Nutritionist, NOB at World Food Programme (WFP)

Requisition ID: 170184 
Location: Damaturu, Yobe
Department: Nutrition

Background

• In the Northeast Nigeria states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, ongoing violence is affecting the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. The conflict continues to undermine social stability and economic development due to the scale of displacement, disrupted livelihoods and diminished agricultural production due to the protracted nature of the crisis, which has consequential impact on the food security and nutrition situations.
• More than three million persons are facing hunger and are classified in phase 3-5 of the March 2022 CH Analysis in the BAY states of NE Nigeria, and it is estimated that up to one-million, three hundred children under five years and about one hundred and fifty thousand pregnant and lactating women may be acutely malnourished.
• The United Nations World Food programme (WFP) work in collaboration with government of Nigeria at all levels, other UN agencies and partners to address the need of food insecure house holds and nutritionally vulnerable groups.
• As the world’s largest humanitarian agency, fighting hunger world-wide.
• WFP is seeking to fill the post of a Nutritionist (NOB) level, based in Damaturu Area office. If you are a Nigerian national, committed, creative professional and passionate about making a lasting difference for people in need, we would like to hear from you.

Job Purpose

• To provide support to nutrition  programmes and activities to contribute to meeting the nutritional needs of WFP beneficiaries.

Key Accountabilities (Not all-inclusive nor exhaustive)
Reporting directly to the Head of Programme Damaturu SO, the incumbent should be holding the following responsibilities:

• Support for the implementation, monitoring and coordination of the WFP malnutrition prevention activities through a Blanket Supplementary Feeding Programme (BSFP) approach;
• Support, through technical assistance, the Yobe State Primary Health Care Management Board (YSPHCMB) for the implementation, monitoring and coordination of the pilot WFP Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programme (TSFP) activities;
• Support reviews of the BSFP and TSFP activities, and provide technical assistance in the ongoing revision of the national CMAM guidelines with a focus on MAM management.
• Support the WFP Damaturu SubOffice nutrition sensitive programming, and closely collaborate with the Programme Unit (general food assistance, livelihood, gender, M&E and VAM) to ensure synergies in the development and implementation of WFP activities;
• Support the WFP Cooperating Partners in the development, implementation and monitoring of , communitybased IYCF activities, as part of the BSFP activities; and, support the development, implementation and monitoring of nutrition Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) activities;
• Ensure timely and quality monitoring and evaluation (M&E), supervision and reporting of all nutrition activities, in close coordination with the WFP M&E team; and, provide technical support to nutritional assessments, data analysis and the drafting of reports and recommendations;
• Assist in the review of nutrition proposals and budgets submitted by WFP cooperating partners; ensure timely and effectively implementation of the Field level Agreements (FLAs), as well as the MoU with YSPHCMB, in close collaboration with the WFP Partnership Unit;
• Support the capacity strengthening of WFP Damaturu staff in nutrition sensitive and nutrition specific programming; and, the nutrition capacity strengthening of WFP cooperating partners;
• Ensure optimal visibility of WFP nutrition activities, including meetings, field visits, success stories, etc., through close collaboration with the WFP Communication and Information Management Units;
• Represent the WFP Damaturu SubOffice at relevant technical meetings and coordination fora on nutrition, food security, health, and in the social sector;
• Provide ongoing support to the WFP Damaturu SubOffice in its coordination with government, UN agencies, donors, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Support the WFP Damaturu SubOffice in carrying out any other programmatic activities, as requested by the supervisor

Standard Minimum Qualifications

• Education: Advanced University Degree in Public Health Nutrition, Nutrition, Food Technology, Medicine or other relevant field.
• Language: International Professional: Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or WFP’s working language, Portuguese.
• National Professional: Fluency (level C) in English language and the duty station’s language, if different.

Desired Experiences for entry into the Role:

• Experience and exposure to implementation of national/international development programmes.
• Experience working in public health/food security/ nutrition related activities.
• Experience identifying and defining nutrition issues/problems within a country.

Other Specific Job Requirement:

• This section is optional to describe additional responsibilities & knowledge required for the specific job.

4Ps Core Organisational Capabilities
Purpose:

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Understands WFP’s Strategic Objectives and the link to own work objectives.
• Be a force for positive change: Flexibly adapts individual contributions to accommodate changes in direction from supervisors and internal/external changes (such as evolving needs of beneficiaries, new requirements of partners).
• Make the mission inspiring to our team: Recognizes and shares with team members the ways in which individual contributions relate to WFP’s mission.
• Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Sets own goals in alignment with WFP’s overall operations, and is able to communicate this link to others.

People:

• Look for ways to strengthen people's skills: Assesses own strengths and weaknesses to increase self-awareness, and includes these in conversations on own developmental needs.
• Create an inclusive culture: Participates in open dialogue, and values the diverse opinion of others, regardless of background, culture, experience, or country assignment.
• Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Proactively seeks feedback and coaching to build confidence, and develop and improve individual skills.
• Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Participates in accomplishing team activities and goals in the face of challenging circumstances.

Performance:

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Shows willingness to explore and experiment with new ideas and approaches in own work.
• Focus on getting results: Consistently delivers results within individual scope of work on time, on budget and without errors.
• Make commitments and make good on commitments: Commits to upholding individual accountabilities and responsibilities in the face of ever-changing country or functional priorities.
• Be Decisive: Makes rational decisions about individual activities when faced with uncertain circumstances, including in times of ambiguity regarding information or manager direction.

Partnership:

• Connect and share across WFP units: Seeks to understand and adapt to internal or cross-unit teams’ priorities and preferred working styles.
• Build strong external partnerships: Demonstrates ability to understand and appropriately respond to and/or escalate needs of external partners.
• Be politically agile & adaptable: Portrays an informed and professional demeanor toward internal and external partners and stakeholders.
• Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Provides operational support on analyses and assessments that quantifies and demonstrates WFP’s unique value as a partner.

Functional Capabilities:

• Capability Name: Description of the behaviour expected for the proficiency level Knowledge of Nutrients: Utilizes knowledge of vitamins and nutrients to understand the causes of malnutrition, the relationships between the different types of malnutrition, and is able to articulate the UNICEF conceptual model.
• Situation Analysis and Evidence Assessment: Able to appropriately interpret the nutrition situation, analyze primary causes of malnutrition, define limitations to the analysis (e.g. seasonality) and prepare an overview of the food security and nutrition situation in country.
• Knowledge of Public Health: Has foundational knowledge of the core public health sciences (i.e., biostatistics, epidemiology, social science, environmental health, and prevention of chronic and infectious disease and injury) in order to assess a country’s/region’s health situation.
• Knowledge of Food System: Ability to analyze how food systems influence the diets of vulnerable groups and identify how and where food systems may contribute to specific nutrient gaps.
• Applying Programme & Policy Standards: Leverages nutrition knowledge to provide technical advice to governments to design and implement country nutrition programmes that follow international and WFP agency standards and guidance.

Terms and Conditions

• WFP offers an attractive compensation package.
• Only Nigerian nationals or holders of valid residence and work permits are eligible to apply for this position.
• Applications are to be submitted and received online and in English language only.
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. 
• Canvassing is strictly prohibited. Canvassing of any sort will lead to automatic disqualification of the concerned applicant.
• The selected candidate will be employed on a fixed-term contract with a probationary period of one year.