Position Title: Head of Nutrition and Health Department
Level: X3
Number of positions: one(1)
Duty Station: Nairobi, with frequent travel to and within Somalia
Type of contract: Fixed term
Contract duration: 1year with possibility of extension
Organisational background
Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger) has been conducting humanitarian programs in Somalia Since May 1992. Currently, ACF is conducting its humanitarian activities in Somalia focused on treating and preventing malnutrition, increasing access to clean water and appropriate sanitation, strengthening the food-security and the livelihoods and thus boosting the resilience of communities in Somalia as well as emergency response via program bases in Mogadishu (since 1995), El Berde (since 2012), Xudur (since 2014), Eyl (Puntland, since 2014) and Tieglow (2015).
The positions and responsibilities
ACF Somalia is looking for suitable Kenyan National to fill Head of Nutrition and Health Department, based in Nairobi. Reports hierarchically to the Deputy Country Director and technically to the Nutrition and Health Technical Advisor at HQ, the Head of Nutrition and Health Department’s core responsibilities will include but not limited to the following:
Goal:
To define the strategies and coordinate activities of Action Contre la Faim’s Nutrition and Health Programmes in Somalia.
M Mission 1: Design, develop and evaluate actions in the field of nutrition and health
Ø Collection and quality control of monitoring, follow up and evaluation data
Ø Production’s quality for the nutritional situation analysis
Ø The standard of nutritional and medical proposals submitted by his/her teams
Ø Encouraging his/her teams to identify new programmes
Ø Development of an ACF nutrition and health strategy specific to the mission
Tasks:
• Assessment and analysis of prevailing context of nutrition in country
• Initiate studies based on the analysis of data provided by other partners (NGOs, UN agencies, governmental departments)
• Engaging in teamwork with coordinators in other technical areas to develop an integrated multi-sectoral approach
• Drawing up new proposals for intervention in medical and nutritional programme areas for submission to funding bodies
• Liaison with finance and logistics departments to establish budgets for new programmes in nutrition and health
• Developing and monitoring budgets allocated to the field of nutrition and health
• Identifying challenges and proposing research projects and innovative approaches in the field of malnutrition
• Building on good practice, experience and assessments in the framework of ACF’s organisational development strategy and ensuring that recommendations arising from assessments are implemented
Miss Mission 2: Monitor and coordinate programmes in the fields of nutrition and health
Ø Deciding to launch nutritional surveys in liaison with the Deputy Country Director/Director
Ø Development of integrated approach to the programmes
Ø Collection and analysis of data, including the decisions making on this basis
Ø Providing activity technical report of high quality within the given timeline
Ø Monitoring all the consolidated programme budgets relating to nutrition and health allocated to the country
Ø Logistical monitoring for nutrition and health programmes
• Tasks:
• Supervise or conduct of nutrition rapid assessments and/or nutritional surveys in collaboration with MEAL team
• Control, validate and monitoring of the resources used by the programmes in order to draft request and undertake quality control
• Monitoring programme quality by using APR indicators and qualitative and quantitative reports submitted by nutrition and health Programme Managers
• Preparing a monthly report summarising mission activities in nutrition and health (APR)
• When possible, appropriate and relevant, promote an integrated approach in the programmes to ensure a sound understanding of the causes of malnutrition in an area (eg study of market prices) – in liaison with FS
• Producing a synthesis of all data collected by Nutrition and Health Programme Manager and informing the Mission Head and relevant HQ personnel of the key indicators having a bearing on the programmes
• Producing activity reports for funding bodies on medical and nutritional aspects of the programmes
• Monitoring his/her programme budget, anticipating under- and over-consumption and proposing corrective action
Miss Mission 3: Supervise the Capacity Building Program Manager and/or Deputy Nutrition & Health
Coordinator.
• Day to day management, Evaluation of the performance, Skills development.
Tasks:
• Organising and leading meetings with the nutrition and Health management team
• Setting up and supervising action plans for programme managers
• Managing overall planning and implementation of work of the programmes
• Organising management team members performance evaluation
• Providing technical support to teams in the area of nutrition and Health
• Providing technical and managerial support to team members on routine basis
• Identifying the training needs among the team members
• Creating, organising and leading training sessions
• Liaison with the Human Resources Department to deal with any problems within the team
Miss Mission 4: Develop and launch programmes in collaboration with governmental and local agencies
Ø Dissemination of the ACF nutrition and health strategy at country level to partners and funding bodies
Ø Developing and maintaining a network of harmonious and productive relationships with national representatives and programme partners (funding bodies, other NGOs, etc)
Ø Establishing MoU to define the terms of various partnership with partner agencies and government counterparts and other stakeholders
Tas Tasks:**
• Negotiation with local partners on work organisation, protocols, action plans, training at all levels (local, regional and national) taking into account of all those involved in the area
• Negotiation of agreement protocols with the programme partners and government counterparts
• Whenever necessary, updating the agreement protocols to secure the efficient functioning of the programme (eg structural change in the partner agency, redefinition of roles)
• Coordinating the implementation of programmes with representatives of national and local government
• Linking up with partners and taking part in meetings with other agencies (WFP, Unicef, other NGOs etc) with a view to defining partnership agreements
• Analysing training needs and arranging training for the teams of programme partners (NGOs and MOH)
• Lending technical support to the development of national and local strategy in the struggle against malnutrition
• Setting out a common strategy and action plan (ACF and partners) concerning specific projects
• Collaborating with partners exchanging of useful information and regular coordination meetings
• Building a long term strategy for the programme, with a view to enabling the partner to achieve autonomy, with particular attention, where necessary, to cost recovery aspects
• Influencing the definition of national protocols through negotiation with representatives of partner structures (notably the Ministry of Health) with a view to disseminating ACF’s technical standards for dealing with malnutrition.
• Defining a country-specific strategy for technical advocacy in link with the Head of mission and HQ
M Mision 5: Represent Action Contre La Faim and its positioning in the field of nutrition and health
Ø Representing ACF in dealings with national and international authorities on matters of health and nutrition
Ø Making national and international authorities fully aware of the ACF positions and protocols
Tasks:
• Developing and maintain relations with current and potential donors (visits to projects, presentations of ACF and its work, requests for funding)
• Representing ACF in meetings with the health authorities and other agencies (cf cluster) and participate in national networks on nutrition.
• Promoting the philosophy and protocols of ACF to local partners (NGO, MoH, etc.)
• Representing the areas of health and nutrition in the national coordination of ACF
• Producing technical, strategic and activity reports in the fields of health and nutrition (for partners)
• Producing and/or publishing information, both internally and externally, concerning technical progress in the fields of health and nutrition in the country of intervention
• Elaborating communication tools for disseminating information on ACF and the nutrition and health dimensions of its programmes.
Essential Criteria:
• Masters in International Health, Nutrition, Public Health or its equivalent
• BSc. Foods , Nutrition and dietetics or Nursing
• 3-5 years nutrition/health field work experience at program management level (Somalia preferred)
• Training in project cycle management
• Strong reporting and budget management skills
• Experience in planning, implementing and statistically analysing nutritional surveys
• demonstrate good planning, organizational and research / analytical skills;
• Good organisational and leadership skills
• Working experience of managing a team
• Experience in conducting SMART, SQUEAC should be mentioned
• Sensitized / oriented to Monitoring & Evaluation
• Experience in HSS, Behavior Change as a plus
• Experience in delivering technical training (externally & internally)
Desirable Criteria:
• Working experience at national coordinator level
• Actively involved at national and international cluster and working groups
• Experience in working and developing relations at national government levels
• Working knowledge of Somali Language,.
• On top of working knowledge of Somali, Knowledge of Somalia context or even previous experience in Somalia.
HOW TO APPLY:
Applications, including CV with cover letter and 3 professional references to be sent via email to:
hr-recruitment@so.missions-acf.org not later than 15th June 2016 clearly mentioning the position and the location on the subject line. e.g. Head of Nutrition and Health Department – Nairobi
Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for interviews Female Candidates are particularly encouraged to apply.