Health and Nutrition Advisor - Roving

Job Description

TEAM/PROGRAMME: Health and Nutrition

LOCATION: Addis Ababa, Save the Children CO with an approximate of 80% field based presence in respective operation areas

GRADE: 1B

CONTRACT LENGTH:

CHILD SAFEGUARDING: (select only one)

Level 2: either the post holder will have access to personal data about children and/or young people as part of their work; or the post holder will be working  in a ‘regulated’ position (accountant, barrister, solicitor, legal executive); therefore a police check  will be required (at ‘standard’ level in the UK or equivalent in other countries).

ROLE PURPOSE:  

The Roving Health and Nutrition Advisor, with  in-depth contextual understanding, technical expertise, and subnational networking skills will be responsible to lead all technical development and humanitarian health and nutrition program in the respective assigned area office in planning and executing capacity building actions, ensure the implementation of Save the children’s quality improvement frameworks including quality bench marks, common approaches aliening with the organizational strategic plan and priorities. The role will contribute to area specific data and situation analysis and input collection for national level health and nutrition strategy development and the technical design and implementation of high quality programmes that deliver change for children in both emergency and development programming. The role supports area specific regional advocacy and influencing, while driving strategic partnerships for new health and nutrition related business development for the area. It contributes to and supports the design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems to demonstrate impact, while sharing learning across our programmes, teams and partners. The Advisor coordinates and leads technical assistance on health and nutrition projects in coordination with relevant project managers and technical advisors to ensure the projects contribute to the achievement of the thematic program strategic plans.

The role will support Health and Nutrition Thematic Director and the team to ensure the CO health and nutrition thematic sector contribution to the CO CSP and to the survive breakthrough, in particular, while also contributing to respective operation area health and nutrition, capacities where they exist, and contribute to CO learning, evidence generation and knowledge management where appropriate.

The role principally work with respective CO area offices and with partners in the respective regions, building their capacity and building ownership and agency of local organisations.  This position will be expected to engage with the area office health and nutrition and coordination mechanisms, as well as represent the organisation with key stakeholders such as the Ministry of Health and its structures including Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Regional Health Bureaus and other key health and nutrition INGOs/CSOs. The role would be expected to provide support emergency preparedness, DRR and support the assessment, design and implementation of humanitarian responses with the Roving Health and Nutrition Advisors and other program staff in the CO.

The role includes on-job technical support at field level health experts where the incumbent is expected to travel to all Save the Children operation areas and spend approximately 80% of his/her time across range of priority issues including active technical support to existing maternal, newborn and child health and immunization projects.

In the event of a major humanitarian emergency, the role holder will be expected to work outside the normal role profile and be able to vary working hours accordingly.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

Reports to: Health and Nutrition Thematic Director

Staff reporting to this post:  None while expected to provide coaching and mentoring support to area office health and nutrition coordinators, managers, operational and other technical colleagues and local partners

Budget Responsibilities: TBC

Role Dimensions: The role is expected to foster relationships with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders including Save the Children members, the Country Office Programme Development & Quality team, advocacy colleagues, Regional Advisors, technical counterparts in other organisation, donors etc. The role is also expected to engage with internal technical working groups and communities of practice.

Context : Humanitarian and development

Primary Technical areas: Health and Nutrition

Primary Sub technical area: Child Health, Maternal and Newborn Health

Secondary Technical areas: WASH 

Secondary Sub technical area: Sexual and Reproductive Health, Social Behaviour Change

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY :

1. Ensuring Quality Programme Design

• Take role in technical scoping, planning, and design and proposal writing during new area specific programme development, and ensure that we design and deliver high quality integrated health and nutrition programmes for children with public health resources, building on global best practice. Ensure that gender, disability and resilience considerations are reflected in our programme design and implementation.
• Promote optimal health and nutrition programming approach as an overarching framework of the national maternal and newborn and child health and development strategies that supports working in collaboration and partnership with stakeholders at national and sub-national levels
• Capacity build, mentor and build a supportive health and nutrition community across the respective area office, in conjunction with other public health colleagues in the thematic sector including senior health, nutrition and WASH advisors and other roving health and nutrition advisor
• Support health and nutrition program operation team to understand and contextualise global guidance, quality standards like quality benchmarks, common approaches, donor and stakeholder quality requirements and other quality parameters.
• Work with Child Rights Governance colleagues to ensure that a rights based approach is reflected in our programme design and implementation (in line with our child rights programming approach), with a strong focus on child participation.
• Promote a Health Systems Strengthening approach as the overarching framework that supports working in collaboration and partnership with governments and national bodies, local partners and working towards impact, scale and sustainability.

1. Ensuring Quality Program Implementation

• Provide oversight and guidance to the area specific health and nutrition programme implementation teams to ensure that programme components are technically sound, implementation methods are consistent with national and global strategies, acknowledged good practice (e.g. Save the Children Common Approaches); and are likely to achieve scale, as well as equitable and sustainable results.
• Promote and monitor integrated programming in a way that increases overall impact of health and nutrition programmes at the community level.
• Closely work with and support senior health and nutrition advisors to technically support area specific update and situations analysis for both development and humanitarian conditions.
• Work with Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning (MEAL) teams to carry out gender and power analysis, and conduct quality monitoring against international standards through participatory methodologies that promote gender equality and social justice (including child-friendly and gender sensitive/transformative methodologies);.
• Contribute, from specific area office perspective, towards strengthening of an organisational learning culture that promotes the use of disaggregated data, evidence and analysis (including gender and power analysis) and understands its link to quality and accountable programming; Contribute to strengthening the use of equality-focused programme principles and good practice across themes and sectors.
• Undertake area office specific field visits to project sites; work with implementation teams to understand impacts, operational challenges, and continuously identify opportunities for learning and improvement.
• Contribute to organisational learning on health and nutrition ensuring that learning from our programmes is shared across the area offices, CO and our partners, as well as with colleagues in the wider regional and global health, nutrition and WASH community in Save the Children. Contribute to strengthening the use of health and nutrition competencies within training and learning initiatives in the sector. 
• Support Humanitarian colleagues (as needed) to develop emergency preparedness plans, and conduct sectoral assessments (including gender analysis and disability situation analysis using SC assessment processes and tools) and to design and deliver emergency response and recovery programmes. Ensure synergies between humanitarian Child Protection teams, data and programme design.  

1. Networking & External Engagement:

• In alignment with the health and nutrition thematic priority and the CSP, engage in representing SC with area office specific regions partners and government in-country, and ensure that Save the Children is a partner of choice in health and nutrition.  
• In collaboration with business development team and other units, contribute in strengthening strategic partnerships in identifying partners and donors to strengthen health and nutrition portfolio of the country office.
• Develop and strengthen strategic relations, bilaterally and in network, with key influencing health and nutrition sector stakeholders, particularly respective regional health bureaus, ministry of health and its agencies such as Ethiopia Public Health Institute, Ethiopia Food and Drug Authority and Ethiopia Pharmaceutical Supply Agency as well as UN agencies particularly with WHO, UNICEF and WFP related to health and nutrition clusters and for both emergency and humanitarian health and nutrition intervention engagements.
• Contribute to Save the Children influence and learning from others through national and regional technical coordination and networking bodies such as health and nutrition clusters and working groups.
• Strengthen civil society engagement in regional dialogues and policy processes through working closely with advocacy and child rights governance colleagues. Ensure that the diverse voices of children, girls and boys are equitably heard and represented in our Health work.
• Represent the program to regional and national and local government representatives, donors, partner agencies, etc. as required.
• Ensure the quality, clarity and consistency of technical components of internal and external reports (e.g. programme reports, sit-reps, internal updates), working closely with awards, and programme implementation and communications colleagues as needed.
• Leverage and liaise with technical colleagues from across Save the Children, including technical working groups and centres of excellence, ensuring that learning from the Country Office is shared with others and global lessons brought back.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values

• holds their team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in accordance with the context,  providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved

Ambition:

• sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own professional development and encourages their team to do the same
• widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
• future orientated, thinks strategically

Collaboration:

• builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, technical advisors and working groups, Members and external partners and supporters
• values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
• approachable, good listener, easy to talk to

Creativity:

• develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
• willing to take disciplined risks

Integrity:

• honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity
• The post holder must commit to work in an international agency that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion and fights racism, gender inequality and discrimination in all forms; and to model positive behaviours that demonstrate a commitment to equality and respect to all colleagues, partners and communities.

Job Requirement

QUALIFICATIONS 

• Masters degree in Public Health or related field or equivalent experience
• Health, Medical or Public Health undergraduate or related qualification

• EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

  • Minimum of 6 years of experience in technically leadership and management of large scale MNCH and MIYCN projects in both humanitarian and development operating contexts
  • Understanding of the health and nutrition sector, systems and policies in Ethiopia, and an understanding of the health and nutrition priorities impacted on by the regional or neighbouring situation.
  • Familiar with health and nutrition systems, and health and nutrition service provision including community health and nutrition and the engagement of civil society organisations
  • Experience and skill in building capacity and provide mentorship health and nutrition program managers, specialists, officers and coordinators
  • Proven experience of high quality and winning project design and proposal development experience
  • Possess strong technical competencies in core common approaches and programming principles of SCI
  • Good experience in training, and capacity building of workforce and health and nutrition staff
  • Skilled at networking, representation and partnership development in order promote learning, strengthen civil society and mobilise resources. 
  • Experience of promoting quality and impact through at least one cross-cutting area: gender equality and inclusion, adaptive and safer programming; child rights; disability; migration and displacement.
  • Experience and skill in identify and documenting learnings, best practices, and facilitate learnings
  • Experiences in providing impactful technical support on health and nutrition TWGs at national or regional levels for Federal ministry of health or regional health bureaus
  •  Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to lead and work effectively in team situations
  • Good knowledge and experience of the Ethiopian health and nutrition systems and policies
  • Commitment to Save the Children values

  KEY COMPETENCIES (Indicative / Key Competencies)

   

  Technical competencies:

  • Drives Quality Health and nutrition Programming: Trains and mentors others on the application of relevant health and nutrition sector standards
  • Understanding of Impact of emergencies on health and nutrition programming and health and nutrition outcomes: Engages in the humanitarian aid architecture, the cluster approach and inter-cluster coordination of public health and nutrition information
  • Able to build integrated multi sectoral health and nutrition programmes: Builds the capacity of others to design and implement integrated health and nutrition sensitive and specific programming and advocacy
  • Able to link local to national and global level advocacy efforts, supporting localisation of change and influencing global policy development

  Additional job responsibilities

  The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.

  Equal Opportunities

  The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI’s global Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Gender Equality Policies, supported by relevant procedures.

  Child Safeguarding:

  We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.

  Safeguarding our Staff:

  The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy

  Health and Safety

  The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.