Nutrition and Physical Activity Officer

Contract

This is a NO-B contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 2 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be more than 3,336 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

1. Background and Justification

* Purpose of the Position

The burden of Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) is a public health concern in the Northeast Nigeria. According to the National Nutrition and Health Survey (NNHS-2015), 2.6 % of the children 6-59 months are Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) in Borno state alone which is above the WHO's critical threshold of 2%. The October 2016 Cadre Harmonise, indicates an extremely worrisome food security and nutrition situation as well. It is estimated that 4.6 million people to be food insecure with 55,000 in extreme food insecurity in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states.

2. Job Description

* Objectives of the Programme and of the immediate Strategic Objective

The mission of WHO's Health Emergencies Programme is to support and build the national capacity of the States to manage health emergency risks and coordinate the international health response to contain outbreaks and to provide effective relief and recovery to the affected population.

The aim of the WHO's emergency nutrition response is to reduce mortality and morbidity associated with under nutrition and to lower the prevalence of under-nutrition. The objectives of the WHO's nutrition response is to improve equitable access to quality lifesaving services for management of severe acute malnutrition specially with medical complications for children (girls and boys 0-59 months) through systematic identification, referral and treatment. WHO also aim to support and strengthen the capacity of health staff in effectively treating severe acute malnutrition with complications at the health facilities as well as promoting nutrition education to prevent undernutrition among vulnerable communities with a specific focus on Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (IYCF-E) acceptable level.

* Organizational context

In the context of the Health Emergencies Incident Management System (IMS), at the country level, the incumbent will assist in coordination with relevant state health agencies and provide technical expertise to the national authorities and related health and nutrition partners in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of nutrition programmes and activities throughout the full cycle of the incident, in line with WHO's related policies and strategies

* Summary of Assigned Duties

The incumbent is expected to support in the following specific tasks:

1. Build and sustain close working partnership with the relevant health agencies including State Ministry of Health (SMOH), Hospital Management Board (HMB), State Primary Health Care Development Agency (SPHCDA) and Nutrition department to facilitate the achievement of WHO's nutrition program goal and objectives.

2. Provide technical guidance and operational support in program planning, formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of nutrition programme and activities to the state health authorities, nutrition sector partners and the team members.

3. Capacity building of MoH and partner NGOs staff at state and LGAs level to effectively manage the treatment of SAM cases with medical complications.

4. Support scaling up of nutrition screening and activities for children 0-59 months in geographic locations with a high burden of SAM or GAM.

5. Conduct monthly monitoring visits to the nutrition sites specially the stabilization centers to assess service delivery, identify gaps and provide on the job training and support to the SC staff. Ensure and facilitate that the SCs have the required drugs and supplies for the treatment of SAM cases.

6. Manage regular data collection, analysis and reporting to the relevant partners. Support strengthening nutrition surveillance and contribute to nutrition situation analysis.

7. Identify core advocacy concerns in nutrition and contribute to develop key messages and strategies to address the issues. Prepare communication and information materials when needed to promote nutrition messages in close coordination with the WHO communication colleagues.

8. Actively represent WHO at relevant platforms specially the nutrition sector coordination mechanism and the nutrition sector task force meetings. Contribute to the development and implementation of interagency SMART surveys and other assessment tools.

9. Participate in program planning, monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine required action/interventions to achieve results. Develop monitoring reports with recommendations to improve WHO response in nutrition. Prepare program reports where needed, assist in drafting concept papers and proposals for fund raising in nutrition and assist supervisor on other program tasks when requested

3. Recruitment Profile

Competencies:

*1. Teamwork

*2. Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences

*3. Communication

4. Producing results

5. Ensuring the effective use of resource

Functional Knowledge and Skills

* Describe the essential knowledge and the skills specific to the position

1. Demonstrated knowledge of surveillance and monitoring systems as related to emergency response relief operations, complemented by skills in the field of epidemiological or statistical data collection, assessment, analysis and the evaluation and monitoring in a public health context.
2. Proven ability to multitask across various planning and implementation processes within a highly demanding environment.
3. Demonstrated knowledge, competency and professional skills on the public health aspects of infectious disease control, epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response with particular attention to application of an all-hazard approach in the context of the International Health Regulations and the use of event based and indicator-based surveillance, as well as descriptive epidemiology and principles of public health in communicable disease surveillance and response.

Education Qualifications

* Essential

Advanced university degree (Master's level) in nutrition, public health or a degree in medicine.

Desirable

Specialized training in emergency response/ humanitarian response or disaster management in the context of nutrition and public health.

Experience

* Essential

A minimum of two (2) years of professional experience in nutrition program specially in emergency settings

Desirable

Experience in Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM), Inpatient management of SAM with medical complications, Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (IYCF-E), Health and Nutrition education program.

Knowledge and understanding of public health problems with a focus on under-nutrition.

Experience in developing and promoting collaborative actions with national authorities and partner organizations.

Experience in project planning, management, monitoring and evaluation.

Experience in capacity building of national authorities and nutrition sector partners

4. Use of Language Skills

Expert knowledge of English Language

Other Skills (e.g. IT)

Excellent knowledge of Microsoft Office applications. Working knowledge of online data collection applications, statistical analysis packages (Stata, SPSS, etc).Working knowledge of GIS mapping software (or similar) would be an asset