Nutrition and Food Systems Capacity development specialist

FAO's Nutrition and Food Systems Division (ESN) assists Member Countries to improve diets and raise levels of nutrition and provides support with appropriate policies, strategies and methodologies for improving the efficiency and inclusiveness of their food and agricultural systems. As a knowledge leader, areas addressed include dietary assessment, support on nutrition-sensitive food and agriculture policies and programmes, effective nutrition promotion programmes, nutrition-sensitive programmes, sustainable food systems, market linkages, post-harvest handling and agro-processing. FAO is committed to support Member States in their efforts to improve nutritional outcomes as stated in the Rome Declaration on Nutrition during the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2 - November 2014) and to mainstream nutrition into FAO's strategic objectives.

The consultancy is located at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

FAO International Consultants and Call purpose

The Organization frequently engages experts to work on short-term projects as international consultants. An international consultant is engaged by the Organization to provide expertise, skills or knowledge for the performance of a specific task or piece of work, which would be short-term by nature. The assignment may involve full-time or part-time functions similar to those of staff members. The assignment can be from 1 month up to 11 months. The possibility of extension is subject to satisfactory performance and depending on the resources available and needs of the Organization.

The objective of the Call is to attract suitable individuals to undertake B-level consultancy in support of the implementation of a Trust Fund Project. Individuals meeting or exceeding the requirements of the Call will be included in the Divisional Nutritionists Roster. Experts who are registered in the Roster are available for consideration whenever relevant opportunities arise related to Nutrition and Food Systems.

Reporting Lines

The consultant will work under the general guidance of Director of the Nutrition and Food Systems Division, direct supervision of the Lead Technical Officer of the project, and in close collaboration with the Project Manager and the Nutrition Policy Team Leader.

Technical Focus

Support the delivery of a Trust Fund Project and contribute to the Capacity Development activities related to Nutrition and Food Systems of ESN.

• Support raising awareness, dissemination and uptake of the FAO Nutrition and Food Systems E-learning course and its adaptations to local context, for policy and programme planners, and associated materials through global, regional and country networks and nutrition hubs worldwide, using different means (e.g. inclusion of the module in platforms and CoPs; organisation of events; webinars; articles; etc).
• Identify and approach regional and national academic institutions for the integration of the FAO Nutrition and Food Systems e-learning course into existing university certified learning programmes, with a particular focus on the countries targeted in the project; and support the capitalisation of experience in that domain through close collaboration with FAO Staff).
• Design and develop, in close collaboration with FAO staff, a blended learning course on Nutrition and Food Systems, based on the existing FAO e-learning course, including face-to-face interventions, an on-line component, collaborative and performance measurement activities and certification.
• Support the design, in close collaboration with FAO staff, and a number of external partners, of a Massive Open Online Course on Nutrition and Food Systems.
• Support the organization and delivery of country level training workshops related to Nutrition and Food Systems with partner training institutions
• Update the stocktaking of existing materials, good practices and initiatives for integrating nutrition into agriculture extension programmes
• Support the organization and delivery of a workshop for the validation of the Global Learning Needs Assessment (GLNA) methodology
• Develop a guidance document to adapt training material for integrating nutrition in EAS
• Develop a 4-pages guidance brief for policy makers on integrating nutrition in agricultural EAS (the guidance will be a part of a series of ‘’how to’’ briefs on the reform of the agricultural EAS) and organize stakeholder discussion of the brief
• Contribute to the drafting and finalisation of agreements with two piloting institutions in Africa and one in India to pilot the nutrition for agriculture extension methodology and monitor their implementation
• Coordinate FAO’s contribution to the GFRAS Nutrition Working Group as well as advocacy in other global networks, working groups and fora for the integration of nutrition in rural advisory services
• Disseminate the Global Learning Needs Assessment (GLNA) methodology at regional or international conferences and fora
• Identify and approach potential partners for collaboration in developing capacities of EAS providers in nutrition
• Provide operational support for the project’s monitoring and evaluation
• Perform other duties as maybe assigned

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree in Human Nutrition, or a related field with extensive experience in nutrition and food systems;
• Ten years of progressively responsible professional experience in (i) developing learning products and/or programmes related to nutrition, (ii) delivering nutrition related learning events, (iii) the deployment of online and/or face to face nutrition curricula; and
• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of French.