Location: Bamako, Mali
Deadline: Monday, 04 November 2013
Purpose of the Position
On behalf of the IASC Humanitarian Coordinator and UNICEF (Under the supervision of the Nutrition Manager and under the guidance of the Chief of Child Survival Section) as the lead agency for the IASC Nutrition Cluster) and in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, the Nutrition Cluster Coordinator will facilitate a timely and effective nutrition response and ensure that the capacity of national and local institutions is strengthened to respond to and coordinate emergency nutrition interventions that demonstrate results and impact achieved.
Key Expected Results
1.Identification of key partners:
- Identify key humanitarian partners for the Nutrition Cluster response, respecting their respective mandates and program priorities
- Identify other key partners including local and national authorities, peacekeeping forces, etc.
- Carry out capacity mapping of all current and potential actors
- government, national and international humanitarian organizations as well as national institutions, the private sector and advocate to donors, NGOs, government and other stakeholder on the nutrition programme needs and services.
2.Establishment and maintenance of appropriate humanitarian coordination mechanisms:
- Ensure appropriate coordination between all Nutrition humanitarian partners (including national and international NGOs, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, IOM and other international organizations active in the sector) as well as national authorities and local structures
- Ensure the establishment/maintenance of appropriate sector coordination mechanisms including working groups at the national, and if necessary, local level;
- Ensure full integration of the IACS's agreed priority cross-cutting issues, namely human rights, HIV/AIDS, age, gender and environment, utilization participatory and community-based approaches. In line with this, promote gender equality by ensuring that the needs, contributions and capacities of women and girls as well as men and boys are addressed;
- Secure commitments from cluster participants in responding to needs and filling gaps, ensuring an appropriate distribution of responsibilities within the cluster, with clearly defined focal points for specific issues where necessary;
- Ensure that cluster participants work collectively, ensuring the complementarities of the various stake holder's actions;
- Promote emergency response actions while at the same time considering the need for early recovery planning as well as prevention and risk reduction concerns;
- Ensure effective links with other clusters (with OCHA support), especially Health & Nutrition, WASH, Agriculture and Livelihoods and Education;
- Represent the interests of the Nutrition Cluster in discussions with the Humanitarian Coordinator as well as donors on prioritization, resource mobilization and advocacy;
- Act as focal point for inquiries on the Nutrition Cluster's response plans and operations.
3.Planning and strategy development: Ensure predictable action within the cluster for the following;
- Needs assessment and analysis; development of standard assessment formats for use within the sector;
- Identification of gaps;
- Developing/updating agreed response strategies and action plans for the Nutrition Cluster and ensuring that these are adequately reflected in the overall country strategies, such as the Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP) an integral component of the CAP process.
- Drawing lessons learned from past activities and revising strategies and action plans accordingly;
- Developing an exit, or transition, strategy for the cluster.
4.Monitoring and reporting:
- Specifically needs to include an analytical interpretation of best available information in order to benchmark progress of the emergency response over time. That is - monitoring indicators (quantity, quality, coverage, continuity and cost) of service delivery which are derived from working towards meeting standards (mentioned in point 4).
- Ensure regular reporting against the Nutrition Cluster indicators of service delivery (quantity, quality, coverage, continuity and cost) supports analysis of the Nutrition Cluster in closing gaps and measuring impact of interventions.
5.Application of standards:
- Ensure that Nutrition Cluster participants are aware of relevant policy guidelines, technical standards and relevant commitments that the Government/concerned authorities have undertaken under international human rights law;
- Ensure that the Nutrition Cluster responses are in line with existing policy guidance, technical standards, and relevant Government human rights legal obligations.
6.Advocacy and resource mobilization:
- Identify core advocacy concerns, including resource requirements, and contribute key messages to broader advocacy initiatives of the Humanitarian Coordinators and other actors;
- Advocate for donors to fund cluster participants to carry out priority activities in the sector concerned, while at the same time encouraging cluster participants to mobilize resources for their activities through the usual channels.
- Act as the focal point for reviewing and ensuring quality control for all the Nutrition Cluster project submitted for Flash Appeal, CERF and other funding mechanisms
7.Training and capacity building of national/local authorities and civil society:
- Promote and support training of the Nutrition Cluster partners personnel and build the capacity of all the Nutrition partners based on the mapping and understanding of available capacity; - Support efforts to strengthen the capacity of the national/local authorities and civil society.
8.Acting as Provider of last resort:
- As agreed by the IASC Principals, the Nutrition Cluster lead agency is responsible for acting as the provider of last resort to meet agreed priority needs and will be supported by the HC in their resource mobilization efforts in this regard;
- Under the principal of the Provider of last resort, the Nutrition Cluster Coordinator will liaise with the Cluster Lead Agency UNICEF to ensure that gaps are filled
Qualifications of Successful Candidate Education:
- Advanced university degree in Health, in Human Nutrition preferably with corresponding degree in Public Health, Food Security, Medicine or other related field.
A first university degree with a relevant combination of academic qualifications and experience may be accepted in lieu of advanced university degree.
Work Experience:
- A minimum of 5 years experience with either the UN and/or NGO
- Recent experience in Nutrition in Emergency programmes including, but not limited to Malnutrition, Micronutrients, Supplementation, and SMART survey methodology.
- Knowledge of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee and the cluster approach either through training or practical experience.
- Experience on emergency response and programme coordination.
- Experience working with government agencies, local authorities, international organizations, NGOs and communities in the field of Nutrition in emergency context.
- Field work experience. Language Proficiency:
- Fluency in French and English required.
- Knowledge of the local working language of the duty station is an asset.
Competencies of Successful Candidate
i) Core Values (Required)
- Commitment
- Diversity and Inclusion
- Integrity
ii)Core Competencies (Required)
- Communication [ II ]
- Working with People [ II ]
- Drive for Result [ II ]
iii) Functional Competencies (Required)
- Leading and Supervising [ II ]
- Formulating Strategies and Concepts [ II ]
- Analyzing [ II ]
- Relating and Networking [ II ]
- Persuading and Influencing [ II ]
- Creating and Innovating [ II ]
Remarks
- The successful candidate for this emergency recruitment MUST be available to commence work within 31 days of receiving an offer.
- Please note that Bamako is a non-family duty staion. UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.