Scaling up Growth: Addressing Stunting in Tanzania Early (ASTUTE)
Local Government System Strengthening Advisor
About us
Options Consultancy Services Limited (Options) was established in 1992 and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Marie Stopes International. Options is a leading provider of technical and management expertise in the health and social sectors. We work in partnership with national and state governments, international development agencies, the private sector and civil society to strengthen programmes and policies to support the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in health and poverty reduction.
Our work focuses on providing expertise in sexual and reproductive health, maternal newborn and child health, HIV and AIDS, citizen voice and accountability, gender, social inclusion and equity to enhance institutional effectiveness to support strengthening of health service delivery.
Role profile
Long-term post-holders are required for a programme of support in Tanzania by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to: Reduce the number of stunted children by 7% (50,000) in the targeted regions of Tanzania within a period of 5 years. This programme is being tendered, and the post will be confirmed should the Save the Children led consortium be successful.
Project outcomes are:
- Improved maternal, infant and young child feeding practices;
- Enhanced quality of nutrition services through the health system;
- Improved household access to diverse and nutrient rich foods through own production and purchased from the local market;
- Improved multi-sectoral response to nutrition at sub-national levels (Agriculture, WASH, Health, Early Child Development (ECD), Community Development, Livelihoods).
The Local Government System Strengthening Advisor will be responsible for facilitating effective working by District Nutrition Officers (DNOs) across government ministries and local government authorities to achieve nutrition outcomes laid out in the National Nutrition Strategy. The focus of this role will be strengthening the role and capacity of DNOs in budgeting, planning and monitoring for improved nutrition, ensuring fit with national systems. The post holder will work closely with the Nutrition Adviser to ensure that planning, budgeting and monitoring is based on routine multi-sectoral collaboration between government bodies, creating/refining joint planning and budgeting tools and developing the capacity of managers to engage across government sectors and with civil society, private sector and development partners who can contribute to nutrition goals. This position will contribute to the capacity of the Republic of Tanzania to deliver essential nutrition-specific and sensitive interventions at scale in all the districts of five prioritised Regions.
The post-holder will work at national level based within the project office in Dar es Salaam with frequent travel to the regions.
Key responsibilities
· Assess current institutions, systems, mechanisms and tools for budgeting, planning and M&E at national (with the Institutional Strengthening Adviser and the Evidence and Research Adviser), regional and district levels.
· Develop constructive relationships with nutrition-related stakeholders and facilitate open and informed discussion between them for more coordinated planning and action
· Support the regional and district authorities to strengthen district level planning, budgeting and reporting for nutrition activities and results by the different sectors
· Support the regional authorities to set-up a peer review process for the multi-sectoral district plans and budgets
· With the Evidence and Research Adviser and the rest of the team, identify, digest and present current and emerging evidence (global and national) on the reduction of under nutrition and engage with senior government to help ensure policies and plans are shaped by evidence and influenced by multi-sectoral inputs
· Work with Evidence and Research Adviser to promote generation and sharing of evidence on the benefits of achieving nutrition goals through a multi-sectoral response
· Provide technical support to the project’s regional teams working on budgeting, planning and M&E
Behaviours/attributes
· Facilitates transparency, inclusiveness, and exchange in collaborative partnerships
· Identifies common goals and opportunities for collaboration between stakeholders with diverse mandates or structures
· Manages group dynamics among internal and external collaboration partners (e.g. build consensus, manage conflict, facilitate exchange)
· Develops systems and capacities for sustained delivery by national bodies
Qualifications and experience
Essential
· Master’s degree in a related subject (for example: health / nutrition / WASH / health policy and planning)
· At least five years’ relevant experience
· Experience of working with donor funded programmes, such as DFID, USAID etc.
· Proven capacity in planning, budgeting
· Experience of capacity building and mentoring government staff
· Strong oral and written communication skills;
· Strong knowledge of Tanzanian health system, ideally maternal and child health or nutrition
· Fluent in Swahili
Desirable
· Knowledge of nutrition, in particular child stunting
· Experience working with external organisations in similar and related fields (e.g., media, private sector, government, civil society, donors, networks)
· Good understanding of local and relevant national policy environment, laws, and institutions
HOW TO APPLY:
To express your interest in the role, please send your CV with a summary note of your skills and experience to Freya Stothard at opportunities@options.co.uk before 26th January 2015. Please note that CVs will be shortlisted as they are received.
