Emergency Nutrition Coordinator

Background/IRC Summary:

The IRCs Emergency Unit (EU) leads or oversees IRCs global emergency preparedness and response activities. The mission of the EU is to help meet the immediate survival needs and reduce suffering in conflict or disaster affected populations during the acute phase of an emergency. The EU also works in protracted emergencies, where the risk to life may be reduced but the population is still subjected to rights abuses and a lack of basic services.

The IRCs fulltime Emergency Response Team (ERT) is a standing team of specialized professionals ready to deploy to an emergency within 72 hours. The ERT is supplemented by personnel drawn from the IRCs Emergency Internal and External Rosters.

Nutrition programming at IRC: The IRC nutrition team's objective is to support country programs to increase access and coverage to effective and responsive nutrition interventions so women and children are protected from and treated for malnutrition. The nutrition team's core programming include the community based management of acute malnutrition and infant and young child feeding programs. The IRC nutrition team is leading efforts in developing transformative strategies for treating malnourished children by putting treatment within reach of people who need it through the integration of malnutrition treatment into community case management and unifying treatment for moderate and severe malnutrition by testing a combined treatment protocol.

Job Overview/Summary:

External Emergency Roster Staff are deployed to support either existing country programs in their emergency response, or to initiate a new program in the crisis zone. The overall responsibility of the team is to rapidly and effectively design, develop and manage the IRC's on-site humanitarian response to meet the immediate needs of the affected population. Response personnel are also responsible for supporting the transfer of responsibilities and knowledge to the long-term staff to ensure the continuity of IRC programming and operations.

The Emergency Nutrition Coordinator will be deployed in case of emergencies that require a comprehensive nutrition response. S/he will report to the ERT Field Director on deployment. The Emergency Nutrition Coordinator, when deployed to an emergency setting, is expected to rapidly initiate a quality nutrition response including securing a base of operations, recruiting staff, conducting rapid assessments, managing the emergency nutrition stock once it is on the ground, and liaising with other agencies. The Emergency Nutrition Coordinator will be responsible for all aspects of emergency nutrition programming, particularly the community based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) and infant and young child feeding in emergencies (IYCF-E), and will ensure national and international guidelines are adhered to as well as uphold quality standards and ensure results-based monitoring/evaluation.

Emergency Response

• Be prepared to be deployed within 72 hours
• Lead the planning, implementation and analysis of rapid nutritional assessments in large scale/complex emergences and provide prioritized recommendations for nutrition interventions to the ERT Field Director/emergency lead;
• Design nutrition program responses and strategy, including geographic areas of intervention;
• Coordinate the IRC's emergency nutrition responses with the local government, agencies, donors, and other stakeholders, and represent the IRC in relevant forums in locations where mobilized;
• Coordinate closely with IRC's health, water and sanitation, food security, and other relevant teams to ensure integrated programming across sectors

· Ensure active community outreach programs are established to increase coverage of nutrition programs

• Pilot and test new approaches in the treatment of acute malnutrition in emergency settings
• Develop technical proposals and budgets for international donors, work in close collaboration with IRC grants and finance staff to finalize proposals and respond to any requests for additional information;
• Ensure the proper maintenance and management of nutrition commodities and stock and ensure the proper mobilization of relevant components of the stock in case of emergencies;
• Directly manage and/or supervise Coordinators in managing grant/program implementation including staff recruitment and training, workplan development, procurement and inventory planning, and budget management;
• Prepare high quality and timely donor and management reports on grants and nutrition activities;
• Design and implement appropriate nutrition monitoring and evaluation systems in line with national/international protocols
• Ensure compliance with IRC policy and procedures throughout the program team and activities;
• In close collaboration with country management and global advocacy units, identify, develop and implement strategies to address IRC advocacy priorities;
• Support media and communications activities as requested by the ERT Field Director/CD/in-country emergency lead;
• Assess and provide input on nutrition post emergency strategies and transition plans for IRC programming;
• Provide a comprehensive handover to successor, including ensuring transfer of all related documentation, program monitoring data and staff performance information.
• Consistently and proactively monitor/assess the safety and security of the team; promptly reporting concerns or incidents to IRC management and liaising with community leaders and other external parties as required to maintain/enhance the security environment for IRC programs

Additional Technical Support

• Support nutrition programs in countries identified by the STA-Nutrition with a strong emphasis on the implementation of CMAM emergency nutrition preparedness through field visits in collaboration with nutrition TAs/STA;
• Other special projects as negotiated by supervisor

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to: Deputy Director, Response

Position directly supervises : n/a

Works closely with: ERT, Emergency Unit Deputy Directors Indirect Reporting: n/a

Job Requirements:

Education: Master's/post-graduate degree in Public Health Nutrition/Global Nutrition or related Nutrition degree is required.

Work Experience: A minimum of 3 years of nutrition humanitarian field experience at the senior nutrition program management/coordination level

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

• Must have field experience in the design, implementation and evaluation of community based management of acute malnutrition and infant and young child feeding programs at a minimum ;
• Demonstrated technical expertise in surveys and assessments particularly SMART, IYCF and the Semi-Quantitative Evaluation of Access and Coverage (SQUEAC) assessment a plus;
• Experience working with donors, proposal writing, and program design;
• Communication skills, including the ability to write and present ;
• Demonstrated commitment to renewing and maintaining currency with best practices;
• Solid organizational skills: the ability to work independently and productively in a fast-paced environment;
• Strong interpersonal skills in a multi-cultural environment and experience supporting high-level staff.
• Effective people and program management skills in acute emergency contexts: the ability to train, lead and manage staff productively under stressful circumstances;
• Flexible work attitude: Be flexible and yet focused & reliable in an environment of changing demands;
• Availability and willingness to travel 65% of the time to regional and international locations (at extreme short notice (within 72 hours) in case of emergencies);
• Professional-level fluency in spoken and written English; fluency in French and/or Arabic a plus

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