Nutrition in Crisis specialist – WFP Rapid Response Team

BACKGROUND:

The World Food programme (WFP) is the worlds largest humanitarian agency implementing programs to fight hunger and is part of the global community working to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 which includes ending malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. Emergency preparedness and response is a core component of WFPs work.

Hunger and malnutrition are widespread among crisis-affected populations disproportionately impacting women and children. Forty-five percent of deaths in children under-five are associated with undernutrition related to both acute and chronic undernutrition. Poor nutrition also has longer term consequences related to child growth and development these latter consequences are largely irreversible. WFPs emergency nutrition programming is an integral part of any humanitarian crisis response and globally.

In particular WFP facilitates access to appropriate nutritious foods for children aged 6-59 months and pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls (PBWG) in order to prevent or treat malnutrition and thus makes a crucial contribution to saving lives and strengthening physical resilience to shocks in emergency-affected communities. Given the multiple causes of malnutrition WFP also advocates for a comprehensive response to address the underlying and immediate causes of malnutrition to be achieved in partnership with other key sectors (i.e. optimal IYCF practices good health services proper hygiene and sanitation and household food security). WFP works with governments UN partners (mostly UNICEF and UNHCR) and other international and national organizations to ensure a well-coordinated nutrition response.

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The Nutrition and Food Quality Service at WFP Global Headquarter is seeking a full-time consultant to join a Rapid Response Team (RRT) in order to support timely appropriate and well-coordinated nutrition responses in emergencies. Members of the RRT may be called to respond to sudden-onset or slow-onset crises to support scale-up scale-down and/or quality improvements and coordination in existing emergency nutrition programs. The RRT role intends to fill short-term capacity gaps until medium- to long-term solutions are found by Country Office. Each assignment is not expected to exceed three months on average. RRT members will be deployable within 72 hours after VISA is obtained and will be on deployment an estimated 70-80% of their time. When not deployed the RRT members will contribute to other workplan priorities of PPGNs Nutrition in Crisis team.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

Following responsibilities are indicative and will be aligned with priorities determined by the concerned WFP country office and outlined in a specific TOR for each deployment. During country deployment the tasks will be carried out in close collaboration with the different functional teams of the country office (such as program supply chain reporting etc.). During non-deployment tasks will be coordinated with members of the Nutrition in Crisis team from Program and Policy Support Unit of WFPs Nutrition and Food Quality Service.

Provide immediate technical and programmatic support to WFPs nutrition response in emergencies in crisis affected countries. Depending on programme needs general responsibilities include: Coordinate with WFP country office and Global HQ to plan and support the start-up/scale-up of emergency nutrition responses Provide support to strengthen the capacity of WFP staff and key partners involved in the nutrition response to ensure quality program implementation including facilitating the development or adaptation of training and guidance materials as needed Strategically engage with the countrys Nutrition Cluster or equivalent coordination mechanism working closely with government UNICEF UNHCR NGOs and other partners to develop strategies and implement coordinated/multi-sectoral responses Liaise with Food Security Cluster to ensure that assessments and nutrition and food security responses are aligned and well-coordinated and support collaboration with Health and WASH clusters Support to and advocate for nutrition assessments in collaboration with government partners UN agencies NGOs and other nutrition actors and in coordination with WFPs Vulnerability analysis and mapping (VAM) team. Identify joint assessment opportunities when applicable Provide inputs to funding proposals to support nutrition interventions (CERF flash appeals etc.) Support nutrition program design implementation and M&E (including operational planning procurement of supplies development of a communication strategy etc.) In close collaboration with the reports officer manage initial reporting on nutrition-related operations and programmatic developments both internally within WFP and externally with cooperating partners Liaise with other functional areas within WFP (within program with supply chain finance/admin logistics cluster etc.) to support a coordinated and timely response Facilitate recruitment of additional nutrition surge capacity

Provide ongoing technical support to WFPs NIC team when not deployed Support the NIC team to monitor acute situations that may progress to emergency status Document and analyze emergency responses including lessons learned Provide input to or develop relevant tools or guidance materials to support improved emergency nutrition program implementation which will feed into WFPs Nutrition Emergency Toolkit Support relevant trainings on NIC Perform any other duty in support of the NIC team as required

Deliverables

• The surge consultant will prepare a hand over/ end of mission report for the country office deployed to upon departure that outlines recommendations and follow up actions
• The consultant will summarize observations and learnings from his/her deployment that can be of interest both to the country office of deployment and to others in the organizations.
• The surge consultant will develop tools or short guidance that he / she identified as a gap during deployment

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 IYCF-E 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 multi-sectoral programmes

Knowledge & Skills:

Knowledge of global nutrition and global humanitarian architecture including the 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 country-based 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

The consultants are expected to attend security trainings required for hard ship duty stations. The consultants are required to deploy within 72 hours upon receipt of VISA. They will receive a thorough briefing before the first deployment

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