Nutrition Survey Manager

Country Office: Ethiopia

Work Base: [Addis Ababa]

Availability: As Soon As Possible

Salary Scale: EMS - 09

       Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply for this position.

About Action Against Hunger

Action Against Hunger-USA is a global humanitarian organization that takes decisive action against the causes and effects of hunger. We save the lives of malnourished children and we enable entire communities to be free from hunger. With more than 8,000 staff in over 50 countries, our programs reached 17 million people in 2019.

About the Country Program in Ethiopia

Action Against Hunger has been operational in Ethiopia since 1984 responding to both chronic and acute needs through a multi-sectoral strategy where nutrition, Food Security and Livelihoods, WASH, and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support activities are integrated to have a meaningful impact on people’s resilience. Action Against Hunger currently operates in 5 different regions (Oromia, Somali, Amhara, Benishangul Gumuz, and Gambella) with a portfolio of 20m USD/year of emergency, resilience building, research, and innovation programs. We have a country team of around 600 staff in 17 regional and satellite offices. Our main donors in Ethiopia in 2020/2021 are BHA, ECHO, Euro paid, UNHCR, UNICEF, GFFO, BPRM, SIDA, EHF, WFP, CIAA, and others.

I.   Job Summary

The Nutrition survey Manager will be responsible for the development of the Action Against Hunger- Ethiopia Nutrition Assessment strategy. The Nutrition Survey Manager will lead the design, planning, implementation and analysis of SMART surveys, Rapid Nutrition Assessment and SQUEAC Coverage Assessments. In addition, the Nutrition Survey Manager will strengthen the capacity of the Action Against Hunger nutrition  and health team in assessment implementation and create a pool of Action Against Hunger staff able to implement assessments. The Nutrition Survey Manager will work in close collaboration with Government of Ethiopia and Emergency Nutrition Coordination Unit, Action Against Hunger Nutrition and Health and MEAL team. Other Nutrition and Health MEAL duties might be assigned as deemed necessary.

As a key member of the Nutrition and Health Department, the Nutrition Survey Manager will be based in Addis Ababa, with significant travel to the field to implement nutrition surveys and assessments.

Purpose:

The Nutrition Survey Manager will support Action Against Hunger in the design, set-up, and implementation of prioritized nutrition surveys and assessments in Ethiopia's mission. S/he will also support Action Against Hunger to be the center of excellence in nutrition survey and assessment implementation and knowledge management.

Engagement:

Internally, this position will engage primarily with the HoD-Nutrition and Health, MEAL team and Regional office for East and Horn of Africa (HEARO) team. Externally, this position will engage with the Ministry of Health, Ethiopia, Emergency Nutrition Coordination Unit (ENCU), EPHI, FEWS NET, and various technical working groups

Essential Job duties:  

Objective 1:  Nutrition Assessment strategy

• In collaboration with Action Against Hunger Health & Nutrition teams, ENCU and Government of Ethiopia contribute to the identification of nutrition survey/assessment areas and activities according to needs and capacities.
• In collaboration with the HoD-Nutrition and Health, organize the Action Against Hunger survey planning.
• In collaboration with the HoD-Nutrition and Health and ENCU, design the nutrition survey/assessment methodology.

Objective 2:  Implementation of surveys/assessments according to Action Against Hunger planning

• The Nutrition Survey Manager is responsible for implementing surveys/assessments and ensuring their methodological and scientific soundness, as well as conducting data analysis and reporting
•  Design the survey (terms of reference): the Nutrition Survey Manager is in charge of developing terms of reference, to select the tools and methods, the type of informants and/or sampling, selection of villages for field work, writing guidelines and set up work plan, logistical planning and any special tools needed (communication means, map, camera) to conduct surveys and assessments.
•  Enumerators and team leaders training: at the field level, facilitate identification, recruitment, and training of local survey enumerators and team leaders training
•  Fieldwork- data collection: a collection of information at the field level. The survey manager will systematically provide the tea training before the fieldwork to test the questionnaire and methodology and to ensure that the team adheres to guidelines, protocols, and methodologies in place.
• Collection of background and general information: the manager is in charge of the scientific quality of the secondary information. S/He will organise for the field officer access to books, reports, key informant interviews and local authorities according to the needs of the survey
•  Analysis and processing of information: particular attention will be paid to the nature of the data to be collected, ensure data entry is done on a daily basis, and run plausibility checks to provide feedback to survey teams, and correct any mistakes identified. Main tools used for data processing are ENA for SMART and Excel. The manager will lead in data entry and data analysis
• Reporting/restitution: the manager is responsible for writing the survey report and finalizing the report in collaboration with Nutrition and Health Technical Advisor. A report should always be timely and be submitted to ENCU for in-country validation
•  Archiving: the manager is responsible for keeping records/archives of all report and data collected.

Objective 3:  Management of survey teams

•  In collaboration with the HR department, recruit the survey teams.
• Ensure follow-up of survey team: provide induction, define individual action plans, follow up on leaves, conduct appraisal, and promote positive team dynamics and motivation
• Build technical capacity of the Nutrition and Health team and survey team: Identification of training needs, define training contents/methodology, and conduct training for the team

Objective 4:  Collaboration with Action Against Hunger team

•  Follow up of programme budget in liaison with the HoD-Nutrition & Health and Nutrition & Health Programme managers.
• Follow up of the logistics requirements of the survey team with the logistics department and relevant field coordinators
• Collaboration with technical coordinators/advisors and program managers and any other Action Against Hunger resource people in order to ensure the coherence of Action Against Hunger activities and reports
• Provision of technical support based on needs identified by technical coordinators/technical advisors
• Participation in the program strategy, narrative and financial parts of the project proposals
• Support Nutrition and Health Team in sector specific MEAL activities- analysis and capitalization of health and nutrition programme data.
• Facilitate internal review and stakeholder's lesson sharing events related to nutrition survey and assessments implementation, knowledge management and exchange practices, sharing findings of survey results; promote collective multisectoral timely response and planning in Action Against Hunger and beyond

Objective 5:  Partnerships and Engagement

• Alongside the HoD-Nutrition and Health, the Nutrition Survey Manager will engage effectively with strategic partners in support of Action Against Hunger’s strategic objectives. This include:
• Participating in country-level nutrition coordination mechanisms (e.g., Nutrition Cluster, various technical working groups) to represent the Action Against Hunger.
• Participate in annual HNO-HRP development exercises.
• Promote Action Against Hunger in existing platforms, communicate effectively what it does, and seek further guidance, support and assistance from existing coordination platforms.
• Identifying and developing strategic collaborative relationships with other government, academic, and NGO partners implementing Nutrition Surveys and Assessments throughout Ethiopia.
• Advocate for implementation of essential nutrition surveys and assessments as deemed necessary.

II.   Supervisory Responsibilities

•  The Nutrition Survey Manager will support in the hiring, training, and supervision of data collectors for Nutrition Survey and Assessment activities.

III.   Fiscal Responsibility

• N/A

IV.   Physical Demands

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to sit for long periods and to concentrate on work, including typing, and turn out heavy volumes of work accurately, within short time frames under stressful situations in the context of a moderately noisy office with interruptions.
• To travel to the field, the employee must attest to a level of physical fitness capable of enduring physically difficult, highly stressful situations which may include the necessity to walk long distances, to eat a limited diet and/or to reside in potentially uncomfortable housing or tents.
• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

V.     Working Conditions, Travel, and Environment

•  The duties of the job require regular job attendance at least five days per week. Must be available to work outside normal office hours or on the weekends as required by contact with the missions, mission security, or other obligations.
• Must be able to travel as required for standard domestic and international business travel as well as to the missions if appropriate. While visiting the field, the employee may be exposed to precarious settings under high security risks and/or very basic living conditions and outside weather conditions, as well is to infectious diseases.

VI.     Gender Equality Commitments & Zero Tolerance to Abuse

• Foster an environment that reinforces values of people of all genders equal access to information.
• Provide a work environment where people of all genders must be evaluated and promoted based on their skills and performance.
• Promote a safe, secure, and respectful environment for all stakeholders, particularly for children, beneficiaries, and members of staff.
• Help to prevent any type of abuse including workplace harassment and sexual abuse and exploitation.
• Respect beneficiaries’ women, men, children (boys and girls) regardless of gender, sex orientation, disability, religion, race, color, ancestry, national origin, age, or marital status.
• Value and respect all cultures.

I. Required Qualifications

• Graduate degree in Food Security/Nutrition/Public Health/Epidemiology with strong survey/surveillance background. A masters' degree from an accredited college or university in a major social or health science field of studies, such as nutrition and public health is preferable.

• The ideal candidate must have experience in conducting key nutrition surveys and assessments (e.g. SMART survey, SQUEAC/SLEAC, SENS, KAP, MIRA, annual needs assessments).

•  We are seeking an individual who is adept at following study and survey protocols, who has good judgment and problem-solving skills and has strong communication skills and documentation habits.

• This person needs to have well-developed interpersonal skills (to be able to develop a good rapport with data collectors and other in-country stakeholders) and have experience with community-based nutrition or health programming both in refugee and host community settings. 

II.   Required Skills & Experience

•  5+ years of professional experience and 3+ years of relevant experience in the field of nutrition survey and assessment, survey coordination, and management.

•  Experience organizing and participating in field-level data collection as part of a research study or program monitoring and evaluation

•  Trained and proven knowledge of nutrition surveys and surveillance systems in Ethiopia.

•  Knowledge and skill of MS Office Suite and other statistical software (Epi Info 7, ENA for SMART, and SPSS) are required, and comfortable working with computers with minimal IT support.

•  Experience with qualitative research design and implementation.

•  Experience with mobile data collection tools (e.g. Kobo) (preferred but not required).

•  Fluency (written and Spoken) in English is required. Amharic and any other local languages are desirable.

•    Possess strong organizational skills and attention to detail.

•  Ability to take initiative and prioritize multiple tasks with minimum supervision.

•  Genuine interest in and commitment to the mission and principles of Action Against Hunger.

•  Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work both independently and as a member of a team