Background/IRC Summary:
The IRC is a leader in assistance to people affected by oppression and violent conflict, providing immediate relief in emergencies to save lives, and working with local partners to rebuild lives and provide durable solutions. Health is the IRC’s largest sector, with programs in 25 countries serving nearly 15 million people. The IRC Health Unit which includes the nutrition team is committed to a culture of thought leadership, innovation, partnership, and accountability to those we serve. The IRC nutrition team’s objective is to support country programs to increase access and coverage to effective and responsive nutrition interventions so women and children are protected from and treated for malnutrition. The nutrition team’s core programming include the community based management of acute malnutrition and infant and young child feeding programs. The IRC nutrition team is leading efforts in developing transformative strategies for treating malnourished children by putting treatment within reach of people who need it through the integration of malnutrition treatment into community case management and unifying moderate and severe malnutrition by testing a combined treatment protocol.
Scope:
The Technical Advisor (TA), Nutrition would be part of this dynamic team working to shape the way we treat malnutrition and supporting effective approaches to infant and young child feeding, piloting and testing new approaches when needed. The TA, Nutrition will primarily be responsible for providing country support to the countries assigned to him/her. He/she should be a thought leader and doer with a passion for, and track record of, advancing access to nutrition services for people affected by conflict. The TA, Nutrition is responsible for working collaboratively with health unit, other technical units and field staff to ensure that nutrition interventions are effectively designed, monitored, evaluated and learning captured as well as effective tools and training resources developed.
Major Responsibilities:
- Provide timely and adequate technical support to designated country nutrition programs, including guidance on nutrition assessments, project/program design, fund-raising, project monitoring and evaluation, and service quality monitoring and improvement. This will involve: monthly calls with country nutrition teams; at least one visit a year to each supported country; monitoring, course correction and capturing learning; remote technical support; liaison with colleagues in the health unit, country management, regional offices and other technical units.
- Support designated country programs in the recruitment of senior nutrition team members (particularly for expatriate positions), and contribute to the development of field staff through training, mentoring, and other guidance.
- Assist country nutrition teams to document and share lessons learned and best practices, including inputs on nutrition program reports and technical publications.
- Provide necessary technical guidance to country programs in collaboration with the designated TA, Health for the development of health sector strategic plans and the roll-out of the outcome and evidence framework (OEF).
- Serve as a resource for IRC headquarters and technical units on nutrition issues in designated country, particularly for external communication, increasing advocacy and for fundraising purposes.
- Initiate and lead special nutrition initiatives in the health unit, and participate in joint initiatives as agreed upon with the nutrition team and senior management
- Share and learn best practices gathered throughout the Technical Units to support robust evidence-based programming within IRC
- Represent IRC in relevant global forums, conferences and working groups
- Contribute to selected Health Unit and IRC-wide initiatives
Job Qualifications:
Education: Master’s/post-graduate degree in Public Health Nutrition/Global Nutrition or related Nutrition degree is required. The Technical Advisor will share knowledge and skill sets within the unit.
Work Experience: A minimum of 5 years of nutrition humanitarian field experience at the senior nutrition program management/coordination level
Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:
- Must have field experience in the design, implementation and evaluation of community based management of acute malnutrition and infant and young child feeding programs at a minimum;
- Demonstrated technical expertise in surveys and assessments particularly SMART, IYCF and the Semi-Quantitative Evaluation of Access and Coverage (SQUEAC) assessment a plus;
- Experience working with donors, proposal writing, and program design;
- Communication skills, including the ability to write and present;
- Demonstrated commitment to renewing and maintaining currency with best practices;
- Solid organizational skills: the ability to work independently and productively in a fast-paced environment;
Strong interpersonal skills in a multi-cultural environment and experience supporting high-level staff.
Language Skills: Professional-level fluency in spoken and written English; fluency in French a plus
Working Environment: Up to 40% travel may be required.
EmoticonEmoticon