Nutrition Specialist (Food Systems for Children)

The Nutrition Specialist provides technical support for the development and implementation of policies, programmes, advocacy, and knowledge generation for food systems transformation for children in Kenya. The role supports programme management, partnership building, evidence generation, and capacity building focused on nutrition-sensitive programming and food systems for children.

Responsibilities

• Support to programme management, planning and monitoring of Food Systems for Children (FS4C), including First Foods Africa Initiative, overweight and obesity prevention, and climate-nutrition agendas.
• Provide technical and operational support to programme implementation.
• Engage in networking, advocacy and partnership building with UN agencies, NGOs, donors, academia, technical institutions and others.
• Lead evidence generation, knowledge management, and capacity building activities related to food systems for children.
• Provide authoritative technical guidance and management support throughout country programming processes to facilitate achievement of sustainable results.
• Translate FS4C Roadmap and related global and regional guidance into practical country-level plans, policy inputs, partner engagement processes, and evidence products.

Requirements

• A Masters or equivalent (Advanced University Degree) in Public Health, nutrition, food systems, food science, or another relevant social or health-related science is required.
• A Bachelor or equivalent (First Level University Degree) in a relevant area combined with 2 additional years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
• A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience in food systems, nutrition-sensitive programming, or related programme areas is required.
• Demonstrated experience supporting programme development, implementation, monitoring and reporting is required.
• Strong programme management skills, including work planning, coordination, milestone tracking, reporting, and follow-up across multiple workstreams.
• Excellent facilitation and coordination abilities for multisectoral meetings, technical working groups, workshops, and partner consultations.
• Demonstrated sound judgement in addressing child rights, public health, conflict of interest, and safeguarding considerations, particularly in engagements involving private sector-facing partners and commercial food system actors.
• Proven ability to work collaboratively in complex, fast-moving, and politically sensitive environments, effectively navigating ambiguity while maintaining a strong focus on results.
• Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of Kiswahili and/or another Kenyan language is an asset.
• Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.
• Experience supporting first foods, child food poverty, market systems, private sector-facing engagement, demand creation or multisectoral food systems implementation is highly desirable.
• Experience with food systems for children, healthy diets, food environment policy, overweight and obesity prevention is highly desirable.
• Experience supporting policy dialogue, regulatory processes, technical working groups or multisectoral coordination with government and development partners is highly desirable.
• Experience in climate-responsive nutrition or anticipatory action is highly desirable.
• Experience working with the UN system, government, or development partners in Kenya is an asset.
• Familiarity with Kenya's nutrition and food systems is highly desirable.
• Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.

Skills

• Food Systems
• Nutrition-Sensitive Programming
• Program Development
• Programme Implementation
• Programme Monitoring
• Programme Reporting
• Programme Management
• Work Planning
• Coordination
• Milestone Tracking
• Facilitation
• Inter-sectoral Coordination
• Partner Consultations
• Child Rights Understanding
• Public Health
• Conflict of Interest Management
• Safeguarding
• Private Sector Engagement
• Policy Dialogue
• IMO Regulatory Processes
• Technical Working Groups
• Climate-Responsive Nutrition
• Anticipatory Action
• Capacity Building
• Evidence Generation

Languages

English, Kiswahili