Health Specialist

Job Opportunity Organization: Right To Play

Organization link: https://www.righttoplay.ca/en-ca/

Job Category: Full-time permanent

City: Toronto, Canada or London, UK

Province: Ontario

Country: Canada

Job Description: The Health Specialist reports directly to the Global Technical Lead, Gender Equality and will support the development of health programs, policy, advocacy and research initiatives at the global level, and lead on the provision of direct technical support and capacity building at country level on the thematic area of health and wellbeing. Within the thematic area of health Right To Play focus will be on early childhood development, WASH and sexual and reproductive health rights of young people.

The Health Specialist will work closely with a diverse team of program specialists within the Global Program Development team to ensure integrated and quality of programming. Furthermore, the Health Specialist will collaborate with other functions within the program team to ensure Right To Play programs reflect RTP’s strategic priorities and are able to effectively monitor progress of these initiatives on measurable indicators.
The Health Specialist will provide direct support to country level teams or Health Specialists for implementation of quality programs.
The Health Specialist will be based in Toronto and/or London with up to 50% of time travelling to Right To Play program countries.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES:
Job Responsibility #1: Strategic Program Planning (30% of Time):
– Supports the development of program Theories of Change.
– Supports the strategic program framework for health (early childhood development, WASH and sexual and reproductive health).
– Supports change processes in health program implementation to align with Right To Play’s strategic objectives and the strategic direction of health portfolio.
– Supports the development of measurement indicators for health programs that align with global health indicators and data sets.
– Leads ongoing efforts to assess and address the organization’s capacity needs on program development for health, including developing Communities of Practice (CoPs).
– Support development of local and global proposals on health.
– Supports development of strategic and operational plans for health programs.
– Leads the development of research, case studies and policy briefs on health.
______________________________________________________________________________
Job Responsibility #2: Program Design and Development (40% of Time):
– Supports country staff to design programs and projects aligned to Right To Play’s global strategy, strategic direction of health portfolio and theories of change related to thematic area of health and wellbeing with a focus on early childhood development, sexual and reproductive health and WASH.
– Provides direct support to country teams and builds technical capacity to implement and continuously improve health programs.
– Facilitate technical trainings and provide coaching for country program staff on health outcomes and theories of change.
– Promote cross-country learning by sharing and documenting best practices.
– Provides technical assistance for policy level support in-country.
– Continually stays abreast of research, external trends on play-based learning and health, and coordinates with country program teams to ensure best practices in play-based learning, behavior change and health are integrated into country programs.
– Works with Child Protection, Gender, Education, MEL and Policy and Advocacy colleagues at Right To Play through a collaborative, cross-organizational process to advance a comprehensive thinking on program development.
– Provides technical support to reflect global health priorities and policies in proposals, field assessments, coordination with local and international partners and monitoring and evaluation of programs.
– Provides technical support to global partnership and country teams in building partnership with leading health organizations
______________________________________________________________________________
Job Responsibility #3: Advocacy and Policy (10% of Time):
– Serve as Right To Play representative in regional and global meetings as needed to develop and strengthen core partnerships and networks with key stakeholders in the health sector, including governments, global and regional networks, and multi-lateral institutions to contribute to the health policy dialogue.
– Supports collective advocacy initiatives at the global level, to advance key health positions and contributes to policy papers, standards and tools in collaboration with networks globally.
– Advises on program examples that show alignment with prevailing external trends and innovation in the field of health to further Policy and Advocacy strategy.
– Support country teams in integration of play based learning in health prevention strategies of national governments.
______________________________________________________________________________
Job Responsibility #4: Research (15% of Time):
– Develops and strengthens core partnerships and networks with key universities, research institutions, international NGOS, and/or multi-lateral institutions to contribute to the broader health research base.
– Manages or advises on selected research initiatives that are identified to test essential hypotheses as they relate to health programs.
– Contributes to core publications, articles, books and panels to share research results and practice.
– Consolidates learning from country programs to inform strategic direction, priorities and cross-country learning.
______________________________________________________________________________
Job Responsibility #5: Other Tasks as Assigned (5% of Time):
______________________________________________________________________________
EDUCATION/TRAINING/CERTIFICATION:
– Master’s degree in public health, health policy and planning, epidemiology or relevant field or other relevant areas.
– Training and/or additional certification in health and research.
– Professional expertise in health (e.g. sexual and reproductive health, WASH, and early childhood development).

EXPERIENCE:
– A minimum of 6 to 8 years implementing or managing large health programs and teams, and 2 years acting in an advisory capacity on health programming.
– Strong knowledge of issues related to health in development and humanitarian programs, as well as international bodies and policy.
– Experience working at field level in Africa, Middle East or Asia within a humanitarian or international development setting.
– Experience in developing staff within a cross-functional organization.
– Experience of facilitating participatory trainings on health prevention
– Experience of working on UNICEF, WHO, Canadian and Norwegian Government funded projects and other international development projects.

COMPETENCIES/PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES:
– Consistently communicates a compelling vision that generates excitement, enthusiasm and commitment to the group’s mission, purpose and goals.
– Identifies and pursues opportunities to build and strengthen partnerships and alliances that are mutually advantageous and support the strategic interests of Right To Play.
– Applies culturally appropriate approaches to communicate and interact with the Right To Play team and diverse audiences.
– Values and recognizes individual and team contributions. Expresses positive expectations of staff and provides specific coaching and feedback.
– Demonstrates a commitment to and understanding of children’s rights and protection.
– Ability to critically and reflectively explore new knowledge, theory, perspective and practice to support evolving leadership in a health role.
– Demonstrates ability to adapt, learn and change through self-awareness and management of emotions and ability to develop supportive and productive work relationships.
– Assesses impact (cost, risks, etc.) associated with changes to current processes, systems, services or operations; considers the wider implications to the organization, partners, donors, governments, etc.
– Ensures approved change initiatives are implemented and sustained.
– Manages key user/client expectations.
– Champions the culture of continuous improvement that institutionalizes learning, innovation, achievement and support.

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS:
– Experience in technical tools and materials development.
– Experience in research and developing literature reviews and case studies of high quality.
– Experience in training and capacity building.
LANGUAGES:
– High level of proficiency in written and oral English.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS (An Asset)
– PhD in public health, health policy, public policy, or international development/affairs
– Fluency in French or Arabic or Portuguese
– Training/Professional Experience in Child Protection and/or Gender Equality

WHO YOU ARE: You are passionate about education and humanitarian work. You are an expert in health programs, policy, advocacy and research initiatives at the global level. You enjoy building relationships and cultivating collaboration and sharing among country teams around the world. You are highly self-motivated, a self-starter that can manage competing priorities and continuously adapt your individual work plan to match the organization’s needs.

WHAT YOU’LL GET:
The opportunity to work with a passionate, innovative and collaborative team where you have the ability to make things happen. You will gain experience working for a globally recognized organization with a healthy culture premised on our Culture Code (accept everyone, make things happen, display courage, demonstrate care and be playful). In addition, we offer a competitive salary and benefits package.

HOW TO APPLY:
If you are interested in applying for this position, please visit the Right To Play Careers page to upload your resume and cover letter: https://www.righttoplay.ca/en-ca/national-offices/national-office-canada/careers/?type=global#listings

While we thank all applicants for their interest, only those selected for interviews will be contacted. Shortlisting of applications will begin immediately and interviews may be held before the closing date.

Right To Play provides equal employment opportunities to employees regardless of their gender, race, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation or marital status. We offer a family-friendly environment that allows for flexible work arrangements in order to support staff diversity and ensure a healthy work-life balance.

We are a child-centered organization. Our recruitment and selection procedures reflect our commitment to the safety and protection of children in our programs. The successful candidate will be required to provide a satisfactory police record check as a condition of employment.

Should you require any form of accommodation during the recruitment process, kindly contact the People & Culture team by email at [email protected]

To learn more about who we are and what we do, please visit our website at www.righttoplay.com.

Contact Person Name: Brijpal Patel

Contact Person Title: Global Director, Program Development

Contact Person Email: [email protected]