Health and Nutrition Advisor

Organization

• ForAfrika

Posted 8 Aug 2025 Closing date 25 Aug 2025

ForAfrika is an African-rooted, globally connected organisation dedicated to empowering communities across the continent through sustainable development and humanitarian aid. With over 40 years of operational experience, ForAfrika works in environments that vary from emergency relief settings to long-term development, ensuring that every initiative is contextually aligned with the needs of the people it serves. Through a deep love for Africa and unwavering commitment, ForAfrika delivers programmes that transform lives by embracing an integrated approach to development. This includes enhancing education, health and nutrition, water and sanitation, food security and livelihoods, economic empowerment, and more, building environments where all Africans can thrive.

Position Summary
The Health and Nutrition Advisor serves as the technical leader for ForAfrika's comprehensive health and nutrition programming portfolio across multiple country operations in Africa. This role combines specialized health and nutrition expertise with operational excellence to drive transformative change in addressing malnutrition, health system challenges, and diet-related health issues in some of the world's most vulnerable contexts, including conflict-affected areas, fragile states, and communities experiencing acute health and nutrition crises.

The Advisor will champion innovative, evidence-based interventions that not only address immediate health and nutritional needs but also tackle the underlying determinants of poor health outcomes and malnutrition including poverty, health systems failures, inadequate healthcare access, and social inequities. This includes designing and overseeing integrated programs spanning acute malnutrition treatment, malnutrition prevention, primary healthcare delivery, infant and young child feeding, maternal and child health, health systems strengthening, nutrition-sensitive programming, community-based health and nutrition interventions, and emergency health and nutrition response strategies.

Operating at the intersection of humanitarian response and development programming, the position demands a seasoned health and nutrition professional who can seamlessly transition between rapid emergency deployment scenarios and long-term strategic health and nutrition programming initiatives. The Advisor will be responsible for building organizational capacity in health and nutrition, fostering innovation in program delivery, and ensuring that all interventions are technically sound, culturally appropriate, evidence-based, and aligned with international health and nutrition standards and guidelines.

The successful candidate will work collaboratively across sectors, lead multidisciplinary health and nutrition teams, engage with high-level stakeholders including government health ministries, and contribute to global knowledge generation in the health and nutrition sector while maintaining the highest standards of programmatic excellence.

Key Roles And Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership and Program Development
• Develop and implement comprehensive health and nutrition strategies aligned with ForAfrika's mission, national health and nutrition policies, and donor requirements
• Lead the design of integrated, multi-sectoral health and nutrition programs that address both immediate health and nutritional needs and underlying determinants of poor health outcomes and malnutrition
• Provide technical guidance on program approaches including acute malnutrition treatment, prevention programming, primary healthcare delivery, health systems strengthening, nutrition-sensitive interventions, social and behaviour change communication, and emergency health and nutrition response
• Ensure programs incorporate cross-cutting themes of gender equality, environmental sustainability, conflict sensitivity, social inclusion, and protection outcomes
• Technical Support and Capacity Building
• Provide systematic training, mentoring, and coaching to field staff on health and nutrition programming approaches, clinical protocols and international standards
• Support country teams in conducting health and nutrition assessments, surveillance systems, coverage evaluations, and nutrition emergency preparedness
• Develop technical guidance materials, standard operating procedures, clinical protocols, and best practice documentation
• Mentor and coach regional and national staff in health and nutrition programming and adherence to international standards (Sphere, WHO/UNICEF guidelines, SMART methodology)
• Establish Communities of Practice on Health and Nutrition at all operational levels
• Business development
• Support proposal development and fundraising efforts for health and nutrition programming initiatives
• Develop technical capability statements, pitch decks, and donor briefs tailored to health and nutrition programming to support positioning and fundraising efforts.
• Support relationships with key health and nutrition donors including ECHO, USG, FCDO, UNICEF, WFP, Health Pooled Fund, Global Fund for TB, AIDS and Malaria, African Development Fund, and private foundations
• Provide technical inputs for health and nutrition grant applications, donor reporting, and compliance requirements
• Participate in donor meetings, technical discussions etc
• Identify potential partners and donors and assist in developing pre-positioning plans
• Participate in preparing concept notes and project/programme proposals ensuring effective conceptualization of ForAfrika's Theory of Change and Programming Framework
• Program Quality Assurance and Monitoring
• Ensure adherence to international health and nutrition standards and sector-specific guidelines (Sphere, WHO guidelines, UNICEF programming guidance, national protocols)
• Oversee monitoring and evaluation systems for health and nutrition interventions including coverage surveys, outcome monitoring, and quality assurance mechanisms
• Lead or support external evaluations and coverage surveys of health and nutrition programs
• Participate in planning and provide technical support to ForAfrika's M&E plans in both development and humanitarian emergency contexts
• Support country teams in developing Terms of Reference, designing data collection methodologies and tools, conducting analysis, report writing, and dissemination for nutrition assessments (baselines, evaluations, SMART surveys, KAP surveys)
• Partnership and Coordination
• Represent ForAfrika in relevant health and nutrition coordination mechanisms, cluster meetings, and technical working groups
• Build and maintain strategic partnerships with government health ministries, UN organizations (UNICEF, WFP, WHO), NGOs, academic institutions, and research organizations
• Facilitate knowledge sharing and learning across the organization and with external nutrition partners
• Coordinate with other technical sectors (WASH, Food Security and Livelihoods, Education and Economic Empowerment) to ensure integrated programming approach
• Research and Innovation
• Lead applied research, documentation of lessons learned, and development of best practices from health and nutrition programming in emergency and development contexts
• Identify and promote innovative approaches, methodologies, technologies, and delivery mechanisms
• Support operational research initiatives and evidence generation for program improvement and policy influence
• Stay updated on global health and nutrition trends, emerging evidence, treatment protocols, and programmatic innovations
• Contribute to organizational learning and adaptation based on field experience, research findings, and global nutrition evidence
• Knowledge Management and Documentation
• Lead development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for ForAfrika's health and nutrition programming
• Establish and maintain a comprehensive database of health and nutrition resources needed for program planning and reporting
• Lead documentation and dissemination of ForAfrika's best practices, key tools, and advocacy materials from nutrition programming
• Support country offices in developing and implementing knowledge management strategies for health and nutrition programming
• Facilitate knowledge/learning exchange initiatives within ForAfrika and externally with health and nutrition networks and communities of practice.

Knowledge, Skills And Abilities

• Degree in Nutrition, Public Health Nutrition, Clinical Nutrition, Public Health, Medicine or related field
• Minimum 10 years of progressive experience in health an dnutrition programming in humanitarian and development contexts
• Experience in sub-Saharan Africa strongly preferred
• Proven track record in health and nutrition program design, implementation, and evaluation
• Health Systems Strengthening: Understanding of health system components and improvement approaches
• Maternal and Child Health: Comprehensive maternal and child health programming expertise
• Clinical Nutrition: Deep understanding of acute malnutrition treatment protocols, WHO/UNICEF guidelines, and community-based management approaches
• Nutrition Assessment: Expertise in nutrition survey methodologies, anthropometric assessment, SMART surveys, and nutrition surveillance systems
• Program Design: Knowledge of nutrition program design principles, prevention programming, nutrition-sensitive interventions, and integration approaches
• Emergency Nutrition: Proven technical knowledge and experience with nutrition emergency response, rapid assessments, and scaling up interventions
• Data Management: Demonstrated experience in health information/data management including data collection, analysis, and reporting of key nutrition indicators
• Software Proficiency: Competence in using SPSS, STATA, Epi Info, Nutri-Survey, Nutri- SMART, ODK, and PowerPoint presentations

Core Competencies

• Leadership: Ability to lead and inspire multidisciplinary health and nutrition teams across multiple countries
• Strategic Thinking: Capacity to develop and implement strategic approaches to complex nutrition challenges
• Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English; French, Portuguese, or Arabic an advantage
• Analytical Skills: Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities with attention to clinical detail and conceptual analysis capabilities
• Cultural Competency: Sensitivity to cultural contexts and ability to work effectively in diverse environments
• Training and Facilitation: Proven presentation, training, and facilitation skills including ability to prepare technical presentations for high-level engagement
• Interpersonal Skills: Highly developed interpersonal and external communication skills including influencing, negotiation, coaching, and partner focus.
• Adaptability: Flexibility to work in challenging and rapidly changing emergency environments

Behavioral Competencies

• Commitment to humanitarian principles, health and nutrition programming values
• Results-oriented with attention to quality and programmatic detail
• Collaborative approach with strong interpersonal and mentoring skills
• Innovation and continuous learning mindset with commitment to evidence-based practice
• Ethical integrity and professional accountability
• Ability to work under pressure and flexible to work extended hours to meet deadlines
• Commitment to ForAfrika's core values

Other Essential Qualifications

• Membership of professional health or nutrition organizations (e.g., World Public Health Nutrition Association)
• Multi-language capabilities (French, Portuguese, or local African languages)
• Training and capacity building qualifications or experience
• Experience in health systems strengthening and integration approaches

How to apply

Interested Candidates Should Submit

• Cover Letter explaining motivation, relevant health and nutrition experience, and suitability for the role
• Detailed CV including relevant health and nutrition experience and achievements
• Contact details for three professional references (including at least one technical reference)

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Job details

Source

• ForAfrika

Type

• Job

Career category

• Program/Project Management

Years of experience

• 10+ years

Themes

• Health
• HIV/Aids

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