Senior Nutrition and Food Systems Officer

Job Description

Description

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The Senior Nutrition and Food Systems Officer reports to the Director of the Food and Nutrition Division (ESN). The incumbent will work in consultation with the Office of Chief Statistician (OCS) and in close collaboration with other technical divisions, including the Statistics Division (ESS), the Fisheries and Aquaculture Division (NFI) and Subregional and Country Offices.

Technical Focus:

To bring technical and scientific expertise and leadership to all FAO's work related to data collection, analysis, harmonization, dissemination and utilization of dietary intake-related data.
Specific areas of focus include food consumption, food composition and indicators of diet quality and dietary intake.

Key Functions:
Plans, manages or leads highly specialized or multidisciplinary teams; leads, coordinates and/or participates in Organization-wide, cross-Divisional committees, project teams and working groups, and/or provides technical leadership/secretariat services in technical networks and/or international technical policy and standard setting bodies.Analyses global and country specific requirements as well as agricultural, economic, social, environmental factors to provide critical input into the FAO Strategic Framework, Programme of Work as well as Detailed Work Plans and the supporting budgets and/or resourcing strategies.Implements and monitors work programmes involving the conception and development of comprehensive statistical and/or analytical frameworks including early warning, medium and long-term plans and strategies, leading edge tools, methods, systems and databases, critical indicators, and/or policy models, etc.Oversees and reviews data collection, validation, analysis and reporting activities to support the development of technical standards, international instruments, innovation, FAO flagship publications/yearbooks, and/or ongoing programme development as well as technical and/or policy advisory services.Provides technical and policy advice to Member countries and technical support to Decentralized Offices in the development and implementation of their programmes of work.Plans, organizes and participates in capacity development activities, involving the provision of advice, technical assistance projects, training workshops, seminars and meetings as well as oversees the development of related materials, on-line tools and information kits.Represents the Organization at international/inter-governmental meetings and conferences, advocates strategic partnerships, best practices and increased policy dialogue, and develops and negotiates effective working relationships/consensus and agreements with international and national partners.Leads and/or participates in resource mobilization activities in accordance with the FAO Corporate Strategy.Specific Functions:
Provides vision and leadership to enhance and expand FAO's work on all aspects related to dietary assessment including food consumption, food composition and indicators of diet quality (including but not limited to Minimum Dietary Diversity – Women (MDD-W)) and dietary intake.Leads, oversees and provides technical backstopping to all work, projects, reports, collaborations and agreements related to, and on all aspects of dietary assessment within FAO. Leads the integration of food consumption-related data into FAO data sharing platforms including FAO/WHO Global Individual Food consumption data Tool (GIFT), Food and Agriculture Microdata (FAM) and Corporate Database for Substantive Statistical Data (FAOSTAT), and provides strategic vision for the development/expansion of sharing of diet-related data through FAO platforms.Leads and oversees the preparation of scientific publications, reports, guidelines, tools and protocols on all aspects related to dietary assessment.Leads existing and fosters further collaborations with other technical divisions of FAO (e.g. Statistics Division – ESS and Fisheries and Aquaculture Division – NFI) and with Regional, Subregional and Country Offices on all aspects related to dietary assessment.Leads and fosters collaboration with external partners and organizations involved in the area of dietary assessment, on topics including but not limited to, addressing research priorities, dietary data related initiatives, utilization of data for policy and programmatic purposes (among others as relevant).Supervises the work of staff members, consultants and interns working on all aspects of dietary assessment.Leads strategic planning and resource mobilization on all aspects related to dietary assessment.Oversees and supports the planning, organization and delivery of technical webinars and conferences in the field of dietary assessment.Supports countries' needs in terms of capacity development in the area of dietary assessment.Leads communities of practice and networks in the area of dietary assessment (e.g. International Network of Food Data Systems (INFOODS)).Performs other duties as required.Candidates Will Be Assessed Against The Following:

Minimum Requirements:

Advanced university degree in nutrition, food science or a closely related field, or an advanced university degree in statistics, biostatistics, epidemiology or a closely related field with demonstrated comparable work experience in the area of nutrition.Ten years of relevant experience in dietary assessment including data collection, analysis, harmonization, dissemination and utilization of dietary intake-related data (including at least two of the following: food consumption, food composition and indicators of diet quality and dietary intake).Working knowledge (proficient – level C) of English and limited knowledge (intermediate – level B) of another official FAO language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).Technical/Functional Skills:
Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions.Extent and relevance of experience and knowledge of dietary assessment including data collection, analysis, harmonization, dissemination and utilization of dietary intake-related data (including at least two of the following: food consumption, food composition and indicators of diet quality and dietary intake).Extent, relevance and quality of documents related to any aspect of dietary assessment including survey reports, scientific publications, protocols, guidelines, toolkits, frameworks, manuals and similar.Extent and relevance of experience in organizing and leading international meetings, seminars/webinars, training courses, conferences/symposiums on any aspect of dietary assessment.Familiarity with statistical analysis software (R, STATA, SPSS).Extent and relevance of experience in capacity development activities in any aspect of dietary assessment.Demonstrated track-record in resource mobilization for dietary indicator development and validation, data collection, analysis, harmonization, dissemination and/or utilization of dietary intake-related data.Demonstrated recognition at global, regional or national level in the field of dietary assessment.Demonstrated results-based management capabilities with ability to design, manage and implement projects in the area of dietary assessment, including food consumption data, food composition and dietary indicators.Ability to lead and manage a highly specialized multidisciplinary team in the field of dietary assessment.Ability to write clearly and concisely, prepare technical reports, protocols, papers for peer-reviewed publication and deliver effective oral presentations.Source:

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