Nutrition Officer

Details

Mission and objectives

UNICEF is mandated by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.
UNICEF is guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child and strives to establish children’s rights as enduring ethical principles and international standards of behaviour towards children.
UNICEF insists that the survival, protection and development of children are universal development imperatives that are integral to human progress.
UNICEF mobilizes political will and material resources to help countries, particularly developing countries, ensure a “first call for children” and to build their capacity to form appropriate policies and deliver services for children and their families.
UNICEF is committed to ensuring special protection for the most disadvantaged children – victims of war, disasters, extreme poverty, all forms of violence and exploitation, and those with disabilities.
UNICEF responds in emergencies to protect the rights of children. In coordination with United Nations partners and humanitarian agencies, UNICEF makes its unique facilities for rapid response available to its partners to relieve the suffering of children and those who provide their care.
UNICEF is non-partisan and its cooperation is free of discrimination. In everything it does, the most disadvantaged children and the countries in greatest need have priority.
UNICEF aims, through its country programmes, to promote the equal rights of women and girls and to support their full participation in the political, social and economic development of their communities.
UNICEF works with all its partners towards the attainment of the sustainable human development goals adopted by the world community and the realization of the vision of peace and social progress enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations.

Context

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children, to save their lives, to defend their rights and to help them fulfill their potential. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.
UNICEF has a footprint in Angola since 1976 when it first opened its office in Luanda. Nutrition programme activities are spread across the country in the provinces of Luanda, Huila, Cunene, Namibe, Benguela and Bie.
Adverse climatic conditions persist in the southern provinces, exacerbating the prevalence of acute malnutrition, and increasing food insecurity. In Huila, Cunene, Namibe and Benguela, UNICEF is supporting the scale-up of malnutrition treatment activities. In Luanda province, COVID-19 and the economic downturn has had a negative impact on the nutritional status of the most disadvantaged households, here, UNICEF has established nutrition services in over 40 health facilities across five municipalities to support the treatment of children with severe acute malnutrition.
Under the supervision of the Nutrition Specialist, the Nutrition Officer will provide technical operational and administrative assistance and support for the nutrition programme activities. Responsibilities will be focused on nutrition activities in the southern provinces of Angola and Luanda. Responsibilities will include supporting the planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and administration of nutrition programme activities, including data analysis, progress reporting, knowledge management and capacity building. The goal is to support the achievement of planned objectives in the work plan, aligned with the country programme goals and strategy while adhering to organizational rules, regulations, and procedures.
In addition to duty station specific vaccine requirements, appointments are subject to confirmation of fully vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the appointment. It does not apply to UN Volunteers who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations, or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their contracts.
UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for UN Volunteers with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the recruitment process and afterwards in your assignment.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of the Nutrition Specialist or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UN Volunteer Nutrition Officer will:
• Support to programme development and planning: Provide technical and operational support throughout all stages of programming processes by supporting a variety of technical programme transactions; preparing materials and documentations, and complying with organizational processes and management systems,
• Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results: Support results-based management (RBM), and monitoring and evaluation of results for the nutrition programme.
• Technical and operational support to programme implementation: Support regular programme field visits and surveys, and exchange information with partners and stakeholders to assess progress and provide technical support. Refer and report critical issues and bottlenecks to relevant officials for timely resolution.
• Networking and partnership building: Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with nutrition sector government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve programme goals and deliver sustainable results. Build relationships with local organizations, groups or individuals and supporting and/or participating in local volunteering initiatives.
• Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building: Draft communication and information materials for country programme advocacy and visibility and apply innovative approaches and promote good practices to support the implementation and delivery of concrete and sustainable programme results.
• Encourage, mobilize, and support co-workers, fellow UN Volunteers and members of the local community to play an active part in development on a voluntary basis.