National Consultancy Nutrition Field Monitor - 8 months (Open to South Sudanese only)

Contract

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Purpose of the Assignment:

The purpose of the Nutrition Field Monitors is primarily to support programmatic visits for the 37 CSOs implementing nutrition Programme in 79 +1 counties. The Nutrition Field Monitors will contribute to the achievement of nutrition Programme targets through improving quality of preventative and curative nutrition services for women and children. Nutrition Field Monitors will ensure that nutrition programme documents with CSOs are implemented as planned.

Background

UNICEF South Sudan Country Office nutrition programme is mainly implemented through partnerships with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). In the current programme cycle (2019-2022), nutrition programme has signed 37 multi-years Program Documents (PDs) with CSOs to support provision of nutrition services to women and children in more than 1,200 nutrition sites located within 79+1 counties of South Sudan. The expectation is to carry out at least one Field Monitoring Visit (FMV) to CSOs in each of the 79+1 counties and visit more than 300 sites on a quarterly basis. These field monitoring visits will help to assess progress towards expected results and the quality of nutrition services provided by CSOs staff. At the end of each field monitoring visits, the identified gaps are analyzed, and corrective actions are proposed for remedial action. The nutrition program has set up an effective and systematic tracking of field monitoring recommendations. Presently, nutrition programme has one nutrition officers in each of the 10 field offices, therefore it is challenging for one staff to reach the targets of field monitoring visits per quarter. Moreover, accessibility to some counties under the field office area under the responsibility of the field nutrition officer remain challenging and most of the time the locations are only accessed by flight through Juba City. These staff movements have high costs in terms of time spent on travel, flight tickets and DSA. At the end it becomes challenging for one nutrition officer per field office to balance time for other office requirements. The contracts of the current nutrition 14 field monitors are coming to an end; therefore, they will take mandatory break in service. Given the high expectations in term of field monitoring visits by the donors and the limited number of field office nutrition officers, the nutrition programme is planning to recruit 14 nutrition field monitors, 10 to be based within the field offices and 4 to be based in Juba and will constitute a mobile team that will cover hard to reach counties. The nutrition monitor consultants are fully funded by USAID-BHA until 31st December 2022.

Main Duties and Responsibilities: 1. Plan, carry out, report and follow up actions points for programmatic visits/ field monitoring visits to CSO partners using direct observation or remote monitoring modality. 2. Analyze monthly and quarterly reports from CSO partners and track achievement against approved Programme Document (PD) targets; ensuring that key bottlenecks are identified, discussed and resolved. 3. Assess CSO partners capacity on program monitoring and supervision and support capacity building CSO partners on program monitoring and supervision. 4. Support CSO partners to train and supervise community nutrition volunteers (CNVs) to conduct systematic community mobilization, growth monitoring and promotion, community screening for active case finding of children affected by wasting, referrals and follow up. 5. Support CSO partners to build capacity of community nutrition volunteers to provide maternal, infant and young child nutrition (MIYCN) for groups and individuals counselling including cooking demonstrations. 6. Support sMOH and CSO partners on community mobilization activities during World Breastfeeding Week. 7. Support sMOH and CSO partners on community mobilization and monitoring of vitamin A supplementation and deworming (VASD) during campaigns or routine delivery approach. 8. Support CSO partners to ensure that community nutrition volunteers promote nutrition sensitive interventions like home gardening and ECD. 9. Support CSO partners to regularly monitor the stock status of key nutrition programme supplies. 10. Participate in periodic nutrition coordination meetings (such as subnational nutrition cluster meetings, monthly program review meetings; Inter-Cluster Rapid Needs Assessment (IRNA), Risk Communication and Community Engagement subcommittee meetings etc.). 11. Participate in selected Integrated Rapid Response Missions (IRRM) to reach displaced beneficiaries in hard-to-reach populations on need basis. 12. Support roll out of any new guidelines for nutrition programme implementation to ensure the continuity of quality service delivery during emergencies such as COVID 19 pandemic, EVD, Cholera, Flooding, Desert Locust infestation etc. 13. Participate in periodic food security and nutrition assessments (such as. Food Security and Nutrition Monitoring Surveys (FSNMS), Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), Inter cluster Rapid Needs Assessment (IRNA)) when required. 14. Document any good practices developed as part of the implementation of nutrition projects including human interest stories (with accompanying photographs) 15. Support in follow up of non-reporting partners for submission monthly reports in the nutrition information system (NIS).

Tasks/Milestone: Deliverables/Outputs

Pre-service nutrition capacity assessment in South Sudan and development of standard nutrition training package 1. Submit quarter programmatic Visit’s plan (done in coordination with Field Nutrition Officers) 15th of the last month of the quarter 2. Submit reports on programmatic visits conducted 5th of each month (June to December 2022) 40% 3. Upload all pending field reports in e-tools and close outstanding open action points. 5th of the month (June to December 2022) 20% 4. Submit progress update report for continuous quality improvement. 25th of every month (June to December 2022) 40% 5. Prepare and submit at least one Human Interesting Story 5th September 2022 6. Two-page report on lessons learnt document prepared and submitted 5th December 2022

Minimum Qualifications required: Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

Education and Professional Background: The consultant should have the following qualifications and experiences: • Bachelor’s degree or equivalent in Nutrition, Social Science, and Public Health or a related technical field. • Minimum five years of progressive professional work experience in management of nutrition and health interventions including program monitoring within CSOs or Ministry of Health, particularly in developing countries in humanitarian settings. • Experience of field monitoring of nutrition Programmes. • Excellent oral and written communication skills and report writing. Fluency in English language is required. • In-depth analytical and problem-solving skills. • Excellent facilitation skills, training skills and ability to organize and implement training. • Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment and proven interpersonal skills. • Experience in building successful relationships with government counterparts, UN agencies, CSOs and other relevant stakeholders. • Ability to cope with hardship conditions. • Knowledge of computer management skills including Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint software.

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UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.