Position: Nutrition Coordinator Programme: PHC And Nutrition Project For IDPs And Host Communities, South Darfur Responsible To: Country Health Director
Location: Nyala, with travel across South Darfur Start Date: ASAP Duration: 12 Months Salary: £28,850 - £29,600 per annum dependant on relevant experience Benefits: Insurance cover, accommodation, R&R, and annual leave entitlement of 24 days per annum rising to 30 days at the completion of 12 months of continuous employment with Merlin.
Only short-listed applicants will be contacted. Due to the urgency of this position, applications will be short listed on a regular basis and we may offer this post before the closing date.
Please note this is an unaccompanied position.
Merlin International Profile Merlin specialises in health, saving lives in times of crisis and helping to rebuild shattered health services. Each year, Merlin helps more than 15 million people in up to 20 countries.
Context and Background
The goal of the North Sudan mission is to address the health and humanitarian needs resulted from widespread displacement of the population caught up in conflict and incapacity of the local health system to meet the needs both in emergency and transitional context.
Over two million people are now thought to have been displaced since the commencement of hostilities in the Darfur region, many of whom continue to be in acute need of emergency assistance. These needs are further exacerbated by seasonal rains & food shortages due to interruptions of agricultural cycles. Developments at the peace process level may initiate population returns in certain areas, while other areas continue to experience displacement. In addition, the capacity of the national health system heavily disrupted due to long term conflict resulted the host community remained underserved/unserved for essential health care.
Merlin has been working in Darfur since late 2004, and currently runs 4 projects across South Darfur. The primary focus of Merlin program is primary health care and community based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM). The special emphasis is given to maternal and child health care. The program strategy includes establishment of static and mobile clinics in the IDP camps and unserved rural areas to ensure access to essential care and building local capacity through a community based outreach component and engage with ministry of health at state and locality in regards to collaboration, coordination and technical support supervision.
The focus for 2010 will be to continue support for improved primary health and nutrition care provision in the selected locations, consolidating program quality, improve the community involvement in the program planning and implementation through a revised community based approach, capacity building of national staffs and strengthen the capacity of local health system by increased engagement with the MOH in regards to support, supervision, training and policy development. In addition, Merlin has an interest to explore the health and nutrition care needs of the population living outside of Darfur.
Main purpose of the role The Nutrition Coordinator is responsible for leading the nutrition team and providing technical support and capacity building of the team for successful planning and implementation of programme activities. The Nutrition coordinator will work closely with Health Coordinator and Operational Coordinator for program development. The Nutrition Coordinator will also work closely with the Senior Health Coordinator/Country Health Director to provide input into proposal development and country level strategies as required.
Overall Objectives (scope) This position demands both the technical knowledge and the work experience, needed to coordinate a nutrition programme. The nutrition coordinator will be responsible for ensuring management of the nutrition programme is executed in line with international humanitarian standards and donor guidelines with the assistance of the Country Health Director. This position demands an ability to manage, organise and support all aspects of the programme; including other agency liaison, training and supervising regional and local staff using techniques and tools available and appropriate to Sudan. .
Responsibilities
Programme • Ensure that the implementation of the Outpatient Therapeutic Programme (OTP) and Supplementary Feeding Programme (SFP) activities conform to internationally accepted standards and country guidelines • Provide support and supervision on nutrition activities to those staff implementing health and nutrition programmes in Darfur. • Provides guidance to staff implementing health and nutrition programmes on the integration of a nutrition component into the overall primary health care programmes and curative services. • To take a lead role in expansion of Merlin’s nutrition programming in Darfur. • In collaboration with partners (MoH, WFP and UNICEF) support field sites with the organization of the logistics of food commodities. • Together with Project medical coordinators and country health director ensure proper communication, coordination and harmonization of tools with the different stakeholders involved in food/nutrition activities • Providing technical leadership and support for conducting nutrition surveys in all project sites, prepare report and generate discussion within the nutriton cluster for any issues which needs to be addresed jointly.
Training and capacity building • To assess the training needs of nutrition staff and develop a training programme to meet these needs. • Conduct training of community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) for project staff and MOH counterparts implementing health and nutrition programmes in Darfur. • Ensure the establishment and strengthening or nutrition monitoring activities and train health staff (Merlin and partners) in case detection and referral mechanisms. • Conduct and train health staff on surveys, causal analysis and other assessments of nutritional status of target groups.
Coordination • To liaise, according to Merlin distribution of responsibilities, with the Ministry of Health and other agencies (UNICEF, WHO, and WFP) to ensure appropriate provision of service and use of resources.
• To keep the Medical Coordinator’s and Country Health Director appraised of all activities and any difficulties that may arise. • To report properly and in a appropriate time all relevant nutritional information required for the comprehensive development of the PHC program Administration • To assist in compiling Project Proposals with the Medical Coordinator. • To assist in compiling the nutrition activities inputs to donor project reports, with assistance from the appropriate staff. • Maintain proper systems of filing and ensure that the field office has all relevant technical material on site.
Security • Full adherence to Merlin Sudan Security procedures. • Full adherence to Merlin Sudan field communication protocols and standard operating procedures, informing fellow team members and the Program Coordinator immediately of any security incident. • To behave at all times in a manner which positively promotes Merlin and its work and actively maintaining Merlin’s acceptance strategy with both civilians and parties to the conflict.
Person Specification Essential Qualifications, experience and competences • B.Sc/M.Sc or equivalent in Nutrition or related degree. • Work experience in CMAM and conducting nutrition surveys • Programme development and management in a Humanitarian and/or emergency situation. • Teaching and/or training experience. • Demonstrated analytical and conceptual skills to plan projects, timetable agreed activities and oversee staff activities. • Good team player, flexible and capable of working with a multinational country team. • Ability and willingness to travel to rural locations and live in sometimes basic conditions. • Appreciation of and sensitivity to local culture. • Ability to function and manage in situations of uncertain security. • Strong communication skills, with excellent written and spoken Eglish • Confident and proficient in the use of MS Office • Experience of establishing strong working relationships with colleagues from different functions and cultures • Experience of a flexible approach to managing and prioritising a high workload and multiple tasks in a fast paced environment with tight deadlines • Experience of proactively identifying and addressing issues • An understanding of and commitment to Merlin’s mission andvalues
Desirable Qualifications, experience and competences
• Previous experience working for an international NGO in developing countries. • Willingness to learn basic Arabic. • Previous experience in Africa, especially in Darfur
How to Apply
To apply for this job, please go to www.merlin.org.uk/jobs and apply using our online recruitment system. In order to apply for a job with Merlin online you will need to complete a short registration process and create an account – the online recruitment system explains how to do this. Once your account has been created, you will be able to save the information that you have entered in your application and re-visit it at any time before you submit it.
If you are unable to apply online please download and complete an application form and email it to: applications@merlin.org.uk.
Please note that we do not accept CVs and any application must therefore be made online or by completing our application form. Unfortunately due to the number of applications we receive, only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.
Data Protection Please note, on submitting your application, you are agreeing to Merlin holding and using the information that you have given for the purposes of recruitment and employment – should an offer be made. Where required by donors funding requirements, some job offers are conditional on our ensuring that potential employees’ names do not appear on counter terrorism lists generated by the United Nations, European Union or the United States. On submitting your application, you are agreeing to Merlin using the information that you have given for checking that your name does not appear on these lists.
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