Nutrition Specialist

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and malnutrition. As nutrition starts with what we eat, the products of the food and agriculture sector; transforming our food systems, on the way we produce, collect, store, transport, transform and distribute foods can improve our diets.

FAO collaborates with Governments to strengthen food systems for healthier diets, to improve nutrition, health and our impact on natural resources. With over 194 member states, FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide.

FAO is working with the Government of Zambia on a Technical Assistance to the Scaling Up Nutrition Programme in Zambia project under the SUN Phase II program. The program is a jointly funded by UK-AID/FDCO, SIDA, KfW and the EU in 17 districts of Zambia through UNICEF. Leveraging complementary technical assistance from other UN agencies, UNICEF has a UN-to-UN cooperation agreement with FAO.

The SUN phase II FAO programme component will contribute to the reduction of malnutrition in pregnant and breast-feeding women and children under 2 years of age through improvements in dietary diversity and quality. FAO’s project outcome is a Sustained demand, utilization and consumption of agriculture and forest foods.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Represenative, and direct supervision of the Lead Technical Officer (LTO and second level supervision of the Nutrition Project Coordinator and relevant technical units in FAO and in close collaboration with the National Project Coordinator (NPC) of the Ministry of Agriculture, the Nutrition Officer will perform the following tasks:

Technical Focus

Nutrition education, nutrition sensitive agriculture and food systems, behaviour change communications, food security and food safety.

More specifically, the project is structured around the delivery of four interconnected outputs:

• Output 1: Access to diversified, nutritious food improved
• Output 2: Sustainable production, processing, value addition and marketing of non-wood forest products for dietary diversity and income generation
• Output 3: Food safety and diet quality enhanced
• Output 4: Generation of nutrition information to monitor, prioritize and adapt interventions

Tasks and responsibilities

The incumbent, through his/her work, will contribute to implementation of the project activities among which include:

• Work in close collaboration with the Nutrition Specialist and Forest consultant to support project implementation with the following specific deliverables
• Ensure the delivery of output 3: “Food safety and diet quality enhanced”
  • Train beneficiaries on addressing of gender issues in nutrition and agriculture to address socio-economic and cultural dimension affecting nutrition for children, men and women
  • Develop communication tools to deliver key messages on nutrition and non-forest foods tailor made for each type of target audience;
  • Design and disseminate of a set of targeted information campaign on food safety issues and impacts on health and nutrition for producers and consumers;
  • Promote adoption of practical evidence-based measures for prevention and control of mycotoxins in food at the household and community level;
  • Support measures and training on Good Agricultural Practises that mitigate against aflatoxin contamination;
  • Develop key messages on food safety – tailor made for each type of target audience;
  • Capacity building on specific food safety control measures along the targeted value chains;
  • Monitor and supervise the implementation of training and skill building activities by the government and NGO partner and ensure normative standards are met pertaining to food safety

• Support the forestry consultant with some elements of output 2: sustainable production, value addition and marketing of non-wood forest products (NWFP) and foods for dietary diversity and income generation specifically on
  • Support the assessment to identify nutrient dense, high value NWFP products, and indigenous foods for specific geographical areas that present an opportunity for improving diets and income generation.
  • Promote sustainable practices in capture, collection, processing and consumption of nutritious forest foods (insects, Honey, Mopani Worms-Caterpillars, grass hoppers, termites (Inswa), mushrooms, nuts etc)
  • Conduct Trials of Improved Practices (TIPs) with 100 selected households to determine their feasibility and acceptability, and to identify aspects that could prevent or motivate their uptake and maintenance of consuming NWFP, indigenous foods as well as consuming the six food groups as per the Food Based Dietary Guidelines.
  • Support moringa tree planting, multiplication propagation, care, processing and utilization of moringa as a nutrient dense food.
  • promote appropriate processing techniques to improving nutrition status for Agriculture and Forestry products during harvesting, preservation and processing for consumption
• Document and share project outputs, outcomes, human life stories of changed lives for project beneficiaries and impacts covering various aspects of output 2 & 3 to promote the visibility of FAO’s work on quarterly basis.
• Promote synergies and strengthen linkages with other interventions within this project and with other FAO programs. Liaise with WFP particular with Aflatoxin management.
• Any other tasks required to optimize the impact of the programme;
• Any other nutrition related duties assigned by the FAOR

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• An undergraduate degree in Food Safety or Food Science, public health, orNutrition, or related field of study (A Master’s degree is an added advantage)
• Three (3) relevant progressive experience working in planning, implementation and monitoring of programmes to improve food safety, health and hygiene practises at community level
• Experience in Nutrition education, social behaviour change communication (SBCC) methodology, nutrition sensitive agriculture, agro-forestry, and or gender, will be an added advantage
• National of Zambia.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Extent and relevance of experience in supporting, advising and guiding the implementation of complex, multi-stakeholder projects;
• Ability to develop plans for the implementation and coordination of project operations in developing countries, in partnership with UN agencies, NGOs and other concerned actors;
• Extent and relevance of experience in programme/project formulation, analysis, planning and implementation
• Understanding of FAO policies and programmes is considered a strong asset;
• Extent of experience in formulation, implementation and monitoring of projects;
• Familiarity with UN administrative, operational and financial procedures is an asset.