Chargé(e) de Programme Senior – Nutrition

Job Posting Organization:
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. Established to provide relief and development assistance, CRS operates in more than 100 countries, focusing on saving, protecting, and transforming lives in need, regardless of race, religion, or nationality. The organization is dedicated to various sectors including emergency response, health, agriculture, education, microfinance, and peacebuilding. CRS is committed to safeguarding children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation, and it welcomes candidates from the regions in which it operates, reflecting its inclusive mission and values.

Job Overview:
As a Senior Program Officer for Nutrition, you will play a crucial role in supporting the coordination and implementation of integrated nutritional activities within a multi-sectoral emergency project funded by the Department of State (DoS). This position is pivotal in achieving project objectives through a light and integrated nutritional approach, primarily focused on community awareness, essential maternal, infant, and young child nutrition practices in emergencies (MIYCN-E), and the integration of nutritional messages into security" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">security" style="border-bottom: 1px dotted #007bff !important;">food security, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), and protection interventions. You will provide technical support to field teams and local partners to ensure that nutritional interventions are contextually appropriate, aligned with technical standards, and complementary to other project sectors. Your skills in coordination, community mobilization, technical supervision, and programmatic analysis will contribute to enhancing the quality and coherence of nutritional activities implemented in targeted areas.

Duties and Responsibilities:
Your key responsibilities will include planning, coordinating, and monitoring the implementation of nutritional activities in accordance with the detailed project implementation plan, CRS quality standards, donor requirements, and humanitarian best practices. You will support the integration of nutritional activities into food security, WASH, and protection interventions to ensure a coherent multi-sectoral approach. Additionally, you will design and adapt community awareness messages and tools related to essential maternal, infant, and young child nutrition practices in emergencies (MIYCN-E), such as exclusive breastfeeding, appropriate complementary feeding, and good nutritional and hygiene practices. Organizing and supervising community awareness activities, educational sessions, and behavior change activities at the community level will also be part of your role. You will assist in building the capacity of field teams, partners, and community volunteers on key messages related to community nutrition and SBC approaches. Ensuring technical coordination with partners, local health authorities, and other stakeholders to promote coherence in the project's nutritional approaches is essential. You will also support assessments, KAP surveys, and other data collection exercises related to nutritional practices and community behaviors, contribute to monitoring project nutritional indicators, and ensure the quality of data collected in close collaboration with the MEAL team. Documenting nutritional activities, best practices, lessons learned, and case studies will be part of your contributions, along with preparing programmatic reports and technical updates in accordance with CRS and donor requirements. You will ensure the integration of accountability mechanisms to affected populations (AAP) in nutritional and community awareness activities and maintain good coordination with other project sectors to ensure operational and technical coherence of interventions. Lastly, you will ensure that project documentation is complete, compliant, and properly archived.

Required Qualifications:
The position requires a strong understanding of community nutrition approaches and social and behavior change (SBC). You should have the ability to design and facilitate community awareness activities, along with good coordination and supervision skills for field teams and partners. Analytical skills and a proactive problem-solving ability are essential, as well as excellent interpersonal skills to work effectively with communities, partners, and local authorities. Strong written and oral communication skills are necessary, along with proficiency in MS Office tools (Excel, Word, PowerPoint). A proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented approach is expected.

Educational Background:
A Bachelor's degree in nutrition, public health, community health, or a related field is required for this position.

Experience:
Candidates should have a minimum of 2 to 5 years of relevant experience in implementing nutritional and/or community health activities, ideally in humanitarian or emergency contexts. Experience working with national or international NGOs, community mobilization, and behavior change awareness related to nutrition and health is also required.

Languages:
Fluency in French is mandatory, with Swahili and relevant local languages for the project intervention area being advantageous.

Additional Notes:
The position involves up to 80% travel to project implementation areas. The role includes technical supervision of community agents, community mobilizers, and volunteers involved in the project's nutritional activities. CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prioritizes candidates who are citizens or permanent residents of the countries where CRS offices are located. The successful candidate is expected to sign and adhere to CRS' Code of Conduct, reflecting the organization's commitment to safeguarding the rights and dignity of all individuals, especially children and vulnerable adults.