Vacancy Announcement – Nutrition Specialist, NO-C, Fixed Term, Ranchi, India, South Asia Region (SAR), Post Numbers 68445 (this post is open only to Indian Nationals)

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. UNICEF believes all children have a right to survive, thrive, and fulfill their potential – to the benefit of a better world. And we never give up!

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UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce and encourages all candidates to apply, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities. Our workplace policies promote flexible work arrangements to support all staff in maintaining a healthy life balance, both in and out of the office.

UNICEF prides itself on fostering a multicultural and harmonious work environment, guaranteed by a zero-tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse and any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment and discrimination. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

For Every Child, AN ADVOCATE

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does in programs, advocacy, and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential without discrimination, bias, or favoritism. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

How can you make a difference?

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children in the world’s thereby ensuring a better future for every child, this is the chance to make a difference.

Job Organizational Context

The Nutrition Specialist GJP is to be used in a Country Office (CO) where the Nutrition Programme is a component of the Country Programme (or UNDAF). Jharkhand is one of the eastern states of India and is home to culturally diverse population groups, including 32 different tribes. The state is committed to improving the nutrition situation of women and children by creating and establishing strong and sustained governance for nutrition. The nutrition outcome for Jharkhand envisions reduction in various forms of malnutrition, focusing on three critical periods: a. first 1000 days of life, b. adolescence and c. pregnancy. Jharkhand is committed to eradicate severe and acute malnutrition, anemia and other nutritional deficiencies and has demonstrated its will to address these concerns by establishing the Jharkhand State Nutrition Mission in 2016 and by striving for greater collaborative actions by departments such as Health, Women and Child Development and others under POSHAN Abhiyaan. Tribal and SC pockets within Jharkhand suffer from aggravated concerns owing to systemic deprivations and thereby require more focused actions from government and non-government partners to tackle the issue. The recent NFHS 5 (2019-21) data clearly indicate nutrition deprivation is higher in tribal, followed by schedule caste. Jharkhand’s civic conflict context and a history of political instability adds to some of its developmental challenges on one hand and on the other hand, Jharkhand has one of the highest numbers of aspirational districts (19 out of 24 districts) in India which create an opportunity for greater district level focus on convergent actions to address nutritional and developmental concerns.

Purpose Of The Job

The Nutrition Specialist supports the development and preparation of the nutrition programme and is responsible for managing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating, and reporting the programme progress of a sector of the nutrition programme within the country programme. The Nutrition Specialist provides technical guidance and management support throughout the programming processes to facilitate the administration and achievement of concrete and sustainable results in infant and young child nutrition – prevention and management of malnutrition – programmes/projects. This is carried out according to plans, allocation, results based-management approaches and methodology (RBM), as well as UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, standards of performance, and accountability framework.

Support To Programme Development And Planning

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

• Contribute to and support the preparation, design and updating of the situation analysis for the nutrition sector(s) to ensure comprehensive and current data on maternal and child nutrition is available to guide policy development, and the design and management of nutrition programmes/projects.
• Keep abreast of development trends to enhance programme management, efficiency and delivery.
• Participate in strategic programme discussions on the planning of nutrition programmes/projects.
• Formulate, design and prepare a sector of the nutrition programme proposal, ensuring alignment with UNICEF’s Strategic Plans, Country Programme, and coherence/integration with the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), regional strategies, as well as national priorities, plans and competencies.
• Establish specific goals, objectives, strategies, and implementation plans for the nutrition sector(s) based on results-based planning terminology and methodology (RBM). Prepare required documentations for programme review and approval.
• Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners to discuss strategies and methodologies, and to determine national priorities/competencies to ensure the achievement of concrete and sustainable results.
• Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes to ensure integration, coherence and harmonization of programmes/projects with other UNICEF sectors and achievement of results as planned and allocated.

Programme Management, Monitoring And Delivery Of Results

• Plan and/or collaborate with internal and external partners to establish monitoring benchmarks, performance indicators, and UNICEF/UN system indicators and measurements, to assess and strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results for the assigned sector in nutrition programmes.
• Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine required action and interventions to achieve results.
• Prepare and assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths and/or weaknesses in programme management. Identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
• Actively monitor programmes and projects through field visits, surveys and/or exchange of information with partners and stakeholders to assess progress. Identify bottlenecks and potential problems, and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution.
• Monitor and verify the optimum and appropriate use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative and other assets) confirming compliance with organizational rules, regulations, procedures, donor commitments, and standards of accountability. Ensure timely reporting and liquidation of resources.
• Prepare regular and mandated programme/project reports for management, donors and partners to keep them informed of programme progress.

Technical And Operational Support To Programme Implementation

• Provide technical guidance and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners/donors on the interpretation, application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes, best practices, and approaches on nutrition and related issues to support programme development planning, management, implementation, and delivery of results.
• Participate in discussions with national partners, clients and stakeholders to promote nutrition and development issues especially in the areas of emergency preparedness and maternal, newborn and child survival and development.
• Draft policy papers, briefs and other strategic programme materials for management use, information and/or consideration.
• Participate in emergency preparedness initiatives for programme development, contingency planning and/or to respond to emergencies in country or where designated.

Networking And Partnership Building

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with nutrition sector government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge.
• Facilitate programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve programme goals on maternal and child rights as well as social justice and equity.
• Prepare communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and support fund raising for nutrition programmes (maternal, newborn and child survival and development).
• Participate and/or represent UNICEF in inter-agency discussions, ensuring that UNICEF’s position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNDAF development planning and agenda setting.

Innovation, Knowledge Management And Capacity Building

• Apply and introduce innovative approaches and good practices to build the capacity of partners and stakeholders, and to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.
• Keep abreast, research, benchmark, and implement best and cutting edge practices in nutrition management and information systems. Assess, institutionalize and share best practices and knowledge learned.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of policies and procedures to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programmes and projects.
• Organize and implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients and stakeholders to promote sustainable results on nutrition related programmes and projects.

To qualify as a champion for every child you will have…

Education: An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: nutrition, public health, nutritional epidemiology, global/international health and nutrition, health/nutrition research, policy and/or management, health sciences, nutritional epidemiology, or another health-related science field.

Experience

A minimum of five years of professional experience in a developing country in one or more of the following areas is required: nutrition, public health, nutrition planning and management, or maternal, infant and child health/nutrition care.

Experience in health/nutrition programme/project development and management in a UN system agency or organization is an asset

Language

Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

Core Values

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability

Core Competencies

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (1)
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
• Works Collaboratively with others (2)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (2)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

To view our competency framework, please click here.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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.

UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children.

Remarks

• The position is based in Ranchi, India.
• The selected applicant will have an initial two (2) year fixed-term contract, with the possibility of extension, subject to satisfactory performance.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.
• UNICEF does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process, including application, interview, meeting, traveling, processing, training, etc. UNICEF is a nonsmoking working environment.
• For more information about UNICEF India, please refer to the link below: – http://unicef.in/