Consultants (Production of Nutrition Advocacy) at Save the Child

Save the Children is a leading international organization helping children in need around the world. First established in the UK in 1919, separate national organizations have been set up in more than twenty-eight countries, sharing the aim of improving the lives of children through education, health care and economic opportunities, as well as emergency aid in cases of natural disasters, war and conflict.

In Nigeria, Save the Children has been working since 2001. The early focus was on getting children actively involved in shaping the decisions that affect their lives. Today, Save the Children is working in seven federal states - Zamfara, Yobe, Jigawa, Katsina, Kano, Bauchi and Kaduna - focusing on providing basic healthcare and protecting children.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: Consultant - Production of Nutrition Advocacy-Specific Video For FCT and Gombe State

Job ID: #1203546
Location: Gombe

Background

• Nigeria is recording approximately 800,000 under-five deaths every year, accounting for about 11% of total global under-five deaths. Malnutrition is the underlying cause of about 45% of child deaths. 37% of children under age 5 are stunted, 18% are wasted, and 29% are underweight. Only 10% of children within the ages 6-23 months are fed appropriately based on recommended Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices.11% of women are undernourished, 25% are overweight or obese. Although problems related to poor nutrition affect the entire population, women and children are especially vulnerable because of their unique physiology and socioeconomic characteristics. Nigeria is the leading country in Africa and third globally with over 13 million children chronically undernourished,whereas, adequate nutrition is essential to children’s growth and development.
• The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) project is designed to ensure that the environment to deliver effective Nutrition plans are enabled and institutionalized at National and two Nigerian states (FCT and Gombe) by 2017. The project seeks to improve coordination of nutrition programmes and activities, ensuring that the commitments of governments are fully implemented.

Rationale

• The underlying factors responsible for the poor nutritional status in Nigeria is poor governance and stewardship responsibility for health, especially at the Primary Health Care (PHC) level which has about 70% of the population (especially mothers and children) and diseases burden. Some of the dimensions of the problem include absence, inadequacy and implementation challenges with regards to extant policies, governments’ commitments, legislation, budgets, poverty, food insecurity, inadequate care and food intake, unclear roles and responsibilities of the various sectors, donor driven intervention, lack of accountability mechanisms and weak collaboration and coordination among others.
• As part of the efforts to support evidence generation and scaling up of cost effective intervention on nutrition, there is need to create awareness amongst the general public and advocacy to policy makers on the impeding malnutrition deficiencies through the development of a nutrition specific video for Gombe and FCT. The video will be used by the Nutrition Advocacy Coalition to effectively carry out advocacy efforts which will catalyze improved stewardship responsibility, policy environment, increased political will, and unlock funds for nutrition activities by different MDAs at the state level.

Specific Task

• The Nutrition specific video requires an expert/an individual knowledgeable in the field of nutrition and a professional videographer that is driven to see a change in the malnutrition status of Nigeria.
• Understanding the purpose involved in undertaking this project will help the consultant to be able to tell a captivating/compassionate/ real life story of the plight of a child suffering from malnutrition or the hurdles a mother that is malnourished or has a malnourished child goes through.
• However, a good video will be an advocacy tool that can create a ripple effect whereby policy makers are moved to create a nutrition budget line, ensure releases and utilization.
• With the creation of a budget line for nutrition, there will be a boost in economy growth because healthy children translate into healthy productive market.
• In essence, the consultant is saddled with the responsibility of creating a video that can appeal to policy makers to invest in nutrition which has high returns of a lifetime of benefits for individuals, families and nations.

Capacity Requirements

• At least 7 years’ experience of progressive professional work in videography and editing
• Extensive experience and skills in Nutrition
• Good geographical inkling of Gombe state and FCT area councils
• A proper understanding of the malnutrition situation in Nigeria
• Knowledge and fluency in Hausa language is an added advantage

Application Closing Date
13th October, 2015.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should send their C.V., a list of works of a similar nature, and a covering letter with a 500-word statement explaining their suitability for the task to: [email protected]

Note: Also, applications received after the above closing date will not be considered.