Nutrition Sector Co-Coordinator

Action against Hunger is an international non-governmental, private, apolitical, non-religious and non-profit organization created in 1979. Its goal is to combat hunger and dangerous situations that threaten men, women and children. Currently 500 expats and more than 5,000 employees are working for Action against Hunger in more than forty-six countries working in projects concerning four areas of focus: nutrition, health, food security and water and sanitation. 

In Lebanon, the Syrian crisis continues to generate political, social and economic pressure due to the war in Lebanon and keeps more than 1.5 million refugees in a situation of increasing vulnerability. In this environment of political, economic and social uncertainty, our teams have maintained their high levels of humanitarian response and aid to Lebanon. Likewise, our interventions have been maintained in the Bekaa and northern areas, as well as in the south of the country, with a special focus on working in partnership or in consortium with other organizations and on institutional strengthening of the relationship with both donors. institutional, such as with local authorities and entities.  

The NSCC, under the direct supervision of the NS Coordinator will be an integral team member to ensure the nutrition sector performs its core functions as described in the IASC Cluster Coordination Reference Module, IASC, July 2015 and these core functions are as follows:

1. Supporting service delivery
2. Informing strategic decision-making of the HC/HCT for the humanitarian response
3. Prioritization, grounded in response analysis
4. Advocacy
5. Monitoring and reporting the implementation of the sector strategy and results; recommending corrective action where necessary
6. Build national capacity for contingency planning/preparedness for recurrent disasters whenever feasible and relevant and
7. Accountability to affected population as a cross cutting theme.

The NSCC, under the direct supervision and in coordination with the NSC, will support the NSC to undertake the below functions.

Objective 1: Identification of key partners

• Identify key humanitarian partners for the Nutrition Sector response, respecting their respective mandates and program priorities

• Identify other key partners including local and national authorities, etc.

• Carry out and provide relevant inputs to the Cluster coordination team in conducting the mapping of all current and potential actors – government, national and international humanitarian organizations as well as national institutions, the private sector and advocate to donors, NGOs, government, and other stakeholder on the nutrition program needs and services, including provision of regular inputs/updates to the cluster’s 4W (Who, What, Where, When) matrix, risk analysis matrix and other tools; and map out the partner capacities.

• Provide relevant inputs to the Cluster coordination team in conducting the mapping of all current and potential actors – government, national and international humanitarian organizations as well as national institutions, the private sector

Objective 2: Establishment and maintenance of appropriate humanitarian coordination with relevant partners

• Ensure appropriate coordination between all Nutrition humanitarian partners (including national and international NGOs, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, IOM, and other international organizations active in the sector) as well as national authorities and local structures

• Ensure the establishment/maintenance of appropriate sector coordination mechanisms including working groups at the national, and if necessary, local level;

• Support the Cluster Coordination team in organizing of and participating in regular cluster coordination meetings and information sharing in all crisis-affected states to ensure appropriate coordination between all nutrition humanitarian partners, including provision of inputs for the agenda and information and evidence to inform cluster partners discussions

• Ensure full integration of the IACS’s agreed priority cross-cutting issues, namely human rights, HIV/AIDS, age, gender and environment, utilization participatory and community-based approaches.  In line with this, promote gender equality by ensuring that the needs, contributions and capacities of women and girls as well as men and boys are addressed;

• Secure commitments from sector participants in responding to needs and filling gaps, ensuring an appropriate distribution of responsibilities within the sector, with clearly defined focal points for specific issues where necessary;

• Ensure that sector participants work collectively, ensuring the complementarities of the various stake holder’s actions;

• Promote emergency response actions while at the same time considering the need for early recovery planning as well as prevention and risk reduction concerns;

• Ensure effective links with other sectors, especially Health; WASH; Education; Protection; Food Security and Agriculture; and RCCE task force

• Represent the interests of the Nutrition Sector in discussions with the Humanitarian Coordinator as well as donors on prioritization, resource mobilization and advocacy;

• Act as focal point for inquiries on the Nutrition Sector's response plans and operations.

Objective 3: Planning and strategy development

Tasks: Ensure predictable action within the sector for the following;

• Needs assessment and analysis; development of standard assessment formats for use within the sector;

• Identification of gaps in interventions and needs assessments;

• Developing/updating agreed response strategies and action plans for the Nutrition Sector/cluster and ensuring that these are adequately reflected in the overall country strategies, such as the Common Humanitarian Action Plan (CHAP) an integral component of the CAP process.

• Drawing lessons learned from past activities and revising strategies and action plans accordingly.

• Developing an exit, or transition, strategy for the sector.

Objective 4:  Application of standards:

• Ensure that Nutrition Sector participants are aware of relevant policy guidelines, technical standards and relevant commitments that the Government/concerned authorities have undertaken under international human rights law;

• Ensure that the Nutrition Sector responses are in line with existing policy guidance, technical standards, and relevant Government human rights legal obligations.

Objective 5: Monitoring and reporting

• Specifically needs to include an analytical interpretation of best available information in order to benchmark progress of the emergency response over time.  That is - monitoring indicators (quantity, quality, coverage, continuity and cost) of service delivery which are derived from working towards meeting standards (mentioned in objective 4).

• Ensure regular reporting against the Nutrition Sector/cluster indicators of service delivery (quantity, quality, coverage, continuity and cost) supports analysis of the Nutrition Sector/cluster in closing gaps and measuring impact of interventions.

Objective 6: Advocacy and resource mobilization

• Identify core advocacy concerns, including resource requirements, and contribute key messages to broader advocacy initiatives of the Humanitarian Coordinators and other actors;

• Advocate for donors to fund sector participants to carry out priority activities in the sector concerned, while at the same time encouraging sector/cluster participants to mobilize resources for their activities through the usual channels.

• Act as the focal point for reviewing and ensuring quality control for all the Nutrition Sector project submitted for Flash Appeal, CERF and other funding mechanisms

Objective 6: Training and capacity building of national/local authorities and civil society

• Promote and support training of the Nutrition Sector partners personnel and build the capacity of all the Nutrition partners based on the mapping and understanding of available capacity;

• Support efforts to strengthen the capacity of the national/local authorities and civil society.

Qualifications:

• University degree, preferably at the master level, in health sciences, public health, nutrition, international development or related disciplines.
• Technical knowledge in public health and nutrition; Infant and Young Child Feeding; newborn, infant, child and maternal health; community nutrition. 
• Knowledge of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee and the sector approach either through training or practical experience.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• At least five years of progressively responsible humanitarian work experience with UN and/or NGO, including nutrition programme management and/or coordination in the first phase of a major nutrition emergency response.
•  Previous Cluster/Sector coordination or co-coordination experience is an asset.
• Experience as a member of the Strategic Advisory Group or a co-chair of the Technical Working Group is an asset.

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