STA: NUTRITION, MATERNAL, NEWBORN AND CHILD HEALTH

Other possible locations: Any country where CARE operates. (Bangladesh, Cote D’Ivoire, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Jordan, Kenya, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Zimbabwe, and the United States)

JOB SUMMARY:

CARE works to reduce poverty and increase social justice for the poor and vulnerable, while focusing on empowering women and girls to bring lasting change to families and communities. The Health Equity and Rights (HER) unit of CARE USA collaborates with partners in generating, sharing and applying knowledge on the relationships between health, equity and empowerment to maximize global impact on health and well-being, poverty and social justice for the most marginalized people.

CARE aims at growing its work with primary health care with renewed emphasis on integrated programs that focus on Family Planning and Reproductive Health (FP/RH) and Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) and Nutrition. This strategic growth objective includes cross-cutting supportive priorities such as health system strengthening, and related health priorities integrated approaches for adolescent health, WASH and nutrition.

As part of this, CARE’s Health, Equity and Rights (HER) team wishes to strongly integrate health and nutrition programming to support its primary health care and health systems strengthening aims, with a focus on achieving health outcomes.  As such, the Senior Technical Advisor (STA) for Nutrition, Maternal, Newborn  and Child Health (MNCH) will lead the planning and implementation of integrating nutrition and MNCH in primary health care programs with two key objectives: 1) to improve maternal infant, child and adolescent health and nutritional outcomes, particularly for the most vulnerable children and families; and 2) to increase CARE’s capacity, effectiveness, and influence in integrated nutrition as part of strengthening health systems and primary health care.

S/he will play an integral role in strengthening CARE’s nutrition programming within primary health care and integrating nutrition within reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health programs.

S/he will lead and provide oversight to all nutrition and MNCH integrated PHC program activities and coordinate with all relevant internal and external stakeholders. S/he will ensure that all program interventions are of high quality and lead to measurable primary health impact.

The ideal candidate will bring technical expertise in nutrition, maternal, newborn and child health within the frame of strengthening primary health care services and will complement the expertise of existing program staff members.

S/he will lead the HER team in working closely with the nutrition team of the Food and Water Systems (FWS) team, the Portfolio designer for HER, as well as Country Offices in designing and supporting quality implementation; monitoring, evaluating and reporting program results. S/he may also coordinate with the global Nutrition in Emergencies Advisor on the Humanitarian team.

S/he will support the development of technical and programmatic skills for team members at CARE US and Country Offices and work closely with the Nutrition team under FWS to complement its work focused largely on strengthening food systems to improve nutrition, including alignment of approaches and tools.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Provide overall leadership and management for Nutrition as an integrated component of Primary Healthcare and health systems strengthening.

• Using up-to-date knowledge on best practices in integrated maternal, newborn, and child health, the STA leads strong integration of nutrition and MNCH in health systems and ensures that PHC programs are stronger.
• Work in strong collaboration with the HER portfolio designer and the technical teams for Health to ensure that all new programs that are designed are aligned with up-to-date best practices and strategies, including donor strategies, and integrates innovative, gender equal and responsive nutrition approaches.
• Lead the HER team on access to resources that facilitate integration of essential nutrition interventions for MNCH and their vulnerabilities within CARE’s primary health programming.
• S/he supports the generation and sharing of knowledge through research, analysis, presentations, and publications.  She/he networks with CARE International colleagues and other partners to share lessons learned, best practices, and innovative strategies.
• Develop appropriate program guidance, identify promising program strategies, document learning and provide technical assistance to country programs and government and/or non-governmental partners using evidence-based approaches, in line with international and donor standards on primary health CARE with nutrition and MNCH as integral components.

Technical Support to Country Offices.

• The STA is responsible for maintaining regular communication with Country Offices and providing technical support to their integrated nutrition and health work.
• Develop or manage the development of evidence-based program standards with country offices and key stakeholders.
• Support COs to build capacity of CARE and partner teams including local civil society organizations  and private sector actors to enable the integration of nutrition strategies in different primary health care initiatives.
• Ensure learning is shared across COs on successful approaches and strategies of integrating nutrition withing primary health care.
• Participate in program design and support implementation activities (strategic planning, program presentations, advocacy and policy meetings) of country programs, as appropriate.
• Provide guidance, support, and supervision on Nutrition integration in PHC and health systems with CARE country office program staff.

Build strategic partnerships

• Build on existing collaboration with the Nutrition team of the Food and Water System team of CARE to ensure alignment of approaches and strategies and identify areas of complementarity.
• The STA develops strategic relations with key internal and external stakeholders positioning CARE as a strong partner in nutrition, and representing CARE in technical, advocacy, and policy forums.  Key partners include other international NGOs, bilateral and multi-lateral organizations, relevant coordination groups, and academic centers.
• Actively contribute to the HER team’s technical direction by developing strategic partnerships to increase program coverage, visibility, and resources.
• Identify networks and alliances as well as relevant spaces that enable sharing and learning from key actors in integrated nutrition and  health systems.

Resource Mobilization and Representation

• The STA will work with colleagues in the HER team, fundraising teams, as well as with the portfolio designer for Health and others at CARE and partner organizations to raise additional funds for Nutrition in primary health care for health systems strengthening.
• Ensure through diversified funding portfolio, an expanded integrated primary health care pipeline that enables program implementation, support operations research, extend the duration of the program, and expand CARE’s involvement in global nutrition forums.
• Develop technical and policy briefs, collaborate with the team’s monitoring, implementation research and the senior technical advisor responsible for learning team to undertake operations research related to program delivery, and contribute to other research efforts as needed in order to enrich future designs and proposals.
• Ensure CARE is up to date with RMNCAH policies and guidelines as well as evidence-based approaches to strengthen to promote strong integrated PHC programming for sustained portfolio growth.
• Represent CARE to key stakeholders including strategic partners, peer organizations and donors and also ensure CARE participates in the right spaces for sharing and learning and to enhance CARE’s thought leadership.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• MD, MS, MPH or PHD with additional training/experience in nutrition and/or other relevant specialization.
• Minimum of 10 years of experience in international public health programming with an emphasis on nutrition, health systems strengthening, maternal, newborn, and child health, adolescent health, family planning, reproductive health, or a related field.
• Experience in program design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation.
• Demonstrated technical leadership.
• Experience developing technical capacities.
• Previous experience managing/developing and implementing USAID programs/proposals that include a focus on integrated nutrition and health.
• Existing relationships with global nutrition stakeholders/leaders among donors, the UN, universities, and research organizations, are desirable.
• Experience with research and analytical skills
• Experience managing/supporting integrated nutrition and health programs in low-resource environments
• Experience working with donors, writing or reviewing reports, and ensuring adherence to donor agreements
• Ability to undertake field travel (approximately 30%).
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English. Fluency in French, Spanish, or Arabic will be an advantage.
• Technical expertise in nutrition, maternal, newborn, and child health.
• Nutrition, MNCH  programming, and technical assistance in low and middle-income countries.
• Expertise in integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) and experience in community case management approaches.
• newborn care, and early childhood interventions, and intergenerational approaches to mother/baby care.
• Program design, monitoring, and evaluation skills.
• Training and capacity development skills.
• Excellent verbal and written English skills, particularly communication skills for diverse audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to conceptualize and operationalize program strategies.
• Demonstrated ability to lead a team and oversee complex programs.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relationships with government, donors, community leaders, and other development partners.
• Ability to represent CARE externally, prepare and deliver presentations, and write articles for publication.