Career Opportunity: Nutrition Consultant SSA9, Nairobi – WFP

WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status or disability.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

JOB PURPOSE

Kenya jointly has the third-largest HIV epidemic in the world (alongside Tanzania) with 1.5 million people living with HIV. HIV continues to be a leading cause of adult morbidity and mortality. Stemming new HIV infections among adolescents and young people aged 15-24 years, the situation blamed on the layered challenge of adolescent pregnancies and sexual and gender-based violence, now dubbed the triple threat. These overlapping challenges of new HIV infections increased by 7.3% in 2021 from 32,027 to 34,540 in 2021 in Kenya for the first time in a decade. 67% of these new infections are among women and girls and 53% of deaths are among men.

Efforts by the government and stakeholders have seen the country’s HIV response yield a 58% decline in annual AIDS-related deaths from 52,964 in 2010 to 22,373 in 2021 reflecting a five-fold increase in the number of people living with HIV on life-saving antiretroviral treatment, from about 250,000 thousand in 2010 to 1.12 million in 2021. The mother to child transmission (MTCT) rate stands at 8.6% an indication that there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.

The Ministry of Health through NASCOP spearheads biomedical interventions on the fight against HIV and AIDS. NASCOP contributes to the bulk of the implementation of the Kenya Aids Strategic Framework (KASF 11 2020-2024). NASCOP in collaboration with WFP are planning to undertake revision /update nutrition treatment protocols in line with current guidelines and evidence.

The Nutrition treatment protocol will provide up-to-date information that is needed for effective nutrition counselling, care and support for people living with HIV. The combination of knowledge and skills presented will enable to provide quality nutrition care and support at various service points, and thereby contribute to improving the nutritional and health status and quality of life of people with HIV.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Under the overall authority of the NASCOP nutrition technical lead and WFP program officer :

1. The consultant will lead the review and finalization of Nutrition treatment and diagnosis protocol to be used by HIV programs frontline service providers in the health, nutrition, agriculture, education, civil society, and social services sectors among others.
2. Review the draft treatment protocol to make it more user friendly.
3. Identify good practices and innovative approaches contained in the other documents and then incorporate them into the updated protocol if applicable in Kenya.
4. Finalization of the protocol and provide expertise in designing the final document.
5. Support in inserting and ensuring the photos/pictures are sharp, clear, and well labelled.
6. Ensure that all references are well captured and cited.
7. Ensure all sections of document are complete.
8. To arrange the tables (should not flow to next page) and ensure proper titles and numbering.
9. Work on the top and back page by ensuring that appropriate pictures are inserted as provided by NASCOP/WFP.
10. Share a copy of completed document to NASCOP/WFP for approval before final printing within a specified period.
11. Lead 2 consultative forums with key stakeholders.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

1. An advanced degree in Nutrition, food science or any other related field.
2. Minimum of 8 years’ experience implementing strategic Nutrition programs
3. Expertise in nutrition programming and addressing challenges related to achieving tasks.
4. Experience in or familiarity with the health and nutrition sectors of countries in Eastern and Southern Africa is advantageous.
5. Strong writing, analysis, and communication skills.
6. Previous assignment/work with other UN bodies preferred.

FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES

Capability Name

Description of the behaviour expected for the proficiency level

Knowledge of Nutrients

Utilizes knowledge of vitamins and nutrients to understand the causes of malnutrition, the relationships between the different types of malnutrition, and is able to articulate the UNICEF conceptual model.

Situation Analysis and Evidence Assessment

Able to appropriately interpret the nutrition situation, analyze primary causes of malnutrition, define limitations to the analysis (e.g. seasonality) and prepare an overview of the food security and nutrition situation in country.

Knowledge of Public Health

Has foundational knowledge of the core public health sciences (i.e., biostatistics, epidemiology, social science, environmental health, and prevention of chronic and infectious disease and injury) in order to assess a country’s/region’s health situation.

Knowledge of Food System

Ability to analyze how food systems influence the diets of vulnerable groups and identify how and where food systems may contribute to specific nutrient gaps.

Applying Programme & Policy Standards

Leverages nutrition knowledge to provide technical advice to governments to design and implement country nutrition programmes that follow international and WFP agency standards and guidance.

EXPECTED RESULTS / TIMELINES

• A user-friendly Nutrition treatment protocol and the final validated nutritional management protocol of PLHIV.
• A treatment protocol adapted to the Kenyan context.
• To be delivered within a period of 20 working days spread in 3 months.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Experience and exposure to implementation of national/international development programmes.
• Experience working in public health/food security/ nutrition related activities.
• Experience identifying and defining nutrition issues/problems within a country.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

• Interested consultants are requested to submit a technical proposal specifying a daily rate in response to the above TORs no later than 25 September 2023.
• Proposal submitted should:

1. Not be more than 3 pages and should indicate the intended methodological approach for

2. the assignment.

3. Include 3 examples of previous advocacy work conducted in the last 5-7 years.

4. Include consultant’s CV/resume highlighting the relevant skills and experience for the

5. assignment.

WFP has a zero-tolerance approach to conduct such as fraud, sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to WFP’s standards of conduct and will therefore undergo rigorous background verification internally or through third parties. Selected candidates will also be required to provide additional information as part of the verification exercise. Misrepresentation of information provided during the recruitment process may lead to disqualification or termination of employment

WFP will not request payment at any stage of the recruitment process including at the offer stage. Any requests for payment should be refused and reported to local law enforcement authorities for appropriate action.