United States of America: Nutrition Specialist (ERT), P-4, NYHQ

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

For 60 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Purpose of the Position
Under the overall direction of Nutrition Senior Advisor, responsible for support to development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of UNICEF's emergency preparedness and response in activities and results related to Nutrition; ensuring overall efficiency, effectiveness and delivery of results in accordance with UNICEF's (CCCs) and national and international humanitarian standards. This includes working with Headquarters, Regional and Country offices in developing plans and activities to strengthen UNICEF's capacity to deliver effective Nutrition support in emergency situations; provision of technical assistance to Regional Offices and Country Offices so that there is adequate and appropriate support, both in addressing acute emergencies and in programming to mitigate the Nutrition impact of chronic and complex emergencies; and contributing to improved approaches and systems for emergency Nutrition response within UNICEF. Primary focus of work will be in Level 3 emergencies.
When deployed to affected country offices, responsible for collaborating with the country team to ensure the optimal nutrition response, ensuring implementation of high impact Nutrition interventions in acute and chronic emergencies as outlined in UNICEF's technical guidelines and providing guidance and direction on emergency Nutrition issues.

Key Accountabilities and Duties & Tasks

1. Situation analysis and strengthening of Nutrition information systems
   • Support the CO to consolidate the Nutrition situation analysis based on available information.
   • Advise on what additional Nutrition related information is needed through one off data collection or strengthening of available Nutrition information systems to guide the Nutrition response.
   • Undertake field visits to emergency locations to assess Nutrition programme progress, to identify major problems and constraints and to propose solutions and actions.
2. Strategy and capacity development
   • Collaborate with CO, RO and HQ in providing technical guidance, analysing and advising the Representative and the country team on the development of appropriate Nutrition policies, strategies and implementation frameworks to deliver a comprehensive package of Nutrition services, relevant to the Nutrition needs, national policies and overall emergency response. These strategies will also take into account existing country programme and long term national priorities.
   • Work with the CO to support the Nutrition response and preparedness by coordinating inputs, preparing plans of action and work plans for implementation.
   • Advise and support definition and setting up monitoring mechanisms.
   • Identify capacity needs for UNICEF staff and agencies engaged in the Nutrition response and appropriate capacity development activities and resources.
   • Coordinate and direct organizational contribution to Nutrition Cluster so as to ensure effective response to emergencies.
   • Lead and guide UNICEF's engagement with stakeholders working in emergencies.
   • Participate in the development of joint policies and technical guidelines for appropriate provision of Nutrition response in emergencies, in coordination with other UN agencies, relevant NGOs and institutions through sector/cluster coordination mechanisms.
3. Identification of human and other resourcing needs
   • In collaboration with CO, RO and HQ (including EMOPS Global Cluster Coordination Unit) advise on the appropriate staffing (level and skills) required to deliver on UNICEF's cluster lead agency mandate for both programme and cluster responsibilities from onset through transition from emergency (where relevant).
   • Advise on immediate and ongoing supplies needs as well as financial needs for the emergency response in close coordination with Supply Division and contribute to resource mobilization.
4. Promotion of partnerships and networks
   • Promote partnership with relevant agencies and negotiate country level MOU and LOU as appropriate.
   • Effective communication and networking achieved through partnership and collaboration including assistance to sectorial leadership of the IASC Nutrition Cluster.
5. Monitoring, evaluation and reporting of the emergency response
   • In cooperation with the Emergency Response Team, HQ and the Regional and Country office participate in the monitoring and evaluation of the Nutrition component of the emergency response to ensure achievement of the organization's objectives in this area (e.g. documentation of the response, lessons learned, good practices monitoring and evaluation frameworks) as well as liaising with donors and contribute to donor/response reporting to ensure that the emergency response is adequately resourced and documented for future planning and strategy development.
6. Ongoing technical support
   • Prepare end of mission/handover reports for submission to the CO, RO and HQ colleagues outlining required action from each level.
   • Ensure regular liaison with regional offices, headquarters and partners to ensure follow-up actions at the respective levels and information needs are met.
7. Improving UNICEF's emergency response systems and emergency preparedness (approximately 30% non-deployment)
   • Identify institutional bottlenecks in delivery of the emergency response, and liaise with other Divisions and sectors within UNICEF (eg Health, Education, WASH, HATIS, EMOPS- in particular the GCCU- Supply Division) in order to improve UNICEF systems and standards for emergency response.
   • Work closely with the Nutrition Senior Advisor in the Nutrition Section to ensure that UNICEF's contribution to Nutrition in emergencies are of the highest possible quality.
   • Support the PD Nutrition in emergencies team's oversight and ensures UNICEF's contribution and engagement in global Nutrition policies, standards and guidelines including the Global Nutrition Cluster.
   • Contribute to work on comprehensive risk-informed programming.
   • Work with the Emergency Focal Points and other relevant staff members in PD, DHR, Supply Division etc. to direct, ensure and improve UNICEF's capacity to be prepared and respond to emergencies including staffing, supplies and mechanisms.
   • In collaboration with HQ, RO and CO, design and conduct training for UNICEF's staff/consultants and counterparts in emergency preparedness and response, in order to improve the quality and consistency of emergency response activities.
   • Support the development of emergency preparedness and response plans for incipient crisis countries.
   • Support the documentation of lessons learnt from UNICEF Nutrition programmes and activities and identifies priority areas for consideration, analysis and research in emergency context.
   • Supports HQ technical contributions to emergency funding proposals and reporting.

Qualifications of Successful Candidate
• An Advanced University Degree in nutrition, nutritional epidemiology, public health, global/international health and nutrition, health/nutrition research, policy and/or management, or other health related social science field is required.*
• A minimum of 8 years of professional experience in programme management or advisory support in the area of nutrition assessment, programming or policy work at national level, at least 3 years of which at the international level, is required.
• Relevant experience in health/ nutrition program/project development and management in any UN system agency or organization is an asset.
• Experience in Emergency settings (preparedness and response) and the IASC Cluster approach desired.
• Fluency in English and another UN language is required (French or Arabic preferred).
* A first level university degree with a relevant combination of academic qualifications and additional two (2) years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Competencies of Successful Candidate
Core Values
• Commitment
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Integrity
Core competencies
• Communication: Level II
• Working with People: Level II
• Drive for Results: Level II
Functional Competencies
• Leading and supervising: Level I
• Formulating Strategies and Concepts: Level II
• Analysing: Level III
• Relating and Networking: Level III
• Deciding and Initiating Action: Level III
• Applying Technical Expertise: Level III
• Planning and Organizing: Level II
• Adapting and responding to change: Level III
• Coping with Pressure and Setbacks: Level III

To apply, please click here: http://jobs.unicef.org/mob/cw/en-us/job/493941/nutrition-specialist-ert-p4-nyhq

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.