Country: Senegal
Closing date: 24 Nov 2017
Established in 1915 with Helen Keller as a founding trustee, Helen Keller International (HKI) is dedicated to saving the sight and lives of the world’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged. Headquartered in New York City, HKI has an operating budget of some $80 million and currently conducts programs in 20 countries in Africa and Asia as well as in the United States. Renowned for its reliability, efficiency and high level of technical expertise, HKI promotes the development of sustainable, large-scale programs that deliver effective preventative and curative services for nutrition, eye health and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) while dealing with cross-cutting development issues such as gender equity, resilient livelihoods, and economic empowerment. The hallmark of the organization’s work is its proven success in developing, testing and scaling-up health interventions and integrating them within government and community structures to support and build local capacity and sustainable solutions.
Background
HKI’s programs in Africa have a long history, going back more than 30 years. We are currently implementing regional, multi-country and country specific projects in 12 countries in Africa. With about 550 staff and an annual operating budget of about $40 million, HKI’s programs in Africa are funded by a mix of government, corporate and foundation donors, including United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Global Affairs Canada, Irish Aid, United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, END Fund and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. Funding for the programs is generated through country, regional and headquarters fundraising efforts as well as through HKI’s affiliate, HKI Europe.
The country offices are supervised and supported directly by the Africa Regional Office (AFRO) team and managers of multi-country programs. The regional office is also responsible for all regional partner relations including regional UN offices, regional economic communities, the African Union, and regional health organizations.
HKI is seeking a Regional Technical Advisor for Nutrition programs (the Technical Advisor) to provide overall program vision, technical leadership, and quality assurance for HKI nutrition programs throughout Africa.
Functional Relationships
Reporting to the Vice President (VP) for Africa, the Technical Advisor is a member of the Regional Management Team (RMT). In addition, the position has a strong dotted line relationship to the Vice President, Nutrition at the US headquarters.
The Technical Advisor works in close collaboration with the RDs, the Regional M&E Advisor and multi-country Program Managers and technical colleagues across the organization. The Technical Advisor is a member of HKI’s global Senior Management Team (SMT) and serves on selected technical working groups.
As the functional lead for nutrition programs in the region, the Technical Advisor will provide direct line management of regional nutrition specialists (currently CMAM, Food Fortification and IYCF) and serves as the dotted line manager of senior nutrition staff in the country offices, contributing to selection and ongoing performance management.
HKI has a matrixed reporting structure that respects both the line management and authority within country office and regional hierarchies; and the accountability and oversight duties of subject matter experts and multi-country program managers at the regional and headquarters level. Strong communication skills and a spirit of teamwork among colleagues, both hierarchically and laterally, are essential to thrive within this structure.
The Technical Advisor also plays a key role in nurturing and overseeing relationships and cooperation with governments, partner NGOs, universities, industries, donors and UN agencies, and representing HKI to donors and the international community.
Scope of the Position
In addition to providing the overall program vision, technical leadership, and quality assurance for HKI nutrition programs throughout Africa, the Technical Advisor is responsible for ensuring positive donor relations and engaging in strategic partnerships with regional and international agencies. The incumbent will serve as a catalyst and technical resource in securing additional resources for HKI’s nutrition programs in Africa, including writing proposals, and in leading documentation and dissemination of HKI’s nutrition-related research and experiences by publishing relevant reports and contributing to peer-reviewed papers in the international scientific literature.
Supervising the regional nutrition specialists, the Technical Advisor will ensure the technical quality of program and proposal development; develop new projects and operations research protocols; and provide guidance, input and oversight to ensure that country office programs are implemented and reported on at the highest standards. Field travel includes visits to country offices and project sites as well as international meetings, as needed.
Key Responsibilities
§ Strategic Planning and Vision: Provide technical support and leadership to country offices implementing nutrition-related activities and regional nutrition initiatives. Provide guidance and coordinate regional nutrition team input into the country and regional office planning processes for overall nutrition programs, in accordance with HKI strategic plan and other strategies. Develop synergies between program areas in coordination with the other programs.
§ Program Development/Marketing/Fundraising: Identify and pursue new program initiatives that are consistent with HKI’s mission and strategic plan through developing innovative, evidence-based strategies, assisting colleagues to develop and write proposals. Identify partnership opportunities and maintain strong relationships with existing donors and partners, while cultivating new donors.
§ Program Quality Assurance: Provide overall technical leadership to a team of nutrition managers/specialists in the region, including country office staff, to enhance technical quality of HKI’s programs related to nutrition and ensuring gender considerations are integrated in all programs and projects. Support the VP Nutrition and work closely with the Regional M&E Advisor in the development and roll out of minimum program standards and other quality assurance tools that can be implemented throughout Africa.
§ Staff Management and Supervision: Carry out supervisory responsibilities for direct reports in accordance with the organization's policies and applicable laws. Plan, assign, and direct work; appraise performance; reward and discipline supervisees; address complaints and resolve problems with the support of HR. Assist in interviewing, hiring, and training/orienting senior country office nutrition staff. Identify professional development needs and opportunities for staff. Ensure regular communication and support mutual accountability among staff and colleagues.
§ Representation and Partnerships: Work with colleagues to identify new partnership possibilities and maintain collaboration with regional institutions, international and local donors, international and local NGOs, universities and other resource institutions. Ensure HKI representation at key regional meetings and conferences concerning nutrition.
§ Dissemination of Information: Maintain and further HKI’s international role in nutrition by assisting country offices to document and publish/present relevant programmatic findings and lessons learned. Review articles for Nutrition News for Africa. In collaboration with the VP Nutrition, Regional M&E Advisor, and regional and headquarters staff, assist country staff and research collaborators in developing articles for peer-reviewed publication.
Qualifications
§ At least a Master’s degree in Nutrition or related field with strong hands-on experience in nutrition programming, including at the community level, is required. PhD a strong plus; and
§ A minimum of 8-10 years of related field experience in nutrition programming (e.g., micronutrients, IYCF, management of acute malnutrition, and nutrition sensitive agriculture), including strong quantitative analytic skills, ideally including development and management of nutrition programs; or equivalent combination of skills and experience.
§ Strong technical knowledge of nutrition programs in the developing world, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, including demonstrated ability to track and disseminate new developments in the field.
§ Familiarity with behavior change communication strategies in support of nutrition programs..
§ Experience in undertaking and supporting data collection, analysis and report and article writing, including publication in peer-reviewed journals. Implementation/operational research experience, preferable.
§ Demonstrated understanding of complex international operations. Ability to manage technical team and to interact productively with country offices and partners and to build capacity of colleagues.
§ A proven successful track record in fundraising and proposal writing.
§ Strong interpersonal skills in dealing with external contacts, as well as internal colleagues.
§ Excellent oral and written English. Ability to read, analyze and interpret the most complex documents, and to prepare presentations and articles using original or innovative techniques or style. Ability to make effective and persuasive presentations on complex topics.
§ Strong oral and written ability in French. Ability to work in Portuguese an advantage.
§ Demonstrated knowledge of the application of information technologies to HKI program areas. Knowledge of various software to be able to undertake data analysis, prepare presentations and other work-related documents.
§ An ability to work in challenging and changing environments, and to see through challenges to find solutions. An ability to maintain balance when under stress.
§ Demonstrable respect for all persons regardless of religion, ethnicity, class or gender, with a high comfort level working in a diverse environment with a demonstrated commitment to high professional ethical standards.
§ Residence in or willingness to relocate to Dakar, Senegal.
§ Ability and willingness to undertake extensive field travel (at least 30%). 00000000}
How to apply:
Qualified candidates should submit a cover letter and resume to HKI.Recruitment@hki.org noting the job title in the subject line.