Oxfam Ethiopia Nutrition Adviser – Drought Response, TORs

Answerable to EFSVL national adviser
Management responsibility None (subject to change)
Budget responsibility None (subject to change)
Location Based in Jijiga with frequent travel to the field, and some time in Addis and Gambella
Duration 4 months (with possible extension)

Background
Oxfam has been working in Ethiopia since the early 1970’s to address the underlying causes of poverty and marginalization. We work in four areas: (I) Sustainable livelihoods We focus on improving food and income security through better access to production technology and sustainable markets, especially for women, and by facilitating private and public sector engagement to enable access to markets. (ii) Public services. We work to ensure people have access to improved public services as well as supporting women to lead decision making in service development and management. We work closely with communities and local government to build their capacity to manage their own public services and support government and donors to make investments in water, sanitation and hygiene services transparently and effectively. (iii) Disaster risk reduction: We work to improve community preparedness to disasters, with a key to focusing on gender in emergencies. We work to enable more people in disaster affected communities to access life-saving assistance and support to rebuild and protect their livelihoods. Oxfam influences key duty bearers to ensure timely responses to humanitarian crisis in accordance with humanitarian law and standards; and (iv) Supporting women: We push to change attitudes and beliefs on gender based violence, and to empower women to act as leaders and to support their access to economic opportunities.

The drought crisis
In Ethiopia, 8.5 million people are facing severe food insecurity, particularly in the Southern Somali region. 700,000 are on the verge of starvation. This number is likely to spike in the season ahead as the latest forecasts have predicted below average rains. Water levels have rapidly declined, and the widespread loss of livestock is devastating communities who depend upon them to make a living. 9.2 million people are expected not to have regular access to safe drinking water in 2017, while an estimated 300,000 children will become severely malnourished Water and food shortages have led to increased displacement among drought-affected people, putting even more pressure on the receiving areas. With over 780,000 refugees as of February 2017, Ethiopia is currently one of the largest refugee-hosting countries in Africa. Oxfam is providing life-saving aid in the most remote locations in seven zones of the Southern Somali region, since it is both the hardest hit area and the region least covered by other humanitarian agencies.
Our response has various integrated water, sanitation and food and livelihood security actions that involve constructions of strategic boreholes, latrines and sanitation and hygiene awareness. So far we have delivered clean water and cash assistance to over 653,000 people as well as treatment and vaccinations for 212,000 livestock. The critical need that we have addressed for our food security interventions is in the area of nutrition.

The South Sudan refugee crisis
With ongoing problems in South Sudan, refugees continue to flood over the border in western Ethiopia, arriving in Gambella, where they are hosted by communities and are placed in one of three growing refugee camps. Oxfam’s humanitarian response has predominantly been with WASH interventions. However, as the situation has become more prolonged, Oxfam’s engagement in both food and livelihood security has been required. With increasing nutritional issues in the camps, due to lack of access to nutritious food, there will be a need for this post to provide some technical advice and support to Oxfam’s response in the Gambella area. However, this engagement will be a lesser extent than the main responsibility, which is to the drought response.
Objective
We are looking for a nutrition expert to provide nutritional technical advice and expertise to Oxfam’s Emergency Food Security and Vulnerable Livelihoods (EFSVL) team in Ethiopia, predominantly focusing on the current drought. The purpose is to ensure that our food security interventions prevent increasing malnutrition and alleviate Moderate Acute Malnutrition in our operational areas.
Note: Oxfam only engages in the non-medical prevention and treatment of malnutrition. We work only with moderate acute malnutrition, not severe acute malnutrition. We do not engage in any medical or therapeutic interventions.

Key deliverables
1. Undertake a nutrition survey/scoping assessment in Oxfam’s drought response areas
2. Design and implement a nutrition strategy (or plan) within our EFSVL response strategy
3. Undertake baseline and endline surveys to monitor impact
4. Design and implement nutrition activities to support Oxfam’s humanitarian response.
5. Provide ongoing monitoring of the nutrition situation
6. Assess and build the capacity of the Oxfam team and of local partners to understand and deliver nutrition interventions
7. Through the EFSVL team, support to the food security and nutrition clusters in Jijiga (if funding allows this).
8. Provide an exit strategy for our nutrition work, including a preparedness plan anticipating future crises and an Oxfam response.
9. Provide technical support as directed by the national EFSVL coordinator to Oxfam’s Gambella response.

Key areas of work
• The Nutrition Advisor will provide technical support to Oxfam’s EFSVL programme in the Somali region of Ethiopia, to support our response. We expect the successful design and implementation of a high quality humanitarian nutrition interventions as a component within our EFSVL programme.
• This position will be the focal point for all Oxfam’s nutrition work in Ethiopia and will provide technical support both to Oxfam and the partners we work with in the current response.
• Liaise closely with existing EFSVL intervention to, as far as possible, add value to existing plans rather than develop new initiatives.
• Work closely with the WASH, protection (roving) and gender teams to identify opportunities to provide nutrition impact through our existing programme and deliver on those opportunities.
• Work with the MEAL team on analysis of nutrition data collected through surveys/monitoring.
• Work closely and develop the current ECHO consortium to align and enhance impact of nutrition activities across all members.
• The position is also required to identify gaps and build the capacity through training and on-the-job learning of our local partners to understand and implement nutrition interventions in the current response and in the future.
• Liaise with other partners and actors in the food and nutrition security sectors in Somali region so that Oxfam is contributing to, engaged in, and coordinated with others
• Represent Oxfam in key agreed external fora and provide nutrition-related inputs to the EFSVL region and national Coordinator/Advisers for them to engage externally with donors, the government and Regional and national fora.
• Provide updates to Oxfam’s humanitarian response team on the evolving nutrition situation in Somali Region and in particularly in our operational areas.
• Engage in preparedness activities to anticipate likely scenarios in the forthcoming nutrition situation and design, plan and prepare as necessary.
• Work with the funding team to identify new opportunities for funding and provide technical support on proposal writing.
• Support as requested with the Gambella response, including technical advice both remote and likely some in person, support to strategy and proposal development as well as exit strategies
• Other responsibilities tasked by the EFSVL coordinator.

Skills & qualifications:

To be successful in this job, an individual must be able to deliver each key result areas above regularly and satisfactory. Specific requirements include:
• Master’s degree in nutrition, public health nutrition, or related discipline

• Proven track record in implementation and management and provision of technical support to nutrition programmes in humanitarian settings

• Prior experience in nutrition surveys (SMART, KAP, etc.) and the ability to both design, implement and analyse information

• Experience in capacity building and training.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills, with the ability to write and communicate fluently in English to produce reports, strategies, plans, proposals

• Ability and willingness to spend most of the time in the field, and a district field office.

To apply or for more information, please contact: 

Theodros Tefera: ttefera@oxfam.org.uk or Larissa Pelham: larissa.pelham@oxfam.org