Technical Advisor II-Nutrition & Health, Southern Africa Reg…

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance and peacebuilding.

Job Summary:

You will provide technical advice, guidance, and support to a wide range of program design and implementation issues with a focus on larger projects in the area of Nutrition/Health in line with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) program quality principles and standards, donor guidelines, and industry best practices to regional and Country Program (CP) teams to advance the delivery of high-quality programming to the poor and vulnerable. Your technical knowledge, advice and guidance will contribute to determining how effective, adaptive and innovative CRS’ Nutrition/Health programming is across the globe.

The Nutrition/Health TAII will provide technical assistance in the areas of Nutrition and Health with a particular focus on nutrition for 6 countries in the Southern Africa Region: Malawi, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and Madagascar. As needed, the Nutrition/Health TAII will also support outreach countries including Angola, Botswana, Swaziland, and Namibia.

The Nutrition/Health TAII will focus primarily on nutrition and maternal and child health (MNCH) and will have significant experience in the application and use of proven behavior change models. S/he will work closely with his/her counterpart TAs in other sectors to ensure close integration of activities to jointly advance the regional strategy agenda.

This position is open for international telecommuting and nationals from the Southern Africa Region (Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe).

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Contribute to the development and implementation of agency-wide strategies, standards, tools, and best practices in Nutrition/Health that effectively engage partners, donors and governments. Help ensure a cross-sectoral approach integrating gender, protection mainstreaming, and disaster risk reduction.
• Provide technical solutions to regional and CP teams, remotely and on-site, for strategic planning and how to best apply program design and implementation standards, best practices, partnership principles, tools, and M&E, ensuring high-quality implementation.
• Contribute to regional and CP efforts to pre-position CRS for growth opportunities in Nutrition/Health. Lead or contribute to the development of the technical design for large and/or complex proposals, including defining appropriate monitoring systems and indicators. Advise project teams on integrating donor strategies, priorities and technical requirements into CRS’ approach.
• Contribute to capacity strengthening initiatives in Nutrition/Health programming for staff and partner through helping develop learning and training strategies and agendas/curriculums, conducting trainings and workshops, and mentoring and coaching to CP staff.
• Contribute to knowledge management and learning through collecting and analyzing program data, evaluating strategic projects, assisting with measuring program impact, capturing and sharing lessons learned and best practices, and research and internal reports.
• Establish and maintain relationships with donors, peer organizations, research and other institutions. Participate in forums in the area of Nutrition/Health to collect and share best practices and promote CRS’ work.
• Integrate the use of health behavior change models into other sectors to sustain project results
• Support funding acquisition by leveraging existing results, identifying and cultivating opportunities, and pursuing these through proposal and concept note development

Networking and Alliance-Building

• Network with appropriate regionally based research, UN and private sector organizations to build CRS’ profile particularly in Nutrition and MNCH in Southern Africa and to build alliances that further strategic objectives.
• Inform country programs of regional and country-specific activities and funding opportunities.
• Facilitate and lead regional intro-agency sharing learning and collaboration for nutrition
• Share lessons learned and educational opportunities with country programs.
• Facilitate communication between country programs and HQ departments in matters pertaining to Health.
• Attend international health and nutrition conferences, preferably as a presenter of CRS work. Prepare abstracts for conferences and assist country programs in preparing their abstracts.
• Represent CRS SARO and actively participate in donor and professional workshops, meetings, and working groups on Nutrition and MNCH.

Required Languages – French an advantage

Travel – Must be willing to travel up to 30% of time.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Excellent relationship management skills with ability to influence and get buy-in from people not under direct supervision and to work with individuals in diverse geographical and cultural settings.
• Strong strategic, analytical, problem-solving and systems thinking skills with capacity to see the big picture and ability to make sound judgment
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Strong presentation, facilitation, training, mentoring, and coaching skills
• Proactive, resourceful and results-oriented

Supervisory Responsibilities

None (from time to time may be requested to supervisor consultants as needed

Key Working Relationships:

Internal: Deputy Regional Director for Program Quality, SARO Technical Advisors (RTAs); CRS Country Representatives; CRS Heads of Programming; country Health Program Managers and other country staff; CRS HQ Technical Advisors in headquarters; CRS Health technical advisors in other regions.

External: Collaborate with host country government health ministries, other national and international NGOs, UN Agencies, USAID and EU missions, local bilateral institutions, other funding agencies, WHO, local and US Catholic agencies.

• Master’s Degree in Nutrition/Health required.
• Minimum of five years relevant international working experience in an advisory or management role with progressive responsibilities, ideally with an international NGO, with minimum of three years working for programming interventions in Nutrition/Health.
• Previous experience providing technical assistance and developing successful proposals for external donor funding is required.
• Demonstrated application of technical principles and concepts in Nutrition/Health. General knowledge of other related disciplines to ensure proper cross-sectoral approach.
• Experience in business development, project design and proposal development in Nutrition/Health, including technical writing.
• Experience in mentoring, coaching, facilitation and training applying adult learning principles and practices.
• Experience with program monitoring and evaluation, including applying data collection tools and methodologies, data analysis, and data presentation.
• Experience and skills in networking and relations with donors, peer organizations, and faith-based and civil society partners. Understanding of partnership principles.
• Proficient in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, information and budget management systems, knowledge-sharing networks.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)

These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Continuous Improvement & Innovation

• Accountability & Stewardship

***Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need.

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

Note: All positions requiring residence or frequent travel outside their home country must undergo and clear a pre-employment medical examination.

CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of all people – especially children and vulnerable adults – to live free from abuse and harm.

CRS welcomes candidates from the countries and regions in which we work. In the event the successful candidate is an expatriate or global telecommuter, the anticipated duration of the assignment is informed by a term limit, based on the type and level of the job and the needs of the agency.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer