15-812: Technical Surge Advisor- SBC

Job Description

Essential Job Duties/Scope of Work:

International Medical Corps is leading a consortium with Action Against Hunger (ACF) and Save the Children UK (SC UK) to provide technical Surge capacity for response in emergencies.

The program will hire four Technical Surge Advisors (TSA), specifically one Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (IYCF-E), hosted by SCUK, one community management of acute malnutrition (CMAM), one Social Behavior Change (SBC) hosted by International Medical Corps, and one needs assessment expert hosted by ACF. In addition International Medical Corps will hire a program coordinator to manage this program. These TSAs will be deployed to Level 3 emergencies as a priority and to Level 2 emergencies as needed to support nutrition partners on the ground including the nutrition cluster to conduct nutrition needs assessments, start-up or quickly expand CMAM programs, support government and partners on IYCF-E, and support social behavior change in hygiene and sanitation and its linkages to nutrition.

The four TSAs will be deployed 50% of the time. When not on deployment, they will focus 25% of the time to dedicated work of their hosting agency and 25% of their time to the consortium. They will focus on building the capacity of the consortium partners and other partners including Ministries of Health, government departments, in country UN agencies and local and international NGO staff on IYCF-E, SBC, CMAM and needs assessments; provide remote and follow-up support to emergency response as needed; review, update and when needed develop new guidelines to simplify and improve response in disasters to nutrition needs especially in IYCF-E, nutrition and WASH related SBC, CMAM and needs assessments.

UNICEF estimates that more than 90 percent of deaths from diarrheal illnesses in young children can be attributed to unsafe or inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) practices. Recent evidence also points to unsafe food as a cause of diarrhea in children especially at the weaning age. Effective social behavior change to improve hygiene is widely accepted to be one of the most valuable tools to reduce the burden of diarrheal diseases after a disaster. Hygiene promotion is, nevertheless, given significantly less emphasis than other water supply and sanitation initiatives. In most major emergency responses there is a major emphasis on providing water and sanitation facilities and not enough emphasis on hygiene promotion and integrating hygiene promotion and nutrition.

JOB PURPOSE:

The SBC Technical Surge Advisor (TSA) will provide senior leadership and will be responsible for improving the delivery of emergency nutrition, specifically SBC, responses in rapid onset and protracted emergencies globally, through in country deployments and remote technical assistance to governments, nutrition clusters, the Global Nutrition Cluster (GNC), and local and international non-government organizations.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Deployments (50%):

Specific tasks and responsibilities will be outlined in a TOR (prepared and validated by all the members of the Technical Surge consortium) for each deployment, based on country context and needs; and they are likely to include several of the following key tasks:

· Deploy within 72 hours of an emergency request

· Provide technical training, strategic advice, and operational support on Social and Behavior Change relating to sanitation and hygiene and nutrition.

• Ensure adequate coordination for SBC is in place through either establishing and leading or providing substantial support to the Nutrition and WASH clusters and possibly supporting an SBC technical working group
• Lead SBC assessments and advocate for inclusion of the 12 determinants of behavior change in multi sector rapid assessments
• Support country nutrition and WASH clusters to develop a SBC strategy and mapping as required
• Design appropriate and evidence based SBC response plans
• Advocate for prioritization of behaviors across sectors that affects the most vulnerable and increase mortality and morbidity
• Assess capacity building needs across partners and develop a plan for meeting these; conduct Training of Trainers (TOTs) for Ministries, train field workers/first responders, hold orientations for stakeholders
• Integrate SBC into current, new, or scaled up nutrition activities: CMAM, micronutrients, IYCF-E
• Advise on integration of SBC nutrition and hygiene behaviors with other sectors (WASH, Food Security and Livelihoods, Child Protection, Health)
• Work with the CMAM and IYCF-E TSAs to develop relevant integrated SBC messages and behaviors to focus on during the emergency response
• Design M&E tools and indicators
• Monitor and evaluate SBC activities
• Determine need for scale up, brief donors and advocate for adequate resource allocation. Lead the development of proposals and budgets to seek adequate funding for SBC to be included in nutrition and WASH responses
• Support and develop government capacity in SBC.
• Contribute to research and analysis on SBC in emergencies to enhance good practices and assist in building the body of knowledge and evidence
• Synthesize and/or analyzes learning generated through programs into communicable outputs and disseminate these appropriately
• Stay abreast developments and current good practices in the field of practice
• Contribute to writing and disseminating program learning documentation
• Collaboratively and as needed, help develop tools and job aids that foster organizational capacity in SBC

In addition to the response (50%):

As part of the work of the SBC TSA during non-deployment, the SBC TSA will build the capacity of the consortium and GNC partners in designing and implementing evidence-based behavior change interventions during emergencies. The SBC TSA will develop tools and messages and will provide training to global partners via Skype and in person when responding to a disaster. Since a substantial number of GNC partners also implement WASH programs, the training will be for both sectors at the same time. The SBC TSA will be responsible for liaising with both the nutrition and WASH sectors/clusters.

• In collaboration with stakeholders, develop and rollout appropriate SBC trainings.

· In anticipation of emergencies, the SBC person will design behavior change activities that correspond to each of the 12 determinants of behavior change. These activities would be developed in consultation with the Global WASH and Nutrition clusters. They will be adapted for each specific emergency response and implemented with the clusters during an emergency response.

• Design an SBC curriculum and program design based on existing guidance and adapted to emergency response. This curriculum will then be disseminated through trainings for MoH, NGO and UN staff
• Document interventions and lessons learned to support the development of SBC-E guidelines in emergencies
• Document SBC responses in different emergency contexts including flood, earthquake, conflict, refugee influxes.
• Build partner staff capacity in SBC in emergencies

Security:

· Fully adhere to International Medical Corps Security procedures, communication protocols and standard operating procedures.

· Behaves at all times in a manner which positively promotes International Medical Corps and its work

Qualifications: REQUIREMENTS

• Master’s degree in nutrition, public health, behavior change communication, sociology, or related development studies; or equivalent combination of education and work experience in the context of SBC. · Demonstrated experience and high acceptability in working with government, clusters, NGOs, and donors. · Advanced knowledge of SBC and its application to programs. · Fluency in written and oral English required. Skills: · Excellent writing, oral and visual presentation skills; training skills · Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail. · Proficiency in MS Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc) and the Internet.
• NB: This is an anticipated position and is contingent on funding.
• · Ability to initiate and implement activities with minimal oversight and supervision.
• · Ability to assess priorities and competently complete a variety of activities with a high level of accuracy and timeliness.
• · Proven teamwork, partnering skills (facilitating dialogue and communications across diverse sectors, institutions, and geographic administrative levels)
• · Working knowledge of French, Spanish and / or Arabic, desirable.
• · Emergency response knowledge required.
• · Demonstrated experience in successfully working across health, WASH, agriculture, and social protection sectors and clusters.
• · At least 8 years work experience in SBC in the area of nutrition and public health, with a minimum of 5 years specifically in international nutrition, preferably including WASH.

About the Organization

International Medical Corps is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs.

Established in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses, International Medical Corps is a private, voluntary, nonpolitical, nonsectarian organization. Its mission is to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in underserved communities worldwide. By offering training and health care to local populations and medical assistance to people at highest risk, and with the flexibility for rapid response to emergencies. International Medical Corps rehabilitates devastated health care systems and helps bring them back to self-reliance.