Job Description
Background/IRC Summary:
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their future. The IRC’s strategic vision prioritizes building a body of evidence for effective programming, developing innovative approaches to crisis situations, and increasing the speed and quality of program delivery. The IRC is committed to addressing the world’s worst humanitarian crises through gender sensitive, evidence-based, outcome-driven interventions that bring real change to the lives of our clients.
Health is the IRC’s largest program, serving over 16 million people in over 30 countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and South America. Nutrition is situated in the health technical unit in headquarters which is organized in four sectors: primary health, reproductive health, environmental health and nutrition. The IRC Nutrition Vision is to accelerate action against malnutrition and to protect the nutritional status of women and children in crisis-affected contexts. The Nutrition team has four specific commitments as part of our vision:
- We will invest in cutting-edge research to transform the way malnutrition treatment is delivered to reach more children, cut-out inefficiencies and simplify treatment protocols. We are not afraid to challenge the status quo.
- We will deliver an evidence based nutrition package to protect the nutritional status of women and children in crisis-affected contexts. Where evidence is insufficient, we will design and test client-driven programs.
- We will measure our effectiveness and report on our reach and quality of services.
- We will integrate nutrition into primary health care packages, WASH, early childhood development, cash and other sectors to address underlying causes of malnutrition.
Specific Responsibilities:
The Nutrition Technical Advisor (TA) will spend the majority of their time delivering technical assistance in-person and remotely to country program colleagues primarily in East Africa, coordinating within the health unit and with other technical units and departments, and on staff supervision and management. This is a primarily field facing position with the central responsibility focused on program quality. The remaining time is spent on influence, advocacy, research, internal initiatives, at the discretion of their supervisor. The Technical Advisors’ specific responsibilities are as follows:
Engaging in business development:
- Support country program staff to design programs and projects
- Support selection of indicators for country programs
- Review technical quality of proposals, including review of technical strategies, interventions and activities and ensuring alignment to IRC’s outcomes
- Input into go / no go decisions on proposals
- When necessary, write technical narratives of proposals
- Provide input on budgets required for project delivery
- Engage with donors and do outreach in support of country programs
Building technical capacity of country program staff to ensure ongoing program quality and innovation:
- Conduct technical training and ongoing technical coaching for country program staff, including on IRC outcomes, theories of change, evidence and indicators
- Share cross-context learning with country program staff across the region
- Support senior country program staff recruitment and onboarding
Project delivery support:
- Work with country program colleagues to help analyze data that inform periodic review and course correction as-needed
- Review and share program-specific tools / resources / curricula and work with Technical Unit specialists to contextualize and adapt global and country-specific materials
- Help define approach to teaming / partnering with other organizations
Management and Coordination:
- Coordinate and plan with country coordinators and health technical unit sector advisors the technical assistance country programs receive.
- Participate in coordination efforts within the health unit and with other technical unit and departments in IRC as required.
- Provide necessary management support to any direct report.
Other:
- Participate in and advise strategic initiatives in the health unit, and participate in joint initiatives with other IRC technical units as agreed upon by the supervisor, for example, the good and great standards, outcomes and evidence, measurement, context adaptability, best use of resources, emergency preparedness, client voice and choice and research and development.
- Represent the health unit and the IRC in academic fora, donor meetings, inter-agency working groups, and various global/regional fora as assigned by the supervisor.
Key Working Relationships:
Position Reports to: the Senior Technical Advisor for Nutrition located in New York
Position directly supervises: This position could potentially supervise interns or fellows.
Other Internal and/or external contacts:
Internal: Regular communication with health, education, economic recovery & development, governance, research, evaluation and learning, violence prevention response and gender equality technical unit teams. Close relationships with regional and country program teams. Interacts with IRC internal departments, including business development, external relations and advocacy departments, to keep them informed of program activities.
External: Serve as an IRC program representative in outside regional meetings and global meetings and academic forums with donors, other non-governmental organizations, inter-agency groups and foundations.
Job Qualifications:
Education: a Master’s/post-graduate degree in Public Health Nutrition or equivalent. Participate in ongoing training courses and share knowledge and skill sets within the unit.
Work Experience: A minimum of 5 years of international field experience, of which at least 3 have been in managerial/coordination positions with Non-Governmental Organizations in humanitarian or post-conflict settings in nutrition. Must be at an expert level in the community based management of acute malnutrition and demonstrated experience and competency in evidence-based nutrition strategies. Experience in nutrition technical tools and materials development and monitoring and evaluation (including SMART, SQUEAC, IYCF assessment) is required. Experience in strategy development and working across sectors or disciplines is highly desired.
Demonstrated Skills and Competencies: Demonstrated expertise in working with donors, project design, proposal development, and monitoring and evaluation, with the ability to turn concepts and strategy into measurable action. Must have strong proposal development and writing skills and be able to develop technical and non-technical (compelling) proposals. Able to work with remote, multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary teams. Strong interpersonal verbal and written communication skills and ability to facilitate collaboration. Outstanding capacity to understand the country context in East Africa, portfolio, and overall programmatic needs, and pull and coordinate the relevant technical assistance from within and outside the health unit. Ability to transfer technical knowledge and skills to a diverse audience and in writing. Demonstrated commitment to renewing and maintaining currency with best practices.
Language Skills: Fluency in English required; proficiency in French and Arabic is desired/an advantage.
Working Environment: Up to 30% travel is required. This position will be based in New York.
https://rescue.csod.com/ats/careersite/jobdetails.aspx?site=1&c=rescue&id=3667