Nutrition Advisor at Premiere Urgence Internationale (PUI)

Premiere Urgence Internationale (PUI) is a non-governmental, non-profit, non-political and non-religious international aid organization. Our teams are committed to supporting civilians’ victims of marginalization and exclusion, or hit by natural disasters, wars and economic collapses, by answering their fundamental needs. Our aim is to provide emergency relief to uprooted people in order to help them recover their dignity and regain self-sufficiency.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Nutrition Advisor

Location: Maiduguri, Borno

General Context
With the biggest population in Africa, (between 178.000.000 and 200.000.000 habitants), Nigeria is ranked as the first economy in Africa mainly thanks to oil and petroleum products as well as mineral resources (gold, iron, diamonds, copper etc…). Despite a strong economy, Nigeria suffers from huge socio-economic inequalities, and from high rates of corruption, at every level. Within this volatile environment, the insurgency in the North-East of the country and the linked widespread violence triggered a large scale crisis.

Indeed, over 2.5 million people are forcibly displaced in the Lake Chad Basin region due to the Boko Haram insurgency, and new displacement continues. Resorting to terror, widespread sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), forced recruitment and suicide bombings, Boko Haram attacks on civilians persist. Ongoing threats from Boko Haram in all affected countries as well as the absence of basic services have created acute humanitarian and protection risks for those impacted by the crisis, including refugees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and local communities. Despite considerable advances in counter-insurgency operations, continued insecurity led to new large-scale and secondary displacements towards Cameroon and inside Niger.

The end of 2016 and first months of 2017 have seen an increase in attacks in north-eastern Nigeria, while the security situation in Chad’s Lake region, Cameroonian border areas and Niger’s Diffa region remains volatile and unpredictable. In 2016, a great number of civilians were released from Boko Haram captivity in north-eastern Nigeria with the liberation of Local Government Areas (LGAs) where some 800,000 persons had been trapped over past years. Assessments conducted in newly recovered areas reveal severe humanitarian and protection conditions. Still, many people remain inaccessible to humanitarian actors due to insecurity, particularly in Nigeria’s Borno State and border areas of Cameroon and Niger.
Humanitarian consequences:

The violence in the Lake Chad Region has uprooted around 2.3 million civilians within their own countries, including over 1.8 million IDPs in Nigeria alone. In addition, some 200,000 Nigerian refugees have fled to neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

As of March 2017, close to 1,200,000 refugee returnees have been registered in Nigeria, sometimes under conditions that have not been voluntary, safe and dignified. Many of these return movements have resulted in secondary displacements as areas of origin remain insecure and inaccessible. Between 2015 and mid-2017, the number of Nigerian returnees registered by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) reached nearly 360,000 individuals. They represent individuals both registered in official refugee camps and others who fled the insurgency but were never registered in the countries of asylum. The number of registered returnees between January and May this year stood at 19,257 individuals.

The crisis has adversely affected the most vulnerable civilian populations, particularly women and children, older persons and those with disabilities or serious medical conditions. Around 60 per cent of those displaced are children and the number of female and child-headed households is on the rise because male heads of households have either disappeared, been killed or fear to return to join their families. Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is widespread, and many people have suffered the trauma of violent experiences.

The Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) 2017 estimated some 14 million people in need of humanitarian assistance in Nigeria across the six states of the north east. In determining the response for 2017, humanitarian partners agreed to focus on states assessed as the most affected by the violent conflict, infrastructure destruction, mass displacement, ongoing insecurity and ensuing factors. The most critical areas requiring humanitarian assistance are located in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states where 8.5 million people are in need of urgent life-saving assistance.

Our Action in the Field

• PUI is present in Nigeria since April 2016. The NGO is targeting the needs of crisis affected populations in Borno State through a gradually implemented comprehensive integrated response.
• PUI started its intervention with a focus on urgent needs pertaining to access to food commodities for IDPs and host communities (through a cash-based approach) and then up-scaled its response with the inclusion of Primary Health Care and Nutrition activities. This was focused on populations living in Maiduguri (capital city of Borno state).
• Also, as access and logistics were and remain a main constraint for the humanitarian community, PUI launched an inter-agency logistics platform in Maiduguri managing storage and cargo and servicing around 30 different humanitarian organizations.
• Finally, and as resilience of affected communities remains a priority for the organization, a pilot livelihood recovery project has been launched in order to decrease reliance on direct assistance and foster aid sustainability.

The main programmatic objectives of the mission for 2018 are:

• Continue and further develop the response to urgent needs of IDPs and Host Communities living in Maiduguri City through Food Security, Health and Nutrition activities.
• Further develop the integrated response in Maiduguri City with the widening of the sectoral scope of PUI intervention by adding Protection, WASH… to the response portfolio (either directly or through coordinated approach with external actors)
• Continue and further develop the logistics support to the humanitarian community from Maiduguri City Warehouse
• Develop gradual integrated responses in areas with significant gaps in needs coverage within Borno State LGA outside Maiduguri with a priority given to Health, Nutrition and Food Security activities.

Job Description

• As part of our activities in Nigeria, we are looking for a Nutrition Advisor in Maiduguri.
• The Nutrition Advisor provides technical support to PUI activities in Nigeria, in order to strengthen capacity and quality of Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) especially Out Patient Therapeutic Program (OTP) activities in our areas of intervention.
• Programs: He/She ensures that CMAM activities are in line with international and national recommendations. He/She provides technical support for the implementation of CMAM activities in the PHC and MHT in collaboration with the program managers.
• Human Resources: He/She provides capacity building and technical support on CMAM especially OTP to health staff at the PHC and MHT in collaboration with the program managers.
• Logistics and Administration: He/She ensures compliance of activities falling under his/her responsibility with logistical and administrative procedures.
• Representation: He/She represents the association before partners, authorities and local actors involved in Nutrition when required.
• Safety: He/She contributes to efforts aimed at ensuring compliance with safety rules at the site, and transmits all information relating to safety concerns to his/her immediate supervisor.
• Strategy: He/She contributes to the development of new interventions on the basis of identified needs.

Training and Experiences
Training:

• Registered Nurse
• Residency in Medicine

Professional Experience:

• International
• Technical

Knowledge and Skills:

• Good writing skills
• Knowledge of Project Management
• Knowledge on CMAM and OTP guidelines

Software:

• Pack Office

Required Personal Characteristics:

• Ability to work independently while keeping team spirit oriented behaviour
• Ability to withstand pressure
• Open-minded & diplomatic skills
• Analytical & Strategic skills
• Capacity of organization and management of priorities
• Proactive and trouble-shooting skills
• Ability to work and manage issues professionally and with maturity
• Ability to integrate the local environment into operations, in its political, economic and historical dimensions

Languages:

• English is Mandatory

Proposed Terms:

• EMPLOYED with a Fixed-Term Contract – 6 months
• Starting Date : January 15th 2018
• Monthly gross income: from 1815 up to 2145 Euros depending on the experience in International Solidarity + 50 Euros per semester seniority with PUI
• Cost covered: Round-trip transportation to and from home / mission, visas, vaccines
• Insurance including medical coverage and complementary healthcare, 24/24 assistance and repatriation
• Housing in collective accommodation
• Daily living Expenses (« Per diem »)
• Break Policy: 5 working days at 3 and 9 months + break allowance
• Paid Leaves Policy: 5 weeks of paid leaves per year + return ticket every 6 months

Application Closing Date
15th March, 2018.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their Application (Resume and Cover letter) to Emmanuelle Gracia, Human Resources Officer for Expatriates via: [email protected] with the following subject : “NutAdv-NGA”