Chief Nutrition at the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) - For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Chief Nutrition, P 5

Job Number: 502283
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Work Type: Fixed Term Staff

Purpose of the Position

• The Chief, Nutrition Section reports to the Representative or Deputy Representative for general guidance and direction.
• The Chief is responsible for managing and leading all stages of nutrition programs/projects from strategic planning and formulation to delivery of results, and for leading and managing the Nutrition Team including establishing plans of action to achieve concrete and sustainable results in maternal, infant and child nutrition  according to plans, allocation, results based-management approaches and methodology (RBM) and UNICEF's Strategic Plans, standards of performance and accountability framework.

Key Expected Results
Managerial leadership:

• Establish the Section's annual work plan with the Nutrition team; set priorities/targets and performance measurement. Monitor work progress and ensure results are achieved according to schedule and performance standards.
•  Establish clear individual performance objectives, goals and timelines; and provide timely guidance to enable the team to perform their duties responsibly and efficiently. Plan and ensure timely performance management and assessment of the Team.
• Supervise team members by providing them with clear objectives and goals, direction and guidance to enable them to perform their duties responsibly, effectively and efficiently.

Program development and planning:

• Lead/support the planning and conduct/update of situation analysis to ensure timely comprehensive and current data on maternal and child nutrition are available to guide policy and development, design and management of nutrition programs and projects.
• Keep abreast of national/regional/global development trends/priorities to determine strategies and priorities to achieve sustainable, effective and equitable coverage of maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition program results.
• Lead, coordinate and supervise the development of nutrition programs/projects (as a component of the CO and/or UNDAF programs) and establish plans of action, program goals and results, using results-based planning methodology and terminology (RBM).
• Oversee the timely preparation of the nutrition program recommendation and related documentation for inclusion in the Country Office Program recommendation ensuring alignment with the overall UNICEF's Strategic (Nutrition) Plans, regional strategies and national priorities, plans and competencies.
• Consult and collaborate with internal and external colleagues/partners to provide technical guidance and support on program planning, management and implementation and to ensure synergy, integration, coherence, and harmonization of programs/projects with UNICEF Strategic Plans and priorities, donors' development strategies/policies, country level national priorities/competencies and UN System development interventions/initiatives

Program management, monitoring and quality control of results:

• Coordinate, plan and/or collaborate with monitoring and evaluation initiatives to establish benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators, to assess/strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results in nutrition programs.
• Participate in major monitoring and evaluation exercises, program reviews and annual sector reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to determine required action/interventions to achieve results.
• Assess monitoring and evaluation reports to identify gaps, strengths/weaknesses in program and management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
• Monitor programs/projects to assess progress, identify bottlenecks and potential problems and take timely decisions to resolve issues and/or refer to relevant officials for timely resolution.
• Plan, approve, monitor and control the use of program resources (financial, human, administrative and other assets) certifying/verifying compliance with organizational rules, regulations and procedures, donor commitments and standards of accountability and integrity. Ensure timely reporting and liquidation of resources.
• Submit program/project reports to donors and other partners to keep them informed on program progress and critical issues.
• Advisory services and technical support
• Advise key government officials, NGO partners, UN system partners and other country office partners on policies, strategies and best practices and approaches on nutrition and related issues to support program development planning, management, implementation and delivery of results.
• participate in strategic discussions to influence policy discussions and agenda setting to promote nutrition intervention especially in the areas of gender, emergency preparedness and maternal, infant and child nutrition.
• Prepare policy papers, briefs and other strategic program materials for management use, information and/or consideration.
• Participate in emergency preparedness initiatives program development and contingency planning and/or to respond to emergencies in country or where designated.

Advocacy, networking and partnership building:

• Build and strengthen strategic partnerships with nutrition sector government counterparts, national stakeholders and global partners/allies/donors/academia through active networking, advocacy and effective communication of UNICEF mission, goals and programs and resource mobilizations needs.
• Develop communication strategies and implementation plans and activities for maximum communication impact and outreach to promote awareness, establish partnership/alliances and support fund raising for UNICEF and Country Office nutrition programs.
• Participate and/or represent the UNICEF in inter-agency (UNCT) discussions and planning on nutrition and related issues to ensure organizational position, interests and priorities are fully considered and integrated in the UNDAF process in development planning and agenda setting. Collaborate with inter-agency partners/colleagues UNDAF planning and preparation of nutrition programs/projects.

Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building:

• Promote critical thinking and innovative approaches and good practices for sustainable nutrition programs/projects initiatives through advocacy and technical advisory services.
• Keep abreast, research, benchmark and implement best and cutting edge practices in the nutrition management and information systems. Institutionalize and disseminate best practices and knowledge learned.
• Lead and/or develop policies and procedure and introduce innovation and best practices to ensure optimum efficiency and efficacy of sustainable programs and projects.
• Lead/plan/implement capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies of clients/stakeholders to promote sustainable results on nutrition related programs/projects.

Qualifications of Successful Candidate
Education:

• An advanced university Degree or higher in Nutrition, Public Health, Nutritional Epidemiology, Global/International Health and Nutrition, Health/Nutrition Research, Policy and/or Management, Health Sciences, or other health related science field is required.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of ten years of professional experience in nutrition, public health, related research or planning and management in relevant areas of maternal, infant and child nutrition, at the international level some of which preferably in a developing country is required.
• Relevant experience in health/nutrition program/project development and management in any UN system agency or organization is an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or a local language is an asset

Competencies of Successful Candidate
Core Values:

• Commitment
• Diversity and inclusion
• Integrity

Core Competencies:

• Communication (III)
• Working with people (III)
• Drive for results (III)

Functional Competencies:

• Leading and supervising (III)
• Formulating strategies/concepts (III)
• Analyzing (III)
• Relating and networking (III)
• Deciding and initiating action (III)
• Persuading and influencing (II)

Application Closing Date
20th January, 2017.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Note: The successful candidate for this emergency recruitment MUST be available to commence work within 31 days of receiving an offer.