Nutrition Coordinator

Role & Responsibilities

Actively participate to develop, support, monitor and evaluate the country emergency nutrition project(s), support the heath project managers in managing and reporting on the projects in line with the objectives, timeframe and budget with a focus on response to new crises requiring assessments and short-term interventions. Provide technical support, leadership and strategic direction, other important aspects of the role include managing and training nutrition staff to meet international quality standards, strength the nutrition sector in the existing program and work towards standardising nutrition programming in all Medair bases. Encourage beneficiary participation, liaise with other stakeholders, and anticipate, plan, and contribute to the development of new nutrition project proposals and reports.

Project Overview

Medair delivers life-saving multisectoral health, nutrition and WASH interventions to emergency affected populations in eastern DRC in difficult to access areas with security challenges. Attacks by armed groups and intercommunal violence in eastern DRC continue to threaten vulnerable populations, despite the efforts of the government’s armed forces (FARDC) and assistance from the UN Mission in DRC (MONUSCO) .

Workplace & Working conditions

Field based position in Goma, D.R. Congo.

Starting Date / Initial Contract Details

August 2024. Full time, 24 months.

Key Activity Areas

Support for nutrition and coordination projects

• Support and coordinate projects to achieve project objectives within budget and on time.
• Work closely with health project managers to ensure rational integration of activities.
• Support constant monitoring and supervision of nutrition activities, assessing progress through results and impact using quantitative and qualitative data, and involving the nutrition team in analysis and action taking appropriate
• Contribute to the integration of beneficiary participation and responsibility.
• Participate in the review of donor reports, as requested by the country health advisor.
• Participate in the development of new proposals, appropriate nutritional strategies, linked to the needs and gaps assessed, in order to implement emergency interventions at the request of the country health advisor.
• Provide strong leadership for assigned nutrition project(s), working to ensure positive impacts and outcomes in the short, medium and long term for beneficiaries, local nutrition authorities.
• Contribute to development and implementation of an appropriate and effective nutrition strategy, including proactive and responsible planning of exit strategies from a supported area, in consultation with other nutrition staff and managers in field.
• Provide technical advice and training to project managers with support from the Country Health Advisor on potential new nutrition interventions and support internal nutrition capacity for implementation.
• Participate in the definition and standardization of guidelines and standard operating procedures, such as tools for the nutritional aspects of Medair’s work in the country, in consultation with HQ advisors, the Country Health Advisor and other field managers. field, and in accordance with government, Sphere and WHO guidelines.
• Provide technical support, including through field visits, to nutrition teams in all project sites, in coordination with the country health advisor.
• Participate in the improvement of evaluation tools and the creation of automatic analysis tools to facilitate the writing of evaluation reports.
• Support and encourage the integration of key community engagement activities into nutrition projects in the DRC.

Human Resource Management

• Provide coaching and technical supervision to nutrition managers, nutrition supervisors, M&E assistants and logistics warehouse staff to develop technical nutrition knowledge and promote ownership and full responsibility within the nutrition team staff.
• Support training of nutrition staff, create opportunities for capacity building, mentoring and coaching, within budgetary constraints. Plan and develop training materials as needed, with support from the Medical Advisor and Headquarters Advisors as appropriate.

Finance

• Provide support as necessary to health project managers on specific nutrition expenses.
• Participate in the development of the budget and nutrition strategies in the proposal process.

Communication and coordination

• Under the direction of the Health/Nutrition department, collaborate with field teams, particularly PCs and PMs, for coordinated integration of nutrition into Medair programs.
• Represent Medair at nutrition coordination meetings (in Goma, support to Bunia), Medair internal trainings and other working meetings.
• Develop and maintain relationships with the Ministry of Health, Nutrition Cluster, United Nations including UNICEF, NGOs, donors, partners and other stakeholders, with the aim of raising public awareness of Medair and ensure good cooperation and partnerships.
• Proactively network and coordinate with the nutrition group and nutrition agencies to seek opportunities.
• Review and update, as necessary, project coordination agreements, memorandums of understanding and other documents necessary for program implementation.

Logistics

• Ensure monthly overview of country stocks, provide support in purchasing requests.

Quality management / project design

• Ensure that project implementation complies with guidelines from Medair, donors, the DRC and other countries.
• Set goals for nutritional assessments and interventions, monitoring progress, etc.
• Provide information about future growth and changes to the project.
• Improve the quality of the nutrition project, to improve the quality of assessments, monitoring and evaluation, implementation of core humanitarian standards and protection integration.
• Support monthly monitoring of project data, perform quality analysis and project implementation analysis based on data
• Support M&E assistants to ensure accurate and appropriate data is collected and tabulated, and improve the system.

Security management

• Contribute to the permanent monitoring of security situations

Team Spiritual Life

• Reflect the values of Medair with team members, local staff, beneficiaries, and external contacts.
• Work, live, and pray together in our Christian faith- based team settings. Fully contribute to the rich spiritual life of your team, including team devotions, prayer, and words of encouragement.
• Encouraged to join and contribute to Medair’s international prayer network.

Qualifications

• Clinical diploma or nutritionist diploma, or public health diploma.
• Strong working knowledge of English and French (spoken and written) or Swahili

Experience

• 2 years of post-qualification professional experience in the medical/medicine/nursing professional field.
• At least 1 year of management experience in a healthcare context
• At least 1-2 years of experience in nutrition in a developing country
• Experience working in an acute outbreak beneficial
• Ability to community mobilization and capacity building
• Experience in training/mentoring/coaching staff
• Team-player with good inter-personal skills
• Proven ability to work with people from a range of cultural, social, ethnic backgrounds and with different skills.
• Good digital skills, report writing and administration
• Ability and willingness to manage the implementation of a project; ability to take initiative.
• Knowledge of humanitarian principles, Sphere and HAP standards

All new deploying international staff to Medair’s country programmes (and other roles which require field travel) should be fully vaccinated with a WHO-approved COVID vaccine, supported with a COVID vaccination certificate as evidence.