Health and Nutrition Programme Manager – Chad At Concern Worldwide

About the role :

It is a position of 12 months, unaccompanied, baes in Lake Province (Bagasola and Bol) of WEST Chad (with possible expansion to other areas within the country), with grade 3 salary (39,911 – 44,346).

The health and Nutrition Programme Manager will report to Area Coordinator and liaise with Programme Director, M&E Officer, Country Accountant, HR Manager, Systems Director; Base Manager; Program physicians, managers of supported health centers; Local, Regional and National Health Authorities, other NGO’s and relevant Head Office Health Support.

Job Purpose:

The Health and Nutrition Program Manager, who will based in Bagasola, will oversee the implementation, management and development of Concern’s health and nutrition program in the Lac province.

He will help improve the programming and skills of Concern key staff within the program. He will continue and build on the partnership that Concern Worldwide has undertaken with the Ministry of Health (MOH). The Health and Nutrition Program Manager will conduct assessments and implementation of emergency response programs when necessary.

Main Duties & Responsibilities:

Programme Quality

• Oversee the planning and implementation of the Health and Nutrition Program in the context of emergencies in the Lac area and contribute to the quality of project implemented in the area.
• He is the lead for the implementation of Concern’s Health and Nutrition Strategies within the Lake Province Program, which consists of: Building Capacity for Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) at health centers level; Community Activities, including a behavioral change approach for increasing demand of essential nutrition and health services; linking Community Structures with Activities of Health Centers for Continued Support of Community-Based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM).
• Implementation of nutritional security strategies through strategies for the good use of foods with high nutritional value and balanced by households (home garden approach, cooking demonstration).
• ˗ Implement the multifactorial and multisectoral approach in the response to nutritional problems through approaches such as Agriculture-Sensitive Nutrition, WASH-sensitive, Gender Sensitive Nutrition and Equality.
• Implementation of the maternal and neonatal health improvement strategy, through the integration of prenatal consultation, post-natal consultations and Childbirth.
• Ensure that the Health and Nutrition programme is implemented in accordance with the Ministry of Health strategies and polices and is based on WHO, UNICEF and internal Concern best practices.
• Reinforce and maintain the monitoring and evaluating system and oversee the programme progress against agreed program objectives. Key aspects of programme monitoring will include SQUEAC and SMART surveys and the Health and the Nutrition Programme Manager will lead these surveys.
• Co-lead cross-sectoral periodic programme reviews in order to assess programme progress, capture lessons learnt and adapt programme strategies as necessary in accordance with Concern’s results-based management principles.
• Lead the delivery of the Health and Nutrition programme in accordance with Concern’s Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) commitments through: a) ensuring strong and meaningful community participation throughout the programme cycle; b) systematically sharing programmatic information with targeted communities (and other stakeholders); c) contributing to the rolling out and managing of a complaints response mechanism in accordance with Concern’s guidelines; and d) contributing to Concern’s HAP reporting requirements.
• Further develop and manage Concern’s productive partnership with the Ministry of Health.
• Lead and or participate in other programme quality and accountability initiatives as required.
• Lead and participate in emergency assessments and develop plans for rapid and appropriate responses in consultation with line management.

Donor Compliance

• Ensure that donor proposals, budgets and reports are of high quality, up-to-date and delivered in a timely manner in accordance with Concern policies/procedures, donor requirements and for other interested parties in collaboration with programme team colleagues.
• Be responsible for ensuring that donor strategy, donor guidelines, formats and processes are understood and being adhered to within Health and Nutrition programme implementation and procurement.

Representation

• Manage the working relationship with the MoH partner in the Lake Province.
• Ensure effective networking and coordination with relevant stakeholders, such as local Government authorities, other NGOs and UN operating in the Health and Nutrition sector at field level in coordination with the Area Coordinator
• Represent Concern to donors, clusters and other coordination fora and meetings at national level as required

Human Resources

• Identify project staff needs, ensuring that job descriptions are developed and well understood, properly qualified staff are recruited, inducted and trained as per the needs of the programme and the organisation
• Manage the Health and Nutrition team with particular emphasis on capacity building of staff through mentoring, training, and ensuring that all staff have up-to-date descriptions and Performance and Development Review (PDR) process as per policy.
• Ensure that all staff are provided with the necessary support and advice to carry out their duties particularly as they relate to IMCI, CMAM, other community based approaches, behaviour change approaches and emergency response.
• Ensure that all staff in the Health and Nutrition team are aware of and comply with Concern’s policies and procedures.
• Ensure that work within the team(s) is planned and organised in a way which will meet the organisation’s needs in the most cost effective manner possible; ensuring that team members are given appropriate workloads and are working efficiently.
• Identify and take appropriate and timely action to fill resource gaps (create new roles or launch timely recruitment to replace a leaver).

Communications/Reporting

• Contribute to the production of reports within Concern, for donors and other interested parties as appropriate.
• Ensure that ToR’s for external consultants/visits are prepared.

Finance, Admin and Logistics

• Monitor and manage programme expenditure and budgets, ensuring resources are optimally utilized and spending is in line with Concern financial procedures and Donor requirements.
• Liaise with the Area Coordinator, Base Manager, and General System Manager through coordinated planning to ensure efficient use of support systems.

Security

• Ensure the Health and Nutrition team carry out their work in accordance with Concern’s security Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and the Security Management Plan (SMP).
• Assist the Area Coordinator with security analysis through the sharing of important security information collected through field work.
• Participate in the revision of SOPs and the SMP when necessary and other security related duties when necessary.

Accountability

In line with Concern’s commitments under the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS):

• Actively promote meaningful community participation and consultation at all stages of the project cycle (planning, implementation, M&E);
• Work with relevant colleagues to ensure that the Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM) is functional and accessible, that feedback and complaints are welcomed and addressed;
• Work with relevant colleagues to ensure that information about CRM, safeguarding and expected staff behaviour is disseminated among programme participants and communities.

Other Duties

• Participate in country-level strategic planning initiatives and other duties as determined by line management.
• Contribute to organisational accountability initiatives, including overseeing the roll out of commitments of Concern under the HAP (Humanitarian Accountability Partnership)
• Adhere fully to the commitments and rules of Concern’s Programme Participant Protection Policy and Code of Conduct (P4 and CoC), including the respect of confidentiality.
• Report to the appropriate manager all violations of the P4 or CoC
• Undertake other related duties as may reasonably be assigned by the Country Director or the line manager

PERSON SPECIFICATION

ESSENTIAL

Education, Qualifications & Experience Required:

• 3rd level qualification in public health, nursing, midwifery or equivalent qualification
• Fully functional in French and strong command of written and spoken English
• At least 3 years’ experience of managing health and nutrition projects with a minimum of 1 year overseas experience preferably with an international NGO and in volatile / insecure environments
• Experience in CMAM including community mobilisation and in IMCI or Primary health care
• Experience in behaviour change and barrier analysis approach
• Experience in donor reporting and proposal writing
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation and project management tools
• Experience in budgeting and financial monitoring processes
• Strong staff management, capacity building and supervision skills
• Experience in carrying out SQUEAC and SMART surveys.
• Experience with the design and implementation of M&E plans
• Familiarity with complex and insecure emergency context.
• Experience of mainstreaming equality, gender, HIV&AIDS, protection;

DESIRABLE

Education, Qualifications & Experience Required:

• Specific training in the prevention and treatment of malnutrition.
• Work experience in Chad, the Sahel region or Sudan or in a Francophone country in Africa.
• Experience working with health ministries, networking and donor relations.
• Knowledge of Concern Policies and Programming Approaches.
• Previous experience of Results Based Management approach.
• Previous experience in implementing an integrated programme.

Special Skills, Aptitude or Personality Requirements:

• Cross cultural awareness and sensitivity.
• Empathy with Concern’s goals and a commitment to capacity building, protection and participation.
• Good communication and training / capacity building skills.
• Ability in team building and working in a participatory/integrated manner.
• Ability to work on own initiative.
• Good sense of humour.
• Flexible, patient and adaptable to a changing environment.
• Ability to work under pressure with numerous deadlines, etc.
• Knowledge of computer applications i.e. Microsoft word, Excel, communications systems.
• Ability to live and work in a close team environment.
• Prepared to work and live in a challenging and remote location.
• Familiarity with principles of humanitarian action (international code of conduct and humanitarian charter).
• Familiarity with Sphere guidelines and People in Aid, code of best practice.