Nutrition Counsellor (National Female Only)
Provide comprehensive nutrition counseling and support to mothers and children.
Overview
Provide comprehensive nutrition counseling and support to mothers and children.
You have:
- Having Nursing, Midwifery Diploma is an advantage.
- At least 2 years’ experience in the field of health and nutrition at the community level.
- Fluency in Pashto, Dari, and English.
- Ability to provide sensitive and appropriate counselling and strong communication skills.
- Must be a team player with excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work under pressure in a stressful environment, displaying patience, compassion, and diplomacy.
- Ability and flexibility to understand the cultural and political environment and to work well with the local health representatives.
- Ability to lead, train, supervise, and facilitate other nursing staff and community health workers in their respective tasks.
- Computer skills (including MS Word, Excel, Access, and Internet) an advantage.
Work Arrangement:
Job Description
General Duties
Staff Coordination
- Maintain open and professional relations with team members, promoting a strong team spirit and providing guidance to enable staff to successfully perform in their positions. - Provide nutrition support and mentorship to other mobile clinic staff, providing on-the-job training where needed. - Ensure non-disclosure of any information whatsoever about practices and IRC activities to any other person or organization without permission, except in the normal performance of the service. - Consistently and proactively monitor/assess the safety and security of the team; promptly report concerns or incidents to IRC management and liaise with community leaders and other external parties as required to maintain/enhance the security environment for IRC programs.
Specific
Objective 1: Screening of all under 5 children and PLW
- Conduct systematic screening of all U5 children (Oedema, MUAC, Height, and Weight) and PLW (MUAC & Oedema) in selected communities. - Maintain and update the screening, OPD-MAM, and OPD-SAM register books on a daily basis - Refer children and PLWs who meet admission or discharge criteria to the nutrition nurse. - Identify children who are absents and defaulted from the program and inform the community volunteers to conduct home visits.
Objective 2: Growth Monitoring all children under 2
- Register and undertake Growth Monitoring and promotion (GMP) including measuring weight, height, and age, and checking edema of all children under two years of age. - conduct GMP-based counselling of mothers/ caregivers of all children under two years of age on appropriate maternal infant and young child nutrition MIYCN practice and infection prevention. - If the child is normal encourage the counsel mother to reinforce and promote age appropriate MIYCN practices. - If a child is suffering from acute malnutrition refer to the nutrition nurse of MHNT or Static Health Facility for giving adequate treatment and counselling. - Counsel mothers or caregivers to bring under two children's children for the continuous monthly GMP visit.
Objective 3: Counseling maternal infant and young child nutrition (MIYCN)
- Provide individual nutrition counselling on appropriate practices based on the BMI and MUAC findings. - Check whether lactating mothers received adequate IFA tablets during three months after delivery. - If apparently the mothers’ health and nutrition are not suitable refer to the nutrition nurse and medical doctor for diagnosis and treatment. - Check whether the child has received vitamin A supplementation during the previous national immunization day (NID) if not then refer to the doctor and Vaccinator of the Health Center to obtain vitamin A. - Conduct complementary feeding food demonstrations to mothers and caregivers. - Establish Mother to Mother support group. - Provision of IYCF counselling at IYCF corner to mothers and primary caregivers for children under 2. - Identify mothers to become peer educators in their villages and support them to undertake sensitization and work closely with CHWs. - Lead individual and group nutrition counselling sessions tailored to the needs of clients and caregivers. - Train and work with CHWs to ensure consistent messaging regarding best practices for IYCF and
Objective 4: Recording and reporting:
- Maintain regular reports to monitor and track the delivery of nutrition services. - Use the MCH handbook in those provinces where the MCH handbook is applied. - Identify beneficiaries who required follow-up visit and share information with community health volunteers to follow up those beneficiaries. - Ensure accurate recording of nutrition information in the clinic registers and timely completion of summary reports.
Qualifications
- Having Nursing, Midwifery Diploma is an advantage. - At least 2 years’ experience in the field of health and nutrition at the community level. - Skills to provide sensitive and appropriate counselling and strong communication skills. - Must be a team player with excellent interpersonal skills and the ability to work under pressure in a stressful environment, displaying patience, compassion, and diplomacy. - Ability to be innovative, flexible, adaptive, and willing to work out of hours, sometimes throughout the night. - Ability to live in challenging conditions and ability to work under difficult, high-pressure situations. - Ability to lead, train, supervise, and facilitate other nursing staff and community health workers in their respective tasks. - Ability and flexibility to understand the cultural and political environment and to work well with the local health representatives. - Communication and reporting skills - Fluency in Pashto, Dari, and English - Computer skills (including MS Word, Excel, Access, and Internet) an advantage. - Ability to work closely, professionally, and constructively with all others regardless of nationality, ethnicity, gender, religion, race, tribe, or cultural background.
Potential interview questions
| Can you describe your experience in community health and nutrition initiatives? | This assesses your relevant background and understanding in this field. | Provide examples of your previous roles and how they relate to the position. |
| How have you dealt with stressful situations in previous jobs? | The interviewer wants to gauge your coping mechanisms under pressure. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| What strategies do you use to communicate effectively with community members? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| Describe your approach to providing nutritional counseling to mothers. What factors do you consider? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| Can you give an example of how you worked as part of a team in your last position? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| How do you assess the nutrition needs of children under 5? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| What steps do you take when you identify a child with malnutrition? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |
| How would you handle a conflict with a team member? | Pro members can see the explanation. | Pro members can see the explanation. |