Health and Nutrition Technical Officer, CASCADE At Development Exchange Centre (DEC)

DEVELOPMENT EXCHANGE CENTRE

Advertisement for the position of Health and Nutrition Technical

Officer, CASCADE, Nigeria Project

Development Exchange Centre (DEC) is a non-governmental, non-discriminating, women-focused organization improving the wellbeing of women groups and communities in Nigeria through socio-economic interventions for sustainable development.

DEC was established in November 1987 due to joint research conducted by the Canadian University Services Overseas (CUSO) and the Adult and Non-Formal Education Agency (ANFEA) Bauchi State.

CAtalyzing Strengthened policy aCtion for heAlthy Diets and resilience (CASCADE) is a Nederland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Funded Multi Years and Multi-Countries ‘Driving nutrition Impact through implEmenting naTional policieS’ (DIETS) programme aimed at strengthening the implementation of national nutrition-related policies in sub-Saharan Africa from 2022 to 2027 cutting across Benin, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Mozambique.  Cooperative Assistance for Relief Everywhere (CARE) International is the Lead implementer and is in partnership with Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN).  CASCADE is designed to achieve the changes needed to deliver the objective of healthier diets and increased resilience to price-and climate-related shocks for women and children. The major focus of the program will be on improving the implementation of existing Food and Nutrition Policies policy (awareness, capacity, and funding) rather than amending or identifying new policies. CASCADE focuses on improved implementation of the National Policy on Food and Nutrition (NPFN), National Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action on Food and Nutrition (NMPAFN), and the National Social Protection Policy.

Job Title: Health and Nutrition Technical Officer

Department: Social Services

Opening Date: July 11,2024

Closing Date: July 19,2024

Reports to: Program Coordinator

Oversees whom: N/A

Project Duration: 10 months

Location: Jigawa, Bauchi States, Nigeria

Summary of Position:

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Head of Programs, the health and Nutrition officer will support the daily operational management of all components of primary health care activities in the assigned communities and provide the technical support for health and nutrition team, ensure timely flow of information to and from field. This position is also responsible to monitor and evaluate health and nutrition services delivery according to national protocol. Beside provision of technical support, training and capacity building, representation of the program in external meeting, and report writing.

Key Responsibilities:

• Oversee/conduct assessments as needed in the health facilities and communities in coordination with professional health personnels.
• Supervise comprehensive training programs for health and nutrition in the targeted communities, as well as maintain a record of all trainings conducted.
• Supervise primary health care activities at HFs and screening of children 6-59 months at targeted areas and referral of needed malnourished cases and lifesaving cases to the nearest hospitals and general supervision for all nutrition programs in targeted communities, with overall technical guidance of nutrition team.
• Ensure referral mechanisms are in place.
• Assist the logistics department in procurement of drug/medical supply/medical equipment by providing specification for requested items and follow up and cooperate with financial/ logistic requirements.
• Ensure proper management of pharmaceuticals, other medical supplies and nutritional stock and follow up stock movement and stock cards and consumption rate, moreover, ensure quality of warehouse management at HFs.
• Establish mother to mother support group for promotion of best practices and provide continuous on the job training and support.
• Ensure all staff understand and implement program guidelines and for assessing the mother-child pair, advising the best feeding option and following up as appropriate.
• Ensure appropriate and consistent education messaging to mothers and other carers in the communities.
• Provide regular supervision and technical support for health facilities including data collection/records of beneficiaries and program activities, as well as timely implementation and reaching targets according to the program objectives to ensure safe, effective delivery of health care to target population.
• Ensure submission of weekly and monthly progress report of health and nutrition activities and submit report on time and work with health information system officers of the HFs in the communities to ensure that production statistics is collected, compiled and reported to supervisor.
• Facilitate periodical review meeting with key community groups to discuss on key nutrition practices; and provide technical support & advise to community volunteers, teachers and other key community groups to promote recommended nutrition practices.
• Provide data, case studies and success stories to enrich reports for both internal and external use.
• Ensure a mechanism in place to monitor and evaluate clinical health & nutrition services.
• Representation of DEC at nutrition and other joint agency and government meetings.
• Attend weekly meetings with other health & nutrition team, and perform other duties requested by his line manager.
• Supervise the implementation of HC activities at field (treatment of communicable diseases, etc.)
• Perform other duties as may be assigned by DEC Management.

Qualifications and Experience for the position:

• Bachelor’s Degree/HND in Medical Laboratory Science or equivalent; (nursing/medical qualification desirable), Nutrition, or any related discipline.
• At least 3 years’ experience in health and nutrition management.
• Excellent computer skill including word, excel, and power point
• Fluent written and spoken English and Hausa languages
• Proven ability to manage a programme including management of human and material resources.
• Good interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate and negotiate clearly and effectively at all levels, taking cognizance of cultural and language difficulties.

Other requirements for the Job role:

• Good time management skills with ability to handle multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Proactive, resourceful, solutions oriented and results-oriented
• Excellent organization, planning and analytical skills; detail oriented
• Ability and desire to work well with diverse people in a cooperative and friendly manner

Method of Application:

DEC in partnership with CASCADE are asking suitably qualified candidates to forward their detailed resume/CV and cover letter in a single file to: [email protected] in a word document or PDF format (as any other format would not be considered) using the Job Title as the subject of the email.