Health & Nutrition Coordinator, Idlib, Syria

Location: Idleb or Aleppo

Travel: Require 40% Travel to Project Sites

Area of Responsibilities: Area Based - Northwest Syria

Relief International (RI) is an international non-profit organization that partners with communities impacted by conflict, climate change and disaster to save lives, build greater resilience and promote long-term health and wellbeing.

Our team of more than 7,000 staff and local volunteers in 14 countries across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, providing Health and Nutrition, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), Education and Livelihoods programming that creates the foundation for community resilience.

We do this by working with local actors to develop safe and inclusive local programming that is evidence based, conflict sensitive, climate smart, and reaches those in need.

Relief International is an alliance of four organizations with one shared mission, comprised of Relief International, Inc., Relief International-France, Relief International-UK and Relief International-Europe, which operate under a one-team concept under a single senior leadership team.

Job Profile

The Health & Nutrition Coordinator - NWS is a crucial member of RI's Syria team, based in Northwest Syria and covering Idleb, Aleppo and Hama governorates, working under the supervision of the Project Manager. The Coordinator is responsible for managing the Health and Nutrition field team in NWS and providing managerial and technical oversight of all activities, including those implemented at supported Health Facilities (PHCs and hospitals) and through mobile medical units (MMUs). Working under the guidance of the Project Manager - NWS and the H&N Advisor (Country office), the Coordinator organizes and supervises the field work of the H&N team in NWS, ensures the overall quality implementation of activities, provides technical supervision and capacity-building for field-based staff, ensures clinical quality, addresses technical gaps in a timely manner, and contributes to coordination and internal & donor reporting.

Key Responsibilities:

• Oversee the implementation of H&N activities in the area of operation, ensuring adherence to international standards and internal SoPs and guidelines, technical guidance, and quality assurance.
• Provide technical guidance, oversight and support to the field team (direct staff and incentive staff) in the provision of quality H&N services to ensure the needs of survivors are met in a timely and consistent manner with strong clinical quality, and ensuring safe and ethical data monitoring.
• Provide input into the development of relevant tools and SoPs and ensure their effective roll-out at field level.
• Monitor project activity implementation and quality standards on a continuous basis, identifying risks and promptly reporting to the Project Manager and H&N Advisor any areas of concern and recommendations on mitigation measures.
• Support donor visits, third party monitoring, audits, or external evaluations to H&N activity sites within the area of responsibility.

Project Implementation and Oversight

• Provide day-to-day oversight and technical support and supervision to the field-based staff, ensuring that work plans are set and followed and that targets are achieved in line with applicable standards.
• Monitor the activity implementation, identify and recommend solutions to challenges, promptly report issues to the Project Manager and H&N Advisor, and propose adaptations to the programmatic and technical strategy based on identified gaps/needs and contextual changes.
• Continuously monitor the health situation and analyze health & nutrition needs of affected populations; prioritize the needs that should be addressed by RI program, in a manner which includes a focus on health systems strengthening.
• Conduct regular monitoring visits to RI's supported health & nutrition activities (in both governorates); evaluate the quality of H&N programming including by utilizing structured checklists and monitoring tools; identify areas of improvement and implementing corrective actions.
• Ensure regular monitoring of pharmaceuticals and medical equipment and supplies, including but not limited to adherence to the pharma management standards, prescription standards, etc.
• Ensure that early warning systems and contingency plans are in place for investigation and control of outbreaks of infectious diseases and other health issues of concern in the areas of operation.
• In coordination with the H&N Advisor, review new health-related initiatives and tools to give feedback from operational, technical and programmatic strategic points of view.
• Assess and address operational and technical gaps in H&N facilities in coordination with technical and operations focal points.
• Support the monitoring and evaluation of program implementation and quality by MEL, Accountability, and technical staff.
• Conduct regular (monthly or quarterly) reviews of the Quality Benchmarks Tool across supported health facilities to monitor performance across the dimensions of quality and ensure the tool is accurately completed, identifying gaps in service quality, develop and following up on corrective action plans to strengthen the quality of health and nutrition services.
• In coordination with the H&N Advisor, participate in technical monitoring visits to partner facilities, contribute to monitoring the quality of services provided, and document observations and recommendations for performance improvement, as delegated by the Project Manager.

Leadership & Team Management:

• Line manage the Medical Officers (3), SRH Officer, Nutrition Officer, and Medical Commodities Officer, supervising and supporting them to effectively guide the staff in each HF and MMU site in the implementation of activities, sharing relevant information, tools and guidance to improve quality and achieve timelines.
• Set clear objectives for each field staff under line management and do timely performance evaluations.
• Support staff capacity development, including by conducting capacity needs assessments, providing training and on-the-job coaching and mentoring, and highlighting areas of support required from the Technical Advisor for capacity-building of the team.
• Participate in the recruitment of H&N staff.

Grants, Finance and Operational Responsibilities:

• Provide input, and support the Project Manager in reviewing Budget versus actual for accuracy and tracking and to flag spending issues in timely manner and support in providing corrective actions.
• Under Project Manager supervision, regularly coordinate with the supply chain, finance and HR departments regarding project implementation, raising any delays or other issues of concern which may impact project implementation progress.
• Contribute to timely and quality internal and donor reporting on project activities and progress toward targets.
• Provide input into concept notes and proposal development process in line with health & nutrition strategy and general RI strategic objectives, providing sectoral and area-based insights and analysis, as well as into donor reporting.
• Provide input into program management tools such as log frames, work plans, indicator tracking table and monitoring tools to support implementation.

Other duties:

• Promote integration across sectors through collaborating with Protection team and other RI sectors.
• Represent RI in area-based H&N coordination meetings, such as H&N sub-sector/cluster, working groups, etc, as delegated by the Project Manager.
• Maintain regular communication with local stakeholders active in the health sector and focal points in RI supported health facilities to generate innovative methods of health system strengthening.
• In coordination with various internal and external stakeholders lead the establishment of effective referral mechanisms.

Behavior and Conduct

• Ensures the highest standards of behavior in and outside of work, promoting the values in RI's code of conduct and safeguarding policies at all times.
• Leads by example - is a model for ethical conduct standards for other team members.
• Adheres to humanitarian principles and H&N standards.
• Ensures own actions and the actions of the team members do not impact the safety of the RI team and the vulnerable communities we serve.
• Promotes awareness by external stakeholders of RI conduct and reporting mechanisms
• Promptly reports any concerns about possible violations of safeguarding, medical standards, or humanitarian principles to safeguarding focal points, line managers and/or senior management.
• Displays cultural sensitivity and the ability to work with diverse communities in an empathetic, non-judgmental manner.

Person Specification

Skills, knowledge and expertise required for the role.

Essential criteria

• Degree in medicine, public health, or related field.
• Minimum of 3 years of relevant experience in emergency health and nutrition programming within a conflict-affected setting.
• Staff supervisory experience.
• Strong understanding of and considerable experience in technical issues around both clinical medicine and public health at primary and secondary health care.
• Extensive experience in providing technical assistance to public health service providers in remote conflict settings.
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and diplomacy skills; able to communicate sensitively and without judgment.
• Strong organizational, planning, and analytical skills.
• Track record of delivering high-quality reports, analysis, and technical materials (trainings, program tools, guidelines, etc).
• Fluency in Arabic and excellent spoken/written English.

Desirable criteria

• Master's degree in public health, international health, or other related fields is an added advantage.
• Experience and knowledge of Northeast Syrian context, with a sound understanding of local dynamics and health-related needs.
• Experience of coordinating with government agencies, NGOs, and UN bodies.
• Facilitation and capacity-building skills (trainings, mentoring).
• Experience of integrating H&N with other sectors' programming.
• Experience in information data management, utilizing databases and platforms.

RI Values

Guided by the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, as well as “Do No Harm,” Relief International Values:

• Integrity
• Adaptability
• Collaboration
• Inclusivity
• Sustainability

As a humanitarian organization, Relief International is committed to the safeguarding of all those we come into contact with through our work. We are committed to the core humanitarian principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. Relief International expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment and uphold the values and behaviors outlined in the Code of Conduct.

Recruitment to all roles in Relief International include a criminal records self-declaration, references, and other pre-employment checks, which may include police and qualifications checks.

Closing Date

March 31, 2026