Nutrition Advisor - Yemen

ABOUT MERCY CORPS

Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible. To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong. We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.

THE PROGRAM / DEPARTMENT / TEAM

Mercy Corps seeks to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression around the world and has worked in the Middle East since the 1980s and currently has offices in Yemen, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq. In response to acute and increasing humanitarian needs in Yemen, Mercy Corps opened its office in 2010. Primary program interventions include water, sanitation and hygiene, cash transfers, food security, health and nutrition, and livelihood support. Strategies to enhance the resilience of communities to the harsh environmental and social conditions in the country cut across the portfolio. Currently Mercy Corps Yemen (MCY) has four offices and approximately 100 staff.

THE POSITION

The Nutrition Advisor will be the lead technical support person for all Mercy Corps Yemen resource mobilization, design and implementation of innovative and impactful nutrition interventions. The Nutrition Advisor will be responsible for consolidation and scale up of the nutrition component through program design, implementation, monitoring and reporting and building the capacity of teams. The Advisor will lead the development and adaption of implementation tools, assessments and evaluations, technical assistance during implementation of programs and technical write-up and review of project concepts and proposals. The Nutrition Advisor will lead in ensuring the compliance of the Mercy Corps Yemen nutrition programming with Mercy Corps PM@MC, sector and donor standards. The Nutrition Advisor will ensure the MCY programs and teams remain relevance and current with sector innovation and best practices. The Nutrition Advisor will work under the direct supervision of the Deputy Country Director. The Advisor will work with other sectors (Health, WASH, Cash and FSL) for integration and synergies to maximize the impact for programs. S/he will have close working relationships with Grants and Reporting Specialist, MEL Manager, CARM Manager, Technical Advisors, Program Managers, Security Manager, Finance Director and Operations Director. The Nutrition Advisor will represent Mercy Corps in interagency platforms that include nutrition.

ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategy

● Provide leadership in the development of a coherent strategy for the implementation of innovative and quality nutrition programming informed by the Yemen context in line with the Country Office and Resilience strategies.

● Develop strategic frameworks that demonstrate and promote nutrition sensitivity of other sector approaches in both humanitarian and transitional programming in Yemen.

● Develop a strategy that harmonizes structures and practices for nutrition interventions across Mercy Corps Yemen projects and programmes.

Technical leadership and capacity building

● Develop and lead in implementing a nutrition capacity building plan for the Mercy Corps Yemen Country team and partners including performance planning, on-job training and coaching.

● Lead the development and use of nutrition intervention implementation frameworks and Standard Operating Procedures including selection of appropriate modalities, service providers, data collection, targeting criteria, beneficiary selection, activity and product quality assurance and monitoring and evaluation ensuring use and compliance with Mercy Corps standards, international best practices and Ministry of Health and WHO/UNICEF.

● Provide guidance for quality and timely implementation of Nutrition interventions against set program objectives, targets and work plans

● Coordinate resources and team skills effectively to ensure quality and harmonized implementation of nutrition activities

● Lead in designing and refining the nutrition delivery approaches most appropriate to the Yemen context and sector standards.

● Coordinate with and support other technical advisors for the inclusion of nutrition-sensitive interventions to address needs across sectors including health, cash, food security and WASH.

● Conduct regular field visits to support and mentor nutrition teams and activities

● Support Program Managers in the recruitment of nutrition staff

Resource mobilization and reporting

● Actively and closely work and coordinate with the Grants and Reporting Specialist in identifying new opportunities for funding

● Contribute to the retention and growth of existing nutrition programming for MCY.

● Actively design and draft nutrition programme concepts, proposals and budgets.

● Coordinate the timely preparation of quality nutrition intervention reports to MC and donors.

● Work collaboratively with MEL in the preparation of requisite internal and external reports including our contributions to regular interagency reporting.

Influence and representation

● Actively participate and coordinate representation of MCY in external UN, INGO and Government sector platforms including national and field hub-level Nutrition cluster and associated sub-groups that are set-up as required.

● Represent Mercy Corps Yemen in sector processes coordinated through the Regional and Global Technical Support Unit on nutrition programming.

● Identify and build strategic relations with partners for implementation, research and resource mobilization for nutrition interventions in Yemen

● Guide nutrition teams on effective practices and approaches to field level coordination with other MCY sectors and partners.

Monitoring and evaluation and research

● Lead the planning and proactive implementation of nutrition sector assessments for timely availability of current and appropriate data as required in different phases of the program cycle and including proposal development

● Lead the development and implementation of a learning strategy for nutrition interventions contributing to the overall country learning strategy

● Work closely with the MEL team and oversee the design and implementation of nutrition monitoring and evaluation plan and development and use of adapted tools and processes

● Provide technical support to program teams across sectors to ensure the collection of regular nutrition data, its analysis, presentation, dissemination and filing in line with MC guidelines and donor requirements

● Conduct regular monitoring program and project activities to assess progress, bottlenecks and changes in contexts and guide required decisions and adaptations.

ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING

● As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit Mercy Corps as well as themselves.

ACCOUNTABILITY TO BENEFICIARIES

● Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY

Matrix technical supervision and support to Health and Nutrition Coordinator.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Reports Directly To: Deputy Country Director

Works Directly With: Program Managers, CARM Manager, MEL Manager, Finance Director, Operations Director and Regional and HQ Technical Support Unit.

ACCOUNTABILITY TO PARTICIPANTS AND STAKEHOLDERS

Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work. We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATION & TRANSFERABLE SKILLS

● Minimum Bachelor’s degree and technical certifications in a field related to the nutrition. A Master’s degree will be a definite added advantage.

● At least 5 years continuous experience with technical design and implementation of nutrition programming, 2 years must be in a humanitarian response in a complex context with international NGOs

● Proven technical competence in CMAM, MAMI, IYCF-E and SBC approaches.

● Demonstrated theoretical knowledge and applied experience using integrated approaches and systems thinking.

● Demonstrated experience of capacity strengthening for improved nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programming.

● Demonstrated experience contributing to nutrition proposals with major donors including USG (USAID BHA/OFDA/FFP), FCDO/DFID, EU, ECHO, UN OCHA and foundations.

● Experience with use of relevant sector assessment tools (e.g. SMART, SQUEAC, rapid needs assessments - including IYCF-E -, KAP and Barrier Analysis)

● Experience in negotiating and establishing partnerships for implementing nutrition interventions.

● Demonstrated competence in finding solutions to complex problems and delivering results

● Strong influencing and representation skills with multiple stakeholders;

● Excellent written and oral English language skills, Arabic will be an advantage

● Ability to adapt and work effectively in a multi-cultural context

● Strong communications skills with exceptional ability to articulate technical issues with colleagues at different capacity levels

● Experience analysing nutrition data and preparing high quality reports.

SUCCESS FACTORS

The successful candidate will have an ability to work independently, take initiative in tasks and self-learning, and be proactive in communications and development of professional relationships. S/he will be able to work closely with a diverse team of individuals in a highly intense and fluid work and security environment with demonstrated sensitivity to the people and issues in the country. Strict adherence to Mercy Corps security policies and procedure. Capacity to spark innovative and entrepreneurial approaches to programming and inspire groups to collaborate closely to design impactful high-quality programs. Desire and ability to learn and grown, both personally and professionally.

LIVING CONDITIONS / ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS

This is an unaccompanied position based in Aden and possibility of working from Sana'a, Yemen, and eligible for hardship and R&R breaks. Housing is in group housing. Security conditions in the country are variable, with a range of violence and insecurity, requiring close monitoring and vigilance. Conflict and corruption have also badly damaged the country's infrastructure. Air travel is necessary to get from one end of the country to the other, though the road network is good, the security situation often precludes travel by road. There is a landline telephone system, a somewhat reliable cellular phone system and internet is available in the residences and offices. Candidates must be able to work in an environment with energy, transportation and communication challenges. The position will require travel to the field sites in Mercy Corps Yemen's operational areas up to 50% of the time including travel to some locations that may be insecure or austere. Mercy Corps team members represent the agency both during and outside of work hours and as such staff are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner and respect local laws, customs and Mercy Corps policies, procedures, and values at all times and in all in-country venues.

ONGOING LEARNING

In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development

DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together. Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges. We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.

We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.

We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all. We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.

SAFEGUARDING & ETHICS

Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity. We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC. We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members. As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times. Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.

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