Nutrition Officer, NO-2, Temporary Appointment (364 Days), #00128084, Shire, Ethiopia (Open to Ethiopian Nationals Only)

UNICEF Ethiopia is seeking a dynamic Nutrition Officer who will provide support to on-going Nutrition interventions in Tigray Region, covering Northwestern Zone and parts of Central Zone supported from Shire Suboffice.

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.
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For every child, nutrition

Ethiopia is situated in the Horn of Africa and is the second most populous country on the continent with an estimated population of 115 million. It borders six African countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, and covers 1,104,300 square kilometers. Approximately 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Ethiopia represents a melting pot of ancient cultures with Middle Eastern and African cultures evident in the religious, ethnic, and language composition of its people.

Over the past two years, children and their families across Ethiopia faced multiple and complex emergencies, such as the conflict in northern Ethiopia and the drought, which resulted in millions of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. UNICEF has programs in Child Protection, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Social Policy, and Education and serves over 15 million children in Ethiopia. Join UNICEF Ethiopia to contribute to improving the lives of children and women.

How can you make a difference?

Roles and Responsibilities:

1. Support to programme development and planning
   • Conduct and update the situation analysis for the programme sector(s) for the development, design, and management of nutrition related programmes/projects. Research and report on development trends (e.g., political 2 social, economic, nutrition, health) for higher management use to enhance programme management, efficiency, and delivery of results.
   • Contribute to the development and establishment of sectoral programme goals, objectives, strategies, and results[1]based planning, through analysis of nutrition needs and areas for intervention, and submission of recommendations for priority and goal setting.
   • Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes by executing and administering a variety of technical programme transactions; preparing materials and documentations, and complying with organizational processes and management systems, to support programme planning, results-based planning (RBM), and monitoring and evaluation of results.
   • Prepare required documentations and materials to facilitate the programme review and approval process.
2. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results.
   • Work closely and collaboratively with colleagues and partners to discuss operational and implementation issues. Provide solutions, recommendations and/or alert appropriate officials and stakeholders for higher-level intervention and/or decision-making. Keep record of reports and assessments for easy reference and/or to capture and institutionalize lessons learned.
   • Participate in monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual reviews with the government and other counterparts to assess programmes/projects and to report on required action and interventions at the higher level of programme management.
   • Monitor and report on the use of sectoral programme resources (financial, administrative, and other assets), verifying compliance with approved allocation, goals, organizational rules, regulations/procedures, donor commitments, standards of accountability, and integrity. Report on issues identified to ensure timely resolution by management and stakeholders. Follow up on unresolved issues to ensure resolution.
   • Prepare regular and mandated sectoral programme/project reports for management, donors, and partners to keep them informed of programme progress.
3. Technical and operational support to programme implementation
   • Conduct regular programme field visits and surveys, and exchange information with partners and stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support. Take appropriate action to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for resolution. Report on critical issues, bottlenecks and potential problems for timely action to achieve results.
   • Provide technical and operational support to government counterparts, NGO partners, UN system partners, and other country office partners/donors on the application and understanding of UNICEF policies, strategies, processes, and best practices on nutrition-related issues to support programme implementation, operations and delivery of results.
4. Networking and partnership building
   • Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with nutrition sector government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve programme goals on maternal and child rights as well as social justice and equity.
   • Draft communication and information materials for CO programme advocacy to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and support fund raising for nutrition programmes.
   • Participate in appropriate inter-agency (UNCT) meetings and events on programming to collaborate with interagency partners and colleagues on UNDAF operational planning and preparation of nutrition programmes/projects, and to integrate and harmonize UNICEF’s position and strategies with the UNDAF development and planning process.
   • Research information on potential donors and prepare resource mobilization materials and briefs for fund raising and partnership development purposes.
5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building
   • Identify, capture, synthesize, and share lessons learned for knowledge development and to build the capacity of stakeholders.
   • Apply innovative approaches and promote good practices to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.
   • Research, benchmark, and report on best and cutting-edge practices for development planning of knowledge products and systems.
   • Participate as a resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients and stakeholders.
6. Coordination Functions
   • Ensure coordination of the nutrition response by cluster members and stakeholders, including interaction with government, NGO partners, and UN agencies by providing a coordination platform that ensures services delivery is driven by the Humanitarian Response Plan and strategic priorities.
   • Co-chair the Nutrition sub-cluster meetings and ensure minutes are prepared and shared as appropriate and actions followed.
   • Support and ensure the exchange of information, experience, identify new strategies and courses of action to accelerate/improve service delivery.
   • Coordinate the prevention, preparedness, and contingency planning actions.
   • Identify and address response and/or response gaps and eliminate duplication of services delivery.
   • Develop nutrition response plans, and nutrition response strategies jointly with Regional Government and Nutrition Cluster members and set response priorities.
   • Ensure adherence to humanitarian standards and principles, national and regional guidelines, and foster adoption of new nutrition response protocols.
   • Monitor nutrition services provided by the nutrition cluster partners and collate weekly nutrition interventions to share with the subnational nutrition cluster IM (ENCU) and UNICEF Nutrition programme IM.
   • Enhance the links and coordination at the field level between nutrition, health, WASH, food assistance and Education, Child Protection/GBV subnational clusters and play an active role in the OCHA-led Inter-cluster Coordination Group (ICCG).
   • Build sub-national capacities in preparedness and contingency planning.
   • Ensure AAP is considered throughout the humanitarian project cycle.
   • Maintain update-to-date mapping of partners implementing nutrition interventions in the region.
   • Share regular updates on interventions and discuss their performance, appropriateness, challenges.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

The following minimum requirements:

• Education:

A university degree in one of the following fields is required: nutrition, public health, nutritional epidemiology, global/international health and nutrition, health/nutrition research, policy and/or management, health sciences, nutritional epidemiology, or another health-related science field.
• Work Experience: At least two years of professional experience in a developing country in one or more of the following areas is required: Nutrition, Public Health, Nutrition Planning and Management, or Maternal, Infant and Child Health/Nutrition Care.

Experience in health/nutrition programme/project development in a UN system agency or organization is an asset.

• Language Requirements: Fluency in English and Tigrinya is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

Builds and maintains partnerships (1)

Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (1)

Drive to achieve results for impact (1)

Innovates and embraces change (1)

Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

Thinks and acts strategically (1)

Works collaboratively with others (1) 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority, and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable female candidates and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.