Nutrition in Emergency Specialist

Career Opportunities: Nutrition in Emergency Specialist (832848) Requisition ID 832848 - Posted - Short Term Monthly - Europe, Western - Italy - Rome - Working Job Language (1) - NUTRITION WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or 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. ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT In 2022, the world faced a historic food and nutrition crisis. Continuing in 2024, an estimated 29 million children will suffer from wasting in 15 of the worst-affected countries, In the same countries, 156 million people are estimated to face crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity, which is a 83 per cent increase from 2019 (before the global pandemic). The number of people living in emergency and catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity also saw a significant increase and represents a deterioration of the situation since 2019. In these humanitarian contexts, continued efforts for the early detection of children with wasting, and their management remain critical; likewise essential are actions to reduce the incidence of children whose nutrition situation may deteriorate into wasting. As a United Nations (UN) agency reaching an estimated 150 million nutritionally vulnerable and food-insecure people each year, WFP plays a critical role in multi-stakeholder efforts to address malnutrition. In 2023, over 27 million children under the age of 5 and pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls were assisted through WFP supported nutrition-specific programmes that aim to prevent undernutrition and manage moderate wasting across 52 countries.” The 2023 WHO Guideline on the Prevention and Management of Wasting and Nutritional Oedema together with the Global Action Plan on Child Wasting (GAP) provide an opportunity to foster new program approaches to ensure that as many children as possible benefit from coordinated efforts to prevent and address wasting. WFP with its partner UNICEF has developed a joint strategic approach to accelerate programmatic shifts in humanitarian and fragile contexts based on this new WHO Guideline. WFP and UNICEF will work together to provide a combined package of interventions to address child wasting. The joint approach emphasizes the importance of addressing maternal nutrition, elevates attention given to preventive actions as part of every program response and to increasing convergence and coverage to reach those populations most vulnerable and hardest to reach. This approach will be implemented through a phased three-year transition plan (2024-2026) in 15 priority countries (Haiti, Burkina Faso, Chad , Mali , Niger, Nigeria, Ethiopia , Kenya , Somalia , South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo , Madagascar , Afghanistan , Yemen); supporting governments and partners incorporate evidence-based programmatic shifts in alignment with the WHO Guideline. WFP in these countries will implement shifts in programs to address child wasting and maternal malnutrition in collaboration with its key collaborators , supported through the respective Regional Bureaus and joint actions taken at global level. The global actions include evidence generation through strong monitoring and evaluation or operations research, nutrition vulnerability analysis, documentation and sharing of success and lessons learnt from new program approaches, joint advocacy and supply chain optimisation of specialised nutritious foods. JOB PURPOSE The overall purpose of the assignment is to strengthen integration of nutrition into WFP’s emergency preparedness and response mechanisms and support regions and countries to implement these; this will facilitate early and effective actions to prevent increases in child wasting in crises affected countries, especially in the 15 priority countries under the joint transition plan. KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive) 1. Strategic and operational support to the programmatic shift in 15 countries Provide strategic, technical, and operational support to facilitate implementation of the programmatic shifts in the countries part of the transition plan. Support will be provided through WFP’s Regional Bureau’s and directly, when needed. Specifically, focus on technical operational aspects in countries where the Regional Bureau’s limited capacity for implementation. When onsite assistance and guidance to country teams is required, support in addressing specific challenges and in finding solutions that country teams can build upon. Offer hands-on support to ensure effective transition to the new programme modalities. Support establishment and implementation of joint workplans at country level for the transition plan on child wasting with particular attention to identifying gaps in early warning systems and preparedness. Develop strategies to address these gaps and enhance the effectiveness of collaborative efforts. Ensure seamless communication and collaboration between Rapid Response Teams’ member and relevant stakeholders at global, regional and country level, where relevant. When providing support to a country, actively identify and communicate learning in relation to programmatic implementation that can be elevated and used for other countries or region, identify operations research opportunities, as relevant. Facilitate informed discussions and strategic adjustments based on the identified cross-cutting issues. 2. Strengthen the capacity of regional and country offices to integrate nutrition in emergency preparedness and response into their operation . Critically review and identify gaps and opportunities to strengthen integration of nutrition into WFP’s corporate early warning and preparedness processes and systems; suggest and develop strategies to address the gaps and build on. Participate in WFP’s preparedness cell to advance the integration of nutrition in priority countries’ emergency preparedness actions, involving other teams and units in the Nutrition and Food Quality Service. Build and maintain a strong collaboration with key actors involved in the preparedness cell and enhance understanding and buy-in for nutrition integration. Reinforce collaboration to advance the creation of an anticipatory action framework centred around safeguarding nutrition and dietary needs, leveraging the World Food Programme’s unique strengths and expertise. Identify fundamental lessons learned from WFP’s crisis responses including from the deployment of the Nutrition Rapid Response Team and guide the documentation, integration into guidance and tools, dissemination and take up. DELIVERABLES Insights and advancements on programmatic shift are consistently exchanged across global, regional, and national levels, and this reciprocal flow is subject to critical evaluation and necessary adjustments. Operational and technical support effectively provided to Regional Bureaus and Countries Offices to advance the joint transition plan on child wasting. Minimum preparedness measures for nutrition are defined and integrated into the corporate Minimum Preparedness Actions. Opportunities to enhance capacity on integration of nutrition into emergency preparedness and response are identified and delivered on. STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS Education: Master’s degree in nutrition, Public Health, Food Security, Food systems or other related fields, or Bachelor’s degree with additional years of relevant professional work experience. Experience: Minimum of 8 years of work experience in international nutrition with a minimum of 5 years’ work in humanitarian contexts Must have operational experience supporting/managing nutrition emergency responses in different contexts, including familiarity with IMAM/CMAM, simplified approaches, prevention programming, and extensive experience in IYCF-E programming. Work experience with the U.N, preferably with WFP, highly desired; field experience with NGOs is an asset. Demonstrated ability to strategically engage with Government and partners to develop and implement multi-sectoral programmes. Languages: Fluency in English is required, fluency in French is highly desirable. Working knowledge of another UN language. ADDITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS Knowledge of global nutrition and global humanitarian architecture including the cluster approach and related roles and responsibilities for the nutrition sector. Conceptual and operational knowledge of nutrition in emergencies. Thorough understanding of WFP’s mandate and roles. Knowledge and experience with gender concepts. Strong assessment and analytical skills. Knowledge of humanitarian funding mechanisms (CERF, flash appeals, country-based pooled funds, etc). Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to work effectively in multicultural settings and teams. Ability to perform duties under pressure with a minimum level of supervision and to cope with highly demanding living/working environment. Excellent written and oral communication skills. TERMS AND CONDITIONS The incumbent will be requested to have regular travels to the 15 priority countries (Haiti, Burkina Faso, Chad , Mali , Niger, Nigeria, Ethiopia , Kenya , Somalia , South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo , Madagascar , Afghanistan , Yemen). DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS Deadline for applications: 23 May, 2024 (Midnight Rome time). . 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 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. #J-18808-Ljbffr