Summary

Projet USAID Nutrition et Hygiene (USAID/PNH) is a five-year Nutrition project based in Sikasso, Mali. USAID/PNH’s goal is to improve the nutritional status of pregnant and lactating women and children under two years of age in six health districts (Bougouni, Nièna, Sikasso, Koutiala, Kignan, and Kadiolo) of Sikasso Region in Mali. The Project uses a multi-sectorial approach that integrates health/nutrition, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), agriculture and social behavior change (SBCC) interventions to maximize impact. SBCC interventions work through community structures and promote specific behaviors, engaging community members in Community Led Total Sanitation (CLTS), Women Support Groups (GSAN), Women Farmers’ Groups, Farmer Field Schools (FFS), and Family Farmer Management Systems (FFMSy). By the end of the project, USAID/PNH is expected to reach over 53,000 women and 13,000 children under two (those in the “first 1,000 days” of life) in 1,200 under-served rural villages across the Sikasso Region.

USAID/PNH is in its fourth year of implementation. In the six health districts where PNH operates, activities cover 142 health facilities and 236 villages, and reaches out to these communities through 3,155 village coordination committee (VCC) members, 2,467 maman leader animatrices (MLAs), 1,063 mothers-in-law, 1,014 husband leaders, 446 relais communautaire, 67 Agents de Santé Communautaire (ASC) and 200 peer farmers with social behavior change communication (SBCC) in nutrition, WASH, and Agriculture.

The Sr. Consultant will travel to Mali for up to 6 weeks at a time, 2 to 3 times over the next 18 months to provide leadership on all aspects of project implementation, monitoring and evaluation and learning (MEAL), workplanning, and technical elements of the project including facilitating institutional collaboration and coordination with the government. S/he will provide remote support to ensure meeting project deliverables/results on time and on budget. The project manager will supervise the team leads for implementation, MEAL and technical, and work closely with technical assistants from SC-US providing nutrition, SBCC, and M&E expertise.

Essential Duties, Responsibilities and Impact

• Overall management and implementation of the multi-million dollar nutrition project
• Budget responsibility: expenditure in excess of $1 million per year
• Strategic guidance, providing strong support for all aspects of operations—procurement, training, collaboration with partners, and contractors.
• Work closely with Deputy Chief of Party who will be based in Sikasso and provide support during his onboarding phase
• Provide oversight of program activities, team building and the creation of external partnerships particularly at sub-national levels with Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Social Development and Economy and the Ministry of the Environment (DRACPN).
• Ensure close collaboration with USAID/SSGI particularly around community mobilization, CMAM, community nutrition support groups and social behavior change communication activities.
• Ensure that an effective monitoring and performance management system is in place for achieving prior agreed targets in relation to program activities, budget allocations and financial expenditures, ensuring that value for money can be effectively demonstrated to the donor
• Develop and maintain efficient and effective operating systems, and ensure compliance with all Save the Children Operational Standards, including safety & security management
• Nurture strong relationships with Save the Children’s partners in country, national and regional level government and donors, as well as other key stakeholders in Mali
• Regular field travel and monitoring to ensure quality and consistency in programming across target districts
• Contribute to SCI learning and establishing and building reputation and portfolio in nutrition and related activities to sustain project impact
• Perform other duties as may be requested.
• Ability to travel to Mali (Bamako/ Sikasso) for period of 6 weeks at a time, 3 times over the next year. Ability Bamako to Sikasso

Required Background and Experience, Skills and Behaviors

• Advanced degree in management, public health, nutrition, health sciences or related field;
• Minimum of 10 years of managing nutrition, community health or other relevant project management experience in Africa
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in Financial and Human Resources management
• Proven experience collaborating with health systems and/or similar entities at national and subnational levels
• Experience in managing projects with financing over USD1 million
• Outstanding project management and project cycle skills
• Strong personnel leadership skills, particularly mentoring skills
• Solid communication and facilitation skills
• Excellent collaboration skills with local, national, and civil society stakeholders
• Experience working in Mali desirable
• Strong written and verbal language skills in English and French

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Save the Children provides an attractive benefits package including competitive salaries, a matching retirement plan, health and welfare benefits, life insurance, an employee assistance program, generous time off and much more. We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.