Program Manager, Nutrition Research & Innovation

Background/IRC Summary:  

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their future. The IRC’s strategic vision prioritizes building a body of evidence for effective programming, developing innovative approaches to crisis situations, and increasing the speed and quality of program delivery. The IRC is committed to addressing the world’s worst humanitarian crises through gender sensitive, evidence-based, outcome-driven interventions that bring real change to the lives of our clients.

The Airbel Impact lab designs, tests, and scales life-changing, cost-effective solutions for people affected by conflict and disaster. Nutrition is a team in the health technical unit comprised of technical advisors and specialists providing technical assistance to country programs and organizational thought leadership in nutrition. Together, Airbel and Nutrition have identified Tackling Child Malnutrition: Scaling innovations that improve access, coverage and cost-effectiveness of acute malnutrition treatment in children under five as a Global Research and Innovation Priority (GRIP) to focus energy over the coming years in order to generate a set of breakthroughs to radically improve client outcomes and change the humanitarian sector.

In order to achieve our vision, the Nutrition GRIP will accelerate action against malnutrition by transforming the way treatment is delivered to increase coverage and sustained recovery for children in fragile and humanitarian contexts by:

●Generating operational and clinical evidence of the effectiveness of combined protocol, community health worker delivery of acute malnutrition treatment, family MUAC (i.e. simplified approaches) and combinations of the three innovations

●Advancing IRC technical and thought leadership on simplified approaches by building strategic partnerships, leading key coalitions and providing technical guidance internally and to the sector through research dissemination, direct technical assistance and creating and sharing technical guidance and tools

●Create an enabling environment at a global and national policy level to implement innovative approaches at scale

Job Overview/Summary:

In order to achieve our commitment to transform the way malnutrition treatment is delivered, the Research & Innovation team, Health Unit Nutrition Team and IRC country programs have been engaged in several initiatives to generate evidence, scale services and develop partnerships with donor, UN and implementation stakeholders. Reporting to the Nutrition Advisor for Operational Research, the Program Manager will provide direct programmatic and administrative support to the Nutrition GRIP team in close collaboration with colleagues and departments including but not limited to IRC technical units, Revenue and Finance, Operations, Grants and some liaising with IRC regional teams and country offices as needed. The Program Manager will also provide direct coordination and administrative support to a new contract /partnership with UNICEF to deliver technical assistance in nutrition globally.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to:  Nutrition Advisor for Operational Research

Position directly supervises:  N/A

Indirect Reporting: N/A

Other Internal and/or external contacts:

Internal:

●Airbel Impact Lab

●Health Technical Unit Directors and Team Members

●Country and Regional Directors and Country Program Staff

●IRC Awards Management Unit

External:

●UNICEF LTA program counterparts

●Local and regional consultants, service providers and implementing partners

Major Responsibilities:

UNICEF LTA Contract Assistance

●Support Project Director in day-to-day communication with consultants, consortium partners and IRC regional teams and country programs

●Assist LTA proposal development including coordinating, developing and reviewing IRC and partner work plans, narratives as well as proposal tools and templates

●Coordinate LTA consultant roster; develop and/or re-purpose relevant guidelines, tools and resources to utilize consultants

●Manage contracts, payments and other administrative tasks for LTA consultants

●Support Project Director and grants manager to utilize existing IRC standard processes (e.g. OTIS, opening, review and closing grant meetings) and develop new tools or reporting formats to enhance project implementation and grants management

Administrative Tasks

●Manage contracts, payments and other administrative tasks for GRIP consultants.

●Assist with travel logistics, planning, reporting and additional support as needed.

●Review and submit for approval travel expense reports and purchase orders; follow and close out purchase orders

● Coordinate communications with IRC’s support departments; respond to day-to-day interdepartmental, field and external requests for information.

●Manage GRIP related event planning, logistics and additional support as needed

Program Support

●Update and maintain internal and external RescueNet page.

●Review and continuously maintain GRIP’s internal resources and documents.

●Review, facilitate and/or disseminate appropriate resources to the field.

●Provide technical support to GRIP Advisors as requested, which can include the review and contribution to proposal development, review of reports, and representation of GRIP/Airbel at meetings and conferences.

●Manage review, approval and finalization processes for GRIP data sharing agreements, IRB submission and conference and journal submissions

●Work with other technical unit grants & budget managers to streamline and harmonize IRC processes

●Coordinate interns/volunteers

Job Requirements:

●Bachelor’s degree in a related field (Education, Int’l Affairs, Social Work, etc.) - or equivalent professional experience

●Minimum 2 years related non-profit and/or administrative work experience desirable. Some field experience a plus, Global Health experience in particular.

●Fluency in English required; proficiency in French is desired/an advantage

Demonstrated Skills and competencies

●Proven writing and editing skills: the ability to draft memos & letters and edit reports and proposals.

●Solid organizational and administrative skills, with a proven ability to prioritize projects with attention to detail.

●Excellent computer skills: MS Word, Excel, and file sharing.

●Grants and/or contract management experience

●Knowledge management experience, including developing and maintaining file and record-keeping systems, developing related logs and guidance documents

●The ability to work independently and productively in a fast-paced environment – pro-activity and initiative to problem solve within the job parameters is essential.

Working Environment: 

●Standard office environment - open for fully remote work

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The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct.  These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability.  In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.