National Nutrition Specialist
Maseru
- Organization: FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
- Location: Maseru
- Grade: Consultancy - Consultant - Contractors Agreement
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Occupational Groups:
- Nutrition
- Closing Date: 2025-03-18
IMPORTANT NOTICE\: Please note that Closure Date and Time displayed above are based on date and time settings of your personal device
- FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture
- Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and person with disabilities are encouraged to apply
- Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO's values
- FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination
- All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks
- All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality
FAO’s commitment to environmental sustainability is integral to our strategic objectives and operations.
Organizational Setting
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 global Agenda through the FAO Strategic Framework by supporting the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind. The main aim of the FAO country offices, which are headed by an FAO Representative, is to assist governments to develop policies, programmes and projects to achieve food security, reduce hunger and malnutrition, help develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, and to use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner. The support is based on the guidelines as provided by the Country Programming Framework (CPF). FAO country office in Lesotho has recently developed its Country Programming Framework (CPF), which has nutrition as one of its core pillars. While nutrition has always been an area of concern and priority for the country office, this area has not always been properly served due to the limited in-house technical expertise. As a result of this deficit, FAO has gradually lost its strategic positioning and leadership on nutrition programming in Lesotho.
For this current planning period great efforts are being made to ensure that nutrition is properly mainstreamed into major projects and programmes. This provides an opportunity to recruit professional project staff to lead FAO Nutrition programme in Lesotho
General Objectives of the Assignment
The goal of the assignment is to lead nutrition programming for the country office and provide nutrition advisory services to ROLL (Regeneration of Landscapes and Livelihoods) project and other projects that have nutrition component
Reporting Lines
The incumbent will work under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Lesotho, direct supervision of the Assistant FAO Representative for programme, technical supervision of SFS Nutrition Officer, and in collaboration with other programme staff, the incumbent will undertake the following task\:
Technical Focus
Nutrition sensitive agriculture, community nutrition and nutrition education as derived from food based dietary guidelines
Tasks and responsibilities
The incumbent will undertake the following task\:
• Lead nutrition programming for the country office
• Provide technical support to nutrition units of relevant government ministries and departments in implementing Behavioural Change Communication (BCC) and ensure that BCC programme is aligned with project objectives.
• Assist in ensuring the quality of the training materials/guidelines/manuals and other reference documents to be developed for training facilitators and targeted beneficiaries related to nutrition
• Provide technical guidance during the design of the training package on nutrition education to farmers, including the curriculum for training of trainers and for farmers’ groups at the community level
• Participate in the training programmes as one of the training resource persons and provide support to the District Nutrition Focal Points and Project Field Staff.
• Conduct periodical supervision and monitoring of district and community-level training events and post-training activities
• Support Government in implementing capacity enhancement training of district-level officials in pro-nutrition agriculture actions including training needs assessment, the development of a training package and conducting training of trainers.
• Lead FAO efforts in supporting government to carry out advocacy events for nutrition sensitive agriculture including development of advocacy package for all levels and ensuring quality execution of events
• Work closely with other FAO programme team members to ensure effective integration of nutrition in agriculture and natural resources management projects
CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING
Minimum Requirements
• Advanced University degree in in Nutrition, food security Food Science or related fields.
• At least 10 years of professional work experience working food-based nutrition projects.
• Working knowledge of English.
• National of the Kingdom of Lesotho
FAO Core Competencies
• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement
Technical/Functional Skills
• Demonstrated interest in the technical areas described above.
Selection Criteria
• Work Experience in managing community nutrition projects
• Extent and relevance of experience and knowledge of nutrition policy and programming
• Extend and relevance of experience and knowledge in planning and implementation of programmes related to nutrition and food security
• Ability to write project proposals and mobilize resources
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- FAO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing)
- Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted
- Please note that FAO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http\://www.whed.net/
- For additional employment opportunities visit the FAO employment website\: http\://www.fao.org/employment/home/en/
- Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment, accreditation, any residency or visa requirements, and security clearances.
FAO seeks gender, geographical and linguistic diversity in its staff and international consultants in order to best serve FAO Members in all regions.
HOW TO APPLY
• To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, and language skills
• Candidates are requested to attach a letter of motivation to the online profile
• Once your profile is completed, please apply, and submit your application
• Candidates may be requested to provide performance assessments and authorization to conduct verification checks of past and present work, character, education, military and police records to ascertain any and all information which may be pertinent to the employment qualifications
• Incomplete applications will not be considered
• Personal information provided on your application may be shared within FAO and with other companies acting on FAO’s behalf to provide employment support services such as pre-screening of applications, assessment tests, background checks and other related services. You will be asked to provide your consent before submitting your application. You may withdraw consent at any time, by withdrawing your application, in such case FAO will no longer be able to consider your application
• Only applications received through the FAO recruitment portal will be considered
• Your application will be screened based on the information provided in your online profile
• We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline date.
If you need help or have queries, please create a one-time registration with FAO’s client support team for further assistance\: https\://fao.service-now.com/csp
FAO IS A NON-SMOKING ENVIRONMENT
Applications from non-qualifying applicants will most likely be discarded by the recruiting manager.