Senior Nutrition Technical Lead - USAID/BHA Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) in Somalia at RTI International

Project Description 

The goal of the five-year USAID/BHA-funded Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA) in Somalia is to improve and sustain the food and nutrition security of vulnerable populations through multi-year resilience food and nutrition security activities. This Activity is a 5-year program worth approximately $100 million and will work at the individual, household, community, and institutional levels to address the underlying causes of food insecurity and malnutrition and strengthen transformative opportunities.  

Position Description 

RTI is seeking a Senior Nutrition Technical Lead for an anticipated RFSA in Somalia. The Sr. Nutrition Technical Lead will work closely and collaboratively as a member of the senior project team and will be primarily responsible for ensuring that strategies to improve the nutritional status of mothers and children are technically sound, up to date, of proven efficiency, and able to be implemented in local settings. The Nutrition Technical Lead will report to the Deputy Chief of Party and will provide technical leadership and have responsibility for all activities associated with improving the nutritional behaviors and outcomes of target women of reproductive age, adolescents, and children under 5. 

This position will be based in Mogadishu, Somalia or Nairobi, Kenya, or a combination of both locations.  

This position is contingent upon award and funding. 
Responsibilities

• Provide Technical Leadership in designing and implementing the Nutrition component of the RFSA. 
• Lead development of the project nutrition strategy and ensure nutrition analysis recommendations are integrated into project plans. 
• Lead and facilitate learning processes which include studies during the R&I period, testing new program components, and ongoing learning to refine nutrition strategy.  
• Incorporate key learning results in nutrition program refinement both during the R&I period and as a part of the annual planning/budgeting process.   
• Coordinate with project staff, including managers and technical specialists, to ensure the implementation of the nutrition strategy into project activities. 
• Lead the rapid start-up and implementation of the integrated nutrition activities in collaboration with partners and government stakeholders. 
• Train and facilitate training for nutrition program staff at all levels.  
• Orient and facilitate training and capacity building for Ministry of Health counterparts (as needed) at different administrative levels.  
• Support Regional nutrition staff to consistently provide high quality technical support and follow-up to the officers at the zonal level.  
• Conduct periodic review and/or targeted training events based on assessed needs. 
• Ensure strong coordination and nutrition information sharing between the RFSA partners through various processes and platforms (e.g. Quarterly Technical Working Group meeting). 
• Participate in coordination and/or joint-planning meetings with other USG-funded projects and with other implementers working in the Nutrition sector in the CDCS priority area.  
• Establish a strong collaboration and coordination functions with key government offices and institutions at national, regional, zonal and village levels.  
• Develop and employ quality assurance monitoring processes and tools (e.g. QIVC) to identify areas of underperformance or capacity gaps, and target support or specific methods for improving staff understanding or capacity. 
• Use a systems thinking approach to assess overall team functioning and inter-sectoral linkages, and identify areas for improved efficiency in coordination, communication, implementation, etc. 
• Together with the support of the MEL team, identify and track key performance indicators and raise areas of underperformance to the appropriate manager or team, and recognize and highlight high performance as a part of routine staff or team recognition events.  
• Represent the RFSA program in nutrition learning or research platforms to exchange ideas and learning from the RFSA research and experience. 
• Document and share key nutrition learning with other RFSAs, Somalia-based researchers and other stakeholders. 
• Lead the review, synthesis, and write-up of nutrition activity results for quarterly and annual reports. 

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree and 12 years of experience, Master's degree and 10 years of experience, PhD and 6 years of experience, or equivalent combination of education and experience in Public Health, Nutrition, or a related discipline. 
• A minimum of 8 years of experience in the prevention of malnutrition among children, adolescents, and young women.  
• Previous experience leading the nutrition component on a large, complex donor-funded program, preferably on Resilience Food Security Activity (RFSA)s, Development Food Security Activity (DFSA)s, Development Food Assistance Programs (DFAP)s, Multi Year Assistance Programs (MYAP)s and/or Development Assistance Programs (DAP)s. 
• Previous experience working in fragile or post-conflict states. Somalia experience strongly preferred with knowledge and familiarity with the Somali context, particularly in an urban context and/or with migrant communities. 
• Knowledge on community-based health and nutrition interventions, including dialogue-based counseling techniques to address nutrition during the 1,000-day window, and positive deviance approach to improve complementary feeding is preferred. 
• Demonstrated experience in conducting research on nutrition, gathering data on indicators, and monitoring and evaluating activities related to nutrition activities.  
• Proven track record in providing technical leadership/support to decentralized governmental structures and demonstrated expertise in coordinating with Governments, other partners working in the geographic zone, and Mission partners. 
• Demonstrated experience in developing and managing stakeholders in the private sector is preferred.  
• Strong management skills and the ability to manage projects and teams with remote offices or team members. 
• Ability to work and travel in Somalia as needed. 
• Excellent oral and written English language communication skills required; Conversational Somali language skills are strongly preferred.