Job Opportunities at Mercy Corps Nigeria

Background

• The provision of adequate nutrition during infancy and early childhood is a basic requirement for the development and promotion of optimum growth, health, and behaviour of the child. Adequate nutrition is defined as the intake and utilization of enough energy and nutrients to maintain the wellbeing, health, and productivity of an individual, in this case, the child.
• The period of birth to 2 years of age is recognized as a critical period during which adequate nutrition should be provided for the child to achieve optimum development and full potential.
• Malnutrition is recognized as a global problem, which, besides weakening the immune system and worsening illnesses, is the underlying cause of more than half the deaths of children less than five years of age. Of these deaths, 20% are associated with severe and 80% with mild and moderate forms of malnutrition.
• Well over two-thirds of malnutrition-related deaths occur in the first year of life and are often associated with inappropriate feeding practices.
• Adequate food intake and healthy nutritional practices are the foundation blocks for a healthy and productive nation. The scourge of malnutrition which manifests as Under-nutrition, Over-nutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies is more severe among the most vulnerable groups of infants, children, adolescents, and pregnant and lactating women. This slows survival, cognitive and physical growth, academic performance, economic growth and perpetuates poverty including recurrences of morbidity and mortality; thereby reducing economic advancement of nations by at least 8% due to direct productivity losses and indirect losses from impaired cognition and schooling outcome
• In Nigeria, malnutrition is widespread, for example, 41% of all children less than five years of age are stunted, 7% are wasted and 23% are underweight. The causes of malnutrition in Nigeria are many and complex. The immediate causes of malnutrition in the first two years of life are inappropriate breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices coupled with high rates of infections.
• According to the NDHS 2018 28.7% of children under 6 months are exclusively breastfed. In addition, 22% of Nigerian infants are given complementary foods too early and they are often of poor nutritional value, mostly inadequate in terms of energy, protein, and micronutrients such as iron, zinc, iodine, and vitamin A.
• The frequency of feeding is usually low, while the quantities given are less than that required for the ages of the children.
• The National Policy on Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition (MIYCN) in Nigeria serves as a framework for harmonized MIYCN programming in Nigeria to enable the Federal, State, and LGAs to deliver, strengthen and sustain Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition Feeding in accordance with government obligation in revitalizing commitment towards the protection, promotion, and support of optimal maternal infant and young child nutrition.
• Evidence from the Lancet series showed that in the first 1000 days of life from pregnancy to 2 years, 90% coverage of 10 direct nutrition interventions could reduce chronic malnutrition by 20%, mortality by 15%, and the prevalence of Severe Acute Malnutrition by 60%.
• In Nigeria there is an enabling policy environment in which Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition practices have been prioritized in the National Strategic Plan of Action for Nutrition (NSPAN) which was developed in 2013 and reviewed in 2021, as well as the National MIYCN Policy, Strategy, and Guideline which was also reviewed last year. Nevertheless, Nigeria is still experiencing low progress in implementing large-scale Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition programs.
• The MIYCN Training Package was developed in 2012 by Strengthening Partnerships, Results and Innovation in Nutrition Globally (SPRING) to facilitate health workers to provide effective MIYCN counselling services to mothers, fathers, and other caregivers.
• The counselling cards cover a range of topics including breastfeeding, complementary feeding, maternal nutrition, antenatal care, hygiene, immunizations, and special health conditions.
• The overall goal of the National Policy on Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition in Nigeria is to ensure the optimal growth, protection, and development of the Nigerian child from birth to the first five years of life.

Objectives of the Assignment

• The objective of this consultancy assignment is to review and update the Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) Training Package to reflect the latest evidence and guidance both nationally and globally.

The consultant will work under the supervision of the FMoH nutrition division to:

• Review the existing Infant and Young Child Feeding Training Package in Nigeria in light of recently developed MIYCN policy, strategy, and guidelines at national and global level.
• Conduct a desk review of evidence on global and national best practices in MIYCN
• Facilitate stakeholders’ technical meetings to provide feedback and input on the Consultants’ initial outline for an updated version of the training package.
• Collate inputs/comments from the stakeholders’ meetings to produce a Zero or first Draft and circulate it to Stakeholders within 2 weeks of the meeting.
• Facilitate Finalization and Validation Meetings of the draft Training Package.

Expected Outputs / Deliverables
The consultant will be expected to deliver the following outputs:

• A proposed outline for the revision of the training package
• An inception report finalizing the technical approach for delivering the assignment.
• The Revised MIYCN Training Package; (IYCF Brochures, Counselling Cards, Key Messages, Participant Manual, Trainers Manual).
• A final report and a PowerPoint presentation to summarize it.

Required Qualifications
The consultant must possess the following qualifications:

• Master's Degree in Public Health Nutrition preferred. Other closely related fields will be considered.
• Extensive knowledge of existing Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition policy and guidelines
• At least ten years of relevant work experience in Maternal Infant and Young Child Nutrition, including applied/clinical experience.
• Previous experience in developing Policies, Strategies, Guidelines, and Training Packages or documents is preferred
• Ability to write clearly and succinctly in English and to prepare effective PowerPoint presentations.
• Familiarity with analytical tools and ability to translate theoretical concepts into practical approaches for operational work
• Ability to effectively work with others and communicate in a multi-cultural environment,
• Previous experience with the development of National protocols and operational guidelines and integration within Nigerian health systems preferred
• Confident workshop facilitator and ability to work independently and meet deadlines
• Excellent presentation skills and competency.

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Background

• According to available data, Nigeria has the highest number of livestock in West Africa, with the number of cattle estimated at 19.5 million. This official figure must be taken as a rough approximation, because it is many years since a comprehensive livestock survey was carried out in Nigeria, but it does suggest a much larger cattle population than any other ECOWAS country.
• The entire Nigerian Livestock industry is still rudimentary, with little modernization in the key areas, such as modern animal husbandry, cross breeding technology, dairy and beef processing, packaging and marketing for socio-economic benefit.
• In Nigeria (especially in Northern part) the practice of preserving land for pastoralist exclusively use by livestock existed prior to colonial times. Allocation of land of grounds to pastoralist around towns and villages for use particularly during the cultivation season was socially endorsed since then. World Bank argued that Government would make it easier to provide pastoralist with social infrastructure, schools, skill acquisition as well as control of animal disease though effective veterinary services. The general idea behind the program is that of better management practices would be provided under conditions favourable to cattle production and reproduction. Facilities such as fodder, feed supplements, regular water supply and veterinary services would he readily available to enhance cattle health, production and productivity. With the provision of all these facilities, it was hoped that pastoralist could be induced to sedentary and introduced to improved management practices of cattle husbandry.
• Till date, pastoralists in Nigeria have struggled to effectively engage in commercial value chains and their participation has been marred by their limited access to inputs and their exposure to climate-related risks. However, there is an increasing demand for meat in the country and a growing middle-class is increasingly concerned with food safety and is interested in higher-value products. The key question for Nigeria is whether it is possible to modernise and improve productivity in the livestock sector in a way that enables the million pastoralists to participate and benefit from the sector. The cultural way of life for pastoralists is already starting to change – and as a result, there is a growing opportunity for pastoralists to engage in the livestock industry on a more commercial basis.
• Gombe State is located in North Eastern part of Northern Nigeria and lies between latitude 9°30’ and 12°30N and longitude 8°45’ and I l°45’E. it is on an altitude of 540m above sea level. Gombe State covers an estimated land mass of 20.26km2 and has a population of around 2,353,000 people as of 2006. The State has a mean annual rainfall of 818.5mm, the mean maximum monthly temperature of 37°C, and relative humidity of 94% in August and 10% in December. The climatic factors were favourable for crop and livestock agriculture. The Jewel in the Savannah was formed in October 1996 by the then Abacha military government. The state shares common borders with Borno, Yobe, Taraba, Adamawa and Bauchi states. The State is currently headed by the Executive Governor Alhaji Mohammed Inuwa Yahya and also has 24 State House Assembly members. Gombe has 11 Local Government Areas, 117 political wards and 14 Emirates /chiefdoms. It has 3 Senators and 6 Members in the National Assembly.
• Gombe State is blessed with natural resource and rearing of indigenous livestock is one of the activities which the people of the State are so much interested in, due to the increase demand and favourable condition for livestock farming compared to other states in the Country.
• Gombe State Government partnered with the Feed the Future Nigeria Rural Resilience Activity to develop 3 to 5 investable projects in Wawa-Zange, a 146000-hectare grazing reserve. The State has demonstrated commitment and ability of different to catalyse livestock sector competitiveness and investments by revamping the grazing reserve. Both the Federal and the Gombe State governments have taken deliberate and conscious effort by to bolster livestock production by prioritizing Wawa-Zange Grazing Reserve.

Project Description

• The Feed the Future Rural Resilience Activity is a five-year, $45 million initiative funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) within the states of Adamawa, Borno, Gombe, and Yobe in North Eastern Nigeria. The goal of the Activity is to facilitate economic recovery and growth in vulnerable, conflict-affected areas. The purpose of the Activity is to sustainably move people out of chronic vulnerability and poverty in NEN. This will be accomplished through expanded economic opportunities. Its overarching approach involves strengthening resilience capacities at household, community, and market-systems levels to ensure the sustainability of poverty reduction and economic recovery efforts.
• Although Nigeria is home to one of Africa’s largest livestock herds, the country remains a net importer of meat, and its meat trade deficit is growing. Factors like inadequate finance, high cost of animal feeds, animal diseases, lack of infrastructure, cost of important resources such as water and other factors militating against animal production. Prioritizing investments in areas that improve return on assets for Wawa-Zange Grazing Reserve can trigger several benefits.

Project Goals:

• Economic viability study and Design of Wawa Zange Grazing Reserve into modern and industrialise Dairy and Beef Production.
• Economic viability study and Design of Gombe Abba/Malala River Canalization into Wawa Zange Grazing Reserve
• Improvement of cattle product and by-product marketing, job creation, education and pastoralist living standards.
• Promotion of sustainable livelihoods and peaceful coexistence between pastoralist and crop farmers and among pastoralist themselves.
• Improvement of awareness/knowledge of the pastoralist into modern cattle production, reproduction and management for socio-economic purposes
• Improvement on the security challenges currently facing pastoralist and pastoralism in Northern part of Nigeria.

Project Justification:

• Pastoralist in Nigeria faces growing political and ecological pressure, as traditional grazing lands and transhumance routes are reduced or lost through cultivations due to the expansion of agriculture or due to urbanization or land grabs by elites. The effect of desertification and climate change in rangeland of the Northern Savannah and Sahel have accentuated pressure on land in those areas and further to Southern part of the Country as Pastoralist look for new pastures. These varied, inter-linked trends have been accompanied by a sharp increase in violent conflicts between pastoralist and crop farmers and between pastoralist themselves in part of the Country. Security level in Nigeria particularly Northern part of the country is always growing especially within the marginalized set of people outlined, despite the effort being made by the present administration.
• The cattle milk for cheese, cream, butter, Ghee; Dung for fuel and manure; Hides for leather; Beef/offal’s for human consumption; Blood, Bones for animal feeds; Hoofs and Horns for ceramics; Veal, Stockfeed, for fertilizer, glue, and tallow. These have been known wide for their high values since the colonial period. However, these commodities have not made the desired contribution expected of them to the Nigerian animal protein supply and the economy, despites the favorable conditions for doing that.
• The need to evolve ways and means for making the pastoralist to adopt and accept modem methods of cattle production and reproduction for economic purposes with the assurance of preserving their culture, norms and values. Before this can be done, special pastoralist cattle base program must be designed for implementation with the involvement of the Pastoralist, Foreign Investors, Federal Government and the Gombe State Government.

Project Aim:

• Transforming the dairy, beef and breeding value chain of the pastoralist through the creation of more jobs, increasing animal productivity, reducing environmental impact and animal husbandry education. Improvement of National food security through efficient supply of cattle product (meat and milk) based protein. Transforming the pastoralist cattle rearing into investment capabilities and knowledge of modem livestock husbandry.

Consultant Activities

• The broad objective of the consulting assignment is to attracting large scale private investment into the livestock industry in Gombe to increase product value and open up more efficient routes to market. Though the process of livestock transformation, the sector is able to move from the limitations of operating within the existing space to migrate towards greater value improvement and eventually towards creating new value opportunities that did not exist in the past – this is the step change in scale.
• The overall consulting assignment will target Wawa-Zange by addressing two specific objectives:
• Specific Objective I: Developing investment plan for canalising water into Wawa-Zange Grazing Reserve
• Specific Objective II: Analysing 3 – 4 investment/bankable projects backed with robust financial models.
• However, this consulting assignment will specifically target activities addressing Objectives I.

Specific Objective Activities I:
The Consultant will:

• Analyse water supply/canalisation and livelihood options within the corridor into Wawa-Zange Grazing Reserve and determining the most economical viability;
• Identify constraints and actions to address constraints that are realistic and actionable, including quick wins and are realistically addressable given the time and financial resource constraints.
• Developing financial and investment model for the most promising options.
• Participate in other reform related plans or interventions as may be directed by the Executive Governor or his designee.
• Illustrative deliverables include water channel investment plans on how to approach, roadmap, investment requirements, organized financial models, and pitch decks to motivate relevant stakeholders to engage in investment efforts. Also, implementation plans that identify prioritized actions for Specific Objective 1.

Consultant Deliverables:
The Consultancy Firm will conduct the following tasks:

Timeframe / Schedule:

• Due dates for deliverables and activities – no tables or charts because they don’t load into Jobvite
• 21 working days (within 3 months July – September 2022).

The Consultant will report to:

• The Consultancy Firm will report to the Deputy Chief of Party and Chief of Party.

The Consultancy Firm will work closely with:

• The Senior Intervention Officer Transaction Advice, Senior Intervention Officer Livestock and Deputy Chief of Party who will be providing oversight support functions throughout the duration of this assignment.

Qualifications, Skills, and Experience

• Minimum of MSc in Social Sciences, Agricultural Economics, Economics, Law or a related field (PhD preferred)
• 20+ years of relevant policy reform and/or agribusiness work experience in Nigeria
• Work experience with USAID and/or other donor-funded projects is strongly preferred
• Experience working collaboratively with institutional and private‐sector partners and stakeholders in Nigeria, preferably on government policy matters
• Demonstrated knowledge of agricultural value chains and an understanding of the agribusiness enabling environment
• Excellent analytical, written and oral communications skills in English is a top priority
• Ability to work well in diverse teams but also able to work productively as an individual with minimum supervision
• Well organized, strong analytical skills, creative thinker, innovative, demonstrated personal initiative, with unquestionable integrity and ethics
• Ability to communicate in other Nigerian local languages is a plus
• A relevant network of policy related influencers and decision makers in Nigeria

Financial Proposal:

• Related to financial proposals, please note that Mercy Corps will directly cover the costs of travel, accommodation, meals, and incidentals for a maximum of three people per firm. Other costs such as halls for conducting digital literacy training and associated logistics and refreshment costs will be covered by Mercy Corps. Thus, financial proposals should focus more on the overall daily rates while providing an indication of other costs which will be covered by Mercy Corps.

In addition to the Technical and Financial Proposal, expressions of interest should include the following:

• Consulting firms should include, a company profile demonstrating relevant qualifications, skills, and experience of similar assignments conducted by the firm, or CVs of individuals representing the consulting firm on this assignment. Please note that firms are allowed to collaborate with other firms to deliver this assignment, however, payments for any services will be to one firm and not multiple firms.
• A work plan showing an indicative timeline for each part of the assignment
• Daily rate / fees.