Outreach Assistant, Hunger Response Project 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

ROLE PURPOSE

Kenya’s ASAL counties are facing food insecurity following four failed rain seasons that caused household food insecurity as a result of poor crop harvest, poor regeneration of pasture resulting in poor livestock body conditions, and outbreak of livestock diseases such as Foot and Mouth diseases, and drying of water points leading to water scarcity. An estimated 4.5 million people require immediate humanitarian assistance while 754,906 children require urgent treatment for malnutrition. Save the Children and its local partners is responding to the drought in four counties namely; Wajir, Mandera, Turkana and Garissa. Save the Children aims is responding by providing life-saving assistance through a range of interventions in health, nutrition, children protection, livelihoods and education.

The role will be in charge of managing integrated health and nutrition outreaches and nutrition supplementation through Cash intervention in Turkana North. The post holders will support nutrition mass screening programmes in partnership with the sub-counties health officials and other partners at the sub-county level. He/She will ensure that outreaches are done in line with MoH and SCI standards, oversee outreach mobilization programmes, and support the MoH to collect and collate data for outreaches. She/He will also ensure effective referral system between the outreach site and link health care facilities.

SCOPE OF ROLE:

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

• Plan and organize integrated health and nutrition outreach sites at designated sites in liaison with the nutrition officer.
• Liaise with the Nutrition Officer and Programme coordinator to plan for logistics for various integrated health and nutrition outreaches.
• Ensure that SCI and MoH outreach protocols/Sops are applied to integrated outreaches.
• Work with MoH staff and officials to ensure all aspects of the program are understood and agreed by MoH and appropriate referrals take place to and from MoH and the OTP/SFP
• Ensure cases not meeting admission criteria return home as early as possible and understand why their child is not admitted.
• Coordinate referrals for children with complications.
• Screen children five years and pregnant and lactating women for malnutrition using MUAC and Z score.
• Coordinate with Nutrition officer and the sub-county MoH teams to ensure adequate supplies (RUFT, RUSF, and CSB) for the outreaches.
• Request specific children to be followed up as required (newly enrolled children, sick children, long stay children / children not gaining weight, children with social problems etc).
• Provide appropriate orientation for all community health volunteers engaged in the outreach programme.
• Provide appropriate training to outreach team members (orientation and regular training).
• Establish team coordination, collaborative team work, internal information sharing (daily briefings weekly coordination meetings, etc) with constant focus on improving the effectiveness of outreach teams collaboration
• Maintain constant focus on improving outreach information sharing (timely and relevant information)
• Ensuring outreach teams are equipped with adequate portable devices to support efficient and effective information sharing
• Collect outreach monitoring data for reporting purposes and sharing and coordination internally and externally (Daily report, Weekly/Biweekly report, Case studies, monthly reports)
• Local level awareness raising on best feeding practices for infants and young children amongst other humanitarian actors in the locality.
• Supports the Child Safeguarding focal point to ensure that child safeguarding and safe programming is embedded in the project and considered throughout implementation to ensure that we do all we can to ensure children in our programs are safe, in line with our child safeguarding policy.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Essential

• Diploma or degree in (nursing/nutrition/public health) or equivalent
• Minimum 1 year experience of emergency nutrition work (preferably CMAM) and implementation of feeding programs, including monitoring and evaluation.
• Experience in conducting nutrition assessments and an understanding of nutritional surveillance and information systems.
• Proven capacity of management, leadership and teamwork.
• Excellent communication skills and a willingness to be respectful, kind, sensitive and empathize with all beneficiaries.
• Willingness and capacity to be flexible and accommodating when faced with difficult and frustrating working conditions.
• Strong report writing and computer skills.
• Prepared to live and work in an uncertain security environment.
• Ability and willingness to frequently travel and stay in the field.
• Commitment to and understanding of Save the Children’s aims, values and principles
• Fluency in written and spoken English and local languages.
• Experience of working with Microsoft’s office word and excel.
• Very good knowledge, commitment and understanding of Child Safeguarding Policy, the aims and principles of Save the Children, and humanitarian standards such as the Sphere Charter and the Code of Conduct. In particular, a good understanding of the SC mandate and child focus and an ability to ensure this continues to underpin our support.

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)

Accountability:

• Holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values.
• Holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities – giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.

Ambition:

• Sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same.
• Widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others.
• Future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.

Collaboration:

• Builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters.
• Values diversity sees it as a source of competitive strength.
• Approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.

Creativity:

• Develops and encourages new and innovative solutions.
• Willing to take disciplined risks.

Integrity:

• Honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity.