Nutrition Research Manager

Country Office: Ethiopia

Work Base: Addis Ababa

Availability: As Soon As Possible

Salary Scale: EMS09

   Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply for this position.

About Action Against Hunger

Action Against Hunger-USA is a global humanitarian organization that takes decisive action against the causes and effects of hunger. We save the lives of malnourished children and we enable entire communities to be free from hunger. With more than 8,000 staff in over 50 countries, our programs reached 17 million people in 2019.

About the Country Program in Ethiopia

Action Against Hunger has been operational in Ethiopia since 1984 responding to both chronic and acute needs through a multi-sectoral strategy where nutrition, Food Security and Livelihoods, WASH, and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support activities are integrated to have a meaningful impact on people’s resilience.

Action Against Hunger currently operates in 5 different regions (Oromia, Somali, Amhara, Benishangul Gumuz, and Gambella) with a portfolio of 20m USD/year of emergency, resilience building, research, and innovation programs. We have a country team of around 600 staff in 17 regional and satellite offices. Our main donors in Ethiopia in 2020/2021 are BHA, ECHO, Europaid, UNHCR, UNICEF, GFFO, BPRM, SIDA, EHF, WFP, CIAA, and others

I. Summary of position

Action Against Hunger has received a five-year contract from the Power of Nutrition to conduct operational research in Ethiopia related to select innovations in the community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) that aim to improve the coverage and cost-effectiveness of treatment. The operational research component is led by Action Against Hunger USA alongside partners including UNICEF and the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, among others. 

The Power of Nutrition (PON) Ethiopia operational research study aims to address critical gaps in linking knowledge to effective action on acute malnutrition, including how to scale proven innovative approaches to treatment, as well as their implications for the broader policy-level environment. As such, the study will focus on two specific innovations in the management of acute malnutrition:

• Family MUAC. Family MUAC is an approach that consists of equipping caregivers to measure and monitor their own children’s MUAC given the provision of training and MUAC tapes. Caregivers are taught to self-refer their children for treatment if/when they are identified as acutely malnourished. The goal of this approach is to achieve early detection and treatment for acutely malnourished children.
• Reduced dosage. This approach consists of reducing the standard treatment from a weight-based calculation to an alternative, ‘optimized’ dosing regimen whilst still maintaining comparable treatment outcomes. As current and projected resources are insufficient to meet the total burden of wasting in Ethiopia, there is a need to explore ways to increase the cost-effectiveness of treatment. The use of a reduced dosage protocol may contribute to achieving such advances by reducing the cost of product per child treated and cured. 
• As a key member of the research team, the Nutrition Research Manager will be based in Addis Ababa, with significant travel to the field to oversee study design and implementation.

Purpose: 

• The Nutrition Research Manager will support the design, set-up, and implementation of research activities for the simplified approaches to operational research, with emphasis on the Family MUAC research stream.

Engagement:

• Internally, this position will engage primarily with the PON Research Project Coordinator, as well as the Ethiopian technical, operational, and administrative teams and the US research team. Externally, this position will engage with project academic partners, Ministry of Health focal points, and technical working groups.

Delivery:

• The Nutrition Research Manager will be responsible for ensuring the delivery of high-quality research design and implementation of research activities, including field-level monitoring visits and troubleshooting. S/he will support the project through coordination with external stakeholders and management of the award through quality reporting to Action Against Hunger donors and stakeholders in line with internal rules and regulations, funding regulations, and core values of the organization.

II. Essential Job Duties 

Support of Family MUAC research implementation and other research activities (60%)

• The Nutrition Research Manager will support the design and implementation of the Family MUAC research on a day-to-day basis in Ethiopia, as well as other project-specific research activities as required. This function is expected to include:
• Collaborating with the researchers and technical teams to design and implement the Family MUAC formative research, including the development of focus group discussion guides and key informant interview guides, and the Family MUAC study protocol
• Aggregating and collating existing country-level evidence, guidance, and tools on Family MUAC, including guidelines, training materials, and secondary data
• Facilitating the set-up for key informant interviews with country-level stakeholders leading Family MUAC projects, including Ministry of Health representatives and operational partners
• Supporting user-centered qualitative activities with caregivers, community health workers, and other influencers to uncover relevant insights into Family MUAC (co-creation, qualitative research, prototyping tools, and services and field testing with users)
• Hiring, training, and managing data collection staff, and monitoring data collection to ensure properly informed consent process, quality data, and fidelity to the protocol
• Working closely with community health workers and clinic workers to identify and enroll participants
• Collaborating with the research team to analyze and contextualize the data, highlighting key results

Partnerships and Engagement (20%)

• Alongside the Head of Nutrition/Health and the Research Project Coordinator, the Nutrition Research Manager will engage with strategic partners in support of the project. This is expected to include:
• Engaging in partnerships with the Ethiopia MOH and UNICEF as implementing partners of the project
• Participating in country-level nutrition coordination mechanisms (e.g., Nutrition Cluster, technical working groups) to represent the project and ensure alignment with project activities
• Identifying and developing strategic collaborative relationships with other government, academic, and NGO partners implementing simplified approaches throughout Ethiopia

Project Management (20%)

• The Nutrition Research Manager will work closely with the Research Project Coordinator to support the day-to-day management of the PON award. This function is expected to include:
• Supporting the submission of study protocols for national-level ethical approval
• Collaborating with all implicated teams in the implementation of the PON award, e.g., MEAL, operations, finance, government liaison and reporting, and logistics
• Ensuring adherence to systems to track progress against delivery and expenditures
• Supporting on-time reporting to partners and donors, including close collaboration with sub-office staff to obtain necessary programmatic and financial inputs
• Supporting in the set-up for study implementation, including recruitment of staff and data collectors, logistics/procurement, setting up tablets for data collection, etc. 

III. Supervisory Responsibilities 

• The Nutrition Research Manager will support the hiring, training, and supervision of data collectors for research activities.

IV. Fiscal Responsibility

• N/A 

V. Physical Demands

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is required to sit for long periods and to concentrate on work, including typing, and turn out heavy volumes of work accurately, within short time frames under stressful situations in the context of a moderately noisy office with interruptions.
• To travel to the field, the employee must attest to a level of physical fitness capable of enduring physically difficult, highly stressful situations which may include the necessity to walk long distances, to eat a limited diet, and/or to reside in potentially uncomfortable housing or tents.
• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

VI. Working Conditions, Travel, and Environment

• The duties of the job require regular job attendance at least five days per week. Must be available to work outside normal office hours or on the weekends as required by contact with the missions, mission security, or other obligations.
• Must be able to travel as required for standard domestic and international business travel as well as to the missions if appropriate. While visiting the field, the employee may be exposed to precarious settings under high-security risks and/or very basic living conditions and outside weather conditions, as well as to infectious diseases.

VII. Gender Equality Commitments & Zero Tolerance to Abuse

• Foster an environment that reinforces the values of people of all genders equal access to information.
• Provide a work environment where people of all genders must be evaluated and promoted based on their skills and performance.
• Promote a safe, secure, and respectful environment for all stakeholders, particularly for children, beneficiaries, and members of staff.
• Help to prevent any type of abuse including workplace harassment and sexual abuse and exploitation.
• Respect beneficiaries’ women, men, children (boys and girls) regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, race, color, ancestry, national origin, age, or marital status.
• Value and respect all cultures.  

Job Requirements

VIII. Required Qualifications

• Required master’s degree from an accredited college or university in a major social or health science field of study, preferably nutrition and public health
• The ideal candidate will have experience working in research projects related to child nutrition and/or health in Ethiopia. We are seeking an individual who is adept at following study protocols, who has good judgment and problem-solving skills and has strong communication skills and documentation habits.
• This person needs to have well-developed interpersonal skills (to be able to develop a good rapport with data collectors and other in-country stakeholders) and have experience with community-based nutrition or health programming.

IX. Required Skills & Experience

• 5+ years of professional experience and 3+ years of relevant experience in the field of clinical and operational nutrition research, field research coordination, and management
• Experience organizing and participating in field-level data collection as part of a research study or program monitoring and evaluation
• Training in and proven knowledge of acute malnutrition programming in Ethiopia; preferred experience in Family MUAC programming and/or reduced dosage programming or research
• Knowledge of MS Office Suite required and comfortable working with computers with minimal IT support
• Experience with qualitative research design and implementation
• Experience with user-centered design activities (preferred but not required)
• Experience with mobile data collection tools (e.g. Kobo) (preferred but not required)
• Fluency in English is a requirement; Amharic and any other local languages are desirable
• Possess strong organizational skills and attention to detail
• Ability to take initiative and prioritize multiple tasks with minimum supervision
• Genuine interest in and commitment to the mission and principles of Action Against Hunger
• Excellent interpersonal skills, ability to work both independently and as a member of a team.

How to Apply

     APPLICATION PROCEDURE

If you are interested, please send your application composed of none returnable CV, a Covering Letter with “Nutrition Research Manager” written in the subject line, and three references, applicants to the following addresses: 

Through CLICK HERE

NB: Only short listed applicants will be, communicated on and selection process includes technical test and an interview. Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply for this position.