National Professional Officer (Nutrition) at World Health Organization (WHO)

World Health Organization (WHO) is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible for providing leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends.

We are recruiting to fill the position of:

Job Title: National Professional Officer (Nutrition)

Ref No: 2208351
Location: Abuja, Nigeria
Schedule: Full-time 
Contractual Arrangement: Fixed-term appointment
Contract Duration (Years, Months, Days): Two years
Grade: NO-C

Objectives of the Programme

• The mission of WHO is to help countries, and to coordinate international action, to prevent, prepare for, detect, rapidly respond to, and recover from outbreaks and emergencies.

Description of Duties

• Advise on the planning, formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of nutrition programmes and activities, in compliance with WHO's overall strategy, and guidelines. Strengthen the nutrition surveillance, identify the constraints and gaps and provide technical solutions to improve the system.
• Develop response strategies and action plans based on the nutrition situation in the affected areas, in collaboration with partners.
• Provide technical support to monitor the implementation of specific activities related to nutrition to improve data collection and reporting at all levels.
• Strengthen the coordination of the prevention and control of malnutrition, including enhanced support to government systems, and referral systems.
• Develop a strategic plan to strengthen the capacity building of health professionals involved in the management of malnutrition, where appropriate.
• Ensure the nutrition programme pursues equitable access to emergency assistance particularly for affected and vulnerable populations, with a view to integrating gender equality and equity across all aspects of the incident nutrition programme, including supplementation and food fortification with essential micronutrients, IYCF,treatment cases of severe acute malnutrition, and other community nutrition programmes.
• Represent WHO in the interagency Nutrition Cluster and contribute to the development and implementation of interagency SMART surveys and other nutrition assessment tools.
• Perform any other related incident-specific duties, as required by the functional supervisor.

Required Qualifications
Education:

• Essential: University Degree in one of the disciplines relevant to the following areas: Public Health & Nutrition, International Health &Nutrition, Nutritional Epidemiology, Nutrition policy or development studies,Health & Nutrition Education, Nutrition Promotion and Disease Prevention,or other closely related field of study to nutritional issues.
• Desirable: Post graduate studies or specialized training in emergency management, international aid or humanitarian principles.

Experience

• Essential: At least five (5) years of relevant experience in development and management of nutrition programmes. Related working experience in outbreaks and/or health emergency operations in the area of nutrition. Experience in developing and promoting collaborative actions with national authorities.
• Desirable: Experience and skills inproviding in-country technical support and building capacity in national Health and nutrition programing, preferably in developing countries. Relevant work experience in WHO, other UN agencies, relevant non-governmental, health cluster partners or recognized humanitarian organizations.

Skills

• Excellent knowledge and understanding of international public health with focus onnutrition.
• Independent judgment; the ability to anticipate new trends in the field of nutrition, and take actions accordingly.
• Managerial skills for the development, implementation and analysis of technical cooperation programs and activities, including monitoring and evaluation of programmes.

WHO Competencies:

• Teamwork
• Respecting and promoting individual and cultural differences
• Communication
• Building and promoting partnerships across the organization and beyond
• Ensuring the effective use of resources

Use of Language Skills

• Essential: Expert knowledge of English.

Remuneration

• Remuneration comprises an annual base salary starting at NGN25,344,462 (subject to mandatory deductions for pension contributions and health insurance, as applicable) and 30 days of annual leave.

Application Closing Date
20th September, 2022 (10:59:00 PM)

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Additional Information

• This vacancy notice may be used to fill other similar positions at the same grade level
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test may be used as a form of screening.
• In the event that your candidature is retained for an interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
• Any appointment/extension of appointment is subject to WHO Staff Regulations, Staff Rules and Manual.
• For information on WHO's operations please visit: http://www.who.int.
• WHO is committed to workforce diversity.
• WHO prides itself on a workforce that adheres to the highest ethical and professional standards and that is committed to put the WHO Values Charter into practice.
• WHO has zero tolerance towards sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct (i.e., discrimination, abuse of authority and harassment). All members of the WHO workforce have a role to play in promoting a safe and respectful workplace and should report to WHO any actual or suspected cases of SEA, sexual harassment and other types of abusive conduct. To ensure that individuals with a substantiated history of SEA, sexual harassment or other types of abusive conduct are not hired by the Organization, WHO will conduct a background verification of final candidates.
• WHO has a smoke-free environment and does not recruit smokers or users of any form of tobacco.
• This is a National Professional Officer position. Therefore, only applications from nationals of the country where the duty station is located will be accepted. Applicants who are not nationals of this country will not be considered.