AFR-06

Organization Title: Save the Children
Field Location: Nampula Province, Mozambique
Policy Location: Washington, D.C.

DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION

Save the Children Federation, Inc. (SC), is a preeminent provider of development and humanitarian assistance around the world. SC implements programs in health, HIV/AIDS, education, children in crisis, economic opportunities, food security and emergency response in order to achieve its mission: to create lasting, positive change in the lives of children in need. Active in 45 countries, SC is one of 30 members of the International Save the Children Alliance and is recognized internationally for its capacity to mobilize communities, reach disadvantaged populations, and build bridges for effective communication among communities, facilities, local organizations, and government. For more information please go to: http://www.savethechildren.org/.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

SC works with the most vulnerable children and their families to meet immediate needs and develop long term solutions to hunger and malnutrition. We work to improve children’s access to food, their consumption of food and their absorption of nutrients. With growing numbers of over 840 million people world-wide estimated to be chronically undernourished, our cross-sectoral programs address these issues by promoting diverse and resilient food production systems, enhancing livelihoods, improving dietary intake along with overall health and increasing access to life saving care and support. Selected programs work to mitigate the impact of crises on food security, especially of HIV/AIDs on children and families. SC’s implementing strategies aim at protecting productive assets in times of stress contributing to more rapid recovery from crisis and ensuring that resources are available to maintain basic needs and rights of children.

FIELD PLACEMENT

In an effort to address significant food insecurity in Nampula Province, Mozambique, SC has established a consortium to implement the Segurança Alimentar Através de Nutrição e Agricultura (SANA) or Food Security through Nutrition and Agriculture program from August 2008 until July 2011. The program covers three primary technical areas: market-driven agricultural production and sales; maternal and child health and nutrition; and community and district capacity to mitigate the effects of shocks. SC along with other organizations will lead community mobilization, agriculture, and nutrition activities and link farmer association members to profitable markets.

Given the large scope of the SANA program, a sophisticated M&E system will be established that permits on-going assessment of project implementation, and allows for timely analysis and adjustments to programming. Baseline and final evaluations, with program monitoring data, will be used to quantify and describe the extent to which project objectives have been achieved.

The Leland Fellow will work in Nampula Province, Mozambique assisting Save the Children and its consortium partners to carry out monitoring and evaluation of the Title II food security and nutrition program. The scope of work will have three main components: qualitative research, outcome-level monitoring, and capacity building.

POLICY PLACEMENT

The fellow will be housed within the Livelihoods Department in Washington, DC during the second year of the fellowship and will be under the general supervision of the Food Security Director. Given that the fellow will have worked with M&E aspects of Mozambique’s SANA program during the first year of the Fellowship, the second year will continue along this technical area, broadening the focus to general department M&E needs related to food security. In addition, the fellow’s experience gleaned from the field and general technical knowledge related to food security topics will be utilized to better inform policy and advocacy stakeholders about hunger issues through involvement in Save the Children’s policy and advocacy initiatives. Consequently, the fellow will periodically liaise with other departmental units and divisions such as the Public Policy and Advocacy Division and the Design Monitoring and Evaluation Unit. The fellow’s main tasks and responsibilities will include the support of current and future food security programs through technical assistance related to M&E, as well as policy and advocacy activities on hunger issues. S/he will function as the Livelihoods department’s M&E and policy specialist.

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

• Master’s degree in food security, agronomy, agricultural economics, nutrition, public health, socio-economics or rural development
• Experience in developing and implementing M&E systems (within food security programs is a plus)
• Experience in designing and conducting qualitative and quantitative research
• Experience or active interest in policy and advocacy
• Peace Corps or other field-level experience, specially with a livelihoods related focus (e.g. agriculture, natural resource management, financial services, etc.) in sub-Saharan Africa
• Proficient in SPSS, ACCESS (or other database and analysis software)
• Fluent in written and spoken English
• Fluent in written and spoken Portuguese (Spanish also acceptable, although Portuguese is preferable.)
• Ability to live in an environment with very basic services
• Ability to take initiative and make decisions
• Ability to actively participate in and contribute to multi-disciplinary teamwork
• Other considerations: Mozambique is a largely safe and stable country. Safety concerns are minor and typically involve cases of pick-pocketing in the larger cities, which can be prevented through increased vigilance. In addition, malaria is present in Mozambique and prophylaxis is highly recommended. Fully up-to-date immunizations will also be required.