UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, Nairobi

Temporary Appointment (TA) – Nutrition Information Management Specialist

Position Title:                Nutrition Information Management Specialist

 Level:                                 P4 (TA)

Location:                           Nairobi, Kenya

Duration:                          364 days

Start Date:                       15^th September 2014                                  End Date:          13^th September 2015  

Reporting to:                Regional Nutrition Advisor

Purpose

The Nutrition Information Management Specialist will be responsible for facilitating, guiding and managing the nutrition component of the Resilience Analysis Unit (RAU) as well as strengthening technical capacity in nutrition information management for the Regional Nutrition Sub-Group.

Background and rationale

The Horn of Africa (HoA) is one of the most food-insecure regions in the world. The needs of vulnerable populations, and the actions required to protect and build their resilience, are immense and beyond the capacity of any single institution. The complex nature of crises and natural or human-made hazards affecting populations in the HoA, which often occur simultaneously and can be protracted over a long period of time, demands coordinated action and a holistic approach to addressing underlying causes of food insecurity and malnutrition.

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s (IGAD) Drought Disaster Resilience and Sustainability Initiative (2013-2027)was established to guide and inform the implementation of resilience-building efforts at national and regional levels. One of the key milestones in strengthening resilience – for individuals, households and higher levels – is the capacity to measure the effectiveness of interventions in actually doing so. Being able to measure or analyse resilience, and monitor and evaluate interventions designed to strengthen it, enables investments in policy and programming to be made more effectively, and with increased accountability.

In response to the recognised need to build the capacity of the IGAD Secretariat and IGAD Member States to sustainably measure and analyze resilience, FAO, WFP, UNDP and UNICEF came together in anIGAD-ledResilience Analysis Unit (RAU). The RAU will ensure that IGAD, Member States and other relevant stakeholders develop and can retain the ability to undertake robust resilience analysis for evidence-based programme and policy design, implementation and impact assessment. The RAU will focus on: (1) Measurement, monitoring and evaluation of resilience (as a set of capacities to withstand, adapt and transform in the face of shocks); (2) Research intothe determinants of resilience at individual, household, community and higher levels; (3) Evidence-based advocacy to influence policy and programming to strengthen resilience; (4) Capacity development ofIGAD and Member States tomeasure and analyze resilience;and (5) Development of a database (Who-What-Where) of resilence-relevant humanitarian and development interventions.

Within the RAU focus areas, the role of nutrition information and analysis, integrated with that of food and livelihood security plus other determinants of resilience, is a critical component that this TA will address.

In addition, the TA will align with and complement the work of the Regional Nutrition Sub-Group (which reports to the IGAD co-chaired, regional Food Security and Nutrition Working Group or FSNWG). This Sub-Group is a regional platform for technical nutrition information exchange. It facilitates discussion on nutrition situations and issues, promotes harmonized nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive actions regionally, inputs on nutrition matters with the wider Food Security FSNWG and its other Sub-Groups as well as Regional Economic Communities, and liaises with other key stakeholders in the region. The Regional Nutrition Sub-Group has emphasized the need for technical assistance in regional nutrition information management, as proposed by this TA, which would be in complement to the RAU focus areas and workplan.

This TA would, in addition to meeting requirements for resilience M&E, advocacy and capacity building (as above), manage UNICEF’sregional nutrition situation analysis and support nutrition programming (needs, capacity and response) as part of its critical and complementary contribution to the Resilience Analysis Unit.

Purpose of the Assignment

Support the Resilience Analysis Unit and the Regional Nutrition Sub-group withtechnical capacity for nutrition information management, by:

a)     Supporting the development and maintenanceof a regional database on the nutrition situation of vulnerable people/groups, and the status of nutrition programming (including that which occurs within wider resilience-building initiatives);

b)     Providing technical assistance to support the nutrition component of RAU’s measurement, monitoring and evaluation of resilience in the region;

c)      Supporting the development of a RAU-led research agenda that adequately captures the nutrition-relevant aspects of resilience and integrates them with other related aspects (including food and livelihood security);

d)     Contributing to evidence-based advocacy that strengthens policy and programning investments to better enable resilience;

e)     Supporting capacity development for resilience analysis, in partifular its nutrition-related aspects.

Specific Tasks

Under the overall supervision of the Regional Advisor in Nutrition for UNICEF ESARO, and with coordination of RAU-related tasks from the RAU Technical Coordinator, the Nutrition Information Management Specialist is expected to carry out the following:

1)       Measurement, monitoring and evaluation of nutrition components of resilience analysis

Provide technical support to the development of the nutrition components of resilience impact assessment and measurement methodologies (qualitative and quantitative), considering existingapproaches and tools. This includes:

·         Provide technical support for the selection of key nutrition indicators for resilience impact assessment and measurement methodologies being developed or used;

·         Liaise with other agencies, sectors and stakeholders to ensure complementarity with non-nutritional aspects of resilience M&E;

·         Provide technical support for country or context-specific methodology adaptations and their implementation;

·         Provide technical oversight to ensure quality assurance of nutrition data collection and analysis;

·         Ensure that the nutrition component of the M&E framework for measuring resilience is operationalized;

·         Document and present key developments and findings on measuring resilience from a nutrition perspective to relevant stakeholders;

·         Prepare nutrition-focused briefs and knowledge products to influence policy and programming investments in ways that build resilience.

2)     Methodology for integrated approach to household food security and child nutrition assessment/analysis

·         Support the development of an integrated (quantitative and qualitative) approach to food security and nutrition assessment/analysis, adaptable per context. This would include identifying a set of commonly assessed indicators relevant to food security and nutrition, and facilitating long-term data collection that would enable trend analysis for the support/design of pre-emptive or pre-crisis (rather than simply responsive) interventions.

3)     Research into the nutrition-related determinants of resilience

Support the development of the research agenda to ensure it captures and analyses nutrition-related determinants of resilience:

• Coordinate with stakeholders in nutrition, food security and livelihoods to identify sector specific and cross-sectoral priority areas or topics for research and analysis – to support knowledge, capacity building and advocacy initiatives;
• Explore innovative application of different tools and methodologies to improve resilience analysis and measurement;
• Support the RAU Technical Coordinator in the supervision of nutrition-related components of resilience analysisundertaken by partners (e.g. Tulane University and others);
• Facilitate linkages withrelevant analytical work done by the global Resilience Measurement Technical Working Group, and other relevant analytical work in the region;
• Guide identification and documentation of lessons learned from resilience studies/measurement as it pertains to nutrition.

4)     Evidence-based advocacy for programming and policy that strengthens resilience

• Develop or inform technical recommendations to inform resilience-strengtheningpolicy and programming interventions, whether at household, community or at higher levels, based on findings from analysis andresearch;
• Provide evidence-based nutrition inputs to the development of position papers and key message documents, to influence policies and programming related to resilience at regional and country levels;
• Contribute to advocacy initiatives to inform and improve stakeholders’ (aid agencies, governments, inter government agencies, civil society, donors) investments in integrated resilience initiatives.

5)     Regional Nutrition Situation Analysis

·         Support the regular analysis of country-level and regional nutrition information (situation and programme), as well as specific analysis on the nutritional situation on mobile and pastoralist populations within IGAD Member States (as part of the collaboration between UNICEF Regional Office’s Nutrition Section and IGAD);

·         Support the development of a regional database of “who does what, where & when” for emergency/development nutrition interventions;

·         Present or support the dissemination of regional nutrition information analysis briefs (including at IGAD chaired FSNWG and Regional Nutrition Sub-group, etc.)

6)     Capacity Development

·         Support assessment ofcapacities(and capacity gaps)forresilience analysis, especially nutrition-related aspects of it, amongIGAD, member states, and other stakeholders;

·         Support development of a capacity building strategy that addresses capacity gaps;

·         Support development of capacity building activities, including on-the-job training to country staff,for relevant stakeholders;

·         Work closely with Tulane University and other partners to develop and disseminate an online course on resilience analysis (with a focus on it nutrition-related aspects).

Key Deliverables:

1.       Methodology and tools for RAUresilience analysis, measurement and impact assessment;

2.       Regional nutrition database that captures data for multiple levels of analysis (household, community and higher);

3.      Guidancenote for country/context-specific adaptation and implementation of tools, including data quality control, analysis and reporting;

4.      Nutrition-related inputs to papers/outputs on resilience measurement and analysis;

5.      Regional Nutrition Sub-Group Nutrition Information management updates;

6.      Regional analysis of the nutrition situation among cross-border, nomadic, mobile populations and pastoralists in IGAD Member states;

7.      Resilience research agenda that captures the nutrition-related determinants of resilience;

8.      Integrated quantitative and qualitative approach to food security and nutrition analysis;

9.      Nutrition module of the resilience capacity training manual and online resilience analysis.

Qualifications:

·         Advanced university degree in Nutrition, Public Health, Epidemiology, Statistics and/or Medical Sciences;

·         Eight years of progressively responsible professional work experience in development and/or humanitarian situations in developing countries, some of which should be in the field of nutrition information and analysis;

·         Progressively responsible experience in managing projects and/or offices and staff, programme formulation, planning, management and evaluation;

·         Previous experience in resilience-related experience an asset;

·         Fluency in English (verbal and written);

·         Knowledge of another UN language an asset.

Competencies of successful candidate:

• Communicates effectively to varied audiences, including during formal public speaking;

·         Builds, maintains, and leverages a diverse network of contacts, strategic partnerships and alliances with donors, UN Agencies, NGOs, intergovernmental organisations, etc.;

• Sets high standards for quality and consistently achieves goals;
• Analyses and integrates diverse numerical, verbal and other data from multiple sources;
• Demonstrates and shares detailed technical knowledge and expertise;
• Setsand adheres to clearly defined objectives and work-plans.

Applications:

UNICEF’s salary and benefits package is based on the United Nations Common System; visit www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/salaries_allowances for further information.

UNICEF is committed to gender equality in its mandate and its staff. Well qualified candidates, particularly females, are strongly encouraged to apply.

Interested candidates should send their complete Personal History (P11) form, which can be downloaded from the UNICEF Kenya website (http://www.unicef.org/kenya), up-to-date CV/resume, as well as a cover letter explaining what makes them suitable for this position, to esarohrvacancies@unicef.org  by 16 August 2014.