TA Nutrition Specialist, P-4 (Cluster Coordinator), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (10 months)

UNICEF Ethiopia Country office is looking for to hire a highly motivated Nutritionist to support the Emergency Nutrition Coordination Unit (ENCU) cluster coordination.

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, 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, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Purpose of the Position

The Nutrition Specialist reports to the Nutrition Specialist(CMAM/NIS) for guidance and general supervision. The Specialist supports the Emergency Nutrition Coordination Unit (ENCU)  in the overall  Nutrition Cluster Coordination of  leading and facilitating the process of ensuring a coherent and effective emergency nutrition response, by mobilising Nutrition Cluster partners to respond in a strategic manner.

Key Expected Results

1. Regular MANTFF meeting (minimum monthly meeting)
2. Regular update on the current situation and response (weekly update)
3. Updated 4-W for partner mapping (updated 4-W within 1 month after hotspot classification)
4. Regular feedback to cluster members on nutrition related issues (weekly update)
5. Monthly analysis of underlying nutrition situation
6. Coordinated and coherent HRF proposal review and submission within 3 weeks of HRF proposal.
7. Develop and share operational plan for the nutrition cluster
8. Oversee the roll-out of the partner training and advocacy plan
9. Develop advocacy messages for the cluster.

Key Accountabilities and Duties & Tasks

1. Leading and managing nutrition cluster coordination at national and sub-national levels:

• Ensure appropriate coordination between all Nutrition humanitarian partners (including national and international NGOs, and other international organisations active in the sector) as well as national authorities.
• Strengthen and maintain the existing Multi-Agency Nutrition Task force (MANTF) including the coordination at regional level.
• Ensure full integration of the IACS's agreed priority cross-cutting issues, namely human rights, HIV/AIDS, age, gender and environment, utilisation participatory and community-based approaches. In line with this, promote gender equality by ensuring that the needs, contributions and capacities of women and girls as well as men and boys are addressed
• Secure commitments from cluster participants in responding to needs and filling gaps, ensuring an appropriate distribution of responsibilities within the cluster, with clearly defined focal points for specific issues where necessary.
• Ensure that participants work collectively, ensuring the complementarity of the various stake holder's actions.
• Promote emergency response actions while at the same time considering the need for early recovery planning as well as prevention and risk reduction concerns
• Ensure effective links with other clusters (with OCHA support), especially Health, Agriculture and WASH.
• Represent the interests of the cluster in discussions with federal DRMFSS and MoH, and regional DPPBs and RHBs on prioritization, resource mobilisation and advocacy
• Act as focal point for inquiries on the cluster's response plans and operations

1. Facilitating development of a cluster strategy and response plan:

• Identification of gaps in the emergency response;
• Developing/updating agreed preparedness and contingency plans, and response strategies and action plans for the cluster and ensuring that these are adequately reflected in the overall country strategies, such as the humanitarian requirement document/contingency plans;
• Drawing lessons learned from past activities and revising strategies and action plans accordingly

1. Supporting the application of appropriate technical standards:

• Ensure that nutrition cluster partners in the region are aware of relevant policy guidelines, technical standards and relevant commitments that the Government/ concerned authorities have undertaken under international human rights law;
• Ensure that responses are in line with existing policy guidance, technical standards, and relevant Government human rights legal obligation.

1. Ensuring that the performance of the emergency nutrition information and interventions is monitored and reported regularly:

• Specifically needs to include an analytical interpretation of best available information in order to benchmark progress of the emergency response over time. That is - monitoring indicators (quantity, quality, coverage, continuity and cost) of service delivery which are derived from working towards meeting standards (mentioned in point 3);
• Ensure regular reporting against cluster indicators of service delivery (quantity, quality, coverage, continuity and cost) supports analysis of cluster in closing gaps and measuring impact of interventions;
• Support the timely collection and analysis of relevant reports from mobile health teams and other relevant sources;
• Support partners on identification of the right time and geographic area that need nutrition assessment;
• Provide technical support in the planning and implementation of nutrition related assessments.

1. Building Technical Capacity:

• Promote and support training of humanitarian personnel and capacity building of humanitarian partners, based on the mapping and understanding of available capacity;
• Support the federal and regional ENCU staff capacity in undertaking the role of nutrition cluster coordination, assessment, monitoring and reporting.

1. Advocating and ensuring mobilisation of adequate resources:

• Identify core advocacy concerns, including resource requirements, and contribute key messages to broader advocacy initiatives of the UNICEF and OCHA, and other humanitarian actors;
• Advocate for donors to fund nutrition partners and encourage nutrition partners to mobilise resources for emergency nutrition interventions;
• Link with the federal DRMFSS management, UNICEF Nutrition Section Chief and head of UN OCHA (Ethiopia) on nutrition related advocacy issues.

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

• Education

           An Advanced University Degree in nutrition, nutritional epidemiology, public health, global/international health and   nutrition,  health/nutrition research, policy and/or management, or other health related science field is required.

•  Experience:    

  A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in public health/nutrition planning and management and/or in relevant areas of maternal, newborn and child nutrition health care at the international level in emergencies. Relevant experience in health/nutrition program/project development and management in any UN system agency or organization is an asset. Relevant experience in coordination within an emergency setting. Knowledge of Ethiopia an asset.

• Background/familiarity with emergency operations and staff security.
• Fluency in English is required.  Knowledge of another official UN language or a local language is an asset

Competencies of Successful Candidate

Core Values

• Commitment
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Integrity

Core competencies

• Communication
• Working with People
• Drive for Results

Functional Competencies

• Leading and supervising
• Formulating strategies and concepts
• Analysing
• Relating and networking
• Deciding and Initiating action
• Applying technical expertise

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.