Job Purpose:

The Senior Health and Nutrition Specialist will support the Country office in providing strategic leadership and technical direction across the Health and Nutrition programme with a specific focus on ensuring that Concern’s programmes are as compliant with relevant donor and Ethiopian MOH technical standards. They will work closely with the current Health and Nutrition Coordinator who will be overall responsible for programme planning and implementation to ensure that the country programme is meeting the required technical standards and commitments to partners and donors. The Technical Advisor will also work closely with the Programmes Director, the Emergency Programme Director and the Global Health and Nutrition Advisers based in Dublin. 

Duties and Responsiblities;-

Technical Support & Quality Assurance

• Provide leadership on developing and documenting Concern Ethiopia’s approach to integrated Health programming (to include health, nutrition and WASH) which will provide a standard programme approach for Concern Ethiopia over the next few years

• Provide technical leadership across the programme team to improve awareness and understanding of current donor technical health and nutrition standards and Concerns commitment to same 

• Lead on the technical oversight of the current USAID Health and Nutrition Programme and support the Health and Nutrition Coordinator to ensure that all appropriate health technical standards are in place for this programme

• Develop a plan and enhance the system for Pharmacy Management, which will include tracking tracer drugs, and other essential medical and nutritional supplies across supported facilities

• Develop a core Concern Ethiopia pharmacy list with a focus on primary care and nutrition (based on the current Concern catalogue) with input from Concern’s Health and Nutrition Advisers in Dublin

• With the Health and Nutrition Coordinator, ensure that each country programme office has a robust health supervision plan in place which allows Concern to capture key health information and ensure timely actions are jointly agreed with Concern and MoH staff to maintain and improve programme quality

• With the Health and Nutrition Coordinator, agree priority areas for technical capacity building and deliver training, coaching and develop job aids as required.

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning

• Review Concern Ethiopia’s current MEAL system and ensure that this is capturing all relevant health and nutrition data required to meet our reporting requirements to donors and the MoH

• Develop short Standard Operational Procedures (SOPs) and other monitoring tools to support clinical supervision across Concern Ethiopia’s Health programme (to include essential visit checklist, pharmacy consumption and stock monitoring, joint supervision checklist)

• Support the Health and Nutrition Coordinator to organize quarterly review meetings with the Health and Nutrition team to assess progress against programme/donor objectives

• As relevant develop Concern Ethiopia Technical Health/Nutrition briefs such as Lessons Learnt Papers or short reviews of programme success stories to share with the wider team in Ethiopia and Concern globally

• Explore opportunities for operational research for Health and Nutrition with partner agencies or research organisations

Programme Development & Design

• Support the development of new health proposals for health and nutrition in close coordination with the Health and Nutrition Coordinator, field and programme teams and finance

• Lead on the technical oversight of the current USAID Health and Nutrition programme and support the Health and Nutrition Coordinator to implement periodic programme progress reviews and assist with technical details of reporting

• Coordinate with the Grants Management Team to identify new business opportunities for health and nutrition which are in line with Concern Ethiopia’s integrated health approach

Representation & Networking

• Work with the Concern Health and Nutrition Coordinator to ensure that Concern is appropriately engaged with inter-agency coordination forums such as the Health and Nutrition Clusters and other technical working groups as required

• Maintain strategic links with relevant health stakeholders to include MoH line ministries, UN agencies, other NGOs

• Ensure that Concerns technical experience in health and nutrition is represented at all external health meetings where possible

Emergency Response;-

Concern is committed to responding to emergencies efficiently and effectively to help affected people meet their basic needs, alleviate suffering and maintain their dignity. To this end, when emergencies strike and the Ethiopia Programme is to respond, all staff are required to actively participate in the response, regardless of location and contribute to the efforts aimed at achieving the humanitarian objective of the organization.

Gender Equality;-

• Demonstrate understanding of Concern Ethiopia’s Gender Equality Strategy.

• Contribute to ensuring that Concern Ethiopia is a place where men and women treated equally and with dignity and respect.

• Demonstrate gender equality awareness and gender sensitivity and an ability to integrate a gender equality perspective into tasks and activities.

Gender Equality;-

• 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 behaviour is disseminated among programme participants and communities. 

Safeguarding;-

• Able to seek appropriate advice and report concerns and feel confident that they have been understood.

• Understand local safeguarding structures and arrangements.

• Practices in a manner that seeks to reduce the risk of abuse, harm or neglect.

• Identifies and refers to appropriate services any other associated persons including caretakers, family members and children at risk.

• Able to document safeguarding concerns, and maintain appropriate record-keeping, recording the wishes and views of the adult or child at risk, differentiating between fact and opinion.

Job Requirements

Person Specfications;-

Essential:

• Bachelor’s degree in medicine, nursing, clinical medicine, or Public Health with a Master’s/post-graduate degree in Public Health, Public Health Nutrition, Global Health, or equivalent.

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in implementing and/or managing Health and Nutrition programs with on-the-ground programmatic expertise in a service delivery organization, INGO, or comparable international agency is required.

• Experience in specified technical areas, including comprehensive primary healthcare, technical tools and materials development, and monitoring and evaluation, is highly desired. 

Competencies;-

Desirable:

• Strong organizational and time-management skills; proven ability to prioritize and deliver projects on time and independently.

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with internal and external stakeholders at all levels.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.

• Ability to manage and work through change proactively and positively.

• Experience in working with teams and governments.

• Strong verbal and written skills in English

How to Apply

Interested applicants should send non-returnable C.V., application letter outlining how their experience and education fit this vacancy through THIS LINK

Please note that no need to submit your supporting documents at this stage:   

Only short listed candidates will be contacted

Safeguarding at Concern: Code of Conduct and its Associated Policies

Concern has an organisational Code of Conduct (CCoC) with three Associated Policies; the Programme Participant Protection Policy (P4), the Child Safeguarding Policy and the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Policy. These have been developed to ensure the maximum protection of programme participants from exploitation, and to clarify the responsibilities of Concern staff, consultants, visitors to the programme and partner organisation, and the standards of behaviour expected of them. In this context, staff have a responsibility to the organisation to strive for, and maintain, the highest standards in the day-to-day conduct in their workplace in accordance with Concern’s core values and mission. Any candidate offered a job with Concern Worldwide will be expected to sign the Concern Staff Code of Conduct and Associated Policies as an appendix to their contract of employment. By signing the Concern Code of Conduct, candidates acknowledge that they have understood the content of both the Concern Code of Conduct and the Associated Policies and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these policies. Additionally, Concern is committed to the safeguarding and protection of vulnerable adults and children in our work. We will do everything possible to ensure that only those who are suitable to work or volunteer with vulnerable adults and children are recruited by us for such roles. Subsequently, working or volunteering with Concern is subject to a range of vetting checks, including criminal background checking. 

Women and people with disability are highly encouraged to apply.