CRS Ethiopia is seeking qualified candidates for the Ethiopian Livelihoods and Resilience Program (ELRP), a five-year USAID Office for Food for Peace (FFP) Title II Development Food Security Activity (DFSA). The DFSA will focus on building resilience to shocks, enhancing livelihoods and improving food security and nutrition for rural households vulnerable to food insecurity. CRS’ DFSA operates in 8 woredas of Oromia Region as well as Dire Dawa Administrative Council.
Announcement: | Internal/ External |
Position Title: | Project Officer, Health & Nutrition |
Positions: | 1 |
Job Grade: | VI |
Duty Station: | Dire Dawa (1), Ethiopia |
Employment term: | Indefinite period contingent upon funding of the DFSA Program |
Reports to: | DFSA Health and Nutrition Team Lead/Manager |
Application Deadline: | November 19, 2017 |
Job Summary:
CRS will hire two Health and Nutrition Project Officers, to be based in Dire Dawa (1) and Shashemene (1) and to work closely with implementing partners Hararghe Catholic Secretariat (HCS) and Meki Catholic Secretariat, (MCS) respectively. The Health and Nutrition Project Officers will provide strategic vision, management and technical expertise in leading the activities of one of the key purposes of the DFSA: pregnant and lactating women (PLW) and children under five(CU5) have improved nutritional status. The Project Officer will establish and maintain positive and complementary working relationships across a wide range of contributing implementing partners and GoE stakeholders. The Project Officer will liaise with GoE health and agricultural extension programs, working to strengthen the quality and coordination of services at community, kebele and woreda levels to ensure households increase access to and utilization of preventative and curative health and nutrition services. The Project Officer will focus DFSA nutrition interventions on the targeted beneficiaries of PLW and CU5, in accordance with national policy, and will also give additional focus to reaching children under two years of age to prevent stunting. The Project Officer will have a strong understanding of global best practices in nutrition including WHO identified Essential Nutrition and Hygiene Actions, and will have experience in increasing uptake of health-facility based nutrition services. Additionally, the incumbent will be well-versed with GoE national nutrition programs, policies and priorities and liaise with other nutrition specific and sensitive programs being implemented in Ethiopia.
Specific Responsibilities:
Support and Representation:
Program Quality and Management:
1. Oversee DFSA partner trainings of health facility workers focused on essential services including antenatal care, community management of acute malnutrition and growth monitoring and promotion;
2. Ensure all DFSA training and community engagement activities promote WHO Essential Nutrition and Hygiene actions, with a focus on preventing enteric dysfunction and encouraging early childhood stimulation;
3. Working with the DFSA Health and Nutrition Manager, help develop and implement a strategy for increasing demand through peer-to-peer outreach programs and public recognition of ‘model’ care-seeking families;
4. Along with CRS implementing partners, engage with Woreda Health Office (WoHO) to identify training gaps and use improved tools and job aids to provide health workers with counseling and negotiation skills;
5. Oversee support to development agents as they provide targeted coaching on nutrition food selection for women and children;
6. Engage woreda and kebele food security task forces to identify health centers that lack water supply, sanitation facilities, waste disposal infrastructure and water treatment, prioritizing those most in need of support;
7. Along with the PSNP Institutional Capacity Strengthening Officers, conduct cross-sectoral community service mapping to explore facilitators and barriers to household participation in key services;
8. Reinforce established GoE service access points (e.g., Child Health Days and other formalized community mobilization fora) to ensure messages permeate the community;
9. Closely collaborate with quality and appropriateness of activities to achieve the target indicators in a cost-effective, timely, and sustainable manner; and
10. Perform any other duties as assigned by the Health and Nutrition Manager.
Integration
1. In conjunction with the DFSA team, support partners to better understand and address the role of nutrition within the respective programmatic areas;
2. As part of the DFSA team, support partners to ensure all DFSA supported health and nutrition programs are sensitive to gender and social exclusion considerations;
3. Support partners to implement a clear nutrition monitoring framework allowing them to recognize and respond to deterioration in the nutritional status and asset base of their communities; and
4. Help strengthen collaboration and coordination between CRS’ DFSA and other nutrition NGOs.
Supervision:
Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)
These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results:
· Serves with Integrity
· Models Stewardship
· Cultivates Constructive Relationships
· Promotes Learning
Key Working Relationships:
Internal to CRS: Country Representative, Head of Programs, DFSA Chief of Party, DFSA Deputy Chief of Party for Programmes, DFSA Health and Nutrition Manager, other DFSA team leaders, all Country Program staff, Regional and Headquarters technical staff.
External to CRS: Implementing partners, officials at USAID, government organizations, representatives from for-profit and other non-profit organizations, representatives of non-traditional public donors including UN, World Bank, and others, and relevant GoE stakeholders.
Required Qualifications and Experience:
1. Degree in a relevant field including public health and/or nutrition.
2. Minimum 5 years demonstrated experience with USG or other similar development projects focused on child health and nutrition (preferably with experience related to engaging populations vulnerable to malnutrition and increasing household uptake of nutrition services, preferably Ethiopian with understanding of the Ethiopian context)
3. Experience with project implementation oversight and budget management
4. Demonstrated ability to work and coordinate effectively with a wide variety of stakeholders, including national and local government, donors, community-based organizations, and the private sector
5. Excellent verbal and written communication skills in both English, Oromifa and Amharic;
6. Established relationship with and/or substantive knowledge of internationally recognized best practices in improving nutrition outcomes as well as best practices undertaken in Ethiopia;
7. Experience with USAID project implementation; familiarity with rules and regulations;
8. Strong Microsoft Word and Excel skills.