Job title: Nutrition & HIV Consultant
Functional Area: Programme, Nutrition & HIV
Level: Consultant (8 - 10 years experience)
CO/Division-Unit: WFP Swaziland Country Office
Duty Station: Mbabane/Swaziland
Period of assignment: 11 months
Application Closing: 22 March 2016

Background

Swaziland faces critical development challenges due to poverty levels, high prevalence of stunting, food insecurity and the impact of HIV/AIDS. In addition, the country is currently affected by drought, declared in February 2016 by the Government as a national disaster. WFP is supporting the Government in responding to the emergency with technical support and is planning for additional support through emergency food assistance.

WFP has also two development projects to support the Government of Swaziland to ensure food and nutrition security of the most vulnerable people affected by drought, HIV and AIDS, and poverty in line with national development priorities:

- The Food by Prescription programme, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, provides nutrition assessment, counselling and support (NACS) services to malnourished people affected by HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) and malnourished pregnant women.

- Food support for orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS aged 2 to 8 years through community centres. WFP provides meals to OVC at community-led neighbourhood care points (NCPs), to support access to education and other basic services.

WFP is committed to assist the Government to achieve full national ownership of food and nutrition security initiatives. Under the strategic priorities for HIV, this work will include development of a handover strategy and technical assistance to strengthen the Food by Prescription programme, advocacy and technical support to operationalize the national Stunting Action Plan and Nutrition Advocacy Strategy, support to ensure objectives related to nutrition in the first 1,000 days of life are met in the National Emergency Response Mitigation and Adaptation Plan and other key national strategies. WFP also supports Government’s engagement in the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement.

The Government of Swaziland has incorporated ambitious stunting reduction targets into the Swaziland Development Index and resulting National Development Strategy.. Swaziland joined the Scaling Up Nutrition Movement and the country has completed its first SUN Movement baseline, and is in need of assistance to pass the National Food and Nutrition Policy and related operational plans.

WFP committed to build political and technical capacity in the Government of Swaziland to stunting prevention in a high HIV prevalence context. WFP has also committed to sustainably handover its NACS programme to Goverment.

To further Swaziland’s progress in addressing nutrition for PLHIV, mothers and children and those affected by drought, WFP Swaziland seeks a consultant to develop capacity of the Government and WFP staff in these areas.

Description of tasks

Under the supervision of the Head of Programme and guidance of the Country Director, the Consultant will be responsible for the following roles, and for strengthening capacity of Government and WFP staff to carry out these activities.

Drought Response
1. Support Government to maintain adequate surveillance of malnutrition through existing information systems
2. Should evidence trigger a need for nutrition intervention, assist design and implementation of interventions to mitigate impact of the drought on pregnant and lactating women and children under five years

Food by Prescription
1. With government counterparts, develop a time-bound handover strategy for gradual absorption of the program by the Ministry of Health (MOH), including an assessment of capacity needs and sustainable finance options.
2. Disseminate and use results of a 2015 malnutrition prevalence survey of HIV and TB patients to inform forecasting and design of Food by Prescription program
3. Assist in management of an external Operational Evaluation of the Food by Prescription programme planned for mid-2016, and support implementation of evaluation recommendations
4. Provide technical assistance to strengthen integration of the Food by Prescription programme into MOH treatment care and support initiative, focusing on strategic information systems and use, decentralization and oversight

Nutrition in the First 1,000 Days
1. Support advocacy and operationalization of national nutrition strategies, including the draft National Food and Nutrition Policy, Stunting Action Plan, and national Nutrition Advocacy Strategy
2. Assess needs for capacity development in nutrition among WFP staff and Government partners. Develop a technical assistance operational plan and support its implementation. Potential needs to be assessed might include:
a. National guidelines and implementation for existing nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive initiatives
b. Strengthening of nutrition surveillance in national systems
c. Community-based nutrition interventions
3. Support design and piloting of WFP stunting prevention programming
4. Support development of national Common Results Framework for nutrition in line with SUN Movement
5. Advise on nutrition-sensitivity of WFP technical and operational assistance on emergency preparedness and response, social protection, and supporting smallholder farmers
6. Lead WFP involvement in the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) movement multi-sectoral platform. Lead plans to strengthen nutrition coordination, including strengthening participation and high-level engagement in the SUN Movement.

Partnerships
1. Establish and/or maintain partnerships with key nutrition stakeholders in the country and region;
2. Represent WFP at nutrition- and HIV-related local and regional fora such as the UNDAF, UN M&E Group, Swaziland National Nutrition Council (SNNC Board), Stunting Task Team, HIV Treatment Care and Support TWG, and others.
3. Advocate and provide technical assistance to promote nutrition-sensitivity in UN and government initiatives to strengthen the comprehensive national social protection policy & system

Required qualifications and experience

Qualifications
• MSc or MPH degree in Public Health, Nutrition, International Development, Agriculture or related field
• 8 to 10 years’ experience, with prior experience designing and implementing nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions, in contexts with high HIV and stunting prevalence
• Prior experience with WFP’s work in the field of nutrition and Maternal and Child Health would be an advantage.
• Experience with a statistical software, Word processing systems, Outlook, MS Office

Skills
• Ability to work in a team and establish effective working relations with persons of different national and cultural backgrounds.
• Good time planning, analytical and writing skills.
• Ability to work with a minimum of supervision
• Communication and negotiation skills.

Languages
Fluency in both written and oral English (level C).

Interested candidates should submit a CV and cover letter to: WFP.SWAZILAND@wfp.org Please label documents "Nutrition_LASTNAME_CV" and "Nutrition_LASTNAME_Cover Letter."