Job Number: 496546 | Vacancy Link
Location: Programme Division, UNICEF NYHQ
Work Type : Fixed Term Staff
If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world’s leading children’s rights organization would like to hear from you.
For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children’s survival, protection and development. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
Purpose of the Position
The primary purpose is to improve quality and availability and use of nutrition data (routine and assessment data), with special focus on Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) management. The work will contribute to global standard development, knowledge management and provision of technical support to Regional and Country Office colleagues.
Under the overall direction of the Nutrition Senior Advisor, the Nutrition Information Specialist (NIS) will work closely with the Division of Research and Policy (DRP), Division of Communication (DOC), Office of Emergency Programmes (EMOPS) and other Programme Division (PD) sections to improve the quality of nutrition information related to SAM management programmes. The NIS will work with the Nutrition in Emergency (NiE) / SAM Unit to support country and regional level Nutrition information systems, support the global nutrition information system in HQ (‘NutriDash’) for collecting and reporting country and regional level data, and promote knowledge management on SAM data. The NIS will also support the roll out of the bottleneck analysis approach for SAM management programmes. The purpose of this work is to ensure timely collection and high-quality presentation, reporting and communication of SAM data to UNICEF staff, partners and donors, to enable maximum achievement of the program’s objectives and tracking progress toward results.
Summary of results-based key functions/ accountabilities:
Supporting Global Nutrition Monitoring:
Support further development and management of the Global Nutrition Programme Information System (‘NutriDash’) that consolidates and analyses information on nutrition programmes in a timely and efficient manner.• Work with the NiE/SAM Unit and Nutrition Section staff to further develop the NutriDash questionnaires and databases, particularly the SAM and MAM modules;
• As part of the NutriDash, maintain regular collection of reporting from ROs and COs.
• Undertake further analysis of data to inform global support, programme planning and advocacy work.Strengthening global SAM information:
With DRP and PD, strengthen analysis relevant to acute malnutrition management from different datasets to inform advocacy, research and resource mobilization:• Undertake analysis of datasets (NutriDash; national surveys) for publication.
• Manage analytical studies and exercises;
• Participate in the inter-agency technical task force (e.g.TEAM, SMART) on anthropometric survey methodologies.Strengthening country nutrition information systems for monitoring and action:
Support country level development of nutrition information systems, with focus on routine reporting.
• Lead the Nutrition Information Working Group (CO, RO, HQ UNICEF colleagues).
• Support the assessment of country level nutrition information systems to identify areas of improvement.
• Support the integration of nutrition information systems into health information management systems.
• Support bottleneck analysis for SAM management programmes.Knowledge Management:
Establish a research agenda to support the work of the SAM Unit; maintain collection and ensure dissemination of reporting data from the field and information from partners:
• Define and validate key research and evidence generation needs for SAM management.
• Lead and support research and evidence generation activities.
• Document and disseminate key learning on nutrition information and bottleneck analysis from countries/regions.
• Support development and transition of the CMAM Forum platform.
• Liaise with Regional nutrition advisers and country offices as needed to ensure adequate information collection and dissemination.
Qualifications of a Successful Candidate
- An Advanced University Degree (Master’s) in either Statistics, Information Management, Biostatistics, Nutrition, Nutritional Epidemiology, Public Health, health related social science or related field is required. A first level university degree (Bacherlor’s) in a relevant field (as identified above) in conjunction with seven (7) years of relevant work experience (as identified below), may be taken in lieu of the advanced university degree.
A minimum of five (5) years of relevant professional work experience in programming or policy work at national level, at least three (3) years of which at international level, is required.
Demonstrated experience in monitoring and information management, preferably related to nutrition and/or public health including establishing and managing nutrition/health information management systems required.
Data analysis skills (Epi-Info, SPSS) and knowledge and experience in SMART and other survey methods required.
Experience in nutrition and/or health information systems is highly preferred.
Current knowledge of database management and web design preferred.
Practical experience in compiling, developing and disseminating communications content and materials via web-sites, including design aspects.
Relevant experience in health/nutrition program/project development and management in any UN system agency or organization is an asset.
Knowledge management training and experience is an asset.
Experience in Emergency settings (preparedness and response) and the IASC Cluster approach desired.programming , including in a developing country, in public health and nutrition.
Fluency in English (written & verbal) is required. Knowledge of an additional UN Language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is considered an asset.
Competencies of a Successful Candidate
Core Values
- Commitment
- Diversity and inclusion
- Integrity
Core competencies
- Communication – Level II
- Working with people – Level II
- Drive for results – Level II
Functional Competencies
- Leading and Supervising – Level I
- Formulating Strategies and Concepts – Level II
- Analyzing – Level III
- Relating and Networking – Level II
- Deciding and Initiating Action – Level II
- Applying Technical Expertise – Level III
To view our competency framework, please click here.
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