Project Specialist (Health Systems) [Open to Tier 1 & 2 applicants]

Tiered Approach

In line with the commitment to safeguard capacity and support personnel already in the Organization, a majority of UNDP UNCDF/UNV vacancies are advertised using a tiered application process whereby:

• Tier 0: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV IP staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments, whose posts will be abolished, or contracts will be terminated or not renewed during 2026.
• Tier 1: Other UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments
• Tier 2: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts, and Expert and Specialist UN Volunteers
• Tier 3 or no tier indicated: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates

Please make note of the Tier(s) indicated in the vacancy title, if any, and ensure that you satisfy the eligibility to apply.

Background

UNDP Viet Nam’s Health Governance Portfolio sits within the Governance and Participation Team. The portfolio supports national efforts to strengthen health systems, improve governance, transparency and accountability, expand equitable access to quality health services and medical products, and promote inclusive, resilient and people-centred health and care systems. It brings together work on health systems strengthening, access to quality medical products, digital health governance, procurement and supply systems, disability inclusion, older persons health and care, and other health governance priorities. The Project Specialist (Health Systems) will be a key member of this portfolio and support its continued strategic development, partnership building and resource mobilization. They will also liaise as needed with team members working on the climate health nexus and environmental health.

The initial core priority of the role will be to lead the health and care systems transformation component of Transforming Systems, Sharing Growth: The Australia–Viet Nam Partnership (TSSG), a multi-year project funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). TSSG supports Viet Nam to strengthen selected systems in health, care and SME finance so that services, markets and public systems become more predictable, inclusive, resilient and investment-ready.

TSSG has two components. Component 1 focuses on health and care systems transformation and supports stronger systems for access to quality medical products, including assistive technologies, safe and trusted digital health and AI, and integrated older persons health and care. Component 2 focuses on innovative finance for SMEs. Across both components, the project integrates gender equality, disability inclusion, social inclusion, climate resilience and environmental sustainability.

Under TSSG, the Project Specialist will provide strategic, technical and management leadership across the three health and care areas of Component 1: access to quality medical products, digital health governance, and older persons health and care. The role will supervise relevant project personnel, including component managers and technical personnel, and will ensure coherent planning, delivery, reporting, risk management, partner coordination and technical quality across the health and care component.

Beyond TSSG, the Project Specialist will support the wider UNDP Viet Nam health governance portfolio. This includes oversight and strategic support to the Global Fund CCM Secretariat; support to the WHO–UNDP Joint Programme on access to quality medical products; technical and strategic inputs on UNDP-supported procurement of medical products, including through UNDP global Long-Term Agreements; providing health systems strengthening and health governance technical advice across UNDP Viet Nam units; strategic support to senior management on the development and positioning of UNDP Viet Nam’s health governance portfolio and broader health programming; resource mobilisation for priority areas of work; and contribution to new partnerships and initiatives in areas such as access to quality medical products, procurement governance, digital transformation, transparency and accountability, disability inclusion, older persons care, and other emerging health governance priorities.

WHO Viet Nam is a key technical partner for the health and care component of TSSG and a strategic institutional partner in the WHO–UNDP Joint Programme on access to quality medical products. The Project Specialist will work closely with WHO and other partners on agreed technical activities related to access to quality medical products, regulatory and procurement systems, digital health, older persons health and care, and other joint health systems strengthening priorities. This coordination will help ensure that WHO technical inputs are aligned with the objectives of agreed joint work, the wider UNDP health governance portfolio, and UNDP programme management arrangements.

The position operates within a matrix management structure. The Project Specialist will report to the Health Governance Specialist on programme, portfolio and office management matters, and will work under the technical guidance of the Team Leader, Universal Health Coverage and Disease Control Team, WHO Viet Nam, on agreed technical priorities and deliverables under the WHO–UNDP Joint Programme priorities.
 

Duties and Responsibilities

This role has a dual reporting structure, via UNDP and WHO, with administrative management being provided by UNDP and technical oversight and management via both UNDP and WHO.

Within UNDP, the contract holder reports to the Health Governance Specialist. The contract holder is responsible for the management of UNDP staff working on the TSSG project within the Health Governance Portfolio.  

At WHO, the contract holder reports to the WHO Universal Health Coverage & Disease Control Team Coordinator.

The Project Specialist (Health Systems) will perform the following functions:

1) 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.

• Ensure coherent delivery across the three health and care work areas: access to quality medical products, digital health governance, and older persons health and care, including work packages implemented by WHO as a technical partner under agreed project arrangements.
• Oversee annual work planning, budgeting, procurement planning, risk management, monitoring, donor reporting and partner coordination for the component as a whole.
• Coordinate UNDP and WHO inputs to ensure that WHO-delivered activities are properly sequenced, integrated into project workplans, aligned with government priorities, and reflected in project monitoring, reporting and learning.
• Supervise assigned personnel and support strong performance, quality delivery and effective coordination with relevant stakeholders.

2) Guide and support provision of strategic oversight and quality assurance over the UNDP Viet Nam’s Health Governance Portfolio and facilitate knowledge sharing.

• 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, as delegated by the Head of Governance and Participation and UNDP senior management.
• Supervise relevant UNDP Health Governance personnel, including component managers, technical personnel, consultants and interns, and ensure strong technical quality, timely delivery and effective coordination with UNDP operations teams, WHO, government partners and other stakeholders.
• 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.
• With delegated responsibility, provide oversight and quality assurance of projects, programmes and planned workstreams within the Health Governance Portfolio, including inter alia those relating to the Global Fund CCM Secretariat, health system anti-corruption, medical product procurement via UNDP global long-term agreements, LGBTI-related health work, and other areas in development.
• 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.

3) Provide integrated technical oversight, policy support and learning across health governance and health systems strengthening workstreams.

• Provide technical direction across the portfolio’s health systems strengthening workstreams, ensuring that technical assistance, policy advice, pilots, capacity development, stakeholder engagement and knowledge products are coherent, evidence-informed and aligned with national priorities.
• Support and coordinate UNDP technical support to national and subnational partners on selected policy, regulatory, institutional and implementation reforms, including research, policy analysis, international benchmarking, technical options, guidance, tools, standard operating procedures, implementation models and capacity-building approaches.
• 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.

4) Contribute to the strategic development and coordination of the WHO-UNDP collaboration on health governance and health systems strengthening.

• Support coordinating the strategic development of WHO-UNDP collaboration on health governance and health systems strengthening in Viet Nam, with a focus on areas where the two agencies’ mandates, technical strengths and partnerships can add joint value.
• 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.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Competencies

Core competencies:

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

People Management

UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site.

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:

Business Direction & Strategy

• System Thinking: Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.

Partnership Management

• Resource Mobilization: Ability to identify funding sources, match funding needs (programmes/projects/initiatives) with funding opportunities, and establish a plan to meet funding requirements

2030 Agenda: People

• Health: Universal Health Coverage; Governance of non-communicable disease (NCD) responses

Business Management

• Project Management: Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals
• Partnership Management: Build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies.

Business Development

• Knowledge Facilitation: Ability to animate individuals and groups, internally and externally, and to design and facilitate activities, to share and exchange knowledge, information and ideas. Knowledge of tools and approaches to stimulate active participation, contribution, and exchange

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• 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.

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.

Required skills:

• 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.
• Project management certification is preferred (PMP, PRINCE2, or other similar) is desired.

Required Language(s)

• Fluency in written and spoken English and Vietnamese is required
   

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Use of AI by candidates

Applicants are invited to read UNDP’s guidance for candidates on using AI responsibly in UNDP recruitment and selection

Scam alert

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