Nutrition in Emergency Specialist - WFP

BACKGROUND:

In 2022 the world faced a historic food and nutrition crisis. Continuing in 2024 an estimated 29 million children will suffer from wasting in 15 of the worstaffected countries In1 the same countries 156 million 2 people are estimated to face crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity 3 which is a 83 per cent increase from 2019 (before the global pandemic). The number of people living in emergency 4 and catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity 5 also saw a significant increase and represents a deterioration of the situation since 2019.

In these humanitarian contexts continued efforts for the early detection of children with wasting and their management remain critical; likewise essential are actions to reduce the incidence of children whose nutrition situation may deteriorate into wasting.

As a United Nations (UN) agency reaching an estimated 150 million nutritionally vulnerable and foodinsecure people each year WFP plays a critical role in multistakeholder efforts to address malnutrition. In 2023 over 27 million children under the age of 5 and pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls were assisted through WFP supported nutritionspecific programmes that aim to prevent undernutrition and manage moderate wasting across 52 countries.

The 2023 WHO Guideline on the Prevention and Management of Wasting and Nutritional Oedema together with the Global Action Plan on Child Wasting (GAP) provide an opportunity to foster new program approaches to ensure that as many children as possible benefit from coordinated efforts to prevent and address wasting. WFP with its partner UNICEF has developed a joint strategic approach to accelerate programmatic shifts in humanitarian and fragile contexts based on this new WHO Guideline. WFP and UNICEF will work together to provide a combined package of interventions to address child wasting. The joint approach emphasizes the importance of addressing maternal nutrition elevates attention given to preventive actions as part of every program response and to increasing convergence and coverage to reach those populations most vulnerable and hardest to reach.

This approach will be implemented through a phased threeyear transition plan () in 15 priority countries (Haiti Burkina Faso Chad Mali Niger Nigeria Ethiopia Kenya Somalia South Sudan Democratic Republic of Congo Madagascar Afghanistan Yemen); supporting governments and partners incorporate evidencebased programmatic shifts in alignment with the WHO Guideline.

WFP in these countries will implement shifts in programs to address child wasting and maternal malnutrition in collaboration with its key collaborators. The global actions include evidence generation through strong monitoring and evaluation or operations research nutrition vulnerability analysis documentation and sharing of success and lessons learnt from new program approaches joint advocacy and supply chain optimisation of specialised nutritious foods.

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The overall purpose of the assignment is to strengthen integration of nutrition into WFPs emergency preparedness and response mechanisms and support countries to implement these; this will facilitate early and effective actions to prevent increases in child wasting in crises affected countries especially in the 15 priority countries under the joint transition plan.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategic and operational support to the programmatic shift in 15 countries

• Provide strategic technical and operational support to facilitate implementation of the programmatic shifts in the countries part of the transition plan. Specifically focus on technical operational aspects in countries.
• When onsite assistance and guidance to country teams is required support in addressing specific challenges and in finding solutions that country teams can build upon. Offer handson support to ensure effective transition to the new programme modalities.
• Support establishment and implementation of joint workplans at country level for the transition plan on child wasting with particular attention to identifying gaps in early warning systems and preparedness.
• Develop strategies to address these gaps and enhance the effectiveness of collaborative efforts.
• Ensure seamless communication and collaboration between the Nutrition in Crisis Teams members and relevant stakeholders from the global team to country level where relevant.
• When providing support to a country actively identify and communicate learning in relation to programmatic implementation that can be elevated and used for other countries or region identify operations research opportunities as relevant.
• Facilitate informed discussions and strategic adjustments based on the identified crosscutting issues.

Strengthen the capacity of country offices to integrate nutrition in crisis preparedness and response into their operation.

• Critically review and identify gaps and opportunities to strengthen integration of nutrition into WFPs corporate early warning and preparedness processes and systems; suggest and develop strategies to address the gaps and build on.
• Participate in WFPs preparedness cell to advance the integration of nutrition in priority countries emergency preparedness actions involving other teams and units in the Nutrition and Food Quality Service.
• Build and maintain a strong collaboration with key actors involved in the preparedness cell and enhance understanding and buyin for nutrition integration.
• Reinforce collaboration to advance the creation of an anticipatory action framework centred around safeguarding nutrition and dietary needs leveraging the World Food Programmes unique strengths and expertise.
• Identify fundamental lessons learned from WFPs crisis responses including from the deployment of the Nutrition in Crisis Team and guide the documentation integration into guidance and tools dissemination and take up.

Deliverables

• Insights and advancements on programmatic shift are consistently exchanged across global regional and national levels and this reciprocal flow is subject to critical evaluation and necessary adjustments.
• Operational and technical support effectively provided to Countries Offices to advance the joint transition plan on child wasting.
• Minimum preparedness measures for nutrition are defined and integrated into the corporate Minimum Preparedness Actions.
• Opportunities to enhance capacity on integration of nutrition into emergency preparedness and response are identified and delivered on.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education: Masters in nutrition science Public Health or related field

Experience: Minimum of 8 years of work experience in international nutrition with a minimum of 5 years work in humanitarian contexts

Must have operational experience supporting/managing nutrition emergency responses in different contexts including familiarity with IMAM/CMAM simplified approaches prevention programming and extensive experience in IYCFE programming.

Work experience with the U.N preferably with WFP highly desired; field experience with NGOs is an asset.

Demonstrated ability to strategically engage with Government and partners to develop and implement multisectoral programmes.

Knowledge Knowledge of global nutrition and global humanitarian architecture including the

• Skills: cluster approach and related roles and responsibilities for the nutrition sector. Conceptual and operational knowledge of nutrition in emergencies. Thorough understanding of WFPs mandate and roles.

Knowledge and experience with gender concepts. Strong assessment and analytical skills.

Knowledge of humanitarian funding mechanisms (CERF flash appeals countrybased pooled funds etc).

Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to work effectively in multicultural settings and teams.

Ability to perform duties under pressure with a minimum level of supervision and to cope with highly demanding living/working environment.

Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Languages: Fluency in English is required fluency in French is highly desirable. Working knowledge of another UN language.

1 Afghanistan Burkina Faso Democratic Republic of the Congo Chad Haiti Ethiopia Kenya Madagascar Mali the Niger Nigeria Somalia South Sudan the Sudan and Yemen.

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