FHI 360 is a nonprofit human development organization dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions. Our staff includes experts in health, education, nutrition, environment, economic development, civil society, gender, youth, research and technology — creating a unique mix of capabilities to address today's interrelated development challenges. FHI 360 serves more than 70 countries and all U.S. states and territories. 

POSITION : Project Director, Alive & Thrive Nigeria

Descriptions

Alive & Thrive is an initiative to save lives, prevent illness, and ensure healthy growth and development. Good nutrition in the first 1,000 days, from conception to two years of age, is critical to enable all children to lead healthier and more productive lives.
Alive & Thrive is scaling up improved infant and young child feeding and maternal nutrition through large-scale programs in several countries in Asia and Africa and through strategic technical support and the dissemination of innovations, tools, and lessons worldwide.
Alive & Thrive is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the governments of Canada and Ireland. The initiative is managed by FHI 360.
 

Program Summary

The Nigeria A&T IYCF social and behavior change program focuses on improving rates of early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, timely introduction of complementary feeding, and minimum dietary diversity for infants over 6 months old.
A&T will work across the public, commercial/private, and NGO sectors to improve IYCF through A&T’s four components: advocacy, interpersonal communication and community mobilization, mass communication, strategic use of data.
At the national level, A&T will predominantly work with its public, private/commercial, and NGO sector partners (Scaling Up Nutrition and other national IYCF initiatives) to improve the implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of key IYCF policies (Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes; maternity leave; work place support; breastfeeding-friendly health care and delivery facilities).
A&T will also work in two state - Lagos (metropolitan) and Kaduna (urban and rural) - to apply the four components to reach households, communities, and facilities with targeted, age-appropriate social and behavior change communication (SBCC) messaging on IYCF practices.
Specifically in metropolitan Lagos, the Nigeria program (as an example only) might work with the State Primary Health Care Board, proprietary and patent medicine vendors, licensed traditional birth attendants, major public and private maternity centers, social franchise-oriented private organizations, faith- and community-based organizations, and related on-going USAID (SPRING) and UNICEF projects to improve advocacy; interpersonal behavior change communication (counseling), and mobilization efforts to reach pregnant women and new mothers; and use mass communication (through broadcast, Nollywood, mobile phone, and signage) to further extend the reach of IYCF messages, provide follow-up counseling, and improve the social norm around IYCF practices.
In rural and urban Kaduna, the Nigeria program (as an example only) might work with the State Ministry of Health, the Federation of Muslim Women Associations of Nigeria, the Market Women Association, and related health initiatives by USAID (SPRING), Clinton Health Access Initiative, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Primary Health Care initiative to improve advocacy, interpersonal behavior change communication and mobilization; and use mass communication (through broadcast, Kallywood, and mobile phones) to improve the social norm for IYCF among stakeholders and health care providers.
At both the national level and in the two states, while the emphasis will be to build the capacity of the public sector to improve IYCF practices, the involvement and resources from the private and commercial sectors will be pursued to advance IYCF policies, expand the promotion of positive social norms, and extend timed and age-appropriate behavior change messaging through private and commercial facilities to households and communities. Formative research will be conducted to further understand target populations and audiences (stakeholders, providers, beneficiaries), and monitoring systems will be established to ensure that program inputs, outputs, and outcomes are tracked and fed back into improving the program.

The Project Director, A&T/Nigeria is Based in Abuja, Nigeria. This Position Has a Three-fold Purpose:

Providing highest level strategic infant and young child feeding (IYCF) technical and program vision and leadership to the Government of Nigeria, specifically the FMOH; international donors, agencies, and projects; private/commercial and NGO representatives and projects; and other partners and stakeholders to help in the design, implementation, monitoring, and improvement of IYCF social and behavior change communication strategies, approaches, and intervention designs towards the improvement of breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices.
Directing and overseeing A&T Nigeria’s senior technical and program staff and partner and subcontract activities at the federal level in Abuja, and in metropolitan Lagos, and rural and urban Kaduna state. Includes providing technical assistance and training in IYCF-related policy and advocacy; interpersonal social and behavior change communication and community mobilization; mass communication; and strategic collection and use of data; and to provide timely and effective collection, use, and report-out/documentation of qualitative and quantitative monitoring data from project activities.
Directing and overseeing the compliance of A&T Nigeria management of administrative, financial, operational, procurement, and logistical support services and reporting.

Technical And Program Development, Implementation, And Monitoring:

Collaborates closely with and serves as technical specialist to GON, SUN, international NGO and donor initiatives, and various coordinating bodies and technical working groups at the federal and state level to develop and implement IYCF SBCC programs that utilize advocacy, interpersonal communication (social and behavior change communication) and community mobilization, mass communication, and strategic use of data and involve public, private/commercial, and NGO sectors to improve coverage, reach and impact of IYCF practices.
Maintains productive partnerships with national and state-level stakeholders in the government, private/commercial and NGO organizations and projects, and international and local donors to ensure A&T’s policy advocacy, interpersonal social and behavior change communication and social mobilization, mass communications, and strategic collection and use of data is advocated for, accepted, and sustained
Serves as a technical expert for at least one of the four A&T program components and in the context of SBCC approaches
Acts as a spokesperson on behalf of the project at national and international technical meetings
Oversees the preparation and ensures quality of all project reports and deliverables
Troubleshoots to prevent and resolve potential problems
Provides in-country technical input, leadership, and coordination for the design and implementation of all program components at the national level, in metropolitan Lagos, and in rural and urban Kaduna state.
Provides leadership to and oversight of the application of A&T’s approaches, messages, materials, and tools to SBCC capacity building under the context of the Nigeria National Strategic Plan of Action for Nutrition (2014-2019) and state mandates, and across public, private/commercial and NGO sectors
Provides direct-line supervision of key A&T/Nigeria technical and finance/operations staff
Work closely with A&T HQ and partners to provide input to related IYCF projects to strengthening public and private/commercial sector capacity for social and behavior change communications to increase and improve coverage, delivery, and monitoring
Oversee and lead the development of annual work plans and project reports, and ensure timely reporting and responses for information to HQ
Actively conduct or help facilitate major program development and implementation activities (strategic planning, program presentations, advocacy and policy meetings, workshops), as appropriate
Work closely with A&T HQ staff to leverage other international donor and private sector resources to complement and extend project reach and resources
Oversee and coordinate the development and implementation of A&T supported formative research and operations research on IYCF implementation and program work
Oversee and coordinate the development of a monitoring system to track progress and obtain data to refine interventions
Provide guidance and coordination to document and present formative, monitoring, and evaluation results to key Nigerian and international stakeholders, and facilitate use of the results to improve programs
Other tasks as assigned

Management and Administration:

Oversees office, financial, and operational management of the A&T/Nigeria office, ensuring accurate and timely financial reporting, budget monitoring, and compliance with A&T procedures in all financial, contractual, and procurement activities.
Oversees and works closely with A&T Nigeria and HQ finance, operations, and program staff to develop annual work plans and budgets; annual, quarterly and monthly update reports; and other project deliverables from partners and subcontractors
Provides overall management, supervision, guidance, and an enabling team environment for local staff (approximately 10 technical and finance/operations staff) and consultants.
Reports regularly to the Project Director and other HQ staff on technical and administrative issues
Present program results, based on MLE data, to the GON and other professional colleagues, both in country and internationally.
Other tasks as needed

Supervisory Responsibilities

Total office staff (local technical, financial, and administrative staff) approximately ten. Direct supervision of 3-4 technical and finance/operations staff expected.

Qualifications

Master's Degree in one of the following or related fields: Public Health, Human Nutrition, International Health, Behavior Change Communications, Behavioral Science, social marketing. PhD strongly preferred

Experience

At least 12 years of relevant public health technical capacity building (training, TA, facilitation), program, and leadership experience primarily in the context of an SBCC project or program.
Demonstrated experience and high acceptability in Nigeria of working with government, private/commercial and NGO sectors, and with international donors.
3-5 years’ experience (in the past 10 years) in a senior technical or program management leadership/chief-of-party equivalency in SBCC–specific program providing technical input to a large scale nutrition or public health project involving advocacy, interpersonal communication and mobilization, mass communication, and strategic use of data across public, private/commercial, and NGO sectors
Extensive knowledge of infant and young child feeding
Extensive field and HQ experience in designing, implementing, monitoring and reporting on capacity building in more than one component (advocacy, training, BCC, public/private sector) of a public health nutrition program
Oversight and/or design or program and/or operations research of community activities
Familiarity with nutrition indicators especially IYCF data collection, analysis, and reporting

Skills

Proven leadership, mentoring, teamwork, delegation, partnering skills (facilitating dialogue and communications across diverse sectors, institutions, and geographic administrative levels)
Fluency in English, including excellent writing, oral and visual presentation skills; training skills desirable. Fluency in Hausa, Yoruba highly desirable.
Ability to assess priorities and competently complete a variety of activities with a high level of accuracy and timeliness.
Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
Ability to initiate and implement activities with minimal oversight and supervision.
Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, etc) and the Internet.
Excellent interpersonal skills

Travel Requirements
Extensive travel between Abuja, Kaduna, and Lagos (40-60% travel).Remuneration
We offer competitive compensation and an outstanding benefit package. Please click here to visit FHI 360's Career Center for a list of all open positions.