Health and Nutrition Advisor (HNA)

Ministry of Health would like to invite competent applicants for the following positions. 

Background

The Seqota Declaration is the government of Ethiopia commitment to end stunting among children under two years by 2030. To attain this goal their Excellences at federal and regional level and inter-ministerial steering committee and regional cabinets has provided leadership and performance management in the past years. This has leverage the government commitment and allocation of funding for the Innovation Phase (2016-2020) which focuses on the implementation of priority high impact nutrition sensitive and nutrition specific and infrastructure interventions packages to generate learning and evidence that inform the design and implementation of the Expansion Phase (2021-2025).

The Seqota Declaration provided a high level coordination mechanism that seeks to mainstream and accelerates existing multi sector programs in Ethiopia. The SD goal of ending stunting under two years of children by 2030 is widely known and has been embraced by actors from diverse government sectors, development partners and religious leaders at different levels from federal to kebele level.

The Seqota Declaration is characterized by high level political commitment and ownership in to its day-to-day roll-out. In terms of the sectors participation, the level of engagement of the different sectors has been based on the existence of costed woreda based plan within the sectors and the availability of multi sectoral coordination staff through program Delivery Unit and focal points in the SD implementing sectors. The leadership provided by the inter-ministerial steering committee, regional, Zonal and woreda cabinet, government and development partners’ technical and financial contribution to finance the investment Plan in the past years has been the success factor for the innovation phase.

In August 2021, the government of Ethiopia has launched the Expansion Phase (2021-2025) to reach 240 stunting prevalent woredas. This will enable the regional governments and city administrations across the country to develop and implement the expansion phase through costed woreda based plan which will be financed by federal and regional governments. In this regard, the PDU will play a pivotal role in technical leadership and coordination of the Expansion Phase along the Food and Nutrition strategy implementation

Description of the main components of the project

The project has four components;

Component 1: Climate smart infrastructure development for effective service delivery

Component 2: Livelihood support and promotion of nutritious foods.

Component 3: Strengthening institutional system and capacity building.

Component 4: Coordination and Project Management

The objective of executing agency is to supervise and implement all activities pertaining to the project. In this regard, the AFDB project appraisal mission team has identified the need to recruit a Health and Nutrition advisor and s/he is responsible for the day-to-day planning, implementation and monitoring of the Project activities and overall NNP Implementation Plan as approved by the National Nutrition Coordinating Body (NNCB) Work Plans.

General Purpose of the Position

Health and Nutrition Advisor will be responsible for providing technical assistance to support successful implementation of the SD innovative phase. S/he is also expected to identify and address gaps in the implementation of the SD innovative phase and project focus area, provide technical capacity building to Food and Nutrition policy implementing sectors with the special focus to MOH and other social sectors to design and implement nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions. Moreover, s/he will equip the respective regional level project staffs to provide technical support to the Regional Health Bureaus and other social sectors, conduct on-site visits and ensure documentation, provide support and coordination to the health sector program delivery through the government and partners, work with the MASReP team and PDU team to ensure sustained impact of nutrition interventions on target beneficiaries.

S/he is envisioned to be a senior nutrition or public health expert who understands how public service in Ethiopia works, has ample program management experience with results-oriented mindset, and has expertise in multi-sectoral nutrition coordination and linkages. The role requires regular communication with government stakeholders in the implementation of priority nutrition sensitive and nutrition specific interventions through the Seqota Declaration Innovation Phase. The position requires ability to provide strategic input and communicate effectively to effect positive change in implementation of the SD Innovation Phase in different regions.

Scope of the Assignment

The Health and Nutrition Advisor (HNA) will be a staff member of the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) – federal level which is located within the Ministry of Health and will work collaboratively with Seqota Declaration Program Delivery units both at federal and regional level. Currently, the Ministry of Health (MoH), through the SD Programme Delivery Unit (PDU), is managing the multi-sectoral resources allocated by the federal government and other development partners for the operationalization of the SD program. Federal level sector ministries, including Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Women, children &youth affairs , and Ministry of Labor and social affairs channel the fund received from the MoH to their respective regional bureaus based on the agreed SD program operational plans. The Federal PDU, which is hosted in Ministry of Health, with the delegation provided from the Deputy Prime Minister Office, is responsible for leading and coordinating the development of costed annual work plan for federal sectors and regions and tracking results. The Federal PDU also facilitates the release of fund from MoH to Regional Health Bureaus.

The project will be implemented in the Seqota Declaration Regions of Amhara and Tigray with specific emphasis on selected Woredas.

Main Job Duties and Responsibilities 

The  Health and Nutrition Advisor (HNA) at the Federal  Program Delivery Unit (FPDU) will be required to perform the following:

Provide technical support for federal and Regional Health Bureaus or for another social sectors in planning & implementation of GMP in reducing Childhood Stunting Rates through Bolstering Growth Monitoring and Promotion

• Enhance the development and use of costed woreda-based plans focusing on nutrition-smart investments, and correlating strategic objectives with the desired nutrition outcomes
• Support the ongoing efforts by the government to boost participation in Growth Monitoring and Promotion through continuous training, mentorship, and broad social movement
• Support a structured collation of data obtained through family folders to longitudinally track malnutrition in individual child at kebele and woreda levels
• Support the government utilize available resource (30,000 tablets) to obtain accurate real-time information on inter-ministerial priorities and GMP participation at kebele level
• Establish a robust data value chain through harmonizing UNISE, DHIS2 and simplified KPIs to guide high-quality implementation of the expansion phase
• Rally stakeholders around a novel individual child malnutrition tracking system and tailored response
• Capacity development of critical mass of professionals on data and technology revolutions to ensure sustainability at scale
• Review GMP interventions and  assessment results and provide feedback for the  health sector;

 Advisory and capacity building for effective implementation of SD expansion phase

• Advise federal and regional SD context-specific health and nutrition issues;
• Support federal & regional PDU staffs to effectively engage with federal/regional and zonal health sector and political leadership to identify bottlenecks;
• Identify capacity building needs for regional level, including supporting the health & nutrition workforce (HR capacity) gap assessment and uptake of its recommendations at various levels;
• Plan and implement health and Nutrition capacity building interventions that address the identified needs;
• Work closely with multi-sectoral food and Nutrition platforms, from national to regional levels, to harmonize SD implementation with ongoing nutrition programs;
• Support uptake of effective and innovate health interventions in SD implementation woredas, including approaches and materials from key partners

Conduct on-site support, review performance monitoring, document promising practices and disseminate lessons for adoption

• Conduct multi-sectoral supportive supervision at regions and woredas;
• Together with SD’s M&E team, identify potential bottlenecks to implementing multi-sectoral nutrition monitoring and reporting in the health sector and work towards solutions;
• Together with SD’s M&E team, lead on the design, execution and validation of an impact evaluation (including baseline and end line study);
• Lead on the development and execution of analytical studies related to the project implementation, and document good practices and lessons learned;
• Represent project Federal level in stakeholders’ food and nutrition fora, meetings and conferences, and progress and challenges.

Reporting

• Submit regular reports to the  Senior program Manager as per Government of Ethiopia standards;
• Have weekly briefing with the MEL team and monthly briefing meeting with the FPDU/RPDU team;
• Participate in planning and review meetings;
• Submit field trip reports/progress updates to senior program Manager and MEL Adviser.

Deliverables 

   The main deliverable from this exercise will be reports that track physical implementation of SD expansion phase programs and GMP against activity performance and budget utilization of the program under the Seqota Declaration Federal Program Delivery Unit and appropriate documentation of key learning from program implementation.

Competencies and Critical Success Factors

• Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills
• Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities
• Understanding of the political dynamics in government, civil society and donor community in Ethiopia – at federal and regional levels; and
• Knowledge of socio-economic trends in Ethiopia
• Focuses on impact and results, and responds positively to critical feedback; and
• Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability.

Performance Evaluation

The Health and Nutrition program Advisor will develop and agree an annual work plan with the Senior Program Manager and other relevant departments or units at the beginning of the year. And the work of the Health and Nutrition program Advisor will be reviewed by the Senior Program Manager.

Reporting

• The Health and Nutrition program Advisor will report directly to the Senior Program Manager in the delivery unit. In addition, s/he will execute other duties assigned by the Senior Program Manager in the delivery unit
• The Health and Nutrition program Advisor daily administrative supervisor shall be the Senior Program Manager.

Reports to: Seqota Declaration FPDU, Senior Program manager

Duty station: Seqota Declaration Federal Programme Delivery Unit (FPDU)

Required no: 3 (Three)

Type & Duration of Position: The assignment will be for a period of 12 months’ contract with possibility of extension subject to performance up to the project period.

Academic Background, work Experience and skills

• Minimum of Master’s Degree in General Public Health, Nutrition, Applied Human Nutrition.
• a minimum of 10 years of relevant experience; with a minimum of 5 years experience in nutrition or multi-sectoral projects;
• Well experienced in National Nutrition Program planning and implementation and Coordination.
• Experience working on nutrition-specific interventions through the health sector, and experience working on nutrition;
• Experience of working with the government especially with MoH is highly recommended;
• Very good understanding of the federal level roles of National Nutrition Program II and the Seqota Declaration Innovation Phase Plan and the 15 years road map is preferred;
• Experience in multi-year nutrition program and strategy design relevant to the health sector, nutrition leadership and multi-sectoral coordination is preferred;
• Experience in gender integration and community consultation will be an important asset;
• Capacity to work with the health sector team/social sectors team at Federal and regional level and influence to plan and budget nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions;
•  Experience in community Lab planning and implementation and Coordination.
• Experience working effectively with NGO and other partners;
• Good understanding on multi-sectoral nutrition;
• An understanding and commitment to Seqota Declaration Goal and Strategic Objectives and initiatives,
• Strong results orientation, proven ability to manage a complex and demanding workload;
• Excellent spoken and written English and Amharic;
• Good computer skills (particularly Excel, Word) and internet skills
• Demonstrated ability to handle detail-oriented tasks and be organized.
• Flexible and ability to work under pressure.