Nutrition Officer at International Medical Corps (IMC)

International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs. Established in 1984 by volunteer doctors and Nurses, International Medical Corps is a private, voluntary, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization. Its mission is to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in under-served communities worldwide.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Nutrition Officer

Location: Shani, Borno
Employment Type: Full-time
Position: Nigerian Nationals Only

Job Summary

• The primary functions of the Nutrition Officer is to provide leadership and overall day to day management of all Nutrition Food Security programming at Shani LGA, participate in defining intervention priorities, develop necessary contacts and relationships with government, non-government, donors and UN agencies at the field level; Contribute to the development of strategies and manage existing programs and resources, and provide day to day supervision, management and coaching of Nutrition team in Shani LGA.
• Ensure that International Medical Corps program is delivering the highest level of quality of nutrition services in line with national and international guideline.

Tasks and Responsibilities

• Effective implementation of nutrition assistance in the form of e-vouchers to households with children who are malnourished or have been discharged from Stabilization Centers (SC), Outpatient Therapeutic Feeding Program (OTP) and Targeted Supplementary Feeding Program (TSFP.
• Provide key health and nutrition messages through community structures such as Mother Care Groups and Project Management Committees (PMC) as well as during cash distribution, community sensitization and engagement sessions and asset creation/livelihoods activities
• Guide establishment of kitchen gardens and combining vegetable production with cooking demonstrations to encourage better use of produce for household consumption
• Participate in any nutrition sector-specific assessments and make technical recommendations for appropriate activities, both for initial disaster response phase and for longer-term disaster risk reduction and transition phase.
• Determine the cause of malnutrition in the emergency response and formulate appropriate responses that will address the cause.
• Provide direct hands-on technical support to Nutrition Program Assistants and IMC partners to effectively and innovatively manage nutrition projects with focus on key technical areas
• Ensure that emergency nutrition and related projects are technically sound, environmentally friendly, socially and cultural acceptable.
• Actively represent International Medical Corps in nutrition sector discussions and activities, serve as an International Medical Corps nutrition sector resource person, and display technical and organizational leadership in sectorial activity commensurate with the role as a primary resource person for International Medical Corps in your Working areas.
• Manage International Medical Corps’ nutrition response and recovery activities across a wide range of actors within International Medical Corps, donors, host governments, UN and NGO partners to ensure consistency of programming.
• Strong negotiation skill with the partners, host community and government officials.
• Actively participate and represent IMC in State and LGA nutrition CMAM Cluster meetings.
• Assist in development of, or provide technical review for, emergency response proposals to be submitted by International Medical Corps to ensure that proposed activities and programs align with best practice in the nutrition sector. As appropriate, suggest new developments in the nutrition sector to International Medical Corps programming;
• Be fully aware of national policies, strategies and other initiatives and developments by government and other stakeholders in the area of nutrition. Regularly assess the implications for IMC’s program and priorities of any changes in the operating environment in this sector and report on these to the Program Manager and Nutrition Coordinator as required.
• Actively participate in surveys done at the Community level (KAP, SMART, Causal Analysis, Barriers, Coverage, JANFSA, ENNA).
• Ensure development of core skills and competencies in Nutrition and Food Security among IMC staff in the project offices.
• Provide technical support and training where required to all team members and partners.
• Build the capacity of Technical, Community Health Volunteers (CHVs), Community Nutrition Mobilizers (CNMs) and committees to deliver quality service and undertake participatory monitoring of the implementation of the project works and record lessons learned and reports.
• Prepare weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual reports to donors, line departments and sectors.
• Strengthen partnerships, institutional linkages and working relationships.

Coordination:

• Work closely with community structures to follow up on implementation of nutrition activities and support.
• Supervise the Implementation of sensitization activities whilst collaborating with key stakeholders
• Represent IMC in LGA-level coordination meetings and conferences as necessary when requested

Reporting:

• Support to track the progress of activities, challenges encountered, lessons learned and good practices and Compile collected data, pictures and other information from the field
• Pass on any information or problems to his/her direct and/or indirect supervisor concerning his/her task, IMC programs, or safety aspects.
• Keep monitoring tools and files archived at the IMC office, ensuring their availability to his/her supervisor.
• Compile information to ensure that the nutrition situation in the area of implementation of the program is achieving the expected result, when required
• Provide feedback to the programme team based on the field monitoring visits
• Support the project team in developing high quality project/programme reports
• Liaise with M&E Team to ensure timely submission of contributions, Support the M&E team in analysis of beneficiary data collection through the various tools.

Miscellaneous:

• Perform other relevant duties as assigned by supervisor

Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse:

• Actively promote PSEA (Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse) standards within International Medical Corps and amongst beneficiaries served by International Medical Corps.

Compliance & Ethics:

• Promotes and encourages a culture of compliance and ethics throughout International Medical Corps.
• As applicable to the position, maintains a clear understanding of International Medical Corps’ and donor compliance and ethics standards and adheres to those standards. Conducts work with the highest level of integrity.

Qualifications and Experience

• University Degree in Public Health, Nursing, Nutrition or equivalent.
• Minimum of 3 years experience in nutrition work and implementation of nutrition/ food security intervention programs, including community mobilization, monitoring and  evaluation aspects.
• Significant experience on community management of acute malnutrition and Infant feeding in Emergency in host communities/ IDP camp setting.
• Understanding of nutritional surveillance and information systems,
• Proven ability and experience in planning and conducting formal training session on nutrition including CMAM and IYCF.
• Proven capacity to supervise, train and coach local staff and community workers.
• Excellent communication skills and a willingness to be respectful, kind, sensitive and empathize with children and their care givers.
• Willingness and capacity to be flexible and accommodating when faced with difficult and frustrating working conditions.
• Ability to deal with relations with local authorities as a Nutrition representative of IMC in the working areas.
• Ability to integrate into the local environment including awareness of political, religious and economic aspects of the community.
• Excellent inter and intra personal skills to ensure consistent positive relations with key stakeholders.
• Strong report writing and computer skills.
• Fluent in written and spoken English and Hausa.
• Commitment to and understanding of IMC’s aims, values and principles.

Key Competencies:

• Strong communication skills: oral, written and presentation skills.
• Should be a team player and culturally sensitive.
• Demonstrated proficiency in computer applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, email and utilization of the internet.
• Strong leadership, team building, conflict resolution and ability to deliver IMC’s strategic objectives.
• Extremely flexible, and have the ability to cope with stressful situations.

Equal Opportunities:

• International Medical Corps is proud to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, age, disability or status as a veteran.

Application Closing Date
24th May, 2022.