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ABOUT WFP
Assisting 91.4 million people in around 83 countries each year, the World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading humanitarian organization saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies, and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. On any given day, WFP has 5,000 trucks, 20 ships, and 92 planes on the move, delivering food and other assistance to those in most need. Every year, we distribute more than 15 billion rations at an estimated average cost per ration of US$ 0.31. These numbers lie at the roots of WFP’s unparalleled reputation as an emergency responder, one that gets the job done quickly at scale in the most difficult environments. WFP’s efforts focus on emergency assistance, relief and rehabilitation, development aid, and special operations.
WFP Ethiopia is working with the government and other humanitarian partners to strengthen the resilience of Ethiopia’s most vulnerable population and to chart a more prosperous and sustainable future for the next generation. The Country Office also supports programs that use food assistance to empower women, transform areas affected by climate change and keep children in school. It aims to contribute to Ethiopia’s five-year development agenda, the Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), through which the Government combats food insecurity.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
A year since the conflict in Tigray broke out, the region continues to face a serious humanitarian crisis. About 1.8M people are reported as displaced (IOM, December 10th, 2021) – with newly reported displacement linked to the recent active conflict in the Western zone and bordering areas of Afar and Amhara regions and tensions in some of the Northern border locations with Eritrea. Despite the cessation of active conflict within most of the region since July 2021, its continued isolation from the rest of the country is resulting in a shortage of food and non-food supplies, including critical medicines and medical supplies. A lack of communications, a functional banking system, and loss of employment mean that regional government institutions, organizing structures, and services have also not gained full functionality. These factors hamper the overall economic, social, and market systems thus aggravating and compounding the dire food and nutrition situation in the region.
Against this backdrop, the delivery of humanitarian assistance to an estimated 5.2M people in need remains severely constrained. According to OCHA (December 9, 2021), only 13% of the required humanitarian supplies have been delivered to the region in 6 months ie July-December 2021, while lack of fuel is hindering the provision of basic services, including health & nutrition, water, and sanitation, electricity interruption, limited transportation, and limited access to livelihoods and markets.
A missed planting season (May/July 2021) for most, combined with high costs of food due to non-functional markets and low affordability also means the majority of the population does not have access to age-appropriate diverse and nutritious diets. This dire food security situation combined with disrupted health, nutrition, and WASH services, has increased the risk of malnutrition, especially for children under five years of age and pregnant and lactating women (PLW). MUAC screening data reported by the nutrition cluster (November 2021) and from WFP’s supported nutrition interventions shows acute malnutrition among children is above 15%, while on average, 60% of screened mothers are found to be acutely malnourished.
WFP is supporting the implementation of the Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programme (TSFP) and the Blanket Supplementary Feeding Programme (BSFP) as key nutrition-specific programs, to contribute to the treatment and prevention of acute malnutrition among children below five years and pregnant and lactating women (PLW) in Tigray region. Since February, the interventions have reached 874,000 children and mothers (target:1.4M) across 71 woredas. The interventions are delivered through NGO cooperating partners, supported by WFP operational teams: one each based in Mekelle SO and Shire FO. WFP also works in partnership with other nutrition stakeholders including, the regional health bureau (RHB), UNICEF WHO, and NGOs within the various cluster mechanisms.
The scope of WFP’s Tigray nutrition emergency response is such that a nutrition coordinator is needed to provide overall leadership and oversight to the nutrition response. The nutrition coordinator’s roles will encompass four broad areas: Participation in nutrition response design and planning of required resources – including proposing/recommending improvements (when needed); Supervision and coordination of team members to maintain the nutrition action plan on track; Ensuring and monitoring the implementation of WFP and national nutrition policies and guidelines across the response; and Representing WFP nutrition to both internal (WFP units) and external stakeholders, including managing communication-related to the nutrition response.
KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)
DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT
A comprehensive report of the overall program implementation outlining successes, challenges, and lessons learned.
STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
Education: Advanced University degree in Public Health Nutrition, Nutrition, Food Technology, Medicine, or another relevant field.
Experience: A minimum of 8 years of experience in design for nutrition-specific (IMAM/CMAM, BSFP) and nutrition-sensitive programs/nutrition prevention programming or approaches (direct or with national governments).
Knowledge & Skills:
Languages: Fluency in both oral and written communication in English.