Nutrition Specialist (Emergency), P-3, 6 months, Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Contract

This is a P-3 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 5 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 121,529 USD and 159,132 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.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, Health and Care.

The rapid deterioration of the socio-economic context in Haiti, marked by violence and widespread insecurity, has led to increased humanitarian needs in the country. Malnutrition is increasing at an alarming rate, with more than 100,000 children in need of care for severe wasting across the country. The structural fragilities of the country and its vulnerability to natural disasters, climate change and epidemics can lead to sudden and significant changes affecting the capacity of the government and UNICEF in the provision of services for the prevention and treatment of malnutrition. Ongoing violence in areas controlled by armed groups is preventing children and women from accessing basic health, nutrition, and WASH services. In addition, food insecurity has worsened over the past months, with about 4.4 million people in urgent need of food assistance. In addition, infant and young child feeding practices in Haiti remains sub-optimal while maternal care is inadequate. The already fragile nutrition situation is further compounded by the ongoing cholera outbreak which put the lives of thousands of malnourished children at risk. The metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince, the capital city, shows a particularly alarming situation, with high levels.

The rapid deterioration of the nutritional status of vulnerable groups, particularly young children, calls for immediate emergency nutrition actions to prevent a further deterioration of the nutrition situation and reduce morbidity as well as mortality associated with malnutrition.

Under the direct supervision of the Chief Nutrition, the Nutrition in Emergency Specialist will provide strategic support to UNICEF nutrition program in Haiti to accelerate emergency response in areas impacted by the ongoing nutrition crisis in line with UNICEF’s Core Commitments for Children.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Planning and strategy development

• Provide input into strategies and plans to deliver a comprehensive package of Nutrition services, relevant to the Nutrition needs, national policies, and overall emergency response. These strategies will also consider existing country program and long-term national priorities.
• Collaborate with UNICEF sections to promote multisectoral programming responses to support nutrition outcomes, with an emphasis on Health, WASH, education, child protection and social protection
• Collaborate with key stakeholders to update relevant policies and guidelines relevant to the nutrition response.
• Advise on immediate and ongoing supplies needs for the emergency response in close coordination with the CO supply teams, Supply Division and suppliers.
• Develop plans to transition from the acute emergency response phase into more sustainable programming, including both improved nutrition program and humanitarian coordination capacity. This will include but is UNICEF HAITI – TA Terms of Reference 2 not limited to advising on HR needs, capacity development and strategy development as well as facilitating delivery of the transition plan.

2. Grant Management (ECHO and BHA)

• Monitor the utilization and management of the ECHO and BHA grants, ensuring the adequate and timely allocation and use of resources in coordination with relevant stakeholders.
• Serve as one of the focal persons to interact with ECHO and BHA, including facilitation of meetings, presentations, evaluations, and related activities.
• Update ECHO and BHA on the allocation and use of resources through the development of timely and high-quality donor reports, ensuring that expenditure recorded meets donor requirements for eligible expenditure items and that the level of documentation meets their specified criteria.
• Ensure compliance with closure of the ECHO and BHA grants, including final financial reporting, external audit and updating UNICEF financial accounts.
• Conduct regular field visit to monitor the implementation of the ECHO and BHA grants.

3. Partnership and capacity development

• Initiate, strengthen and maintain operational partnerships based on the capacity mapping exercise to promote adequate coverage of nutrition services in affected areas.
• Foster operational linkages with other sectors, including health, WASH, and food security to promote comprehensive prevention and treatment services.
• Work and liaise with the Nutrition Section of WFP to come to a common agreement on complementary approaches between SAM and MAM in IPC4+ areas
• Identify capacity needs for UNICEF staff and agencies engaged in the Nutrition response and support appropriate capacity development activities and resources.
• Mentor and support to the Haiti CO Nutrition team (including surge staff) to coordinate and manage the emergency response and transition phase.

4. Strengthen humanitarian coordination mechanisms

• Work with UNICEF partners, national and local authorities to establish, scale up and embed national coordination capacity. This can include orientation sessions, advocacy, operational mentoring for coordination, co-leading coordination and advising on actions to embed strengthened humanitarian coordination capacity in the affected areas as well as nationally.
• Work with the regional nutrition coordinators, Nutrition Specialist and national coordination body to secure commitments from sector participants in responding to needs and filling gaps, ensuring an appropriate distribution of responsibilities within the sector, with clearly defined focal points for specific issues where necessary.
• Work with the regional nutrition coordinators, Nutrition Specialist and national coordination body to secure effective links with other sectors, especially Health, WASH, food security, social protection, and Education.

5. Monitoring and reporting

• Work with the regional nutrition coordinators, Nutrition Specialists, and stakeholders to consolidate and update the nutrition situation analysis on a rolling basis and to collect data on UNICEF emergency response.
• Prepare sitreps, briefing notes et reports on UNICEF emergency nutrition response.
• Advise on relevant indicators and analysis frameworks to facilitate management of the emergency response. Advise on what additional Nutrition related information is needed through one off data collection or strengthening of available Nutrition information systems to guide the Nutrition response.
• Work with the Regional Nutrition Coordinators and Nutrition Specialist to strengthen reporting on the nutrition situation and response to ensure that nutrition needs are clear in various fora and that UNICEF actions are clearly reported in internal and external documentation, including OCHA sitreps.
• Undertake field visits to emergency locations, particularly in the Metropolitan Area of Port-au-Prince and Artibonite, to assess progress related to UNICEF emergency response, identify major problems and constraints to propose solutions and actions.
• Contribute to lesson learning on the Haiti emergency nutrition response.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• An Advanced University Degree (Master's degree) in nutrition, nutritional epidemiology, public health, global/international health and nutrition, health/nutrition research, policy and/or management, or other health related social science field is required.
• A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in emergency nutrition program management or advisory support in nutrition assessment, programming or policy work at national level, at least 3 years of which at international level, is required.
• Practical experience including, but not limited to CMAM, SMART surveys, and IYCF
• Experience of working with government counterparts, UN agencies and NGO partners.
• Familiarity/ background with emergency is considered as an asset.
• Prior experience in Haiti is an asset.
• Fluency in English and French (verbal and written) is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or Haitian Creole is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4)Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. 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 is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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:

Eligible UNICEF International Professional (IP) Staff Members on fixed-term, continuing or permanent contracts applying to a Temporary Appointment, which is dedicated to L3 (or L2) Response, may be able to retain a lien and their fixed-term entitlements. The conditions of the temporary assignment will vary depending on the status of their post and their current tour of duty, and relocation entitlements may be limited as per the relevant policies.

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

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