Medical and Nutritional Coordinator, Uganda

From Action Against Hunger USA

Country: Uganda
Region: Kampala
Job Type: Employment
Job Location: Field
Directing HQ: Action Against Hunger – USA
Job Duration: 12mths
Language(s): English
Minimum Experience: Humanitarian
Job Objectives:

Objective 1: General management of the nutrition activities and strategy
• Supervises the technical work of the nutrition teams in the field (treatment, capacity building, prevention, surveillance) and provide adequate formal constructive feedback. This technical work includes the integrated running of Outpatient Therapeutic Care (OTC) and Inpatient Therapeutic Care (ITC) (2 ITCs and 19 OTCs in Kaabong, 1 ITC and 17 OTCs in Moroto) as well as the community activities (health promotion and community mobilisation) in Kaabong and Moroto districts, Karamoja.
• Supervises technical work of the nutrition team in Gulu & Amuru districts who are responsible for overseeing the implementation of Supplementary Feeding Program (SFP) with RUSF.
• Supervises technical work and follow-up on the joint implementation of SFP with Andre Food Consult (AFC)/WFP in Moroto district, in distributing Lipid Nutrient Supplement (LNS-Plumpy Doz) with CSB raations. Support to data collection, compilation and analysis systems are expected from CMN as results on different products in relation to GoW and LoS are expected at the end of the intervention (the analysis may be led by an intern to come to the mission for a 3-month period between June-Sept).
• Ensures technical support for the teams for the implementation of capacity building for the national surveillance, nutritional treatment (national & regional) and the HIV approach (this approach is still not funded).
• Ensures that the technical protocols, manuals, guidelines and forms used in the field are on line with ACF validated technical tools and when available, with national guidelines.
• Provides technical support to the field teams and technical updates when available.
• Analyzes the program activities and results before the internationally validated indicators (Sphere standards and ACF standards) and propose improvements and modifications if need be, in collaboration with the HQ Nutrition advisor. The achievement of SPHERE standards is challenging in a capacity building context and thus acceptable thresholds must be agreed upon with HQ Advisor.
• Ensures a consistent response and approach to the nutrition program and to the nutritional needs, thus creates credibility of ACF actions.
• Supervises the evolution of the programs and re-orients programs if needed, in discussion with the CD, and the HQ Nutrition advisor.
• Is available for solving any problem arising on the field.
• Ensures frequent visits to the field, with visits to the nutrition activities at community level for each field visit, and provides formal visit feedback via Field Visit Reports. Three weeks every two months should at least be spent in the field. Field visits should not be shorter than a full week. Before every field visit a ToR must be shared with the Nutrition PMs and Head of Region. Other Technical Coordinators and CD are to be in copy of the communication.
• Organizes the evaluation / exploration missions, and keep aware of the evolution of the medical and nutritional situation in the most affected areas of Uganda. According the needs identified, proposes actions in respect with the Ugandan mission and ACFIN nutrition department strategy.

Objective 2: Coordination
• Identifies and participates to the nutrition and health meetings with partners (NGOs, MoH, DDHS, UNICEF, WFP, donors …) at Kampala and district(s) level when necessary.
• Participates in the monthly ACF coordination meetings at Kampala level .
• Follows up the nutrition program budget closely with the administration department.
• Ensures coordination of and validates the logistics orders from the nutrition department and ensures regular communication with the logistics department.
• Validates the final versions of Protocols and MoU’s with authorities, partners and other organizations (DDHS, MS, UNICEF, WFP), and ensure their consistency between all the bases.
• Coordinates with the health and nutrition authorities at district(s) and Kampala level
• Coordinates with the other nutritional NGOs, UNICEF and WFP
• Ensures that Program Managers coordinate on a regular basis with all relevant partners at local level and participate to monthly technical coordination forum.
• Collects data from formal or informal meeting with other partners to get information on the nutrition needs in other areas of the country, and propose actions (assessments, surveys, program implementation) accordingly
• Coordinates regularly with the HQ Nutrition advisor for nutrition strategy and protocols evolution, and communicate on the nutrition/health situation.

Objective 3: Human Resources
• In collaboration with the HR department, ensures the support to the field teams for all matters concerning human resources for the nutrition department.
• Ensures that all nutrition personnel is evaluated at least twice a year. Evaluation of program managers is conducted by the CMN while field teams are evaluated by program managers. As much as possible, the Head of Region should be integrated in the evaluation process of the program managers.
• Ensures that the Program managers follow the appropriate human resources procedures and rules for recruitments or any other HR activity.
• Analyze and validate the organizational chart of the nutrition department in collaboration with the HR department and the CD.

Objective 4: Supply Pipeline
• Oversees the partnership with the organizations in charge of the supplies (drugs from UNICEF, food from WFP), ensures timely renewal of the MoU’s with these partners and timely orders of products (on an ad hoc basis). This is mainly done by PMs at field level directly with UNICEF/WFP field offices and CMN is supports for troubleshooting in case of constraints or identified pipeline breaks.
• Ensure regular communication with the logistics department for international and regional orders, and timely logistics orders submitted to the logistics department.
• For every project, a procurement plan is to be prepared by PMs with support of CMN/CMN assistant to ensure that purchases are all done at the start of the project.

Objective 5: Reporting
• Is responsible for the elaboration, in partnership with the HQ Nutrition advisor and the CD, of the nutrition program donor reports (proposal, quarterly, final reports), with respect of the formats and deadlines.
• Prepares monthly activity reports (compilation of the activities on the base(s) and activity report) with a qualitative look at the programs (sent to bases and to the HQ). Internal reports should include the activity progress report (APR) in respect with the mission format.
• Finalizes the monthly activities reports presented to the medical authorities (DDHS).
• Validates all documents and reports before dissemination to partners, including supplies orders, surveillance reports, etc. For external dissemination of reports, final validation by HQ and CD are requested.
• Prepares qualitative study (surveys, focus groups, etc) as identified necessary and validates the reports.
• Writes short field visit Terms of Reference and reports, the latter including clear detailed action points for the improvement of the programs or problems solving. This is a good feedback and documentation tool on progress of activities at field level.

Objective 6: Communication
• Communicates regularly with the nutrition teams for follow up, troubleshooting and technical and strategic advice. At least each PM should be called on phone once a week for update / discussion.
• Communicates with the logistics and administration departments in order to have a good follow up of respective departments (supply requests, stocks, pharmacy, etc. and budget and expense follow ups) and solve problems as they arise.
• Communicates with other technical department in ACF (food security & livelihoods – FSL, , watsan – WASH) for the information collection, understanding on the nutritional context, and coherence of intervention. Other technical departments should be systematically consulted for any proposal writing for information sharing and analysis of the field situation. Survey/Assessment report which collect WASH or FSL information should be shared with and validated by respective coordinators to ensure integrated formulation and validity of recommendations.
• Communicates externally with the other organizations and authorities on a regular basis, and ensures that PMs communicate regularly with partners at local level.
• Communicates regularly with the technical responsible in the HQ (phone call twice a month)

Objective 7: Representation
• Represents ACF programs in nutrition/health coordination meetings in Kampala and on the field. The CMN should be known by all the main actors at both national and local level (MoH, UNICEF, WFP, NGO’s) even when there is no direct partnership with them. The definition of the main actors to communicate with can be done with the CD and the HQ Nutrition advisor.
• Represents ACF nutrition programs when and if necessary vis-a-vis donors. Such representation will be discussed with the CD whenever necessary.
• Participates with the CD in the representation vis-à-vis donors and partners in the objective of raising funds for new programs at national level (HIV, capacity building for treatment or surveillance).

Objective 8: Others
• Responsible for any medical evacuation of the expatriates with CD
• In charge of the medical protocol and care for the expatriates (medical reference in Kampala and the bases, update of medical files to be kept in Kampala)
• Ensures the good keeping of emergency medical boxes in all ACF guest houses (delegation to Program managers for field bases) with support of CMN assistant

Qualifications:

Education / Specific Degrees / Special Skills : – Minimum three years experience of nutrition programs at national coordination level (with at least 2 years experience in program implementation). Experience with capacity building of health systems in developing contexts an advantage. – Experience in coordination of humanitarian programs. – Minimum Bachelor in medical sciences, nursing, or social sciences or equivalent experience in nutrition considered. Masters Degree in Public Health considered an advantage. – Significant experience in development and recovery project management. – Excellent human resource management skills. – Advanced knowledge of donors’ guidelines/procedures in humanitarian, recovery, and development settings. – Experienced in working with private funding and foundations. – Excellent delegation, organizational, leadership and motivation/training skills. – Strong interpersonal/coordination skills within teams and for good relations with partners and authorities. – Must be disciplined and able to work autonomously and arrive at decisions and conclusions with minimal guidance. – The person must be able to set own deadlines and meet them consistently. – Fluent in English (professional English required). Excellent writing and formatting skills essential.

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