The role of the Senior Project Officer – Emergency Health, Nutrition, and Cash Transfer involves providing county-level technical leadership and oversight for emergency response actions focusing on child health, nutrition, and multi-purpose cash assistance (MPCA). This position ensures the quality implementation of integrated nutrition and health programs, strengthens the capacity of local partners and government health workforce, and represents Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in key coordination forums across Isiolo, with occasional support extending to Marsabit and Turkana Counties. The role requires approximately 50% travel to project sites across the respective sub-counties.
Roles and Key Responsibilities
Capacity Building
- Provide county-level technical leadership in implementing emergency child health and nutrition actions.
- Build capacity of CRS staff and stakeholders on MPCA, child health and nutrition emergency response, and related livelihood interventions (IMAM, MIYCN).
- Oversee capacity strengthening of the health workforce on Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM).
- Participate in and provide technical leadership in emergency coordination meetings and technical working groups with County/Sub-County Health Management Teams (HMTs) and other stakeholders.
Supportive Supervision & Quality Improvement
- Collaborate with Local Implementing Partners in MPCA implementation.
- Ensure quality of county-level child health and nutrition emergency response actions.
- Lead quality improvement initiatives and learning exchanges among Government of Kenya (GoK) and stakeholders.
- Conduct supportive supervision and field monitoring visits, providing mentoring and technical assistance.
- Organize and facilitate review meetings on child health and nutrition emergency response actions.
County Government Engagement & Representation
- Lead county engagement and represent CRS in Emergency Nutrition Coordination Forums, County Steering Group meetings, Nutrition Technical Forums, and Cash Transfer Technical Working Groups.
- Develop and present high-quality dissemination materials at county and stakeholder meetings.
- Advocate for sustainable support of child health and nutrition emergency response actions and related livelihood interventions beyond CRS-funded activities.
- Represent CRS in relevant county and sub-county meetings, technical working groups, and events.
Reporting
- Provide timely inputs to quarterly and annual planning, monitoring, reporting, and budgeting processes.
- Prepare and submit monthly progress reports highlighting successes, challenges, observations, and adaptations.
- Document project results and impacts through media stories, promising practices, lessons learned, case studies, and client feedback.
- Lead data collection, analysis, and reporting using CommCare to inform programming and decision-making.
Safeguarding
- Continuously sensitize program teams and participants on safeguarding.
- Ensure compliance with CRS safeguarding policies.
- Report safeguarding incidents in program operations for appropriate action and follow-up.
Qualifications and Experience
- Education: University degree required, preferably in Nutrition, Public Health, Nursing, or Social Studies.
- Experience: Minimum of five years of professional experience, including at least two years in managing Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM) and/or nutrition or public health programs.
- Expertise: Expertise in Emergency and Humanitarian Response in Health and Nutrition, with experience in monitoring, evaluation, and coordinating assessments and data collection.
- Technical Skills: Proven ability to implement IMAM protocols and multisectoral nutrition projects.
- Training & Mentoring: Demonstrated capacity to design and apply user-friendly guidance, tools, and SOPs at health facility and community levels, and to provide training, technical assistance, and mentoring.
- Contextual Knowledge: Strong knowledge of Government of Kenya (GoK) systems, programs, and frameworks, with experience across both healthcare and community settings.
- Partnership: Ability to work effectively with various partners, including government actors, civil society, faith-based organizations, healthcare providers, and multisectoral nutrition service providers.
- Soft Skills: Excellent interpersonal, analytical, negotiation, and mentoring skills, with the ability to manage complex organizational relationships.
Additional Details
- Required Language: Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; ability to draft and edit reports. Excellent verbal communication skills in Kiswahili.
- Required Travel: Approximately 50% travel to project sites across Isiolo, Marsabit and Turkana Counties.
- Supervisory Responsibility: Project Officers – Marsabit.
- Key Working Relationships:
- Internal: Program Manager – Health, Nutrition, Social Services, Program Manager – Livelihoods, Project Officers, Marsabit, SPO Turkana, MEAL team, Operations team.
- External: Donors, government ministries/institutions at the National and County levels, health facilities, UN agencies, civil society and faith-based organizations providing multisectoral nutrition services, Community Strategy Focal Persons at County and Sub- County levels, universities/research institutions.
