Nutritionist NOB, Dushanbe – ReAdvertised
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WFP encourages female candidates and people with disabilities to apply.
WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles. Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis. We are committed to promoting diversity and the principle of equal employment opportunity for all our employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of religion or belief, ethnic or social background, gender, gender identity and disability.
ABOUT WFP
The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.
JOB RELATED KEY INFORMATION
Job Title: Nutritionist, NOB
Grade: NOB
Type of Contract: Fixed Term
Duration: 1 Year
Duty Station: Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Vacancy Number: 828556
Date of Publication: 1 August 2023
Deadline of Application: 14 August 2023
This vacancy announcement is for Nationals of Tajikistan
Terms and Conditions: WFP offers a competitive benefits package including salary, pension, leave plus a medical insurance.
BACKGROUND
Despite positive economic growth and progress in poverty reduction, Tajikistan is still facing a challenging food security and nutrition situation. Recent economic challenges compounded by population growth have contributed to the reclassification of the country as low-income in 2018 while the COVID pandemic and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has further increased household vulnerability. Malnutrition rates remain the highest in Central Asia, and the number of undernourished has remained stagnant. Tajikistan faces different environmental challenges, including environmental and soil degradation and poor natural resource management. Additionally, Tajikistan is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which has further exacerbated food security and livelihoods of vulnerable communities. Given the above, the government has identified food security and access to quality nutrition as one of its development priorities.
WFP Tajikistan has commenced its Country Strategic Plan 2023 – 2026 in tandem with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) covering the same period. By means of the CSP, WFP is undertaking a strategic shift from direct implementation to enabling and strengthening capacities of national and subnational institutions to deliver on their food security and nutrition priorities. WFP activities support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). Operations across the country include school-based programmes (hot meals and capacity development) that provide a valuable social safety net, nutrition specific and sensitive programmes, and climate change adaptation and resilience building programmes. In addition, WFP responds to emergencies and shocks created by natural disasters or resulting from socioeconomic crises. The geographic scope of WFP Tajikistan operations encompasses the entirety of the country. In addition to the country office in Dushanbe, WFP has field offices located in Bokhtar, Gharm, Khorog, and Khujand to oversee operations in those specific regions.
Depending on the context, from immediate humanitarian support to longer term development interventions, WFP works with governments and partners to improve the availability of safe, affordable, nutritious foods; access to nutritious foods; and demand for and consumption of nutritious foods. Ending malnutrition in all its forms entails increasing the availability, access, consumption of and demand for safe and nutritious diets that meet, but do not exceed, the nutritional requirements of vulnerable groups. Nutritious diets are tailored to meet nutrient requirements of the targeted population, and should therefore be age-appropriate and diverse, and may include locally available foods, fortified and specialized nutritious, as needed, based on context and identified nutrient gaps.
JOB PURPOSE
Within the WFP programme unit, an outcome group focusing on human development includes three (3) interlinked teams: school-based programming, nutrition, and fortification; among each of these activity areas, strong coordination is required. Within this outcome group, the position of Nutritionist, NOB, will serve as activity manager for all aspects of the WFP nutrition portfolio, inclusive of nutrition specific and sensitive programmes and through ensuring nutrition integration across all operations.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)
Under the general guidance of the head of programme while reporting directly to the human development outcome manager, the incumbent is expected to perform the following duties and responsibilities:
External Cooperation
• Coordinate with relevant government stakeholders to design national plans and policies to achieve good nutrition;
• Advocate for multi-sectoral, multi-stakeholder coordination, such as the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement (SUN) and the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), to improve nutrition governance and coverage/delivery of interventions;
• Conduct context-specific analyses and assessments collaboratively with government and other partners to ensure that interventions effectively and efficiently reach vulnerable groups without duplicating efforts;
• Cultivate partnerships to strengthen nutrition in social protection, education, health/WASH, and agriculture and food systems;
Project Management and Implementation
• Contribute to the development of nutrition projects and activities, plans and processes, ensuring alignment with wider nutrition policies and guidance, including improving community/integrated management of acute malnutrition (C/IMAM), the first 1,000 days of life as a critical window of opportunity for stunting prevention, and the continuum of care across all age groups;
• Provide project management support to specific and defined nutrition projects and activities, ensuring a coordinated approach with wider programmes/projects that complies with WFP standards and procedures;
• Incorporate nutrition-sensitive concepts and approaches into programming, including specific nutrition objectives and indicators;
• Coordinate data gathering and monitoring/assessment systems ensuring that rigorous quality standards are maintained;
• Track and analyse data to provide input into reporting activities and contribute to the preparation of accurate and timely reporting on nutrition activities that enables informed decision making and consistency of information presented to stakeholders;
• Support identification of and negotiations for partnerships to ensure a collaborative and holistic approach to meet nutrition needs;
• Liaise with partners to monitor ongoing projects, ensuring effective collaboration, timeliness and efficiency, and highlight potential risks to project delivery;
• Maintain and strengthen nutrition capacity in emergencies and ensure support to communities to build resilience to shocks that affect nutritional status;
• Support resource mobilization efforts through development of concept notes and proposals to enhance the nutrition portfolio;
Capacity Development
• Ensure staff are cognizant of WFP policies and procedures, providing guidance and advice as required;
• Support the capacity building of WFP staff, partners and national government to prepare for and respond to nutrition needs, for example the production and review of training materials;
• Provide strong strategic guidance, technical support, advice and direction for nutrition programmes, analysis and reporting;
• Support the capacity building of WFP country office and field staff, partners, and government counterparts to prepare for and respond to all projects within the portfolio;
• Provide support to relevant partners to enable sharing of experience, lessons learned and best practice;
• Provide training and guidance to junior staff as required to ensure appropriate development and enable high performance;
Team Management
• Create an inclusive work environment through respectful and constructive communication and holding self and other team members accountable for their actions;
• Hold regular meetings and/or use other innovative and effective ways to ensure proper information sharing and communication within the team/staff members under direct supervision or coordination;
• Actively manage underperformance through regular conversations, providing support/coaching, documenting as required, and proactively seeking second level supervisor and HR advice;
• Ensure substantiated input and completion of all phases in PACE within established deadlines for all team members under direct supervision;
Cross-Cutting
• Support the implementation of the WFP Tajikistan Country Strategic Plan by ensuring cross-cutting efforts such as nutrition-sensitivity, gender and diversity inclusion (including disability), protection and accountability, and linkages with other activities, including school meals, climate change adaptation and resilience building;
• Perform all duties and functions of an activity manager as relevant to internal WFP processes and procedures in accordance with all deadlines (e.g., potential partner proposals, field level agreements, service provision processes and contracts; invoice/ transfers clearances; corporate systems such as WINGS/COMET; monthly deliverables such as mission plans, country brief inputs and bank forecast inputs; responding to official letters requesting support or information; serving as hiring manager; etc.);
• Ensure all team members, including self, conduct regular field visits for capacity development, oversight, and general knowledge gathering/sharing and provide concise back-to-the-office reports following such visits;
• Support in the development of and ensure proper use of a structured information management and archival system for the team, which links to the greater programme unit system;
• Any other business.
STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
Experience:
• At least 3 years of professional work experience in public health/ food security/ nutrition related activities;
• Experience and exposure to implementation of national/international development programmes, with some understanding of emergency contexts;
• Experience identifying and defining nutrition issues/problems within a country;
• Worked within large teams with varied areas of expertise in the delivery of nutrition projects;
• Has provided substantial input into functional practices and policies, preferably in the areas of nutrition, public health and/or social protection;
• Collaborated with a diverse array of humanitarian actors, including governments, NGOs, UN agencies, civil society, etc.
Education: Advanced university degree in public health, nutrition, food technology, food sciences, medicine or other relevant field, or first university degree with additional years of relevant work experience and/or advanced training/courses.
Language:
• Fluency in oral and written English is required;
• Fluency in oral and written Tajik or Russian is required.
Functional Capabilities:
• Knowledge of nutrients: Understands 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, analyse 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 core public health sciences (i.e., biostatistics, epidemiology, social science, environmental health, and prevention of chronic and infectious disease and injury) to assess a country’s/region’s health situation;
• Knowledge of food systems: Ability to analyse how food systems influence diets of vulnerable groups and identify how and where food systems contribute to specific nutrient gaps.
• Applying programme and policy standards: Leverages nutrition knowledge to provide technical advice to governments to design and implement country nutrition programmes that follow international and agency standards and guidance;
Skills:
• Excellent analytical and communication skills demonstrated through preparation of well-analysed and comprehensive reports;
• Excellent ability to synthesize large amounts of complex data into summary documents;
• Strong ability to work independently;
• Strong proficiency in MS Office Suite;
Competencies:
• Drives results and delivers on commitment;
• Fosters inclusive and collaborative teams;
• Applies strategic thinking;
• Builds and maintains sustainable partnerships;
APPLICATION PROCESS
WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.
Request for Disability related Reasonable Accommodations:
It is important to WFP to create an accessible and inclusive workplace for everyone. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform essential job functions. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, completing any pre-employment testing, or otherwise participating in the selection and hiring process, please direct your request and inquiries to the Diversity and Inclusion team on: global.inclusion@wfp.org, cc’ing bangkok.recruitment@wfp.org. A member of the reasonable accommodation team will contact you to confidentially discuss your needs.
This email is only to be used for any disability related accessibility requirements, and not for sending the application itself. Due to volume of applications, any applications or CVs sent through this email address will not be considered as a formal application and will not receive a reply from WFP.
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WFP has a zero-tolerance approach to conduct such as fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to WFP’s standards of conduct and will therefore undergo rigorous background verification internally or through third parties. Selected candidates will also be required to provide additional information as part of the verification exercise. Misrepresentation of information provided during the recruitment process may lead to disqualification or termination of employment
