Program Manager, Solar Electrification

The Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) is a global health organization committed to our mission of saving lives and reducing the burden of disease in low-and middle-income countries. We work at the invitation of governments to support them and the private sector to create and sustain high-quality health systems.

CHAI was founded in 2002 in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with the goal of dramatically reducing the price of life-saving drugs and increasing access to these medicines in the countries with the highest burden of the disease. Over the following two decades, CHAI has expanded its focus. Today, along with HIV, we work in conjunction with our partners to prevent and treat infectious diseases such as COVID-19, malaria, tuberculosis, and hepatitis. Our work has also expanded into cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases, and we work to accelerate the rollout of lifesaving vaccines, reduce maternal and child mortality, combat chronic malnutrition, and increase access to assistive technology. We are investing in horizontal approaches to strengthen health systems through programs in human resources for health, digital health, and health financing. With each new and innovative program, our strategy is grounded in maximizing sustainable impact at scale, ensuring that governments lead the solutions, that programs are designed to scale nationally, and learnings are shared globally.

At CHAI, our people are our greatest asset, and none of this work would be possible without their talent, time, dedication and passion for our mission and values. We are a highly diverse team of enthusiastic individuals across 40 countries with a broad range of skillsets and life experiences. CHAI is deeply grounded in the countries we work in, with the majority of our staff based in program countries. Learn more about our exciting work: http://www.clintonhealthaccess.org

CHAI is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and is committed to providing an environment of fairness, and mutual respect where all applicants have access to equal employment opportunities. CHAI values diversity and inclusion, and recognizes that our mission is best advanced by the leadership and contributions of people with diverse experience, backgrounds, and culture.

Program and Position Overview

CHAI is working on a program that aims to enable solar electrification of public institutions at scale. By working with governments to aggregate large numbers of health facilities and schools into portfolios, it will allow for a different type of financing to be deployed to enable solar electrification to the usual project or pilot-based grant financing approach that has traditionally been used. Blended financing structures typically used to support independent power producers and solar project developers might work better to align incentives around system performance, as long as appropriate de-risking instruments are included. Working with portfolios of facilities also allows for bundling of Operations and Maintenance (O&M) service contracts, which can be negotiated to link payments to outcomes (system performance and uptime). Solar power at health facilities and schools could also be used to extend energy access to off-grid communities, and with creative financial structuring, revenues from this can be used to provide affordable energy access to public institutions.

CHAI is seeking a Program Manager who will lead a team that works closely with the Government of Malawi to build and finance a plan that will aim to electrify health facilities and schools in Malawi. The Program Manager will supervise a team in the development of costed and prioritized health facility and school solar electrification plans, working in close collaboration with the Government of Malawi (including the Ministries of Health, Education, Energy, and Finance). The Program Manager will support a dialogue between the government, donors, banks, and several private sector energy actors (equipment importers, project developers, O&M service providers, and solar engineering, procurement, and construction companies) to build a roadmap towards a transaction that would aim to aggregate existing financing for solar and draw in new financing to electrify as many health facilities and schools in Malawi as possible. The Program Manager will represent CHAI in relevant Technical Working Groups and taskforces with both donors and government.

This is a challenging, fast-paced and rewarding position that will aim to build new, creative financing solutions to enable solar electrification of public institutions at scale. The Program Manager will report to the Senior Program Manager, Health Financing and Health Workforce.

Management responsibilities

• Manage two solar electrification grants to support this work.
• Manage team consisting of a mix of professionals (Technical Advisor and Associates), enabling high performance and professional growth.
• Backstop the CHAI senior management as a focal person for donor relationships and in fundraising efforts for the solar electrification portfolio.
• Develop and maintain work plans, mapping tasks to project milestones. Oversee regular check-ins, team meetings, and feedback processes to ensure accountability, streamline workflows, and improve team performance.
• Provide feedback, career development, and resolve challenges for team members. Foster a culture of high performance and continuous improvement.
• Manage programmatic and M&E reporting requirements, both internally within CHAI and externally facing for program donors.
• Manage financial reporting requirements, both internally within CHAI and externally facing for program donors, including approval and endorsement of activity budgets and liquidations.

Technical responsibilities

• Supervise the team in developing and operationalizing national health facility and school solar electrification plans, working in close collaboration with the Government of Malawi (including the Ministries of Health, Education, Energy, and Finance).
• Support the Government of Malawi to coordinate donors, partners and interested financiers in the health and education sectors in Malawi to ensure alignment, technical input, and coordination around the plan.
• Support the Ministries of Health and Education in convening taskforces responsible for health facility and school solar electrification, respectively, with the appropriate mix of government and donor representation.
• Supervise the team in developing a costing model and prioritization framework to define which health facilities and schools are in most need of solar electrification. The model should project costs under different scenarios, and be overlaid with different financing structures, and be developed to enable site prioritization as well as financing negotiations.
• Supervise the team in designing and implementing pilots that seek to answer key research questions that the Government of Malawi may wish to test before moving to national scale-up of health facility and school solar electrification, with a focus on contracting private sector solar firms using an energy-as-a-service approach and estimating revenue that can be generated by productive use energy sales.
• Serve as a point person to lead in-country activities to explore the establishment of International Renewable Energy Certificates (I-RECs) in Malawi, including engagement with relevant Ministries (Energy, Natural Resources and Climate Change, Health, Education and Finance) and development of a roadmap to set up relevant institutions for I-REC registration, issuing, and verification.
• Build relationships with energy service companies in Malawi, to explore opportunities for partnership with the Government of Malawi to enable the project, and to support with building assumptions on costs and pricing for negotiations.
• Perform any other relevant duties as assigned.

• Master’s degree in business administration, finance, engineering, economics, health systems, education, public policy, or similar relevant subjects preferred; bachelor’s degree with relevant experience will also be considered.
• Minimum of four years of professional experience for master’s degree holders and six years of experience for bachelor’s degree holders, preferably in health facility or school solar electrification, energy access, energy transactions, investment banking, management consulting, private equity, or other relevant experience, with increasing levels of responsibility.
• Knowledge and experience in energy access for health and/or education, particularly in low- and middle-income countries and in sub-Saharan Africa.
• Strong program management experience including managing and recruiting teams, developing and executing budgets, creating and implementing work plans, and monitoring both program and staff performance.
• Outstanding analytical skills and advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
• Strategically minded and able to think creatively about long-term program goals and objectives, and the detailed steps necessary to achieve these goals.
• Structured thinker with experience analyzing and interpreting complex datasets to identify key trends and to translate them into actionable options for decision-makers.
• Strong diplomatic and interpersonal skills and ability to build strategic relationships with government partners, donors and other stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver excellence in high-pressure situations, set priorities, and adapt to rapidly changing environments.
• Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills without need for extensive structural or operational support.
• Strong writer, facilitator, and oral communicator, able to distill and explain complex concepts to varied audiences.

Advantages:

• Experience supporting policy decisions and planning by Ministries of Energy, Health, Education, and/or Finance on solar electrification in the health and education sectors.
• Experience working in management consulting, investment banking, private equity, or the renewable energy sector is preferred.

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