UNICEF Nutrition Specialist Job in Kenya

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
Kenya Country Office

Nutrition Specialist (Coordination) - NOC 

Fixed Term Appointment

Date of Issue:    17 August 2012

Closing Date:    30 August 2012

Applications are hereby invited from suitably-qualified candidates who are Kenyan Nationals to fill the above position on a Fixed Term Appointment in the Nutrition Section of UNICEF Kenya Country Office.

Purpose of Post:

Under the general supervision of the Nutrition Manager, and with technical support of the Global Nutrition Cluster, the Country Nutrition Coordinator will be responsible for leading the Nutrition Coordination at the Country level in Kenya.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

1.    Establishment and maintenance of appropriate coordination mechanisms:

• Ensure appropriate coordination between all Nutrition partners (including national and international NGOs, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, IOM and other international organizations active in the sector) as well as national authorities and local structures
• Ensure the establishment/maintenance of appropriate sector coordination mechanisms including, steering committees, working groups at the national, and if necessary, local level;
• Ensure full integration of cross-cutting issues, namely human rights, HIV/AIDS, age, gender and environment, utilization 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 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 complementarities 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 sectors (with OCHA support), especially Health & Nutrition, Agriculture and Livelihoods and Education;
• Represent the interests of the sector in discussions at various forum
• Act as focal point for inquiries on the nutrition cluster’s response plans and operations and related activities.

2.    Planning and strategy development:

• Ensure predictable action within the sector for the following:
• Needs assessment and analysis; development of standard assessment formats for use within the sector;
• Identification of gaps;
• Developing/updating agreed response strategies and action plans for the sector and ensuring that these are adequately reflected in the overall country strategies (e.g. Nutrition Action Plan, Emergency Humanitarian Response Plan)
• Drawing lessons learned from past activities and revising strategies and action plans accordingly;

3.    Application of standards:

• Ensure that nutrition actors 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 obligations.

4.    Monitoring and reporting:

• 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 4).
• 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.

5.    Advocacy and resource mobilization:

• Identify core advocacy concerns, including resource requirements, and contribute key messages to broader advocacy initiatives of the Humanitarian Coordinators and other actors;
• Advocate for donors to fund partners to carry out priority activities in the sector concerned, while at the same time encouraging/supporting nutrition actors to mobilize resources for their activities in collaboration with Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation.

6.    Identification of key partners:

• Identify key humanitarian and development partners, respecting their respective mandates and program priorities
• Identify other key partners including local and national authorities, peacekeeping forces, etc.
• Carryout capacity mapping of all current and potential actors – government, national and international humanitarian organizations as well as national institutions, the private sector and market assess to materials and services

7.    Training and capacity building of national/local authorities and civil society:

• Promote and support training of humanitarian personnel and capacity building of humanitarian partners, based on the mapping and understanding of available capacity;
• Support efforts to strengthen the capacity of the national/local authorities and civil society.

8.    Acting as “Provider of last resort”:

• As agreed by the IASC Principals, sector leads are responsible for acting as the provider of last resort to meet agreed priority needs and will be supported by the HC in their resource mobilization efforts in this regard;

Required Qualifications: 

• Advanced university degree in Social Sciences, or related technical field.

Competencies:

• Communication
• Drive for  Results
• Formulating Strategies and Concepts
• Relating and Networking
• Applying Technical Expertise
• Working with People
• Planning and Organizing  Commitment 
• Strategic and Global thinking  
• Planning, Setting Standards, and Monitoring Work
• Managing Resources  
• Team Leadership 

Experience:     

Five to Eight years with significant experience working in emergency contexts preferably UN or NGO experience at a programme management level.

Language(s):    

Fluency in English and another UN working language required.  Knowledge of Kiswahili would be an asset.

Interested and suitable candidates should ensure that they forward their applications along with their curricula vitae (internal candidates should attach copies of their last two Performance Evaluation Reports), to:

The Human Resources Manager
UNICEF Kenya Country Office
Email address: kenyahrvacancies@unicef.org

Please indicate Reference No. “KCO/NUTR/2012-039”in the email subject.

“qualified female candidates are encouraged to apply”
Zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse
Unicef is a smoke-free environment