Food Security and Nutrition Specialist

Position Summary

TOMAK is currently seeking a full-time Food Security and Nutrition (FSN) Specialist to be based in the Dili head office with regular travel to Baucau, Bobonaro, and Viqueque. The FSN Specialist is a key member of the TOMAK technical team and works in close coordination with the Social and Behaviour Change (SBC) & Nutrition Adviser in contributing to generating social behaviour change (SBC) in a range of areas including: food systems, nutrition, food security, and nutrition-sensitive-agriculture (NSA) at the community and institutional levels. Under the guidance of the SBC & Nutrition Adviser, the FSN Specialist will support activity identification and implementation and material development (content writing).

The FSN Specialist supports the institutional strengthening of government partner systems by:

• overseeing the rollout of TOMAK’s Nutrition-Sensitive-Agriculture (NSA) curriculum at municipal level, which includes conducting Training of Trainer (TOT) sessions with agriculture extension workers (AEWs) from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, and Forestry (MALFF) and health provides (HPs) the Ministry of Health (MoH) (primarily through collaboration with the Nutrition Department and INSP-TL), TOMAK staff, and partner NGOs; monitoring of the curriculum’s effectiveness and suitability, including updating the material as identified; and running reflection workshops and strategy development sessions;
• collaborating with the MALFF Veterinary Department (DNV) on the implementation of TOMAK and DNV’s Newcastle Disease Vaccination program, including supporting TOT to high-volume poultry producers, overseeing vaccination drives, monitoring of activity effectiveness and suitability; and running reflection workshops and strategy development sessions;
• supporting rollout of TOMAK’s SBC Strategy through developing and revising TOMAK’s nutrition and food security materials, including identifying and developing new materials following best practice SBC approaches.
• working with TOMAK’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team to track uptake in priority practices and assess the effectiveness of TOMAK’s SBC approach. This includes involvement in TOMAK’s Learning and Reflection Platform (LRP) as a key forum to share key lessons from the field with Government counterparts. The FSN Specialist will be expected to contribute to the design and facilitation of LRP sessions.

The FSN Specialist will play a key role in:

• providing technical assistance to MALFF and MoH in activity planning and budgeting by utilizing data gleaned from monitoring sessions to improve decision making;
• leading Government and partner engagement during material review and development process from concept and testing to finalisation; and
• contributing to TOMAK’s annual activity identification and implementation, work planning, and reporting processes

This position requires very strong organisational skills and the ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines. The selected individual must be confident in liaising and negotiating with stakeholders at multiple levels. This includes managing relationships within MALFF and MoH, at national and municipal levels. The FSN Specialist is also involved in coordination and collaboration with TOMAK’s lead implementing NGO for technical approaches related to nutrition, food security, and NSA. The FSN Specialist also maintains close working relationships with TOMAK’s regional team members, particularly the Project Officers in charge of FSN, in the implementation and monitoring of field level activities. Willingness to collaborate and work closely with team members and partners from different technical areas is a must.

Duties and responsibilities

• Contribute to the development and revision of food security and nutrition related materials taking into account SBC best practices
• Develop and manage relationships with key partners including MALFF, MoH, and NGOs;
• Contribute to the capacity strengthening of Government counterparts and NGO partners through training, mentoring, reflection sessions;
• Provide inputs into technical assessments of key aspects of the food system in target communities including: dietary diversity, environmental enteropathy, and food and seed storage practices;
• Work with and mentor TOMAK Program Officers on food systems, nutrition, food security, NSA, and SBC technical approaches;
• Contribute to annual assessments that track effectiveness of TOMAK’s SBC approaches (e.g. changes in behaviours);
• Support in identifying lessons learned and facilitate sharing of best practice across the TOMAK technical team and regional teams;
• Assist with the development and execution of annual workplans and budgets as they relate to food system and SBC approaches;
• Participate in relevant nutrition and food security networks (e.g. the National Nutrition Technical Working Group) to ensure regular communication and coordination with other programs, organisations and agencies; and
• Promote GEYDSI (gender, equality, youth, disability, and social inclusion) and women’s economic empowerment as an integral part of interventions.

Skills and experience required:

1. Bachelor with 7 years’ experience or Masters with 5 years’ experience in a relevant field of nutrition / nutrition sensitive agriculture and/or food security/food systems programming
2. Experience conducting training-of-trainers and development of training materials, including strong facilitation skills, the use of adult learning and participatory methods and on the job mentoring of Government counterparts;
3. Familiarity with basic behaviour change concepts and experience in developing and assessing SBC approaches and content (across multiple channels: i.e. written, film/animation, radio/podcast etc; and for varying audiences);
4. Qualitative and quantitative research skills with the ability to understand and summarise data and use findings to develop programmatic recommendations and identify ways forward;
5. Demonstrated experience collaborating with a diverse range of stakeholders, including government and NGOs, with the ability to establish and maintain their own relationships;
6. Strong writing and communication skills, including the ability to adapt style and content for different audiences;
7. Excellent organisational skills, with demonstrated ability to work independently and as a member of a team;
8. Advanced computer literacy, particularly in MS Word, MS Excel and Outlook.
9. High level of spoken and written English (as this is a national position fluency in Tetun is expected)

To Apply:

Interested applicants must submit their applications by Monday February 27, 2024, 5pm local time (Timor-Leste).

Please submit:

1. Short cover letter detailing experience in line with the Terms of Reference (TOR) (2-3 pages)
2. An up-to-date CV/resume (3-5 pages)
3. Links to relevant examples of past work, particularly related to food security and nutrition materials you contributed too (i.e. brochures, radio broadcast scripts, film scripts, training aids etc).
4. Three (3) references: preferably one from your most recent job and a personal reference from a stakeholder or counterpart you liaised with.

Applications should be sent to TOMAK’s HR Team by emailing [email protected] by Monday February 27, 2024, 5pm local time (Timor-Leste).

Adam Smith International is an equal opportunity employer and applications from a diverse range of candidates including from women and people with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

This posting is open to Timorese nationals only.

Due to the high volume of applications received, only short-listed applicants will be contacted.