Nutrition Technical Lead

CHILD SAFEGUARDING:

Level 3: the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE:

The Nutrition Technical Lead will provide overall strategic direction in the design, management, implementation and overall quality assurance of the USAID-funded Food Security, Nutrition and Resilience Food Security, Nutrition and Resilience (FSNR) activity in Liberia. The Food Security, Nutrition, and Resilience (FSNR) activity aims to improve Liberia’s food and nutrition security and households’ resilience. FSNR is a five-year activity that will target smallholder farmers, subsistence farmers, cooperatives, women, and youth groups in rural and peri-urban communities within USAID/Liberia’s zone of influence (Lofa, Bong, Nimba, Margibi, Grand Bassa, and Montserrado).

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Save the Children is seeking a Nutrition Technical Lead for an upcoming Food Security, Nutrition and Resilience opportunity. This senior leadership position will provide overall strategic direction in the design, management, implementation and overall quality assurance of the project. The Nutrition Technical Lead reports directly to Chief of Party and ensures implementation of high impact, quality programming, and proven interventions that meet stated goals and reporting requirements.

This position is contingent upon donor approval and funding.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

Nutrition Strategy and Leadership (35%)

• Provide technical leadership for the overall nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive activities into project design and approach, including issues of food security, climate smart agriculture, gender mainstreaming, and social and behavior change (SBC).
• Lead the rapid start-up and implementation of the integrated nutrition and SBC activities in collaboration with communities, partners and government stakeholders. Also, ensure gender, youth and social inclusion in nutrition and SBC activities.
• Work with M&E specialist to oversee and coordinate formative and evaluative research using participatory methodologies to build local capacity and to design high impact interventions based on the social and cultural context in target areas. Lead development of the nutrition strategy and ensure nutrition analysis recommendations are integrated into project plans.
• Update the nutrition strategy annually alongside the project work plan using formal and informal feedback.
• Coordinate with project staff, including managers and technical specialists, to ensure the implementation of the nutrition strategy into project activities.

Project Implementation & Quality Assurance (50%)

• Design and conduct nutrition components of assessments or standalone nutrition assessments as appropriate, ensuring results are used to adapt project implementation.
• Based on research findings and stakeholder consultations, coordinate with the technical team to lead the development of evidence-based nutrition tools and materials.
• Provide technical oversight for the design, development, and implementation of all nutrition tools and training materials in collaboration with partners and stakeholders to maintain a quality and consistent approach across all target areas and technical interventions.
• Work in close collaboration with the Agriculture Leads on increasing the production, sale and consumption of nutritious value chains.
• Spearhead innovative community mobilization/community capacity strengthening strategies in Year 1 and plan for their expansion and scaling up in Year 2.
• Support with project reporting, ensuring that updates and progress on nutrition-related indicators and successes are included in project reports and annual work plans.
• Work with and support Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) teams to: develop context-specific indicators related to nutrition security, nutrition-sensitive agriculture, SBC and nutrition, measure outcomes, and collect and analyze data.

Coordination & Capacity Strengthening (15%)

• Contribute to organizing and executing capacity strengthening for project and partner staff in nutrition principles and SBC.
• Represent nutrition aspects of the project to external stakeholders, such as the donor, governments, and partners; disseminate learnings and best practices; and participate in technical working groups.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• holds self accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
• holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities – giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
• widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
• values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity

QUALIFICATIONS

• A Master’s degree or higher in nutrition, public health, or in a closely related field.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

Essential

• At least seven years of experience designing, implementing, or supporting nutrition programming, preferably in Liberia.
• Prior experience delivering large-scale nutrition (nutrition specific and sensitive) or multi-sectoral projects of similar or related nature, size, and complexity and demonstrated experience working with large inter-disciplinary teams.
• Strong technical skills in multi-sectoral nutrition programming, including food security and agricultural market systems.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to lead and work effectively in team settings.
• Strong working familiarity with USAID requirements, regulations, and policies.
• Demonstrated ability to address social behavior change issues in improving household nutrition status.
• Experienced and up-to-date in nutrition research, indicators, monitoring and evaluation tools/approaches.
• Experience leading nutrition-specific formative research studies.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English.

Additional job responsibilities

The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

Equal Opportunities

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.

Child Safeguarding:

We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

Health and Safety

The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.