Programme Advisor – Market Access at UNOPS

ATscale, the Global Partnership for Assistive Technology is a cross-sectoral partnership with the goal of reaching 500 million additional people with assistive technology by 2030 to support them in participating in education, work, and everyday life. ATscale is hosted by UNOPS.

Today, over 1 billion people need at least one form of assistive technology (AT), such as wheelchairs, eyeglasses, or hearing aids, but over 900 million people (90%) do not have access to the assistive technology they require. The number of people who need assistive technology is expected to grow to more than 2 billion people by 2050.

Access to appropriate assistive technology enables persons with a loss of function, impairments, non-communicable diseases, and the aging population to participate in education, work, family, and community life. Lack of access to assistive technology has significant consequences for individuals, their families, and the wider society. Without assistive technology, individuals may experience isolation and exclusion from education, the labour market, and civic life. Lack of access to appropriate assistive technology causes poorer health outcomes including premature death, deteriorating mental health, and increased risk of chronic health conditions and secondary complications, all of which lead to a higher burden on health systems. Increasing accessibility and affordability of assistive technology unlocks unrealised economic potential and provides socioeconomic benefit for individuals, families, and countries by increasing productivity and participation in the workforce.

Launched at the Global Disability Summit in July 2018, ATscale was developed in response to the need for a new, catalytic approach to overcoming the significant gap in access to appropriate, high-quality, and affordable assistive technology globally. As a cross-sector partnership for assistive technology, ATscale aims to bring greater resources and strategic focus to this significant global challenge.

ATscale has defined a strategy overview (https://ATscale2030.org/strategy) in which it describes two strategic objectives: 1) to develop an enabling ecosystem for increased access to AT by galvanising political will, mobilising investment, driving policy reform, and strengthening targeted, cross-product systems, particularly at country level; and 2) to build and shape markets for priority products and their related services by identifying and investing in interventions to overcome specific supply and demand-side market barriers.
ATscale has also published an investment case for the sector (https://atscale2030.org/investment-case), as well as thorough market analyses and strategies, called Product Narratives, for improving access to its five priority products: wheelchairs, hearing aids, eyeglasses, prostheses, and digital assistive devices and software (https://atscale2030.org/product-narratives).

Functional Responsibilities

ATscale is still in an exciting start-up phase and the Programme Advisor – Market Access will play an important role in shaping the strategic vision for the organisation with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and others in the ATscale Secretariat. The Programme Advisor – Market Access will develop and start to implement ATscale’s market-building and market-shaping strategy to support increasing access to ATscale’s priority products and related services, as well as strengthening the related cross-cutting systems in low- and middle-income countries.

A. Market Access Strategy Development and Synergies

• Develop ATscale’s market-building and market-shaping strategy for its five priority products and related services in coordination with the broader ATscale strategy and operational plan.
• Articulate mutually supportive links between interventions focused on a specific product and its related services with those that reinforce elements of the enabling ecosystem.

Inputs used while developing the strategy will include but are not limited to:

• Existing thorough market analyses and strategies, called Product Narratives
• Results from initial ATscale investments and programmatic interventions
• Learnings from other areas of global health that have successfully applied market-shaping strategies
• Consultations to understand AT Markets and identify incentives and barriers to improve how markets can contribute to increasing access to AT in low- to middle income countries, including in particular consultations with users of assistive technology (by linking with a workstream planned to start about 1-2 months ahead of this recruitment)

B. Market Access Programme Management

• Oversee all market-shaping interventions within ATscale’s 2021 operational plan.
• Lead prioritisation process for a coherent package of market-related interventions to present to the Board in the 2022 annual operational plan and lead evaluation and selection of partners.
• Lead the detailed scoping of market-related interventions approved by the board for the first half of 2022, including with expert input.
• Oversee the processes leading to implementation of these interventions from the programmatic side, e.g. participation in competitive processes through drafting of requests for proposals, evaluation etc.
• Monitor market-related information to provide recommendations for investment to the CEO and the ATscale board.
• Lead engagement with experts in different assistive product areas to continue to refine ATscale’s strategy and portfolio of investments.
• Identify experts for ATscale to engage in its Expert Advisory Group, e.g. on retainer contracts, and build a database.

C. Partners and Stakeholder Management

• Foster and maintain partnerships at both senior leadership and working levels to develop and advance ATscale’s market-building and market-shaping strategy by engaging with relevant partners in the assistive technology space including organisations of persons with disabilities, national governments, UN and other multilateral agencies, bi- and multilateral donors, private funders, international NGOs, the private sectors such as manufacturers and suppliers of assistive technology, and technical experts including in academia
• Support the CEO in negotiations and discussions with implementing partners and manufacturers of assistive technology to further strategic market shaping;

D. Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

• Lead on monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEAL) of/from market-related ATscale investments and promote data utilisation among partners to guide the interventions.
• Use information gained from the regular partner reports and M&E to inform policy and strategy briefs, current strategy, and to support advocacy.

E. Other

• Ensure all processes above remain aligned with UN host agency requirements.
• Provide the CEO and relevant team members with regular updates on market developments and potential opportunities.
• Prepare talking points, presentations, and other material to support the CEO.
• Prepare relevant Board Papers related to market-building and market-shaping for ATscale Board meetings

Travel for this position is estimated at 20% when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.