About CRS

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in over 100 countries globally, irrespective of race, religion or nationality through relief and development programs. CRS’ programs include emergency response, disaster mitigation and recovery, health, agriculture, education, microfinance, and peacebuilding among others. For nearly 60 years, CRS has taken the lead in responding to disasters affecting the poor and vulnerable communities in Ethiopia. CRS’ disaster mitigation and recovery interventions in conflict, drought and flood prone areas in the country have restored household and community assets through humanitarian assistance including food, agriculture, health, nutrition, WASH, and peacebuilding projects. 

Job Title:                        Technical Advisor I - Nutrition

Band:                              IX

Required number:        One

Department:                 JEOP

Employment Term:      Definite (i.e.., April 30, 2027)

Reports To:                   Deputy Chief of Party-Program Quality

Country/Location:       CRS Ethiopia/Addis Ababa

Job Summary:

The Joint Emergency Operation (JEOP) is an emergency food assistance program targeting transitory food insecure households through a Vulnerability-Based Targeting process. JEOP provides emergency assistance to protect lives and livelihood where recurrent drought and other disasters affected in significant harvest loss, livestock death and price increase of essentials. The JEOP consortium is led by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and includes partners, CARE, Food for the Hungry, Relief Society of Tigray (REST), World Vision and the Organization for Relief and Development in Amhara (ORDA). CRS also works through local implementing partners such as Hararghe and Meki Catholic Secretariat (HCS and MCS).

As a technical lead, you will contribute JEOP implement preventive approach to malnutrition problems across JEOP operation areas by applying a community nutrition concept and methods. Your advice and technical leadership will ensure a nutrition sensitive implementation approach in JEOP. As a member of JEOP, you will provide technical advice and support to a range of program design and implementation issues in the area of JEOP nutrition objectives in line with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) program quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices to Country Program (CP) teams to advance the delivery of high-quality programming to the poor and vulnerable. Your advice, knowledge, and support will contribute to determining how effective, adaptive and innovative CRS’ JEOP programming is across the globe.

Job Responsibilities:

• Act as the technical lead for JEOP field of nutrition and its intersections with other sectors including but not restricted to food commodities and cash, early warning, monitoring evaluation accountability and learning (MEAL), gender, safeguarding and protection mainstreaming.

• Lead identification and assess availability of animal source and fresh food items across JEOP operation woredas closely working with the JEOP and CRS Head Quarter (HQ) market monitoring team.

• Closely work with the JEOP and HQ market monitoring team to set cash transfer values for anticipatory nutrition actions for different JEOP geographic locations; lead updating cash transfer values in every 3 to 6 months.

• Closely work with the JEOP early warning and context monitoring team to identify the most vulnerable households for malnutrition outcomes across JEOP intervention areas.

• Support JEOP cash team transfer anticipatory nutrition action cash for vulnerable households across JEOP implementation areas.

• Closely work with JEOP market monitoring team to assess capacity of local animal and fresh source suppliers to implement a market based approach for JEOP’s nutrition support.

• Linking with country program, consortium partner and CRS regional colleagues, provide leadership on JEOPs engagement in roll out of the Agency Nutrition Strategy.

• Facilitate JEOP access to emerging learning and adjustments to Global nutrition practices and participate in the CRS regional community of practice for nutrition.

• Taking a quality assurance and improvement lens, support JEOP to strengthen nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive program approaches through a structured review of current programming and guidance in development of quality assurance and improvement tools where needed. 

• Strengthen capacity of JEOP staff (CRS and partners) to represent JEOP in national nutrition forums including technical working groups and cluster forums.

• As an active member of CRS’ Global Nutrition Technical team strengthen JEOP staff access to best and promising practices as well as evolving thinking, as it relates to core nutrition objectives.

• In coordination with JEOP Program Quality colleagues, strengthen integration of nutrition activities within JEOP programming, ensuring that activities are in line with all humanitarian and SPHERE standards.

• Determine which approaches are necessary to strengthen nutrition activities and the impact of intended to improve nutrition.

• Support the development and contribute to the implementation of agency-wide, regional and JEOP-specific strategies, standards, tools, and best practices in nutrition that effectively engage partners, donors and governments. Help ensure a cross-sectoral approach including integrating gender, protection, early warning, and disaster risk reduction.

• Provide technical solutions remotely and on-site, for strategic planning and how to best apply program design and implementation standards, best practices, partnership principles, tools, and M&E, ensuring high-quality implementation.

• Prepare JEOP nutrition action plan and make recommendations to Senior Management on nutrition issues concerning JEOP.

• Advocate, inform, and communicate amongst partners to ensure that project participants nutrition and food security issues are addressed and that the nutritional needs and status of project participants and other persons of concern are appropriately documented and disseminated.

• Contribute to efforts to pre-position CRS for growth opportunities in nutrition. Lead or contribute to development of the technical design for large and/or complex proposals, including defining appropriate monitoring systems and indicators. Advise design teams on integrating donor strategies, priorities and technical requirements into CRS’ approach.

• Contribute to capacity strengthening initiatives in nutrition programming for staff and partner through recruitment support, helping develop learning strategies and agendas/curriculums, facilitating access to external consultants, conducting trainings and workshops, and mentoring and coaching.

• Strengthen technical quality of reports and communications material for external audiences, through review, mentoring, training and coaching of staff.

• Contribute to knowledge management and learning through supporting innovation and the adaptation and application of innovations from other organizations, collecting and analyzing program data, evaluating strategic projects, assisting with measuring program impact, capturing and sharing lessons learned and best practices, and research and internal reports.

• Establish and maintain relationships with key peer organizations, research and other institutions (i.e. UNICEF, WFP, private sector stakeholders). Participate in forums to collect and share best practices and promote CRS’ work.

• Undertakes regular field visits to project sites in respective region(s) for the supportive supervision and participation in project activities. Prepares routine reports on results of visits and project progress.

• Work closely with the Regional Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Bureau, Regional Emergency Coordination Unit (RENCU), Regional Health Bureau (RHB), UN agencies and NGOs.

• Ensure collaboration, leveraging, layering, integration and learning accompanies project activities throughout the project cycle between JEOP and other CRS sectors including but not limited to RFSA, other USAID projects and other NGOs with related activities.

• Analyze implementation challenges and report any inconsistencies and/or gaps to inform adjustments to plans and implementation schedules.

• Work with other programmatic sectors to develop comprehensive or complementary programming to address nutrition components in JEOP.

• Ensure project documentation for assigned activities is complete with all required documents and is filed per agency and donor requirements. Assist with preparation of trends analysis reports and documentation of case studies and promising practices.

• Facilitate the formulation of relevant strategies and interventions, promote initiatives, and support the adaptation, and implementation for improving the delivery of primary health care services.

• Ensure JEOP project activities are favorable to vulnerable segment of the population particularly women, people living with disables, children and elders.

Job Requirements

Typical Background, Experience & Requirements:

Education and Experience

• MA Degree in Public Health, Nutrition or in health-related fields required.

• Minimum of 5 years relevant working experience in an advisory or management role with progressive responsibilities, with an international NGO, with minimum of three years working for programming interventions in nutrition.

• Previous experience providing technical assistance and developing successful proposals for external donor funding.

• Demonstrated application of technical principles and concepts in nutrition in both humanitarian and development program contexts and including nutrition sensitive as well as nutrition specific interventions.

• General knowledge of other related disciplines to ensure solid cross-sectoral approach.

• Experience in business development, project design and proposal development in health and social services, including technical writing.

• Experience in mentoring, coaching, facilitation, and training applying adult learning principles and practices.

• Work with CRS Communications Manager on social behavior change material development related to nutrition.

• Experience with program monitoring and evaluation, including applying data collection tools and methodologies, data analysis, data presentation and data use for decision making.

• Experience and skills in networking and relations with donors, peer organizations, and faith-based and civil society partners. Understanding of partnership principles.

• Proficient in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information and budget management systems, knowledge-sharing networks.

Personal Skills

• Excellent relationship management skills with ability to influence and get buy-in from people not under direct supervision and to work with individuals in diverse geographical and cultural settings.

• Strong strategic, analytical, problem-solving and systems thinking skills with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment

• Strong written and oral communication skills

• Strong presentation, facilitation, training, mentoring, and coaching skills

• Proactive, resourceful, and results-oriented

Required/Desired Foreign Language: English and Amharic, additional national languages a plus.

Travel Required: 40%

Key Working Relationships:

·        Supervisory: n/a

·        Internal: JEOP program quality unit, CRS Ethiopia technical units, CRS regional counterparts, HQ market monitoring team, HQ nutrition advisors.

·        External:  JEOP implementing partners, nutrition cluster, line ministries

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff):

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

·        Trusting Relationships 

·        Professional Growth 

·        Partnership 

·        Accountability

Disclaimer:  This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

How to Apply

You should fill the application form through this link: You should fill the application form through this LINK and attach your up-to-date CV on / before the application deadline September 20, 2023. You will be contacted only if selected for written exam/interview. Phone solicitations will not be accepted. These job opportunities are open to Ethiopian nationals only.

CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. 

** Qualified women & persons with disability are highly encouraged to apply**

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer