International Medical Corps, a global humanitarian nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs, seeks candidates for the position of Tech RRT Advisor – CMAM/IYCF-E
Established in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses, International Medical Corps is a private, voluntary, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization. Its mission is to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in underserved communities worldwide. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility to respond rapidly to emergency situations, International Medical Corps rehabilitates devastated health care systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance.
PROGRAM BACKGROUND
Program Goal: To improve and strengthen the technical quality of programs and assessments for improved nutrition outcomes of affected populations in emergencies and protracted crisis situations
Specific Objective: Improve global nutrition response by deploying technical advisers to countries requesting assistance and through various capacity strengthening initiatives during and between deployments.
International Medical Corps is leading the Nutrition Technical Rapid Response Team (Tech RRT) a consortium with Action Against Hunger (ACF) and Save the Children UK (SC UK) to provide nutrition technical surge capacity for rapid response in emergencies and works in close collaboration with the Global Nutrition Cluster (GNC) and UNICEF.
The program has three technical advisors, specifically one Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (IYCF-E), hosted by SCUK, one community management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) and IYCF-E Advisor, hosted by International Medical Corps, and one assessment expert hosted by ACF. In addition, International Medical Corps employs a program manager to oversee this program. These technical advisors are deployed to Level 3 emergencies as a priority and to Level 2 emergencies as needed to support nutrition partners on the ground including the nutrition cluster to conduct nutrition needs assessments, start-up or quickly expand CMAM programs and support government and partners on IYCF-E.
The technical advisors are deployed 50% of the time. When not on deployment, they spend their time working on remote support. These include input into global or regional initiatives or support to individual countries, which is either linked to or in follow up to previous deployments or is a stand-alone request for support. Support to global or regional initiatives is generally guided by the consortium partner’s knowledge of gaps and involvement with global level forum within each technical area. Some examples of non-deployment time work include revising the CMAM tool kit, revision of the Operational Guidance on IYCF-E (artificial feeding section), designing and facilitating webinar trainings, review of country specific response plans, or drafting of IYCF components of the Food Security Assessment Report for the Syria response, etc.
JOB PURPOSE:
The Tech RRT CMAM/IYCF-E Advisor will provide senior leadership and will be responsible for improving the delivery of CMAM and/or IYCF-E programing and responses in rapid onset and protracted emergencies globally, through in country deployments and remote technical assistance to governments, nutrition clusters, the Global Nutrition Cluster (GNC), and local and international non-government organizations.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:
Deployments (50%):
Specific tasks and responsibilities will be outlined in a TOR for each deployment (prepared and validated by the members of the deployment steering committee for the Tech RRT), based on country context and needs; and they are likely to include several of the following key tasks:
• Deploy within 72 hours of an emergency request, when necessary
• Provide technical training, strategic advice, and operational support on CMAM or IYCF-E program implementation
• Work with the government and the nutrition cluster to ensure that training and program start-up is standardized, coordinated among all partners and is implemented in a rapid manner
• Ensure adequate coordination for CMAM/IYCF-E is in place by either establishing and leading or providing substantial support to the Nutrition Cluster/Sector/Working Group and possibly supporting a CMAM or IYCF-E technical working group
• Lead assessments for CMAM or IYCF-E and advocate for inclusion of CMAM or IYCF-E in multi-sector rapid assessments
• Support country nutrition clusters to develop a CMAM/IYCF-E strategy, response plan, scale up plans, guidelines, and/or mapping as required
• Assess capacity building needs across partners and develop a plan for meeting these; conduct Training of Trainers (TOTs) for Ministries and partners, train field workers/first responders, hold orientations for stakeholders
• Work with all sectors to develop an integrated approach to treatment and prevention of acute malnutrition focusing on relevant integrated messages and behaviors for nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive programming
• Design M&E tools and indicators as needed
• Monitor CMAM and IYCF-E program activities with supportive supervision visits → with recommendations & support to take action; help others to learn how to do this
• Determine need for scale up, brief donors and advocate for adequate resource allocation.
• Support and develop government capacity in CMAM and IYCF-E
Non-Deployment time (50%):
Non-deployment activities can include, but are not limited to, the following:
• In collaboration with stakeholders, develop and rollout appropriate CMAM or IYCF-E trainings including webinars.
• In collaboration with the partners, GNC, and CMAM or IYCF Forums, support the development of tools and guidance as needed.
• Document interventions and lessons learned to support the development of guidelines in emergencies.
• Build partner staff capacity in CMAM and IYCF-E in emergencies.
• Contribute to research and analysis on CMAM and IYCF-E to enhance good practices and assist in building the body of knowledge and evidence
• Synthesize and/or analyzes learning generated through programs into communicable outputs and disseminate these appropriately
• Stay abreast of developments and current good practices in the field of practice
• Contribute to writing and disseminating program learning documentation
• Collaboratively and as needed, help develop tools and job aids that foster organizational capacity in CMAM and IYCF-E
• Draft blog posts for the Tech RRT website and develop tweets for the Tech RRT Twitter account
• Write articles for the Field Exchange
• Other duties as assigned. The duties and responsibilities listed are representative of the nature and level of work assigned and are not necessarily all inclusive.
QUALIFICATIONS
Skills & Requirements:
Education: Master’s degree in nutrition, public health, or related development studies.
Experience:
• At least 8 years work experience in nutrition and public health in emergencies, with a minimum of 5 years specifically on CMAM and IYCF/IYCF-E programing.
• Demonstrated experience and high acceptability in working with government, clusters, NGOs, and donors.
• Demonstrated experience in successfully working across health, WASH, agriculture, and social protection sectors and clusters.
Specific Knowledge Requirements:
• Advanced knowledge of nutrition specifically in CMAM and IYCF-E and its application to programs.
• Emergency response knowledge required.
• Fluency in written and oral English required.
• Working knowledge in one other language (French, Spanish and/or Arabic) required.
Other Relevant Information (if applicable):
Skills:
• Proven teamwork, partnering skills (facilitating dialogue and communications across diverse sectors, institutions, and geographic administrative levels)
• Excellent writing, oral and visual presentation skills; training skills
• Ability to assess priorities and competently complete a variety of activities with a high level of accuracy and timeliness.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to initiate and implement activities with minimal oversight and supervision.
• Proficiency in MS Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) and the Internet.
How to apply: Please visit this link and apply online: Tech RRT CMAM/IYCF-E Advisor