Nutrition Specialist at unicef

The UNICEF Programme of Cooperation with the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) is designed to address and mitigate the threat of poverty the country’s children face, while responding to the needs with interventions addressing the multiple causative factors.

In response to the combination these threats involve the Programme supports national efforts to improve service delivery in the key areas of: child health and nutrition and HIV and AIDS, quality basic education, water, sanitation and hygiene education, child protection and social policy, advocacy and communication.

To find out more about UNICEF’s work in Zambia, please visit https://www.unicef.org/zambia/.

How can you make a difference?

Background:

In the 2010 update of the Core Commitments for Children (CCCs) is the explicit commitment that appropriate and experienced staff and personnel with relevant deployment training are provided and rapidly deployed, that focus on action in the first eight critical weeks of humanitarian response and provide guidance for action beyond that, moving towards defined benchmarks.

Significant rainfall deficits in the Southern, Western and parts of Central province in Zambia resulted in devastating effects on agriculture production and consequent acute food insecurity in the affected areas. A total of 58 districts in the southern and western region of Zambia were greatly affected. A projected 2.3 million people across 58 districts in Zambia are estimated to be facing IPC phase 3 or worse food and nutrition insecurity.

Under the general guidance and supervision of the Chief of Nutrition, the incumbent will be responsible for the development, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and coordination of UNICEF’s national and sub-national nutrition activities in response to the emergency.

Responsibilities and Tasks:

• Establish and maintain regular contacts with local authorities to advocate for the inclusion of UNICEF nutrition priorities within the zonal development plan/initiatives and participate in coordination meetings and follow up on implementation of recommendations and agreements.
• Facilitate partnership at national and regional level with WHO, WFP, the ministry of health and the NGOs about UNICEF- supported nutrition activities, including UNICEF Emergency response plan, rapid nutrition assessments (when needed), Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition IMAM) Programme.
• Ensure strong participation in Nutrition sector Coordination meetings including provision of co-leadership support in coordinating the sector response in support of National Food and Nutrition Commission (NFNC) and Ministry of Health (MoH) coordination. Develop sectoral work plans with the active participation of other Nutrition partners to ensure achievement of Programme objectives. Track the progress in implementation and address bottlenecks and issues impeding sector response.
• Assist to identify staffing needs and assist in the recruitment process of national consultants to work on responding to the crisis. Identify training needs of the nutrition staff. Support the development of relevant training modules and follow-up tools. Develop a plan and coordinate emergency nutrition capacity building activities.
• Undertake field visits to monitor Programme implementation. Provide assistance to the field teams as requested and to travel to the field to fill gaps as required.
• Coordinate with operations staff provision of supply and non-supply assistance to partners, ensuring proper and timely accountability in accordance with UNICEF policies and procedures. Certify disbursements of funds, monitor utilization and preparation of financial status reports.
• Design, prepare, implement and follow-up on the projects/activities on Nutrition, for emergency and development phases (development of more sustainable and community-based activities).  Contribute to the development of the early recovery component.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have;

• Master’s Degree in human nutrition, preferably with corresponding degree in Public Health, Food Security, Medicine or another related field with either UN and/or NGOs.
• At least 5 years of progressive working experience in the field of Emergency public health nutrition and 5-8 years experience with either the UN and/or NGO.
• Recent experience in Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition and Moderate Acute Malnutrition, including Therapeutic Feeding Programmes (TFP) and Supplementary Feeding Programmes (SFP).
• Knowledge of and experience with the products and treatment protocols being used in Community Bases Management of Acute Malnutrition programmes.
• Experience in Malnutrition Programme communications, Communication for Development (C4D).
• Fluency in English (verbal and written). Good written and spoken skills in the language of the humanitarian operation and knowledge of another UN language an asset.