Nutrition International www.nutritionintl.org (formerly Micronutrient Initiative) is an international Non-Governmental Organization dedicated to ensuring that the world's most vulnerable -especially women and children in developing countries - get the vitamins and minerals they need to survive and thrive. With headquarters in Ottawa, Canada Nutrition International maintains regional offices in New Delhi, India and Nairobi that manage country offices in Asia and Africa.

POSITION PROFILE

1. Background and Justification

Nutrition International (NI) formally the Micronutrient Initiative, is a global not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting the delivery of proven nutrition interventions, focusing on pregnant women and newborns and children, as well as adolescent girls. Working in partnership with government, donors, and implementing agencies, our experts conduct cutting-edge nutrition research, support critical policy formulation, and integrate nutrition into broader development programs. Our mission is to be a global leader in finding and scaling solutions to malnutrition through coverage, leverage and influence. Our vision is of a world where everyone, everywhere is free from malnutrition and able to reach their full potential

Nutrition International, has been working in Bangladesh since 1998, and works closely with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and the Ministry of Industry. Nutrition International (NI) proposes to support the Institute of Public Health and Nutrition, Government of Bangladesh for scaling up a maternal nutrition package with focus on improved ANC and IFA supplementation in 14 selected districts and 03 city corporations in Bangladesh.

The focus of the program support will be on: 

• Improving coverage and adherence of iron and folic acid supplements [through improving Interpersonal Counselling (IPC) and home visits, etc].
• Improving dietary diversity [through interpersonal communication and community mobilization].
• Balanced protein-energy intake using appropriate choices of home foods [through interpersonal communication and community mobilization].
• Counseling on timely initiation of breastfeeding and exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, and continued breastfeeding.
• Building the capacity of service providers to ensure quality ANC through review and modification of training and communication materials and improved skills to provide nutrition counseling.
• Ensure provision of mothers’ cards for registration of pregnant women to receive ANC services (including birth preparedness) and strengthen supervision and monitoring of services.
• Strengthening supervision and monitoring of maternal nutrition services and ANC contacts.
• Developing a BCI strategy focusing on nutrition messages as well as IEC materials such as posters, banners/festoons, and TV scrolls that promote nutrition, TV spots, and TV and radio talk shows.
• The government pays for and promotes calcium supplements as part of antenatal care. While NI will not hold itself accountable for ensuring uptake of calcium supplements, NI will promote consumption of calcium supplements in tandem with its other work.
• NI will also work with the community indirectly to strengthen the capacity of the community clinic staff to work with community support groups in social mapping of communities (to identify marginalized populations in particular need of ANC).

2. Objective

To improve the nutritional status of pregnant women through increased coverage and adherence to nutrition related services delivered as part of the ANC package. The main success measures will be:

• 90% of service providers trained to deliver an improved package of ANC services with focus on IFA supplementation and nutrition counselling.
• 80% of pregnant women are registered using mothers’ cards.
• Increase the percent of women who receive four or more ANC visits from 31% (BDHS-2014) at the beginning of the project to 40% at the end of the project.
• Increase consumption of 90+ IFA tablets by 30 percentage points by end of the project in March of 2020.

3. Geographic locations

At present, project is covering 10 districts and 02 City Corporations named Munshiganj, Bagerhat, Comilla, Habiganj, Pabna,Dinajpur, Bhola, Gazipur Rajshahi and  Tangail districts ; with  Khulna and Rajshahi City Corporations. The recruitment will be for additional four districts anywhere in Bangladesh.

4.         Scope of work

District Coordinators will focus on the following activities:

4.1 Advocacy and liaison with the government

• Advocate and strengthen coordination among DGHS, DGFP and Local Government for urban areas at district and sub-district levels through sharing of findings from a desk review and provide recommendations to improve maternal health services.

• Maintain constant and intensive liaison with the office of the District Civil Surgeon, Deputy Director Family Planning, Upazila Health Complex and Upazila Family Planning to discuss progress, identify gaps, show evidence and advocate for corrective actions.
• Advocate to all the government officials and field workers for increasing focus on provision of IFA supplements and nutrition counselling during ANC to pregnant women during monthly reviews and field visits.
• Conduct workshops for district and sub-district officials to identify appropriate strategies for improving IFA utilization rates at the district level including defining involvement of CHWs.

4.2 Planning

• Travel extensively in the upazilas of the project districts to participate in important  government planning meetings 
• Provide technical assistance in estimating requirements of IFA supplements using an appropriate methodology to ensure provision of adequate IFA supplements at the health centers.
• Coordinate with health and family planning functionaries and their supervisors {Community Health Care Provider (CHCP), Family Welfare Assistant (FWA), Health Assistant (HA), Assistant Health Inspector (AHI), Health Inspector (HI), Family Planning Inspector (FPI), Family Welfare Visitor (FWV), Sub Assistant Community Medical Officer (SACMO) and others to ensure discussion on the IFA supplementation program during the monthly meetings and improving ANC and nutrition counselling and the frontline workers are encouraged to discuss this further with pregnant women and their caregivers during home visits.

4.3 Capacity building.

• Facilitate the trainings to build the capacity of districts and sub district level staff,  front-line service providers, supported by their supervisors, at all levels of service delivery on the management of supplies, regular distribution, recording and reporting and counselling to fully integrate maternal nutrition into ANC
• Provide technical support at district and upazila levels for streamlining the HMIS to capture coverage and stock and to track pregnant women.
• Provide technical assistance to the district and upazila staff to ensure provision of adequate numbers of IFA supplements to pregnant women by health workers in order to ensure high coverage and adherence.
• Build capacity of health workers to fill up cards correctly to effectively track and follow up.
• Visit the health facilities, Community Clinic (CC), EPI center, Satellite Clinic (SC), Union Health and Family Welfare Centre, Sub Centre, Rural Dispensary (RD), Upazila Health Complexes (UHC), Maternal Child and Welfare Centre (MCWC), District Sadar Hospital and other hospitals and functionaries (both Health & Family Planning streams) on a regular basis to discuss process, review constraints and provide suggestions for solutions. 
• Participate in the monthly district and sub districts/Upazila meeting and update on project progress to the government district and upazila managers of both Health and Family planning Departments.
• Undertake on the job capacity building of system functionaries via discussions in review meetings and field visits to fill in gaps in understanding and skills.
• Support the UH&FPO and or any government official in the preparation of the training reports to be sent to IPHN and upazila and support district accounts officer in drafting the expenditure statements. 
• Strengthen the capacity of community clinic staff to work with community support groups in social mapping of communities (to identify marginalized populations in particular need of ANC).

4.4 Strengthening supply and delivery system

• Support district and upazila managers to ensure IFA supply at facilities are adequate and consistent.
• Facilitate the district and sub-district level staff in development of micro-plans for distribution of IFA supplements.
• Minimize stock-out at frontline distribution points through regular monitoring visits and tracking.
• Facilitate the district and upazila manager to maintain records of logistics and distribution of the IFA, communication material and job-aids.
• Provide on the job training to health functionaries on estimation of requirement of IFA supplements for their catchment areas and to maintain adequate supply.

4.5 Behavior change communication

• Facilitate frontline health workers (health staff) to provide information through interpersonal counseling and use IEC materials to counsel pregnant women and their caregivers on the benefits of IFA supplements, how to handle side effects, and the need to take IFA supplements regularly, key nutrition messages, need for regular ANC check-ups during regular ANC contacts, mothers meeting and other mechanisms.
• Ensure the regular use of IEC materials including posters, banners, festoons, etc. at the facility level.
• Support and facilitate in conducting other behavior change strategies including drama, music, etc as determined by the project.
• Negotiate on a one to one basis or during monthly meetings with District Civil Surgeon, Deputy Director Family Planning, Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer and Upazila Family Planning Officer to motivate health and family planning functionaries to seek out the pregnant women through home visits and providing counseling on benefits, proper dosage and duration of IFA and also provide nutrition counselling and problem solving.

4.6 Monitoring and supportive supervision

• Support in strengthening and streamlining the government HMIS on IFA supplementation.
• Ensure that the revised MIS formats that track information on provision of ANC services including distribution of IFA, nutrition counselling etc are regularly recorded and reported.
• Ensure that the HMIS data is regularly collected and compiled from sub-district to district levels and sent to the national level for feedback and necessary action.
• Regularly review HMIS and monitoring reports to be discussed in the monthly coordination meeting at the district and upazila levels for corrective measures.
• Undertake regular field visits for providing on the job capacity building to health functionaries with help of monitoring checklist and utilize that information to inform district level discussions and negotiations.
• Participate in the monthly district and sub districts/Upazila meeting and update on project progress to the government district and upazila managers of both Health and Family planning Departments.

4.7 Program assessment

• Support the identified research agency in conducting pre-post coverage surveys.

4.8 Others

• Any other duties assigned by concerned officers in the NI office.

5.   Reporting

District coordinator will report to Program Officer – Maternal Child Nutrition and Health maintaining a functional relationship with the Technical Manager (TM), Child Survival and Women’s Health and the Country Director, NI, Bangladesh. The work schedule is from Sunday to Thursday. The responsible Officer will set the hours and days, if the Coordinator’s presence during certain hours and days is required.

6. Job Nature
      Full-time

7. Educational Requirements
Minimum master's degree in Social Science or relevant field or Nutrition from a recognized university

8. Experience Requirements
Five years of working experience preferably in the field of health and nutrition. In the case of highly-motivated, exceptional candidates fulfilling other requirements, experience less than five years may be considered. Previous experience working with the GoB health system a distinct advantage.

9. Additional Job Requirements

• Working experience in nutrition and health related issues will be added advantage.
• Good knowledge of government policies and programs to address nutrition in Bangladesh.
• Ability to network and negotiate effectively with a wide range of stakeholders, especially at national level to achieve the objectives of the program.
• Have experience of working in partnership / collaboration with GoB and NGOs.
• Good skills in planning, organizing and monitoring her / his work.
• Experience in conducting analysis of underlying social, economic, gender, cultural causes of maternal death/disabilities, mapping out appropriate local resources, ensuring stakeholder participation in health service, and mobilizing GoB services will be preferred. Education can be relaxed in case of exceptionally experienced personnel.
• Ability to innovate ideas, analyze issues critically, and understand local context, culture, norms and power structure Strong leadership skills and ability to work independently and generate innovation.
• Computer skill in MS word, MS excel and power point is mandatory.
• Fluency in English (reading, writing & oratory skills) is a prerequisite.

10.    Remuneration
Monthly fees for this position is BDT 34,500. Travel and other expenses will be provided in addition.

11. How to apply?
Please submit the following documents electronically in one file:  curriculum vitae, a suitability note for the position of “District Coordinator, Right Start - Maternal Nutrition Program" and names of three (3) referees to the following email address- proposalsbangladesh@nutritionintl.org.
 
The applications should be in MS Word, and should have subject “District Coordinator, Right Start - Maternal Nutrition Program”.  The closing date for receiving applications is June 30, 2018. Only short listed candidates will receive an acknowledgment and will be called for interview.

NI is a non-smoking work environment