Nutrition Officer

Contract

This is a UNV National Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as National UN Volunteer. It is normally only for nationals. More about UNV National Specialist contracts.

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programmes, in advocacy, and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children's rights into action. UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence and exploitation.

UNICEF supports the Federal Government of Ethiopia to accelerate progress for children, work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and help children realize their rights under the Convention on the Rights of Children. This will be made through, among other things, strong partnerships with regional governments, health professionals, teachers, frontline workers, religious and community leaders, social mobilisers, communities and families, and the children and adolescents themselves.

UNICEF will work so that: • Every child survives and thrives -- being in good health, immunized, and accessing nutritious food. • Every child learns. • Every child is protected from violence and exploitation and registered at birth. • Every child lives in a safe and clean environment, with access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.

The Nutrition Officer, under the direct supervision of the Nutrition Specialist, will provide technical support for UNICEF Multisectoral nutrition coordination, financial tracking of Food and Nutrition strategy, Multisectoral Nutrition Information system, and advocacy.

Under the supervision of the Nutrition Specialist or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UNV Nutrition Officer will:

1. Support Multisectoral Nutrition Coordination and financial tracking of Nutrition interventions

• Support and monitor the functioning of the regional multisectoral coordination committee • Identify and leverage experiences in multisectoral coordination of nutrition data at the regional and national levels. • Share learnings from the regional Food and Nutrition Coordination Unit • Develop a strategy for monitoring, evaluation, and learning capacity assessment and capacity building to deepen multisectoral nutrition data use for decision-making. • Support the financial tracking of the Food and Nutrition Strategy

2. Support for the collection and use of nutrition data for decision making

• Build the capacity of the nutrition program, implementing line ministries, agencies, and institutes at all levels to collect and utilize nutrition data for planning and decision- making. • Ensure regular Integrated Supportive Supervision (ISS) and multisectoral & sectoral review meetings. • Conduct systematic review and publication of the existing nutrition data for programming and decision making • Support and follow up the rollout of UNISE in target woredas, and documentation of lessons learnt. • Support and organize a forum for sharing experiences from UNISE implementation in target woredas. • Support nutrition information systems and Food and Nutrition Strategy monitoring framework. • Develop advocacy and sensitization messages on the nutrition information revolution.

3. Support Operational Research and Evaluation

• Support and monitor operational research implementation, review, and documentation. • Support capacity building of HEWs in the implementation of operational research. • Support the design and dissemination of job aids • Facilitate the review process of monitoring reports and final reports. • Facilitate the dissemination of operational research and evaluation findings

4. Support visibility of Food and Nutrition Strategy/policy through social media

• Support the Ministry in developing a social media plan and measurement framework to track the content of posts • Support the Minister in regularly exporting metrics from established social media platforms, updating the Food and Nutrition Policy/Strategy measurement framework, and conducting all necessary analyses. • Document best practices
• Support the FMOH in developing a Month-to-month content calendar that will help plan, disseminate content, and track social media initiatives • Ensure the use of the content calendar for pre-planning of the content of posts, video uploads, email newsletters

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:

• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and taking an active part in UNV activities (for instance, in events that mark International Volunteer Day); • Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country; • Provide annual and end-of-assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results, and opportunities.
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.; • Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers; • Promote or advise local groups in using online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever possible.

Results/expected outputs:

• Functional multisectoral nutrition coordination committees exist at regional, zonal, and woreda level • Food and Nutrition Strategy financial tracking report • Regular briefs on the multisectoral nutrition information system (UNISE) outputs • Monitoring and reviewing meeting proceedings • Training reports • Operational research monitoring reports • Best practice documents • Social media plan and measurement framework for visibility of Food and Nutrition Strategy • A Month-to-month content calendar and total reach reports

• Professionalism • Integrity • Adaptability and flexibility • Planning and organizing • Communication

planning and implementing Nutrition programs • Previous experience in working in communities • Technical understanding of nutrition-specific interventions and cross-cutting behaviour change communication to increase uptake of optimal maternal, infant, and young child nutrition practices. • Understanding of the National Food and Nutrition Policy/Strategy, Nutrition Program, guidelines, and related initiatives in response to maternal and child nutrition. • Experience providing technical capacity building and technical assistance for health professionals and other sectors • Excellent oral and written skills; excellent drafting, formulation, and reporting skills. • Excellent interpersonal skills: the ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots community members, religious and youth organizations, and authorities at different levels; familiarity with the National food and Nutrition Strategy and policy • Ability to multi-task and work under pressure with attention to detail.

As this is a national UN Volunteer assignment, the UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials. Addis Ababa is fast a growing city making everything easily accessible. It can be admitted that the cost of living is quite high due to inflation. The major neighborhoods in Addis are becoming quite populated due to the high number of people migrating from the countryside looking for employment. There are so many historical places to visit in Addis Ababa (Merkato Market, Entoto Park, Unity Park, National Museum of Ethiopia….)