Head of Health, Nutrition and WASH at Save the Children

The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization that promotes children's rights, provides relief and helps support children in developing countries
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• Head of Health, Nutrition and WASH

  • Job TypeFull Time
  • QualificationBA/BSc/HND , MBA/MSc/MA
  • Experience12 years
  • LocationNairobi
  • Job FieldMedical / Healthcare  , Project Management 
  ROLE PURPOSE: 

  • Head of Health, Nutrition and WASH (Head of HN&W) takes overall responsibility for the strategic direction and coordination of Save the Children’s work on health, nutrition and WASH in the Kenya and Madagascar Country Office. As a senior member of the programme development and quality (PDQ) team, the Head of HN&W is responsible for leading and overseeing the development and delivery of high quality, innovative, cost-effective programmes in Health, Nutrition & WASH (HN&W) both in humanitarian as well as long-term development, resulting in immediate and lasting change for children. The Head of HN&W is also responsible for initiating and taking technical leadership in HN&W focused studies, documentation and dissemination of innovation and good practices, leading on policy research and advocacy on HN&W through networking and collaboration with relevant civil society organisations and other institutions, and playing a leading role in establishing, maintaining and expanding donor relations for the sector.

  Contract Duration:

  • 2 years  (with possibility of extension) 

  Reports to:

  • Director, Programme Development and Quality

  Directly reports:

  • Health Technical Specialists, Nutrition Technical Specialists, WASH Technical Specialist.

  KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY: 

  Programme Development & Innovation 

  • Lead on development of thematic strategy in HN&W including household practices, public health, nutrition and WASH services in line with Save the Children’s Country Strategic Plan for Kenya and Madagascar. 
  • Lead in developing and realising ambitious yet practical HN&W plans as part of the Country Annual Plans.
  • Work together with PDQ and operations teams to initiate and design high quality, cost-effective, innovative and sustainable project proposals and concept notes for the sector.
  • Proactively seek information on potential donor sources and share project opportunities in HN&W with PDQ and operations teams linking to Country strategies on HN&W. 
  • Seek strategic linkages, wherever applicable, with other thematic areas of the Kenya programme i.e. Child protection, education, child poverty, and child rights governance (CRG) for developing integrated programmes for difficult to reach children in Kenya and Madagascar. 
  • Stay abreast of developments and innovations in the field of HN&W interventions within the region and globally, and integrate these developments into programming as appropriate. 
  • Facilitate working groups to stimulate innovative ideas and test new approaches. 
  • Stay abreast of emerging trends, building internal capacity to identify and test new ideas, and identifying, incubating and road mapping the roll out of new initiatives. 

  Technical Assistance and Capacity Building 

  • Lead the development and implementation of relevant and sustainable capacity building strategy for field teams and partners including consortium partners on HN&W in coordination with the operations teams.
  • Provide technical guidance and inputs where relevant to the PDQ and operations teams and consortium partners and conduct technical review of donor reports to ensure that the reports are of high quality from a technical point of view as per expectations in the project proposals.
  • Assist the PDQ team to enhance the capacity of operations teams in developing appropriate systems for documenting and storing relevant information/data needed for donor and member reporting.
  • Provide elaborations and as required directions and trainings to teams in operations teams involved in delivering projects focusing on appropriate approaches and methodologies; conceptual and practical frameworks; standards and tools for effective and quality delivery of HN&W programmes.

  Representation and Advocacy

  •  Represent Save the Children in relevant internal and external fora including donor meetings (as appropriate) related to HN&W.
  • Work closely with the Head of Advocacy and Campaigns, PDQ and operations teams to develop policy research and advocacy strategy in HN&W in line with the Country Strategic Plan and global strategy of Save the Children.
  • Leverage donor interest and government policies for the difficult to reach children in Kenya and Madagascar both in humanitarian and development situations through targeted advocacy/key messages.
  • Identify and capitalise key opportunities and events for Save the Children to position itself as the leading organisation for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) and nutrition in Kenya and Madagascar.
  •  Work with consortium members wherever applicable to further Save the Children’s mission for children.

  People Management, Mentoring and Development 

  • Ensure that all technical staff in HN&W understand and are able to adapt their roles in both humanitarian and development contexts.
  • Manage the HN&W technical (PDQ) team; define expectations, provide leadership and support as needed, and evaluate direct reports regularly .
  • Ensure the recruitment, training, and promotion of staff as appropriate; ensure availability of and support appropriate professional development opportunities for staff in HN&W
  • Incorporate staff development strategies and Performance Management Systems into team building process.
  • Oversee that all HN&W staff proactively build and maintain technical skills and competencies required for leading and/or inputting for first class programmes – both development and humanitarian nature
  • Manage the performance of all direct reports through: effective use of the Performance Management System including the establishment of clear, measureable objectives, ongoing feedback, periodic reviews and fair and unbiased evaluations; coaching, mentoring and other developmental opportunities; recognition and rewards for outstanding performance; documentation of performance that is less than satisfactory, with appropriate performance improvement plans.
  • Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects our dual mandate values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for our members and donors.

  Assessment, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning 

  • Work closely with the Head of MEAL and take a lead in ensuring that all HN&W projects and components have robust monitoring plans, baselines, reviews and evaluations in line with project designs and donor guidelines.
  • Technically assist the PDQ team in measuring achievement and progress towards program goals and results through the MEAL system.
  • Lead and work closely with the pdqteam to identify and lead strategic ground breaking research in HN&W for development of innovative programmes and issue-based advocacy.
  • Facilitate appropriate dissemination of research findings and good practices documentations in the projects internally and externally to donors, governments, consortium partners and other key actors strategic for immediate and sustainable development of children in Kenya and Madagascar.

  Knowledge Management 

  • Serve as a technical knowledge, skills and experience hub for the sector in Kenya and Madagascar, and in doing so play a leading role in introducing innovations in HN&W programmes (gained from existing and emerging Save the Children’s global knowledge and practices) and in turn documenting and sharing best practices and innovations for replication and advocacy together with quality programme team.
  •  Work with technical resources among Save the Children members to facilitate sharing and learning in HN&W good practices and leverage their support for strengthening HN&W related studies, assessments, innovations, advocacy, and capacity building in favour of children in Kenya and Madagascar.

  BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice) 

  Accountability:

  • Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values

  Ambition:

  • Sets ambitious and challenging goals for self  and education team  
  • Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
  • Future orientated, thinks strategically 

  Collaboration and Collaboration:

  • Establish good working relationship with boms, teachers and target communities members 
  • Build and maintain effective relationships with the education team, other colleagues, members and external partners and supporters

  Creativity:

  • Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions as per the country strategy 
  • Willing to take disciplined risks

  Integrity:

  • Honest, encourages openness and transparency

  EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS

  Essential

  • Degree in Medicine with a post graduate degree in public health/global health; community health; or health management with training and experience in and project planning and management techniques.
  •  Knowledge of current global and regional public health debates in health and nutrition.
  •  Recommended a minimum of twelve years of relevant technical experience including at senior level. 
  • Experience working within the devolved Kenyan health system is a must. 
  • Proven experience of developing and managing high quality, innovative and cost-effective technical HN&W projects in in development and humanitarian/ emergency/ fragile setting.s 
  • Proven experience and skills in research and advocacy and influencing institutional, private and/or corporate donors and writing up high quality donor reports .
  • Experience of working with local/national governments and capacity building of systems, partners and staff. 
  • Ability to extensively travel for project monitoring and provide on-site technical support to field teams.
  • Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation and coaching .
  • Highly developed cultural awareness and ability to work well in an international and matrix. management environment with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures.
  • Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mindsets.
  •  Experience of solving complex issues through analysis, definition of a clear way forward and ensuring buy in. 
  • Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner 
  • Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies.
  •  Commitment to Save the Children values. Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner.
  • Commitment to Save the Children values.

 

Method of Application

Interested and qualified? Go to Save the Children on hcri.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com to apply