Nutrition Technical Advisor - SMILE Program Job at Catholic Relief Services - Nigeria

[Jobrib]

Job Title: Nutrition Technical Advisor, SMILE Program  

Employer: Catholic Relief Services (CRS)

Department: Programming

Reports To: Program Technical Director

Location: Benue, Nigeria

Band: E-1

Background: Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is an International non-governmental organization supporting relief and development work in over 99 countries around the world. CRS programs assist persons on the basis of need, regardless of creed, ethnicity or nationality. CRS works through local church and non-church partners to implement its programs, therefore, strengthening and building the capacity of these partner organizations is fundamental to programs in every country in which CRS operates. CRS re-established presence in Nigeria in 2000 and currently focuses on agriculture, HIV and health extractives and governance, and peace building programming.

Project Background:

CRS Nigeria leads the USAID-supported SMILE (Sustainable Mechanisms for Improving Livelihoods and Household Empowerment) consortium consisting of ActionAid Nigeria and Westat designed to scale-up care and support services for orphans and vulnerable children in FCT, Benue, Kogi, Edo, and Nasarawa by strengthening the capacity of government, civil society organizations (CSOs) and communities. SMILE seeks to improve the wellbeing of 500,000 OVC and 125,000 caregivers and will be implemented through an umbrella grants mechanism (UGM) whereby CSOs receive sub-grants to support capacity strengthening and program implementation at the community level. The project will also strengthen the Nigerian Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC) response by strengthening the organizational systems and technical capacity of the five SMWASDs and targeted Local Government Areas (LGA).

The Nutrition Technical Advisor will provide technical leadership and program oversight to the SMILE consortium in the areas of nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and health to improve nutritional and health outcomes of vulnerable populations, with a focus on children under five years.

Under the direction of the Program Technical Director, s/he will collaborate closely with the economic strengthening (HES) and food security (FS) technical advisor to foster an integrated, holistic OVC response at the community, LGA and State levels.

General function: The Nutrition TA (NTA) will be responsible for working closely with the SMILE technical team to achieve the strategic objectives of the program – focusing primarily on nutrition, WASH and health, but also supporting cross-cutting themes and integration efforts across the project with other areas of OVC programming, especially household economic strengthening and food security. S/he will lead planning and capacity strengthening efforts while putting in place operational strategies for achieving project aims, results and performance expectations through adherence to high standards of programmatic and management quality.

Major Responsibilities:

The NTA will provide technical and programmatic leadership primarily in the areas of nutrition/WASH/health. S/he will be responsible for strengthening the capacity of implementing CSOs in nutrition with a focus on infant and young child feeding (IYCF); community management of acute malnutrition (CMAM); and nutrition for HIV-exposed infants. Other key areas include improving care seeking and treatment for childhood illness (particularly malaria and diarrhea) through IMCI; ensuring care taking of sick or malnourished children; improving referral and counter-referral systems between  communities and facilities; improving sanitation and hygiene practices; improving nutrition of adolescent girls, encouraging nutrition-enhancing transformation in gender norms. The NTA will utilize approaches that support integration and maximize country and community-ownership.

Coordinating closely the Household Economic Strengthening & Food Security Technical Advisor (HES/FS TA), the NTA will link with the private sector – specifically food processing companies for the production and distribution of locally produced nutritional supplements. The NTA will oversee planning, trainings, learning/documentation, reporting, and M&E of nutrition and health related activities, including the development of nutrition/health related sections of CSO requests for applications. S/he will also

represent the project during relevant meetings, working groups, task forces and other related forums.

Additional technical oversight to SMILE in the areas of nutrition and food security will be provided by a Nutrition and Food Security Steering Committee to be convened by the PTD.

Specific Responsibilities:

Technical Leadership:

• Provide technical leadership for nutrition/WASH/health activities carried out by CSOs; ensure activities improve nutrition and health status with a focus on vulnerable populations, including children under 5.

• Direct CSOs towards overall technical quality — including adherence to technical standards, best practices and donor guidelines — for all nutrition/WASH/health aspects of the project.

• Ensure project activities are built on strong behavior change principles, and builds the capacity of CSOs and relevant GON staff in effective implementation and monitoring.

• Lead GON actors and CSOs in identifying and capitalizing on leverage points for integration of nutrition/WASH/health elements into other OVC areas project activities, and the integration of other project elements into nutrition/WASH/health – with a focus on HES and FS activities.

• Keep abreast of research and trends in effective behavior change approaches and engagement of Community Health Workers/Volunteers, as well as in nutrition, WASH, and health and ensure  project approaches remain in line with Quality Improvement standards, evidence, best-practices and lessons learned.

• Meet quarterly with the SMILE Nutrition and Food Security Steering Committee and ensure recommendations are incorporated into GON and CSO practice.

• Ensure that project activities and approaches used by CSOs are in line with relevant government policies; contribute to the review, development and elaboration of new policies, as appropriate.

• Identify opportunities for learning, formative, special studies and operational research and work with M&E team, SMILE technical team and external support (if needed) to conduct research.

• Develop/identify training modules and tools, and conduct relevant trainings and workshops for CSO staff and GON in line with identified capacity strengthening needs. Coordinate with other USAID Implementing Partners with relevant experience and training resources e.g., SPRING as appropriate.

• Identify technical support needs, develop scopes of work, identify internal or external candidates, and monitor TDYs/Consultants.

• Identify and build relationships with relevant private sector partners, such as producers of nutritional supplements, who can support project activities.

• Document and disseminate project efforts, achievements, lessons learned and innovations within SMILE and to the larger Nigerian and global technical community, as appropriate.

Project Design and Management:

• Contribute to the evaluation criteria for CSO expressions of interest, concept notes and requests for applications.

• Develop the nutrition/WASH/health components of sub-recipient request for CSO applications; ensure opportunities exist for integration, particularly with HES and FS activities.

• Support the development of technically sound CSO proposals that leverage existing materials and ensure an appropriate behavior change communication strategy for priority nutrition/WASH/health behaviors using existing change agents.

• Oversee and ensure the successful implementation of nutrition/WASH/health activities by CSO sub-grantees.

• Develop standard operating procedures for CSO implementing nutrition/WASH/health consistent with the program proposal, Nigerian OVC Service Delivery Standards, other GON and evidencebased/promising approaches.

• Assure appropriate engagement with the formal and community health systems and structures.

• Support the development of functional referral networks for vulnerable groups, especially children under 5.

• Use appropriate project management tools to plan, review and track progress on implementation of nutrition/WASH/health activities and use of project resources to achieve expected results.

• Contribute to the development/update and monitoring of nutrition/WASH/health indicators and tools particularly those required by PEPFAR and the Nigerian OVC M&E Plan.

• Ensure the exchange of lessons learned and experiences and promote coordination between SMILE sub-grantees, other donor grantees and projects in the target States.

• Work with M&E team and other partners to develop appropriate tools for monitoring and evaluation nutrition/WASH/health including providing input into the design of the baseline study, periodic annual reviews, and regular monitoring tools.

• Monitor progress toward targets; identify and implement approaches to overcome challenges.

• Serve as part of the review team for nutrition/WASH/health-related small grants; assess grantee technical capacity and ensure capacity is built in line with identified needs.

• For nutrition/WASH/health activities, complete on time required work planning, donor narrative reports, quarterly reports and performance indicator tracking tables, baseline and final  3evaluation reports and other reports needed/required by the local government, donors, the region or headquarters.

• Travel to project targeted zones periodically to monitor program activities and provide support to senior program managers (SPMs),HES/FS TA, CSO staff, and relevant GON entities.

Representation:

• Represent the SMILE consortium in external technical meetings, conferences and workshops related to nutrition/WASH/health.

• Participate on behalf of SMILE in strategic meetings with the GON.

• Liaise and coordinate with other nutrition/WASH/health actors, including the government, the UN system, other NGOs, learning institutions and civil society actors to promote synergy, share lessons learned and avoid duplication.

• Link State, LGA, and CSO staff to relevant nutrition/WASH/health technical and coordination forums.

Supervision and Mentoring:

• Support CSOs to develop appropriate job descriptions to ensure staffing is appropriate for expected results.

• Provide regular supportive supervision CSO nutrition/WASH/health staff to ensure achievement of expected results.

• Support CSO staff professional development, including identifying capacity building needs for CSO staff, providing mentoring and training and linking staff to appropriate external opportunities to in line with project needs.

• Ensure relevant GON entities have the knowledge, skills and tools to provide technical oversight to CSO engaged in nutrition/WASH/health interventions.

• Support CSOs and related GON entities to use quality improvement science and methodology to enhance the quality of nutrition/WASH/health interventions.

• Support the GON planning processes, particularly at the state and local levels, around nutrition as it relates to vulnerable households.

Key Working Relationships: – Internal: Chief of Party; Program Technical Director; Household Economic Strengthening & Food Security Technical Advisor; Organizational Development Director; M&E Advisor and officers. – External: SMILE Consortium team members; SMILE Nutrition and Food Security Committee; Nigerian Nutrition Network (NNN); Ministry of Health/Nutrition desk; Save-UGM counterparts; UN and international community representatives, and other stakeholders.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Serves With Integrity

• Models Stewardship

• Cultivates Constructive Relationships

• Promotes Learning

Travel: Travel up to 60% of the time.

Qualifications and Skills:

• Minimum of Masters Degree in Public Health, Nutrition or related field required.

• Minimum 6 years technical experience with community-level health and/or nutrition programs in Nigeria. Experience with behavior change analysis and communication, IMCI, CMAM, WASH and IYCF interventions desirable.

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with government and civil society partners and communities as well as transfer knowledge to diverse audiences through workshops, training and meetings using participatory methods and adult learning principles.

• Proven leadership and inter-personal skills for effective team work; as well as the ability to work independently on a frequent basis, taking initiative, managing a variety of activities concurrently, and delivering outputs on schedule.

• Demonstrated ability to support partners working at a distance to achieve results against program objectives/targets.

• Successful experience in project design and proposal development in the nutrition/health sector for USAID/PEPFAR preferred.

• Experience with monitoring and evaluation and reporting nutrition activities.

• Good knowledge of Government of Nigeria nutrition and health priorities with experience working with Ministry of Health and other relevant entities.

• Familiarity with OVC programming and principles.

• Familiarity with food science and processing helpful.

• Excellent English oral and written communication skills required.

• Excellent analytic, organizational and computer skills; skilled in MS Office including Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint. Experience with SharePoint a plus.

Disclaimer Clause: This job description is not an exhaustive list, rather it is intended to be indicative of the skills, efforts, duties and responsibilities associated with the position.

Deadline: 16th July, 2013.

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