health systems strengthening in Viet Nam.
- Support the design, resourcing and implementation of joint or complementary work across TSSG, the WHO–UNDP Joint Programme on access to quality medical products, and other agreed joint priorities relating to health governance, regulatory and procurement systems, digital health, quality and safety, transparency and accountability, and wider health systems strengthening.
- Coordinate closely with WHO Viet Nam to ensure that agreed technical inputs are planned, sequenced, delivered and reported coherently within UNDP programme management arrangements.
- Support joint planning, donor engagement, resource mobilization, technical coordination and stakeholder engagement.
- Perform other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
Required Experience
- Minimum of 7 years (with master’s degree) or 9 years (with bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience in health systems strengthening health programme development, public health programme management, health policy, health service development, or related areas is required.
- Experience supervising personnel, consultants or technical teams.
- Experience providing technical or policy support on health systems strengthening, health governance, public health reform or related areas.
- Desired Skills: At least 5 years of experience in one or more relevant technical areas, including access to medical products, health procurement, digital health, older persons care, disability inclusion, quality and safety, primary health care, or health governance.
- Experience in health programme management, including planning, implementation, monitoring, reporting and coordination.
- Experience in resource mobilization, partnership development, or donor engagement.
- Experience preparing high-quality technical documents, including programme concepts, policy briefs, or technical reports.
- Demonstrated experience of engagement at senior level with representatives of Ministry of Health.
- Experience with UNDP, WHO, the Global Fund, DFAT or another international development partners.
Qualifications
Advanced university degree (master's degree or equivalent) in Public Health, Public Administration, Health Innovation, or related field is required. Or. A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas stated above, in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.
