Name Health & Nutrition Adviser - DFID DRC/Palladium

Palladium's Humanitarian & Stabilisation Operations Team are seeking a French-speaking Health and Nutrition Specialist Humanitarian Adviser to work with DFID DRC for 2 months.

The Humanitarian Adviser will provide additional specialist nutrition and health capacity to DFID DRC in the context of the significantly increased needs, rising mortality and morbidity risk (and complex interplay of nutrition, health and WASH) L3 activation and reinforced UK programming.

Job Title: Humanitarian Adviser, Health and Nutrition (consultancy)
Location: Kinshasa, with travel. Travel is expected in DRC initially; primarily in Kasais and potentially in Tanganyka and Kivus.
Start Date: Mid-January
Duration: 2 months, with potential extension
IR35 status: In scope of IR35
Notes: Working-level French required. Applicants will need to apply for UK government security clearance. HEAT training will be required.

Interested applicants should send the below to hsot-recruitment@dfid.gov.uk by no later than midday on 18th December 2017. Please note applications will be reviewed upon receipt and the role may be filled before the deadline. Candidates are therefore encouraged to submit their application as soon as possible.
• updated CV
• details of proficiency in French
• availability (earliest start date and duration of availability)

Please refer to the below terms of reference for more details:

DFID Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – Humanitarian Adviser (Health and Nutrition specialist)

Reporting to: Humanitarian Adviser, Kinshasa
Duty station: Kinshasa, with travel within DRC. SAFE/ HEAT required
Working level French (reading in particular) essential, fluency preferred
Timing: immediate for 2 months (confirmed and in country), and then up to 30 days over following 3 months mostly remote, but with occasional visits (to be confirmed and defined during initial deployment)

The UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator announced a Humanitarian System Wide Activation (L3) for the DRC on the 20th October. DFID DRC has recommended that the UK adopts a ‘no regrets’ approach to tackling the humanitarian crises affecting the DRC and in the Grand Kasais (and affected neighbouring Provinces), Tanganyka and South Kivu Provinces in particular. The violence and conflict is not limited to these Provinces. The DRC is prey to a series of acute crises including displacement, disease outbreak, refugee arrivals, massive food insecurity (7.7 million in IPC Phases 3 and 4) and alarming high levels of severe acute malnutrition. There are now over 4 million displaced people in the DRC and this number is expected to increase. But above all, DRC is experiencing the consequences of a crisis of Protection. All this is based on a backdrop of electoral and political uncertainty that affects and contributes both directly and indirectly to massive humanitarian needs. The humanitarian system, especially in nutrition and health, has not yet scaled up sufficiently to meet these needs.

In the face of massive Severe Acute Malnutrition (some 2 million children under 5 are anticipated by the updated 2018 Humanitarian Response Plan) the UK has substantially reinforced UNICEF’s nutrition response and the national RUTF pipeline. In addition this funding has four main elements (i) (complementing existing activity) SAM management services are delivered in conjunction with existing development health/ /nutrition programmes, (ii) (where minimum capacity exists) SAM management services are delivered through new actors to allow for scale up, (iii) coordination, quality assurance and supply mechanisms are functional in all intervention areas (iv) cash based nutrition intervention operational research is implemented and documented.

Main Job Purpose
Provide specialist technical advice to guide DFID’s crisis nutrition and health programme and policy response. The main objective of this role is to reinforce DFID’s engagement on the nutrition sector and in particular track, monitor and ensure where required that the nutrition funding provided gets off to the best start possible. This role will also include:

• Lead the regular assessment of the emergency nutrition and health situation (and system-wide response), with a specific focus on preventing deaths e.g. from severe acute malnutrition and health outbreaks. Supporting the office and wider system in understanding the drivers and interplay between key nutrition and health risks
• Lead the advice on the appropriateness and effectiveness of DFID and partner programming responses on health and nutrition and work with partners to make any necessary changes to existing programmes directly or in coordination with other colleagues (including in other associated sectors – e.g.WASH).
• Lead engagement with and advice on measures to strengthen the system-wide understanding, coordination and response to the nutrition/health elements of the crises, including through relevant clusters and support engagement through other relevant coordination bodies.
• Engaging with international partners on influencing an effective nutrition and health response and provide input to lobby lines/influencing activities of other colleagues and senior officials.
• Support other DFID DRC health and other colleagues in assessing the extent to which existing developmental efforts and core health system in DRC can flex/respond to the crisis and/or be strengthened through scaled up emergency efforts
• Documenting lessons learned, from the nutrition and cholera emergency response for wider DFID dissemination.

• Contribute to wider humanitarian team objectives – covering for others as necessary.

Essential Qualifications, skills and experience required
• Significant operational nutrition and emergency health expertise
• Excellent understanding of nutrition and emergency health evidence
• Significant experience of leading a response in complex emergency
• Substantial demonstrable experience of working in a senior capacity in humanitarian operational environments, in a head office and field environment
• Excellent networking and representational skills at all levels, including Government, UN, RC Movement and NGOS
• Demonstrable knowledge and experience of humanitarian theory, practice and architecture, humanitarian risk assessment and planning and managing humanitarian responses.
• Exceptional organisational and prioritisation, and ability to deal with a varied, demanding, often conflicting and rapidly changing workload.
• Ideally, a Master’s level qualification or equivalent in a subject relating to the humanitarian field
• Information Management and reporting including ensuring that key meetings, decision points and actions are documented, shared and archived (VAULT) with other Humanitarian staff and wider DFID team (required)
• Resilience and preparedness to spend sustained periods of time in the field.
• Previous DFID experience

Technical competences required
• Humanitarian risks assessment and analysis
• Planning and managing humanitarian responses
• Humanitarian theory, practice and architecture.
• Disaster resilience theory, practice and architecture.
• Practical experience of running humanitarian operations
• Knowledge of the development effectiveness agenda, the international development system, and institutional and organisational knowledge

Desirable skills
• Team Player and/or Leadership
• Ability to work with both development and humanitarian actors
• Briefing at senior level
• Humanitarian advisory capability (generalist and technical)
• Training of staff
• Programme management and coordination
• Financial management and accounting
• HR and administration
• Security management
• Experience working across humanitarian and development actions in fragile contexts and in francophone Africa