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 an Associate who will work closely with the Government of Malawi to build and finance a plan that will aim to electrify schools in Malawi. The Associate will support the Government of Malawi (including the Ministries of Education, Energy, and Finance) to develop a costed and prioritized school solar electrification plan. The Associate 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 schools in Malawi as possible. The Associate 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 Associate will report to the Program Manager, Solar Electrification.

• Work with the Government of Malawi (including the Ministries of Education, Energy, and Finance) to develop and operationalize a national school solar electrification plan
• Support the Government of Malawi to coordinate donors, partners and interested financiers in the education sector in Malawi to ensure alignment, technical input and coordination around the plan
• Support the Ministry of Education to rapidly assemble a Task Force or similar that will involve the appropriate mix of stakeholders including Ministries of Energy, Finance, donors and private sector, including development of TORs and roadmap and initiating regular meetings
• Conduct rapid data collection exercises including geospatial mapping of all operational schools in the country with classrooms, student and staff numbers, leveraging existing datasets; high-level energy needs assessment of schools; defining what schools are grid connected vs not grid connected; and defining whether existing grid connections have been able to provide reliable power to the school
• Support Ministries of Education and Energy to develop a costing model and prioritization framework to define which 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
• 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
• Support capacity-building of the Government through the process, and build trust between private sector and Government
• Explore the establishment of International Renewable Energy Certificates (I-RECs) in Malawi, including engagement with relevant Ministries (Energy, Natural Resources and Climate Change, Education, Health, and Finance) and development of a roadmap to set up relevant institutions for I-REC registration, issuing, and verification
• Backstop fundraising and resource mobilization efforts for the team, including through targeted technical and coordination support
• Contribute to the development of program workplans, budgets, and reporting/documentation for internal and external audiences
• Lead preparation of activity budgets and ensure timely liquidation of all activities once completed, in line with CHAI and donor best practices and policies for sound financial management
• Lead activity logistics in collaboration with the CHAI Finance and Operations teams, including disbursing allowances to meeting participants and ensuring that services such as venue hire, conferencing, printing, etc. are available for activities as relevant
• Perform any other relevant duties and lead day-to-day implementation of activities as assigned

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, finance, engineering, economics, education, public policy, or similar relevant subject preferred
• Minimum of two years of professional experience, preferably in school solar electrification, energy access, energy transactions, investment banking, management consulting, private equity, or other relevant experience
• Knowledge and experience in energy access and education, particularly in low- and middle-income countries and in sub-Saharan Africa
• 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, Education, and/or Finance on solar electrification in the education sector
• Experience working in management consulting, investment banking, private equity, or the renewable energy sector is preferred
• Understanding of school infrastructure and design in Malawi

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