Helen Keller

JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

Regional Nutrition Advisor, Africa

Dakar, Senegal preferred

Other countries in Africa where Helen Keller has a presence will be considered.

Guided by the remarkable legacy of its co-founder, Helen Keller, Helen Keller Intl partners with communities striving to overcome longstanding cycles of poverty. By delivering the essential building blocks of good health, sound nutrition and clear vision, we help millions of people create lasting change in their own lives. Working in more than 20 countries – across Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States – and together with a global community of supporters, we are ensuring every person has the opportunity – as Helen did – to reach their true potential.

Helen Keller is seeking a Regional Nutrition Advisor with public health expertise in program design, implementation research, program management, and coordination related to health systems and/or food systems for nutrition. The Regional Advisor will oversee the technical quality of a portfolio of country and regional nutrition and food systems programs, provide specialized support, coordinate technical support from other advisors, and track and ensure the timely delivery of high-quality project deliverables for the assigned portfolio. The Advisor is also expected to actively participate in business and proposal development.

Individuals with Africa continent expertise and experience in one or more of the following areas are encouraged to apply: Health Systems for nutrition, Food Systems for Nutrition, Market-based Interventions for improved nutrition, Food and Nutrition Security, and/or Resilience.

Functional Relationships

Reporting to the Vice President, Nutrition, the Regional Advisor will work closely with all members of the global team to support nutrition, health and food systems projects. The Regional Advisor will also coordinate with Helen Keller’s finance, operations and compliance teams.

As a Regional Advisor, the position co-supervises senior country office project staff within his/her assigned portfolio and will liaise with donors and partners. The Advisor will participate in senior level consultation regarding the management of the assigned portfolio of projects. Helen Keller has a matrixed reporting structure. Regular communication and a spirit of teamwork among colleagues, both hierarchically and laterally, are essential to make this structure thrive.

This position will also coordinate technical support throughout the assigned portfolio, working with a team of senior leaders and peers to assign, coordinate and manage technical resources to country programs including proposal development teams. This involves managing communication within the team and to country programs, representing and assigning others to represent Helen Keller in relevant fora, and across departments to ensure alignment. S/he will also coordinate with senior staff and finance to assign and monitor resource allocation.

Scope of the Position

The position has two primary areas of responsibility:

1. Provide technical guidance for an assigned portfolio. Work closely with the global Nutrition Team, country office technical and management staff and/or multi-country program managers to provide program technical guidance to ensure effective and high-quality design and planning, implementation, monitoring and documentation of that portfolio; and connecting the team to additional support, resources and experts, as needed. S/he will guide and help prepare technical presentations and reports, scientific abstracts, and peer-reviewed publications. S/he will also provide expert input to new project proposals.
2. Coordinate technical support. Review and coordinate the provision of technical support with country teams, multi-country programs and/or proposal teams in partnership with peer coordinators and the Vice President, Nutrition. Identify technical needs and gaps of programs, draw on technical expertise across the organization to meet those needs, coordinate and follow-up with focal point for each project who is tasked with providing direct support. This position will also coordinate regular meetings of country office and global technical staff as well as Helen Keller representation at external meetings.

The position is based in Dakar, Senegal (other Helen Keller countries may be considered) and is expected to require 30-40% international travel for the monitoring & evaluation, quality assurance, planning meetings, and trainings; for meetings with donors and implementing partners; and to attend global scientific and technical meetings.

Specific Responsibilities

Overarching

• As a member of the global program team, participate in strategic planning and direction setting for our programs, lending your unique perspective and expertise to the process.
• Participate in international work groups as assigned to develop global policies and/or optimize systems and procedures.
• Collaborate with local and global colleagues:
  • in the development of quality, evidence-based technical tools and guides used to increase capacity of and support to our projects; and
  • to suggest strategic topics for operational research and play an active role in the writing and editing of articles for submission to peer-reviewed publications.
• Produce up-to-date, evidence-based technical and policy briefs, and develop and manage the creation of evidence-based program standards with key stakeholders.
• Model collaboration for your matrixed team: effectively consult and inform colleagues to maximize efficiency and knowledge sharing and integrate guidance and direction from subject matter experts in your department and elsewhere in the global organization to maximize performance.

Nutrition Advisor

• Act as a focal point for an assigned portfolio of projects.
• Provide high-quality technical assistance to assigned portfolio: co-lead program design and development of activities and tools through engagement in the work planning process by contributing strategic thinking as well as detailed implementation planning and budgeting of activities ensuring consistency with project direction and strategy.
• Guide implementation teams to achieve high-quality project deliverables and ensure they meet project objectives and donor requirements.
• Engage with internal and external subject matter experts to solicit timely support as needed.
• Advise country offices on best practices for implementation of program activities, including evaluations to measure the impact of program activities.
• Develop and/or backstop country office-led research and evaluation activities, as well as the preparation of abstracts and journal articles.
• Work with program colleagues on strategic quality improvement initiatives within the portfolio and monitor progress.
• Meet with donors and implementing partners; represent Helen Keller in international meetings.
• Work with staff to achieve goals and ensure accountability to beneficiaries, partners, colleagues and donors by providing ongoing feedback in a context of mutual respect.
• Mentor indirect reports and engage in regular peer to peer performance conversations.
• Contribute to recruitment and ongoing supervision and evaluation of program staff in assigned portfolio and contribute to an atmosphere conducive to professional growth and development.
• Work with the External Relations department and/or the Business Development unit to assist country offices with the development of proposals, briefs, and success stories to be shared with internal and external audiences.
• Independently develop documents for review by team, and act as peer editor for colleagues.
• Train in-country staff and partners on topics within area of expertise. Participate in review of training materials and processes.

Technical Support Coordination

• Review and evaluate country office needs for technical assistance and recommend assignments of focal points for each project, for approval by senior program staff.
• Monitor finance reports to ensure assistance is being delivered as planned; explore variances and recommend course corrections, as needed.
• Plan and chair regular meetings of assigned focal points to facilitate coordination of additional resources, as needed.
• Participate in coordination meetings of global staff supporting programs.
• Plan and facilitate meetings of global and country office technical staff.
• Coordinate assignment of Helen Keller representatives to key technical meetings. Consult with team to prioritize and strategize and with External Relations to align messaging and communications support.

Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in public health plus at least 8 years of relevant work experience; or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Specific technical expertise and training experience in an area relevant to Helen Keller programming such as Health Systems for nutrition, Food Systems for nutrition, Market-based Interventions for improved nutrition, Food and Nutrition Security and Resilience.
• Strong interpersonal skills and social-emotional intelligence; experience working with cross-cultural teams.
• Experience in quantitative and qualitative analysis, program monitoring and evaluation, creating and monitoring budgets and knowledge of financial processes.
• Experience implementing programs in Africa is required; experience in multiple countries strongly preferred.
• Understanding of the synergy between the programmatic, operational, and financial components of public health initiatives.
• Experience working with a range of in-country partners, including USAID missions, government, implementing partners and local organizations.
• Experience with research design, data collection, analysis and manuscript preparation a plus.
• Very good oral and written English and/or French language skills, including the ability to quickly synthesize complex technical and programmatic issues into concise communications, with an ability to navigate the other language strongly preferable.
• Highly computer literate with knowledge of Microsoft software products, including strong Excel skills, required; use of data analysis software such as STATA is preferred.
• Ability and willingness to work under pressure with a positive attitude, as a part of a matrixed global team. Collaborative, flexible and solution-oriented.
• Ability to prioritize workload, assume responsibility for work, and follow tasks through to completion.
• 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.
• Personal commitment to Helen Keller’s mission and goals and the values embodied by Helen Keller Intl’s co-founder, Helen Keller: compassion, grit, rigor, and optimism.
• Ability and willingness to:
• flex work hours to accommodate multiple time zones; and
• undertake international travel (approximately 12-16 weeks of travel per year).

PLEASE NOTE: all staff must be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to travel internationally.

How to apply

To Apply

Qualified candidates should submit a cover letter and resume to [email protected] noting the job title in the subject line. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

In the spirit of our founder and namesake, Helen Keller is dedicated to building an inclusive workforce where diversity in all its forms is fully valued.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer where all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities. If you are a qualified individual with a disability and need to request an accommodation during the application or interview process, please contact us at the email above or call: +1 646-356-1789