Health and Nutrition Officer at Kenya Red Cross Society

JOB SUMMARY

The role of this position is to provide and coordinate technical and operational support to the Health and Nutrition programming in emergency and developmental projects/initiatives. The Post holder will oversee the implementation of the project initiatives in close collaboration with Regional and county teams in Tana River County

SCOPE OF THE ROLE:

• Project Management
• Resource Mobilization
• Coordination
• Stakeholder management
• Capacity strengthening
• Monitoring & Evaluation 

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• To support the overall implementation of the project, including reporting, financial management and monitoring in the various project sites.
• Support effective integration with county health and development plans, systems and service delivery structures;
• Ensure that project volunteers and staff at field level have necessary tools for implementation of the planned community work including relevant adapted IEC materials.
• Maintain budget and track expenditures/transactions
• Coordinate with Regional technical officers and other project officers for Tana River, Mandera, Wajir, Turkana, Marsabit and Garissa counties to ensure implementation of emergency interventions and the general appeal are geared towards realizing intended health and nutritional outcomes as well as contributing to realization of overall project goals.
• Participate in Health and Nutrition Technical working groups and other health forums as assigned to articulate issues related to humanitarian relief services.
• Coordinate the consolidation of data generated on integrated health and nutrition outreaches as well as other nutrition assessments on a monthly basis to enhance monitoring of the health and nutrition situation and guiding response actions.
• Ensure all the affected counties report on monitoring compliance to the Breast Milk Substitutes Control Act and any violations identified with the relevant sector tools.
• Support the dissemination of nutrition specific sensitization packages to existing Red Cross Action Teams at Branch and Regional level to enhance their response capacity during emergencies
• Coordinate with supply chain function to ensure stockpiling is carried out through prepositioning of emergency items at various warehouses for timely distribution to the affected communities
• Prepare weekly updates and periodic progress reports showing achievements against planned targets as well as providing justification for performance variances and areas of improvement
• Ensure project nutrition actions meet required standards and thresholds for performance and quality.
• Supervisory Responsibilities:
• Participate in the Health Nutrition and Social Services management team forums providing technical support and guidance to the organization in areas of Public health and livelihoods (Community Health and Emergency Health), Nutrition, Protection, Gender mainstreaming, Disability mainstreaming/Disability inclusive development, in line with national  and international standards.

DESIRED COMPETENCIES
Technical:

• Knowledge of Nutrition and Dietetics, public health, humanitarian relief issues, trends and goals aimed at preventing and alleviating human suffering
• Strong communication and presentation skills in both English and Kiswahili, including ability to develop reports and prepare relevant publications
• Strong interpersonal and cross-cultural skills including the ability to build collaborative relationships with sensitivity to cultural, ethnic and political issues
• Demonstrated technical expertise in project planning and budgeting as well as programme monitoring and evaluation 
• Demonstrated competence in resource mobilization including implementation of effective fundraising strategies to increase resource through grant proposals 
• Ability to maintain high standards of personal integrity; establishing productive relationships; treating individuals with fairness and respect 
• Demonstrated proficiency in computer applications such as word processing, spreadsheets, data-base, email and utilization of the internet
• Ability to monitor project against milestones, double-checks the accuracy of information to discover weakness and strive for high quality performance.
• Ability to coordinate nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive programing for resilience building.
• Ability to establish and foster Partnerships to advance the project goal and advocate for gender-sensitive programming.
• A good understanding of community work, development programming and effective project management.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor of Science degree in Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics, or  equivalent qualifications
• In-depth experience and understanding of Nutrition and nutrition sensitive programming
• At least two (2) years field experience, preferably 2 years’ experience with an NGO and or MoH implementing nutrition or public health programmes .
• Strong background in training and commitment to capacity building.
• Excellent planning and organizational skills.
• Project management skills including PMER
• Coordination and networking
• Excellent written and spoken English.
• Strong computer skills, ability to work both as an individual and as a team leader and under stress in what can be a harsh environment.