Country: Bangladesh
Closing date: 26 Sep 2019
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Purpose of Assignment:
To address under nutrition systematically and at scale, the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) launched the National Nutrition Service (NNS), comprising of a set of child and maternal nutrition interventions focused on the critical window of opportunity of 1000 days. Efforts have been made to mainstream nutrition within the existing health and family planning service delivery systems all over the country. However, poor management and planning at districts/ sub-district levels and inadequate technical capacity and skills of health workers to provide nutrition services and counselling were identified as two critical bottlenecks in the effective implementation of NNS.
To address these, the “Accelerating implementation of NNS (AINSS)” project was conceived with an objective to strengthen system for evidence-based planning at districts and sub-district levels and enhance skills and capacity of health workers to deliver nutrition at the facility level. At present, UNICEF is supporting the Government to implement the project in 43 districts out of 64 districts.
The implementation includes two approaches: first, provision of dedicated nutrition professional, District Nutrition Support Officer (DNSO), at the district to empower and transform districts capacity in planning, implementation and monitoring and reporting of the nutrition services. The second part of the project is Competency Based Training (CBT) and mentoring of health managers and service providers, which has a more focus on building the skills of the health service providers for efficient and effective nutrition service delivery. Also known as Dipshikha in Bangla, is an innovative way to improve the knowledge as well as skills and competencies of managers, supervisors and service providers to deliver nutrition interventions. Unlike conventional training, CBT focuses more on building the skills of the health service providers through practical demonstration and hands on practice. The current 3 days training module includes infant, and young child feeding practices, adolescent and woman’s nutrition; and growth monitoring and promotion. The training is also supplemented with mentoring to ensure adequate retention of the knowledge and skills. The managers and first line supervisors, who receive additional 2 days on supportive supervision, mentoring and monitoring.
The uniqueness of the CBT is the component of post-training supportive supervision, mentoring and monitoring. Thus, the capacity building of the service providers is not only restricted to the training sessions but are extended to their workplace through on-site technical support by their respective supervisors. Each health facility is visited every quarter for supportive supervision.
This is one of the key projects supported by the Nutrition Section. An independent evaluation done by icddr,b found great improvement in knowledge of health workers after receiving the training but also highlighted the need to further improve the skills and application of the knowledge, i.e. quality of IYCF counselling, through refresher and effective mentoring, which needs attention. There has also been concern that the maternal nutrition component has been weak. Thus, the current training package (both module 1 and 2) and mentoring approach needs to be refined. Furthermore, the Government has also decided, as part of a new refresher module, also introduce new nutrition themes that was not part of the existing modules. The Government now is calling the package Comprehensive Competency Training on Nutrition (CCTN).
The CBT has been implemented in 26 districts between 2017 and 2018 and recently the Government rolled out the package in additional 6 districts in the past six months. The Government has included rollout of CCTN training in the new NNS operational plan (2017-22) and has plan to cover all remaining districts by 2020 largely with their own resources. Specifically, 18 districts in the 2019-2020 fiscal year.
Therefore, is an urgent need to revise the current package based on the implementation experience, assessment and evaluations. UNICEF Nutrition Section is recruiting an International nutrition expert to lead overall development of CCTN training and mentoring package. To support the lead consultant, the section will also be hiring a national consultant as well as plan, coordinate, track and report rollout of CCTN activities for 18 districts for the fiscal year.
Description of assignment:
A. Support Lead CCTN consultant to:
B. Support IPHN, NIPSOM and ICMH to plan, coordinate and track rollout of the CCTN:
Deliverables/Outputs:
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UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
Remarks:
How to apply:
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=526305