Senior Nutrition Specialist

Senior Nutrition Specialist

Job #:
req19565

Organization:
World Bank

Sector:
Health/Nutrition/Population

Grade:
GG

Term Duration:
4 years 0 months

Recruitment Type:
International Recruitment

Location:
Washington, DC,United States

Required Language(s):
English

Preferred Language(s):
French, Spanish, Portuguese

Closing Date:
11/10/2022 (MM/DD/YYYY) at 11:59pm UTC

Description

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. For more information, Visit www.worldbank.org.

The Human Development (HD) Practice Group (PG)

The World Bank Group (WBG) is the largest provider of development finance and solutions for human development working with high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries to develop country-tailored solutions for human development (HD) under the themes of education, health, social protection, jobs and gender. The HD PG coordinates with other Practice Groups to ensure a coordinated and integrated approach to development challenges, and through the World Bank Regional Units is expected to deliver the strongest and most pertinent support to our client countries.

The Human Development Vice Presidency (HDVP) at the World Bank Group is made up of the Global Practices for education; health, nutrition, and population; and social protection and jobs; additionally, the HDVP houses the gender group. As such, HD is central to the World Bank Group's goals to end extreme poverty by 2030 and raise shared prosperity.

Over the past few years the World Bank's Human development sector has been delivering a scaled-up program with an active portfolio over $71.3B with engagements in 121 countries. New commitments in FY21 are expected to reach a total $21.2B by FY end. Human capital development, and in particular, the health sector program, has taken a central role for the WBG, as a result of the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic and its impact.

The primary challenges of health development relate to health, nutrition, and demographic transitions that are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic both, through an agile short-term response, and a sustainable and inclusive longer-term response that tackles inequitable opportunities and outcomes in the health sector globally, regionally and within countries. The fundamental challenge is to preempt, prevent and mitigate the developmental impact of these challenges now and into the future. Specific challenges include: providing equitable, efficient, accountable and sustainable financing of health coverage; providing equitable, quality, appropriate and scaled-up delivery of priority public health services according to need; mobilizing the appropriate quantity and quality of key health systems inputs related to health workers, pharmaceuticals, and healthcare technology and facilities; and strengthening models of governance for the health sector that recognize core functions for government, responsibilities/accountability of key actors and enhance competencies for governance across levels (local, national, regional and global) and sectors (public/private/civil society, as well as government sectors such as education, transport, social protection, etc.).

Health, Nutrition & Population Global Practice

The World Bank Group (WBG) supports countries' efforts towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and to provide quality, affordable health services to everyone -regardless of their ability to pay - by strengthening primary health care systems and reducing the financial risks associated with ill health and increasing equity. For more information: https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/health

Global Financing Facility Context

The Global Financing Facility for Women, Children and Adolescents (GFF) is a multi-stakeholder global partnership housed at the World Bank that is committed to ensuring all women, children and adolescents can survive and thrive. Launched in July 2015, the GFF supports 36 low and lower-middle income countries with catalytic financing and technical assistance to develop and implement prioritized national health plans to scale up access to affordable, quality care for women, children, and adolescents. The GFF also works with countries to maximize the use of domestic financing and external support for better, more sustainable health results. The GFF is squarely focused on prioritizing and scaling up evidence-driven investments to improve reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition through targeted strengthening of primary health care systems - to save lives and as a critical first step toward accelerating progress on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The GFF has pioneered a shift from traditional development approaches to a more sustainable way forward where governments lead and bring global partners together to support a prioritized, costed national plan. Through this partnership, the GFF aims to mobilize additional funding through the combination of grants from a dedicated multi-donor trust fund (the GFF Trust Fund), financing from International Development Association (IDA) and International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and the crowding in of additional domestic and external resources. This approach has catalyzed high-impact investments for reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition in the world's most vulnerable countries. More information is available at: www.globalfinancingfacility.org

Roles and Responsibilities
• Lead the development and oversee the quality of the GFF engagement in nutrition.
• Contribute to positioning nutrition as a critical issue to improve human development outcomes and accelerate poverty reduction as well as the role of the GFF in the nutrition agenda.
• Provides technical assistance to client countries in a range of settings (middle income, low income, fragile states) and WB task teams on the integration of nutrition into GFF investment cases, health systems and financing reforms, and associated maternal, child and adolescent health programs and platforms.
• Identifies and promotes innovations and opportunities to support multi sectoral and private sector approaches to improve the nutrition of mothers, children and adolescents.
• Identify and lead areas for research and analytical work in key areas related to the nutrition agenda
• Works closely with the results team on the identification and measurement of key nutrition indicators and monitoring progress on the implementation of the nutrition agenda.
• Provides leadership in establishing consensus on a priority knowledge and learning agenda to improve nutrition and RMNCAH outcomes; contributes to and coordinates analytic activities; ensures the quality and facilitates the dissemination of K&L products on nutrition.
• Represents the GFF Secretariat and World Bank in strategic technical and policy forums on nutrition in LICs and MICs and maintains a constructive relationship with key partners in nutrition to ensure that the GFF is aligned with the work of other agencies in this field.
• Support the GFF in routine reporting to stakeholders and responding to ad hoc requests for information on nutrition programming across the GFF portfolio and implementation of the investment case in countries for which the candidate is the GFF Focal Point.

Selection Criteria
• Advanced degree (doctorate-level; preferred) in nutrition sciences, public health or a closely related field with minimum 8 years of relevant professional experience.• Proven track record of technical leadership in nutrition through professional experience as well as peer reviewed publications• Grasp of nutrition challenges affecting LICs and MICs and the principal interventions to address programmatic bottlenecks and improve nutrition outcomes in these settings.• Experience working with government and other stakeholders to formulate and implement nutrition policies and strategies across several countries. • Experience working across sectoral, practice and disciplinary boundaries, and with multiple stakeholders in building collaborative alliances for nutrition results.• Fluency in spoken and written English and fluency in French highly desirable. Spanish/ Portuguese a plus.• Ability to work independently, with initiative and minimal supervision within large teams.

World Bank Group Core Competencies

The World Bank Group offers comprehensive benefits, including a retirement plan; medical, life and disability insurance; and paid leave, including parental leave, as well as reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity and inclusive employer with a dedicated and committed workforce, and do not discriminate based on gender, gender identity, religion, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or disability.

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