Job Title: Nutrition Program Coordinator

Reports to: Nutrition Program Manager

Location: Butaro with possibility to work cross-site from time-to-time

 Description of the role:

Partners in Health is a Boston-based non-for-profit organization that for 25 years has focused on the health of the poor. PIH is now active in 10 countries, including Rwanda. PIH arrived in Rwanda in mid-2005 at the invitation of the Government of Rwanda and supported in part by the William J. Clinton Foundation. For the past 7 years, PIH has worked with the Rwandan Ministry of Health by building infrastructure, supplementing operational budgets, and training local staff at hospital, health center, and community level in three rural districts.

Over the past 10 years Rwanda has made dramatic progress in improving under-five child health. PIH has led several innovative Maternal and Child programs, including development of a mentoring program for health center nurses, and partnership with the MOH in national trainings in neonatology, IMCI and Malnutrition management, and women’s health care. However, malnutrition remains unacceptably high, especially stunting, which has not shown a significant decrease for the past decade. There is also a general need for nutrition support for patients with chronic diseases to ensure success of treatment. There is thus still important work to be done, including in building the capacity of health facility providers to manage severe and moderate acute malnutrition and PIH-supported districts in fighting against stunting.

We aim to recruit a Nutrition Program coordinator who will be responsible of the successful implementation of nutrition and ECD interventions in Burera District.

Program operationalization

• Coordinate the implementation of all nutrition and ECD related program activities and ensure their timely completion
• Collaborate with other district partners, including District health unit, heads of health centers, nutritionists, CHWs to ensure ECD centers are integrated into other health and social services

• Collaborate in the preparation of annual work plans, which contribute to PIH’s 5-year strategy and Rwanda’s Vision 2020;
• Support District and nutrition leadership in improving and integrating IMB projects and programs with the District Plan for Elimination of Malnutrition (DPEM) for synergy;
• Work with the Nutrition program leadership and in collaboration with other Clinical Programs in designing and implementation of nutrition care for chronic care patients.
• Monitor program process, output, and outcomes of ECD centers through an evaluation and on-going monitoring of the ECD center progress through reports, in close collaboration with IMB Monitoring and Evaluation team and Research Department.
• Conduct home visits to assess family conditions of children enrolled in ECD centers with recurrent acute malnutrition.
• Maintains program/project records researches information, and gathers and computes various data.
• Performs miscellaneous job-related duties as assigned

• Maintain flexibility and a willingness to learn as new programmatic areas are explored including nutrition care for chronic care patients

Technical support and mentorship:

• Design and provision of nutrition-sensitive trainings for health workers and program beneficiaries and participate in the development of clinical protocols and training materials, in collaboration with other IMB programs.
• Capacity building through mentorship for health care providers at Health Facility level in management of malnutrition for U5 children.

 National-Level Functions

• In collaboration with the head of Nutrition program, represent IMB at the national level by participating in relevant technical working groups related to Early Childhood Development.
• Help to raise the profile of IMB’s ECD-related work through attendance at National workshops and meetings, seeking opportunities for presentations, and sharing experiences.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in relevant field required: nutrition, public health, science-related field (i.e. biological sciences), food security, agriculture
• 3 to 5 years of experience (paid or unpaid) in a nutrition, early childhood education or public health related field
• Ability to train, build capacity of local staff, and build relationships with local and national stakeholders
• Passion for nutrition and early childhood development
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills
• Ability to manage and prioritize projects with attention to detail
• Ability to work well with culturally diverse team, be flexible, and have a strong willingness to learn
• Excellent interpersonal skills
• Comfort with Microsoft Suite, and general computer skills
• Fluency in English and Kinyarwanda required
• A valid driver’s license category A is an added advantage
• Ability to work and live in rural settings.
• Ability to live PIH/IMB values: Ubumuntu, Ubupfura, Ubwubahane, Ubunyangamugayo, Ubumwe, Agaciro, Kugira ishyaka.