CMAM Scale Project Lead

Job Description

Background/IRC Summary:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, works with people forced to flee from war, conflict and disaster and the host communities that support them, as well as with those who remain within their homes and communities. At work today in over 40 countries and 22 U.S. cities, we aim to deliver high-quality, client-centered, cost-effective programs – on our own and with local partners. We combine the best available research with client-driven insights. We want empowerment and lasting change to be the norm not just for the people we serve, but for all those who are caught in crisis.

In nutrition, the IRC aims to strengthen health services and food systems to ensure women and children are well-nourished by protecting them from all forms of undernutrition. We increase access to, and continuity of, treatment for acute malnutrition through scaling up the community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) and through the uptake of our cutting-edge research, we’re simplifying diagnosis and treatment to improve access, reach and cost-effectiveness (ARC) of services.

The CMAM ARC Project

Specific Responsibilities:

The CMAM ARC Technical Lead will provide technical oversight to the three year funded CMAM project across five countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, DRC, Niger and Somalia) with a possibility to extend to more. The Technical Lead will oversee the achievement of project deliverables with regards to quality implementation of the CMAM ARC project, the necessary coverage surveys, high-quality MEAL and effective technical support and coordination to country teams. The Technical Lead will also supervise the technical project team (Coverage, nutrition and MEAL specialists) to ensure high quality data collection, monitoring, learning, coverage assessments and cost-effectiveness evaluations working closely with the project teams in each country. The Technical Lead will oversee the learning agenda for the project, responsible for report writing and donor engagement. The Technical Lead will monitor the project implementation in line with best practice on cost-effectiveness and will work closely with the IRC Best Use of Resources Team to evaluate cost-effectiveness (through the Dioptra tool) on an annual basis.

The Technical Lead’s specific responsibilities include:

Country Support:

Provide technical support to the project teams in Burkina Faso, Chad, DRC, Niger and Somalia:

· Support technical training, coaching and mentoring to country technical counterparts

· Support project delivery by partnering with country technical counterparts to analyze data and share program-specific tools/resources/curricula to drive improvements in quality, access, coverage and outcomes

· Conduct technical support visits and maintain regular coordination meetings with country project teams

· Review, compile and validate donor reports

Technical:

· Provide technical expertise and capacity building to countries to adopt coverage-increasing activities such as SURGE approach, Simplified Protocol, Family MUAC

· Provide technical support to the MEAL Specialist to develop and pilot the CommCare nutrition data platform in collaboration with the M&E leads in each country

· Oversee and review the development of the project-level reports on the projects learning agenda (e.g. review key performance indicators, including coverage, admissions, recovery rates, relapse) and advise on project specific course correction

· Develop, test, and roll-out specific tools, resources, training and curriculum related to the project to meet the needs of the end users

· Capitalize all lessons learned of the project in prevision of larger scale up and lead the development of workshops with the five countries to bring together learning on cost-effective CMAM programming.

· Collaborate with the Best Use of Resources team on monitoring and evaluation cost-effectiveness

Other:

· Represent the nutrition team in academic fora, inter-agency working groups, and various global/regional fora as needed

· Maintain coordination with the Nutrition team, the GRIP and the BUR team at IRC headquarters, building on and contributing to IRC’s broader learning agenda

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: the Senior Technical Advisor for Nutrition

Position directly supervises: Supervises the project management technical team. Establishes management in partnership with country specific technical positions under the project

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal: Regular relationships with the Nutrition team in HQ, the BUR team and the health unit and country technical counterparts. Interacts with IRC internal departments as relevant including IPP and finance.

External: May participate in outside meetings and academic forums with donors, other non-governmental organizations and inter-agency groups as needed.

Job Qualifications:

Education: University degree in related field plus Master’s degree in Public Health, Public Health Nutrition or Global Nutrition is required.

Skills: Ability to work effectively and respectfully on diverse teams and across diverse contexts. Good technical acumen, takes initiative, works productively while working remotely and produces results, ability to accept feedback and integrate it, strong communication skills and ability to uphold a positive work environment. Good level interpersonal skills with a high level of English and French oral and written skills. Committed to upholding diversity, equality and inclusion principles both professionally and personally.

Essential Work Experience: A minimum of 5 years of international experience managing CMAM programs in humanitarian settings and a minimum of 3 years working at the global level advising on CMAM implementation and strategy as well as experience engaging with donors. Expertise in the community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM is required and essential to the role). Proven knowledge and experience in designing M&E systems for CMAM programs using CommCare and on the design, implementation and analysis of nutrition coverage surveys (e.g. SQUEAC) and experience running cost-effectiveness analyses for CMAM. Experience in using IT software (e.g. CommCare) is an advantage.

Only candidates who meet the required work experience and who fluently speak both English and French will be considered.

Working Environment: Up to 30% travel will be required, traveling to each of the five countries at least once per year.

Language Skills: Fluency in English and French is required

Qualifications