Uganda: Senior Nutritionist – Uganda (Karamoja) - 2015

Organization: Concern Worldwide

Country: Uganda

Closing date: 16 Jun 2015

Reference:DK/UA/NUT

Country: Uganda**CD:** Mary O’ Neill

Job Title: Senior Nutritionist Karamoja

Date requested: 16/05/2015

Contract Grade: B

Contract Length: 2 years

Date Needed By: Immediately

New Post or Replacement: Replacement

Accompanied / Unaccompanied: Unaccompanied

Exact Job Location: Moroto Town, Karamoja

Reports To: Health and Nutrition Director RWANU

Responsible For: RWANU Nutritionist (2), Surge Coordinator, Social Behaviour Change Specialist, Health Educator Coordinator and Project Support Officer.

Liaises With: Director of Programmes, Nutrition PSO, Dep Chief of Party RWANU, District Government Health & Nutrition staff, Nutrition Advisors-Concern

Job Purpose:The**Senior Nutritionist** is responsible for technical oversight of all nutrition components of Concern’s work in Karamoja.

The Senior Nutritionist manages and builds the capacity of the local technical team and supports the implementation of all nutrition related technical inputs. The USAID funded, Resiliency through Wealth Agriculture and Nutrition (RWANU) project takes a preventive approach to reducing malnutrition, focusing on the first 1,000 days of life. The programme covers 4 districts in Southern Karamoja and will reach approximately 45,000 mothers by mid 2015. The health and nutrition component of the program strengthens provision of health care for women and children, implements social and behavior change (SBC) activities for key health, nutrition, and hygiene behaviors, as well as providing preventative food rations for pregnant and lactating women and children 6-23 months of age. The programme focuses on addressing stunting but also has an early warning aspect for seasonal rises in acute malnutrition which includes monitoring the nutrition situation in Karamoja, supporting preparedness for nutrition crises through the nutrition Surge approach and initiating support to IMAM services as and when required. The behaviour change approach is implemented primarily through the mother caregroup approach. Surge and IMAM support is primarily implemented in partnership with government Disrict Health Offices (DHOs) .

Main Duties & Responsibilities:

Management of Nutritionists and technical staff:

· Manage and provide guidance and leadership to Concern nutrition team located across the Karamoja region

· Line management and mentoring of 2 National Nutritionists, Health Educator Coordinator, Programme Support Officer and Social and Behaviour Change Specialist.

· Ensure that line reports have regularly set and reviewed personal performance objectives that contribute to the delivery of RWANU.

· Identify capacities for strengthening in direct reports and provide training, coaching and mentoring as required.

· Ensure the programme team have a clear understanding of the nutrition situation in Karamoja,context specific malnutrition causality and are clear on the objectives of the programme and how they are to be achieved.

· Monitor delivery of project components in relation to the Detailed Implementation Plan (DIP) , flag issues and take corrective action as required.

· Lead the nutrition team and line reports in programme planning for nutrition components. This includes annual Detailed Implementation Plans, activity sequencing, quarterly and monthly planning, quarterly reviews etc.

· Ensure the timely delivery of programme targets that are in your responsibility, flag delays to line management and take corrective action.

· Develop detailed procurement plan for all required nutrition materials well in advance and liaise with the logistics department to ensure details and timelines are well understood.

· Manage budget aspects that fall within the responsibility of the Senior Nutritionist. This includes contributing to annual Concern & donor budgeting and budget revisions.

· Promote Concern Worldwide’s vision, mission and core values among staff and partners and monitor adherence to Concern’s P4 policy.

· Deputise for Health and Nutrition Director- RWANU in their absence from project area.

Providing technical advice and overseeing Quality Control of nutrition components:

· Lead on developing strategies for implementation of Concern nutrition programming in Karamoja

· Ensure that RWANU incorporates best practice in care group and nutrition programming.

· Lead on the development of technical components including module lessons, care group lesson guides, male-change agent curriculum, drama, community messaging etc

· Lead on developing and presentations on Concern’s work in nutrition when required

· Lead on training of frontline staff involved in nutrition work and conduct monitoring of messaging and counselling at community level to ensure high standard of household level interaction.

· Liaise with key Karamoja nutrition stakeholders in local government, IOs and peer agencies in monitoring nutrition situation in Karamoja and contributing to analysis.

· Liaise with Concern Nutrition technical advisors in Dublin and New York.

· Contributing to a theory of change for improved food security and nutrition outcomes in Karamoja including clearly articulating the contribution of Concern’s work in Karamoja and identifying areas that require further studies or research.

· Leads on operational research, in conjuntion with the Health and Nutrition Director, including developing ToRs, supervising the consultants and ensuring the report findings are disseminated and adopted in the programme

· Leading the team in field assessments, field research, barriers analysis etc.

· Developing monitoring tools for various components of Concern RWANU nutrition work, analysing monitoring data and advising on corrective action if required.

Programme Reporting:

· Produce monthly, quarterly and annual reports for inclusion in internal (Country and HQ) and external (Ministry and donor) requirements.

· Writing technical reports, programme briefs for various stakeholder

· Responding to technical queries on nutrition aspects of RWANU and nutrition situation in Karamoja

· Lead on the roll-out of standard Concern nutrition reporting in Karamoja.

IMAM & Surge

· Track and analyse information relating to food security situation in Karamoja and flag any indication of deteriorating nutrition situation.

· Support project staff in implementing preparedness measures as per the Concern Surge approach.

· Track Surge progress and make recommendations on modifications.

· Contribute to developing the Surge approach for the Karamoja context including lesson learning on the 2015 Surge implementation and proposing modifications etc.

Nutrition Coordination:

· Participate in regional nutrition meetings and represent Concern at Nutrition related meetings/events in Karamoja region.

· Liaise with district nutritionists, district biostatiticians and key government nutrition stakeholders

· Support District Nutrition Coordination Committees (2 districts) in the role under Uganda Nutrition Action Plan (UNAP)

· Lead on technical nutrition liaison, coordination and lesson sharing with other agencies implementing nutrition related work in Karamoja (UNICEF, WFP, CUAAM, Mercy Corps, World Vision,ACF, Samaritans Purse etc)

PERSON SPECIFICATION.

ESSENTIAL

Education, Qualifications & Experience Required: Masters’ degree in Nutrition.

Experience Required:

· 5 years experience in nutrition field with minimum 2 years working internationally on applied nutrition issues including nutrition related behaviour change;

· At least two years experience in programme/team management and building capacity of diverse teams.

· Experience in Project Cycle Management (PCM) for nutrition programmes

· Experience in implementing nutrition interventions for preventative and curative (IMAM) contexts

· Dynamic trainer, clear presenter with excellent communication skills.

· Strong IT and understanding database software skills; Ability to analyse data and write project reports to a high standard.

· Experience in multi-tasking, networking and coordination

· Experience in implementing SBCC programming

· Experience in implementing large projects in challenging environments.

DESIRABLE

Education, Qualifications & Experience Required: Masters level Nutrition Qualification and/or Medical Nursing/ Public Health Background, Prior Experience with USAID nutrition/health projects.

How to apply:

Any Other Special Requirements:

All applications should be submitted through our website at https://jobs.concern.net by closing date.

CV’s should be no more than 4 pages in length.

All candidates who are short-listed for a first round interview will be notified via email after the application deadline

Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organisation dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries.

Concern has a Staff Code of Conduct and a Programme Participant Protection Policy which have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organization, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context staff have a responsibility to the organization to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Programme Participant Protection Policy and the Concern Staff Code of Conduct candidates acknowledge that they have understood the contents of both the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and the Programme Participant Protection Policy and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these two documents.

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Concern Worldwide is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sections of the community.