Health & Nutrition Coordinator

About the role: This is a 12-month unaccompanied term position based in Nyamlel, Northern Bahr el Ghazal State (NBeG), South Sudan, with a salary range of €44,133- €49,038.

The Health and Nutrition Coordinator will report to the Area Coordinator, supervise Nutrition Program Managers, BHI Managers, and Health Managers, and collaborate with the M&E Manager, Program Quality Coordinator, Roving Health Technical Coordinator, Roving Nutrition Technical Coordinator, Country Financial Controller, and Systems Director.

We would like you to start on 1st September 2022

Background:

The health and nutrition program in NBeG state is funded by Irish Aid, USAID/BHA, UNICEF, and WFP, with in-kind donations primarily from UNICEF and WFP. The nutrition program funds 50 nutrition sites spread across two counties (22 in Aweil West and 28 in Aweil North). To prevent malnutrition, nutrition interventions include outpatient therapeutic programs (OTP), targeted and blanket supplementary feeding programs (TSFP, BSFP), in-patient care, and behavior change related to maternal infant and young child nutrition.

Nutrition sites are run in collaboration with County Health Departments and the State Ministry of Health (SMoH), and they follow national CMAM and MIYCN protocols. Concern’s health intervention in NBeG focused on providing essential lifesaving health care services in four static health facilities at the primary health care unit level (PHCU) in Aweil South, as well as ten remote and hard-to-reach locations reached through mobile clinics, with an integrated community case management component (iCCM). Concern collaborates closely with the State Ministry of Health and the County Health Department (CHD) in the counties of Aweil West, Aweil South, and Aweil North.

Your purpose:

The primary goal of the Health and Nutrition Coordinator position is to oversee the overall management and implementation of the Concern’s Health and Nutrition program in the state of NBeG. The primary responsibilities include coordination of health and nutrition program delivery, including strategy development, budget and implementation oversight, liaison and representation with government and other external stakeholders, and ensuring effective and efficient management of program staff and logistics in collaboration with field staff and the Juba-based systems team.

The Health and Nutrition Coordinator is in charge of state and county level representation and liaises with the RRC Office, the State Ministry of Health, the County Health Department, the County Commissioners’ Office, and other line ministers as needed. She/he will improve the programming and managerial skills of the health and nutrition team and oversee the management of the entire health and nutrition sector intervention in NBeG. Working closely with the Area Coordinator, Roving Health Technical Coordinator, Roving Nutrition Technical Coordinator, and Programme Director, the role entails conducting assessments and leading the implementation of emergency response interventions as needed.

You will be responsible for:

Programme Development and Implementation

• Oversee the development, planning, and implementation of the Health and Nutrition programme activities in NBeG state in consultation and collaboration with the Area Coordinator, Roving health and nutrition coordinators, and Programme Director.
• Ensure efficient set-up of field-level activities under the integrated model to strengthen both the facility support and community outreach components of Concern’s Health and Nutrition activities.
• Guide the formation of community structures such as Mother and father Groups and ensure community structures like the Boma Health Committees (BHC), Village Health Communities (VHCs), and Volunteers like community nutrition volunteers (CNVs), HHPs, and TBAs are reenergized to perform their roles.
• Oversee programme quality in accordance with international and national protocols/standards, Ministry of Health strategies and policies, and Concern best practices.
• Build on existing and seek new synergies with the Health and Nutrition Clusters, Technical Working Groups, and other agencies in Health and Nutrition, the SMoH, and County Health Departments (CHDs) of both counties.
• Oversee the appropriate protocols to ensure the safety and security of nutrition supplies and pharmaceutical medical commodities (PMC) being stored in Concern warehouse and health facility stores. Coordinate with the AC, Concern’s response to any misappropriation of supplies with local stakeholders including SMOH, UNICEF/WFP, and the local authorities.
• Support cross-sectoral periodic programme reviews in order to assess programme progress, capture lessons learned, and adapt programme strategies as necessary in accordance with Concern’s results-based management principles.
• Keep abreast of humanitarian situations and gaps and make recommendations to support humanitarian programming.
• Ensure mainstreaming of cross-cutting issues/approaches throughout the programme cycle including Gender, Protection, HIV and AIDS, Accountability and do no harm philosophy.
• Ensure program supplies such as nutrition supplies, food, and non-food items are appropriately utilized for the intended purpose, ensure the safeguarding of program supplies, and mitigate misappropriation of program supplies, food, and non-food items.
• Support and participate in emergency assessments and develop plans for rapid and appropriate responses in consultation with line management as required.
• Liaise with relevant Advisers to assure programme quality and alignment to global, national, and Concern standards.
• Support in the development of a memorandum of understanding between Concern Worldwide and SMoH

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Strengthen the monitoring and evaluating system through overseeing M&E Events and implementing recommendations from such events. Key monitoring and evaluation events will include:
• Surveys: SQUEAC, SMART, KAP, Health Facility Assessments, Baselines, End lines
• Routine Monitoring visits by SMT, Technical coordinators from HO, Technical Advisers from HQ, and Joint visits with CHDs
• Supervisions: Donor visits, supervision visits by Health & Nutrition Cluster, Subcluster
• Evaluations: Midterm and end-of-project evaluations
• Ensure accurate use of CMAM tools and review CWW internal tools for data gathering by each layer of the structure including community volunteers. Where tools are not available initiate drafting. Ensure data is synthesized using CMAM Report.
• Ensure programme delivery is in line with Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) through:
• Ensuring strong and meaningful community participation throughout the programme cycle;
• systematically sharing program information with target communities /key stakeholders;
• Under the guidance of PD contributing to the rolling out and managing of Concern’s Complaints Response Mechanism (CRM) and
• Contributing to Concern’s CHS reporting requirements.
• Ensure timely internal monthly, Health & Nutrition Cluster and donor reports as per the South Sudan funding tracker shared by the Grants Management unit.
• Support and coordinate field missions of visitors including the regional and HQ-based staff and external visitors such as technical advisers, consultants, donors, and media with the PD and CD, as required.

Donor Compliance

• Support the Programme Director during donor proposals, budgets, and reports to ensure that technically they are of high quality, up-to-date, and delivered in a timely manner in accordance with Concern policies/procedures, donor requirements, and other interested parties, including government departments, in collaboration with programme team colleagues.
• Be responsible for ensuring that donor strategy, donor guidelines, formats, and processes are understood and being adhered to within Health and Nutrition programme implementation and procurement.

Representation/ coordination

• Manage the relationship with the MoH in NBeG state and where appropriate at the national level.
• Ensure that the new developments or requests from the National Health & Nutrition Cluster are addressed or endorsed
• Ensure effective networking and coordination with relevant stakeholders, such as Government authorities, other NGOs, and the UN operating in the Health and Nutrition sector at the field level.
• Work with the PD, UN Partners, and the SMOH to develop a sustainability plan that responsibly hands over appropriate nutrition service delivery responsibilities to the SMOH. This should be done to ensure the long terms sustainability of nutrition service delivery in Aweil West/North
• Represent Concern to donors, clusters, and other coordination fora and meetings at the national and County level as required
• Work with the PD and Programme Quality Unit to ensure the timely and high-quality development of programme proposals and concept notes for donors and for other interested parties for funding opportunities. Work with the PD to further build and maintain Concern’s emergency preparedness capacity including contingency planning and PEER plan for the field office.
• Contribute to the overall management and strategic planning of the country programme and the field office health and nutrition strategy.

Human Resources

• Support in the recruitment of staff required for health and nutrition programme delivery.
• Train, mentor, and coach senior program staff to build their capacity to effectively deliver their jobs with the highest standards.
• Using talent spot, identify and nurture potentials and talents in key national staff across the structure to strengthen programme delivery at all levels. Ensuring JDs are well understood by staff.
• Support timely recruitment to fill vacant positions, and new staff recruited are inducted and trained as per the needs of the programme and the organization.
• Nurture team spirit in the team.
• Identify and take appropriate action to address underperformance in staff in H&N
• Ensure that all staff in the Health and Nutrition team are aware of and comply with Concern’s policies and procedures.
• Ensure that all staff is provided with the necessary support and advice to carry out their duties, particularly as they relate to IMCI, CMAM, and other community-based approaches, behavior change approaches, and emergency response.

Finance, Admin, and Logistics

• Monitor and manage programme expenditure and budgets, ensuring resources are optimally utilized and spending is in line with Concern financial procedures and Donor requirements.
• Lead in monthly financial review or expenditure against programme plan and implement revisions as required.
• Support in ensuring that all WFP monthly invoices and all supporting documents are submitted to the WFP-Aweil sub-office on time
• Liaise with the Area Coordinator, support team, and Systems Director through coordinated planning to ensure efficient and timely procurement and use of supplies necessary for the smooth running of the programme.

Security

• Ensure the Health and Nutrition team carries out their work in accordance with the Concern’s security Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and the Security Management Plan (SMP).
• Assist the security advisor with security analysis through the sharing of important security information collected through fieldwork.
• Participate in the revision of SOPs and the SMP when necessary and other security-related duties when necessary

Accountability

In line with Concern’s commitments under the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS):

• actively promote meaningful community participation and consultation at all stages of the project cycle (planning, implementation, M&E);
• work with relevant colleagues to ensure that the Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) is functional and accessible, and that feedback and complaints are welcomed and addressed;
• Work with relevant colleagues to ensure that information about CRM, safeguarding, and expected staff behavior is disseminated among programme participants and communities.

Other Duties

• Participate in country-level strategic planning initiatives and other duties as assigned by management
• Adhere fully to the commitments and rules of Concern’s Code of Conduct and associated policies including the respect for confidentiality.
• Report to the appropriate manager all violations of the Code of Conduct and associated policies
• Undertake other related duties as may reasonably be assigned by the Country Director or the line manager

Your skills and experience will include:

Essential:

• Master’s Degree in medicine, public health, nursing, midwifery or equivalent qualification
• At least 5 years experience in managing health and nutrition projects with a minimum of 3 years overseas experience preferably with an international NGO and in insecure environments
• Basic knowledge and experience implementing multi-sectoral humanitarian programmes.
• Experience in CMAM including community mobilization and in IMCI or PHC
• Experience in managing mobile health and nutrition clinics
• Experience in behavior change approaches
• Experience in donor reporting and proposal writing
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation including SMART surveys and SQUAEC
• Experience in budgeting and financial monitoring processes
• Strong staff management, capacity building, and supervision skills
• Strong team and personnel management skills, including security management.
• Familiarity with complex and insecure emergency contexts.
• Experience in mainstreaming equality, gender, DRR, HIV, and AIDS.
• Fluent written and spoken English

Desirable:

• Specific training in the prevention and treatment of malnutrition.
• Work experience in South Sudan or the Horn of Africa Region.
• Working and management experience with OFDA, IrishAid, and other donors projects
• Experience working with health ministries, networking, and donor relations.
• Knowledge of Concern Policies and Programming Approaches.
• Previous experience with Results Based Management approach.
• Previous experience in implementing an integrated programme.
• Previous experience working with Stabilization Centres for malnutrition
• Experience using HMIS, DHIS, Epi-Info, and other data management and analysis programmes

We would also like:

• Cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity.
• Empathy with Concern’s goals and a commitment to capacity building, protection, and participation.
• Good communication and training / capacity-building skills.
• Ability in team building and working in a participatory/integrated manner.
• Ability to work on own initiative.
• Flexible, patient, and adaptable to a changing environment.
• Ability to work under pressure with numerous deadlines, etc.
• Knowledge of computer applications i.e. Microsoft Word, Excel, and communications systems.
• Ability to live and work in a close team environment.
• Prepared to work and live in a challenging and remote location.

Concern Worldwide is an Irish-based non-governmental, international, humanitarian organization dedicated to the reduction of suffering and working towards the ultimate elimination of extreme poverty in the world’s poorest countries

How to apply

All applications should be submitted through the mentioned website at https://jobs.concern.net/ by the closing date. CVs should be no more than 4 pages in length.

Concern Worldwide encourages all qualified candidates, irrespective of gender, ethnicity and origin, disability, political beliefs, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status to apply to become a part of the organization. Concern is against all forms of discrimination and unequal power relations, and is committed to promoting equality.