Digital Health Advisor

Job Introduction

Are you excited by the prospect of transforming developing and emerging nations through the application of technology? Do you have experience of consulting or working in the tech sector and driving systemic and transformative change in health in emerging or developing countries?  If so, we want to hear from you.

The Tomorrow Partnership is the Tony Blair Institute’s work with political leaders and governments to bring tech and digital solutions to their biggest challenges, because we believe tomorrow will belong to those who responsibly harness the power of technology for the good of all people, and to leave no one behind.

Through The Tomorrow Partnership, we broker strategic partnerships between governments and leading tech organisations and innovators to help foster environments that enable tech to deliver practical change in people’s lives.

Scaling up its support to multiple governments across Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia, TBI is collaborating with governments to accelerate reforms and progress, through better delivery support, technology and private sector engagement. Enabled by a dynamic external partner, the main objective in this strategically important role is to support the Government of Malawi to successfully roll out expanded digital health initiatives and increasingly integrate health data to drive public sector decision making in the sector.

TBI has been working closely with the Government of Malawi since 2021 in support of the President’s priorities, TBI is partnering with the Ministry of Health to drive the transformation of the health sector. Driving this collaboration forward, TBI is seeking an exceptional digital health advisor, to support the delivery of a transformative agenda and contribute to improved public health outcomes in Malawi.

This role will be on a one-year contract with possibility of extension.

Key Responsibilities

Key outcomes of the role

• The immediate task is to develop a data and system harmonisation strategy in line with the Government of Malawi’s strategy, programming and priorities for health digitisation
• Scope and identify other health tech applications in collaboration with government and external partners
• Strengthen Malawi’s health system by implementing data for decision making approaches across all health system, supporting the government of Malawi to adopt state of the art data science approaches
• Establish new partnerships between Ministry of Health and technology providers
• Key performance targets will be established and delivered through effective development, deployment and management of the partnership’s goals

The responsibilities of the role centre around support to the Government’s digital health priorities and wider digital services. This will involve:

• Planning: Working closely with TBI’s tech team, particularly the Head of HealthTech, and in consultation with government interlocutors, design, maintain and continually improve data for decision making strategy. Develop a plan to harmonise information systems, data, and workflows in order to improve decision making and reduce burden on reporting of last mile health workers
• Proposal and Delivery Plan:  Based on identified needs, and under the direction of the Head of Tech, develop delivery plans, including timelines for implementation, milestones, as well as risks and challenges to implementation
• Government Relations: Support the Head of Tech to maintain effective and trusted relationships in government in line with the country project strategy and positioning, and in service of the overall TBI mission to support political leaders to achieve results that benefit the people of the country and our tech for development initiative
• Coordination: Coordinate with the Head of Tech, Digital ID Advisor and Tech Delivery Advisor to ensure collaboration and spill over.   Work closely with TBI’s Head of HealthTech to scope new opportunities and support lesson sharing across the wider TBI HealthTech portfolio
• People: Support the recruitment and management of team staff, as required. The post holder will be expected to develop strong working relationships with colleagues globally
• Implementation: Provide technical expertise to digital health initiatives, build dashboards, implement data science approaches and interoperability frameworks to analyse large data sets
• External Relations (non-governmental): Support the Head of Tech in engagement with relevant external stakeholders such as tech companies, development partners, other actors and stakeholders in the tech and health sectors as directed
• Reporting: Regularly inform TBI country-level and central TBI tech colleagues of progress through reporting and engagement sessions, build reports for Ministry of Health leadership and proactively escalate issues for further support as needed
• One TBI: the post holder will report to the Head of Tech.  They will work closely with and support Ministerial interlocutors at the Ministry of Health, and other relevant Ministries and agencies

Person Specification

We are looking for an experienced Digital Health Advisor:

• Experience in management consulting, health informatics, epidemiology, data science, or government advisory related to technology and health
• With experience in health management systems, electronic health records, digital health
• With experience working on digital transformation initiatives in Sub Saharan Africa is highly desirable
• With an understanding of the health and tech policy and regulatory environments
• With the ability to work under pressure, and to coordinate with teams and multi-disciplinary advisors
• Ability to use analytics, statistical, and programmatic skills to collect and analyse large datasets
• With strong communication and project management skills
• Who can work flexibly and be adaptable, open to changing approaches in response to changing situations on the ground
• With proven understanding of the policy context, how to influence policy and the discretion and judgment needed to navigate a complex environment
• With a bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience
• Prior work with the Government of Malawi is desirable
• Fluency in English required

About The Institute

The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) is a mission-driven not for profit organisation. We exist to equip political leaders and governments to build open, inclusive and prosperous societies. We work hard, every day, to make a difference. When governments work well they are able to create economic and social change in a way that promotes fairness, social justice and opportunity. We work relentlessly to support leader and governments with the challenges they face. Giving them practical solutions and actionable insights, that once implemented, can be transformative for their people  

We do this within two connected divisions: 

 Government Advisory 

Our Government Advisory teams work directly with political leaders and governments around the world to implement reforms that improve the lives of their citizens. It works with a variety of partners and its outputs cover a range of disciplines and projects across countries in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South Asia.

 Policy Futures 

Our Policy Futures work encompasses three broad areas: 

• Renewing the Centre: developing a bold and innovative domestic policy programme to help renew the centre ground of British politics; 
• Tech and Public Policy: exploring the policy challenges and opportunities presented by the technological revolution; and 
• Extremism Policy Unit: creating solutions designed to tackle the threat of extremist ideologies in the UK and around the world. 

As an organisation, the core beliefs we all embrace are: 

• Open and Progressive: you’ll believe in the value of teamwork 
• Bold and Pragmatic: you’ll approach everything you do with integrity and authenticity 
• Optimistic Changemaker: you’ll be focused on results 

TBI believes embracing diversity and inclusion make us a better place to work.  It’s our goal to reflect everyone in society and we actively welcome applications from individuals and groups who are under-represented in the workplace. We celebrate difference be it ethnicity, religion, age, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation or disability. We will only ever assess you on your abilities and fit for a role. We’re happy to discuss any adjustments you need to ensure a level playing field during recruitment and, if you\'re successful, discuss any adjustments you might need to thrive in your role.