Health and Nutrition Technical Specialist

The Organization We employ approximately 25,000 people across the globe and work on the ground in over 100 countries to help children affected by crises, or those that need better healthcare, education and child protection. We also campaign and advocate at the highest levels to realise the right of children and to ensure their voices are heard. We are working towards three breakthroughs in how the world treats children by 2030:

· No child dies from preventable causes before their 5th birthday · All children learn from a quality basic education and that, · Violence against children is no longer tolerated

We know that great people make a great organization, and that our employees play a crucial role in helping us achieve our ambitions for children.We value our people and offer a meaningful and rewarding career, along with a collaborative and inclusive workplace where ambition, creativity, and integrity are highly valued.

Application Information: Please apply using a cover letter and up-to-date CV as a single document. Please also include details of your current remuneration and salary expectations. A copy of the full role profile can be found at www.savethechildren.net/jobs We need to keep children safe so our selection process reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

TITLE: Health and Nutrition Technical Specialist

TEAM/PROGRAMME: Programme Development & Quality

LOCATION: Sierra Leone Country Office

GRADE: 2

CHILD SAFEGUARDING: (select only one)

Level 2: either the post holder will have access to personal data about children and/or young people as part of their work; or the post holder will be working in a ‘regulated’ position (accountant, barrister, solicitor, legal executive); therefore, a police check will be required (at ‘standard’ level in the UK or equivalent in other countries).

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Health and Nutrition Technical Specialist will be responsible for ensuring that Health and Nutrition responses in Sierra Leone is supported with quality technical inputs and to drive the child survival breakthrough, drawing upon Health and Nutrition strategic priorities. The role will lead strategy development and the technical design and implementation of high-quality programmes that deliver change for children in both emergency and development programming. The role supports national advocacy and influencing, while driving strategic partnerships for new business development. It supports the design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems to demonstrate impact, while sharing learning across our programmes, teams and partners. The role will also link with regional health, nutrition and WASH capacities where they exist, and contribute to regional learning, evidence generation and knowledge management where appropriate. The role will work closely with operations colleagues and partners in Sierra Leone, building the capacity ownership and agency of local organisations in health programming design and implementation. This position will be expected to engage with the country health and nutrition sector, and coordination mechanisms, as well as represent the organisation with key stakeholders such as the Ministry of Health, UN agencies, and key INGO / CSO. The role would be expected to support emergency preparedness, DRR and support the assessment, design and implementation of humanitarian responses with other Public Health staff in the country setting. In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Programme Quality & Development Director

Staff reporting to this post: None. Expected to provide coaching and mentoring support to operational and other technical colleagues and local partners on areas related to Health and Nutrition common approaches and program quality.

Budget Responsibilities: None

Role Dimensions: The role is expected to foster relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders including Save the Children members, the Country Office Programme Development & Quality team, advocacy colleagues, Regional Advisors, technical counterparts in other organisation, donors etc. The role is also expected to engage with internal technical working groups and communities of practice.

Context: Humanitarian and development

Scope: Community health, health systems strengthening, adolescent sexual and reproductive health

Primary Technical areas: Health and Nutrition

Primary Sub technical area: Child Health, Maternal and New-born Health

Secondary Technical areas: Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

1. Technical Leadership:
2. Provide technical leadership for Health and Nutrition for the Country Office, and set the strategic approach in relation to the wider country strategy

3. Capacity build, mentor and build a supportive health community across the Country Office, in conjunction with other public health colleagues in Health, Nutrition, and WASH.

4. Ensuring Programme Quality (Design & Implementation):

5. Work closely with new business development colleagues to identify and pursue funding opportunities that allow for both integration into broader programmes and standalone H&N projects; engage with technical partners, donors and colleagues across Save the Children
6. Lead the technical scoping, planning, and design and proposal writing during new programme development, and ensure that we design and deliver high quality integrated nutrition programmes for children with public health resources, building on global best practice.
7. Ensure that gender, disability and resilience considerations are reflected in our programme design and implementation.
8. Work with Child Rights Governance colleagues to ensure that a rights based approach is reflected in our programme design and implementation (in line with our child rights programming approach), with a strong focus on child participation
9. Promote a Health Systems Strengthening approach as the overarching framework, that supports working in collaboration and partnership with governments and national bodies, local partners and working towards impact, scale and sustainability.
10. Provide oversight and guidance to the programme implementation teams to ensure that thematic programme components are technically sound, implementation methods are consistent with national and global strategies, acknowledged good practice (e.g. Save the Children Common Approaches); and are likely to achieve scale, as well as equitable and sustainable results.
11. Promote and monitor integrated programming in a way that increases overall impact of nutrition programmes at the community level.
12. Work with Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning (MEAL) teams to carry out gender and power analysis, and conduct quality monitoring against international standards through participatory methodologies that promote gender equality and social justice (including child-friendly and gender sensitive/transformative methodologies);.
13. Contribute towards the creation of an organisational learning culture that promotes the use of disaggregated data, evidence and analysis (including gender and power analysis) and understands its link to quality and accountable programming; Contribute to strengthening the use of equality-focused programme principles and good practice across themes and sectors.
14. Undertake field visits to project sites; work with implementation teams to understand impacts, operational challenges, and continuously identify opportunities for learning and improvement.
15. Contribute to organisational learning on health ensuring that learning from our programmes is shared across the Country Office and our partners, as well as with colleagues in the wider regional and global health, nutrition and WASH community in Save the Children. Contribute to strengthening the use of health competencies within training and learning initiatives in the sector.
16. Support Humanitarian colleagues (as needed) to develop emergency preparedness plans, and conduct sectoral assessments (including gender analysis and disability situation analysis using SC assessment processes and tools) and to design and deliver emergency response and recovery programmes. Ensure synergies between humanitarian Health & Nutrition teams, data and programme design.

Networking & External Engagement:

1. In alignment with Country Office strategy and leadership, engage in strategic positioning with donors, partners and government in-country, and ensure that Save the Children is a partner of choice in Health & Nutrition.
2. Ensure that Save the Children is influencing and learning from others through national technical coordination and networking bodies such as health and nutrition clusters and working groups.
3. Strengthen civil society engagement in national dialogues and policy processes through working closely with advocacy and child rights governance colleagues. Ensure that the diverse voices of children, girls and boys are equitably heard and represented in our child protection work.
4. Represent the program to National and Local government representatives, donors, partner agencies, etc. as required.
5. Ensure the quality, clarity and consistency of technical components of internal and external reports (e.g. programme reports, sit-reps, internal updates), working closely with awards, programme implementation and communications colleagues as needed.
6. Leverage and liaise with technical colleagues from across Save the Children, including technical working groups and centres of excellence, ensuring that learning from the Country Office is shared with others and global lessons brought back.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• holds self -accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• holds their team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in accordance with the context, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own professional development and encourages their team to do the same
• widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• future orientated, thinks strategically and on a national and even regional scale.

Collaboration:

• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, technical advisors and working groups, Members and external partners and supporters
• values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

The post holder must commit to work in an international agency that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion and fights racism, gender inequality and discrimination in all forms; and to model positive behaviours that demonstrate a commitment to equality and respect to all colleagues, partners and communities.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Masters degree in Health, Nutrition, Public Health or related field or equivalent experience
• Nutrition, Health, Medical or Public Health undergraduate or related qualification

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

• At least 5 years’ experience of working in the Health & Nutrition in emergency or development settings, with preference for experience in Sierra Leone
• Understanding of the Health and Nutrition Thematic area in Sierra Leone, and an understanding of the health priorities impacted on by the regional or neighbouring situation.
• Understanding of the Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health thematic area in Sierra Leone.
• Familiar with health systems, and health service provision including community health and the engagement of civil society organisations.
• Good experience in training, and capacity building of workforce and health and nutrition staff
• Experience of the national context, strategies and policies to enable advocacy at national / regional level in order to hold duty bearers to account to realise children’s rights, including the right to health services and food.
• Skilled at networking, representation and partnership development in order promote learning, strengthen civil society and mobilise resources.
• Able to generate and use data and evidence to innovate, deliver, learn and share what works and what doesn’t work for children
• Experience of promoting quality and impact through at least one cross-cutting area: gender equality and inclusion, adaptive and safer programming; child rights; disability; migration and displacement.
• Demonstrated program design, monitoring and evaluation skills, including designing pathways to sustainable impact at scale.
• Demonstrated ability to develop technical budgets as part of proposal design processes.
• Experience of supporting humanitarian preparedness, response and recovery

KEY COMPETENCIES (Indicative / Key Competencies)

Technical competencies:

• Drives Quality Health and Nutrition Programming: Trains and mentors others on the application of relevant health sector standards
• Understanding of Impact of emergencies on health and nutrition programming and health outcomes: Engages in the humanitarian aid architecture, the cluster approach and inter-cluster coordination of public health information
• Able to build integrated multi-sectoral health and nutrition programmes: Builds the capacity of others to design and implement integrated health sensitive and specific programming and advocacy
• Able to link local to national and global level advocacy efforts, supporting localisation of change and influencing global policy development

Generic Competencies

• Being the Voice of Children: Promotes evidence-based policy and public engagement that includes the voices of children and their communities
• Advancing Equality & Inclusion: Displays a commitment to ensuring everything we do considers the most deprived and marginalised children
• Building & Strengthening Partnerships: Promotes working with diverse partners as critical to delivery
• Child Rights: Promotes the rights of children in own work and in work with colleagues and peers

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI’s global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Gender Equality Policies, supported by relevant procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Safeguarding our Staff:

The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.