Agency: U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Organization: Bureau for Resilience, Environment, and Food Security, Center for Nutrition (REFS/CN)
Position Title/Grade/Series: General Development Officer (Senior Nutrition Advisor), FL-0301-02
Location of Position: Washington, DC
Open Period: February 9, 2024 – March 1, 2024
Appointment Type: This is an excepted service, time-limited appointment, not-to-exceed one year and eight months.
Salary: (USD) $132,860 – $191,900 per year
Number of Vacancies: One

Description of Organization: USAID’s Bureau of Resilience, Environment, and Food Security (REFS) is responsible for worldwide leadership and integrated technical expertise of the programming of USAID in agricultural-led growth and environmental sustainability. REFS’ expertise encompasses resilience; environment; food security; nutrition; water security, sanitation, and hygiene; climate; infrastructure; and energy, with the goals of increasing resilience, sustainability, self-reliance, and enhancing U.S. national security and economic prosperity.

REFS’s Center for Nutrition (CN) leads the Agency’s multi-sectoral nutrition work. Through technical assistance, training, and curated learning products, CN supports USAID Missions’ programming, policy, and partnership work in nutrition-sensitive agriculture, nutritious food systems, and food safety. CN manages global research and analysis investments to generate nutrition-sensitive innovations and evidence for wide application. Through strategic engagement and partnership, CN influences global nutrition-sensitive agriculture investments and agendas. CN houses the secretariat for the Agency’s Nutrition Leadership Council, responsible for strategic alignment of USAID’s multi-sectoral nutrition programming.

Description of Position: The Senior Nutrition Advisor will undertake the following duties and responsibilities:

Technical resource for nutrition (50%)
Serves as an expert on designing and managing nutrition-sensitive agriculture investments in USAID development projects. This entails providing technical guidance on nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food systems to promote the achievement of USAID objectives as outlined in the U.S.G. Global Food Security Strategy and the USAID Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Strategy. Specifically, it includes assisting with the development and providing guidance on strategies, policies, concepts, procedures, and guidelines for establishing nutrition projects. The incumbent will provide thought leadership on nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food systems issues in REFS-supported countries, by keeping up to date on current research and best practices. Provides critical country and regional-level sector analyses, and assists in project design to achieve the goals of USAID and REFS-supported Missions as detailed in the Multi-Year and Country Development Cooperation Strategies. Analyzes constraints and supports the development of innovative, evidence-based approaches.

Program and policy advice and guidance (25%)
Advocates, educates, and promotes the linkages between agriculture, nutrition, and health through multi-sectoral approaches. Promotes collaboration across various sectors including health, agriculture, economic growth and humanitarian assistance, to support integrated approaches to address nutrition issues. Assesses regional needs and program trends in nutrition, agriculture, and livestock products; provides USAID and REFS-supported Missions with technical and analytical guidance on issues and stimulates cooperative and joint planning to develop and implement needed multi-sectoral nutrition programs. Identifies and mobilizes agriculture resources for nutrition; communicates project goals and objectives; provides benefits of USAID/Washington resources to guide project implementation; and identifies institutional policy guidelines to assist program implementation in the field. Provides timely advice and is responsive to requests. Provides periodic briefings and written reports to USAID, USDA and other government officials and external partners on program issues. Responds with appropriate analysis to ad-hoc questions and conduct special analyses to provide input to strategic planning, policy development, performance reporting, program design, speeches, and Congressional inquiries.

Liaison services and relationship management (25%)
Oversees the key multi-sectoral nutrition partnerships within the Agency and externally. Cooperates, liaises, and serves as a key point of contact with persons and groups both inside and outside of USAID on issues on nutrition and food security. Coordinates project design and planned activities with other USAID Bureaus and Offices, USDA, other USG agencies, donors, and other key stakeholders. Establishes and develops working relationships with external organizations, implementing partners, and the private sector, as required. Assists in preparation of Congressional testimony and speeches, in collaboration with other OFS and Agency Offices, as well as other USG Agencies.

Performs other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Must be a U.S. citizen;
• Must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to the next lower grade level FS-03 of this position. Examples of specialized experience include:
• Providing advice and assistance to State and local governments, and to various public, nonprofit, and private agencies and organizations on matters relating to the improvement of their public health activities;
• Conducting studies and performing other analytical work related to the planning, development, organization, administration, evaluation, and delivery of public health programs; and
• Designing, managing, evaluating, and/or implementing global health programs; and
• Must be eligible to obtain and maintain a Secret-level security clearance.

Interested candidates must submit the following:

• A resume/CV;
• A short written statement of interest; and
• Official or unofficial transcripts, if education is noted as a requirement above.

Please submit your application package to [email protected] with the subject line: “FSL APPLICATIONPACKAGE: General Development Officer (Senior Nutrition Advisor), FL-0301-02, REFS/CN, PD #33338).” Application submissions are required by 11:59 p.m. EST, March 1, 2024. Incomplete packages or packages not submitted by the deadline with the specified subject line will not receive consideration. This notice may be used to fill additional vacancies, as the workforce needs of the Bureau may change.

USAID Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Commitment
USAID envisions a world where all individuals are valued, have equitable access to opportunities, and are included, respected, and safe in their societies. USAID embraces diversity as outlined in USAID’s Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Statement. We seek to elevate and include the voices of the USAID workforce, recognizing and valuing the unique contributions of all stakeholders. USAID also strives to improve equity for underrepresented communities that have historically been denied fair and just treatment and improve accessibility in all facets at USAID.

Additional resources include:
EEO Policy Statement
Reasonable Accommodation Policy

Any questions concerning this notice may be directed to Ingrid Weiss at [email protected].