Project Assistant, Large Scale Food Fortification, Innovation Fund

About the Role

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is seeking a Project Assistant, Large Scale Food Fortification, Innovation Fund to support in administrative coordination of project activities. This role will be offered on a one(1) year fixed term contract, subject to availability of funding and will be based in Abuja, Nigeria.

The Project Assistant will support the Project Manager LSFF and Project Coordinator Business Development and Innovations Fund in the implementation and management of the Nigeria Large-Scale Food Fortification (LSFF) Innovation Fund. The Project Assistant will assist in coordinating project activities, liaising with key stakeholders, managing communications, and ensuring smooth execution of project tasks. This is a unique opportunity to gain experience in project management, public health, and policy implementation while working closely with government agencies and other key stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities include:

• Assist the Project Coordinator in organizing and managing daily project activities, including scheduling meetings, preparing agendas, and maintaining project documentation.
• Help facilitate communication and coordination with key stakeholders, including NAFDAC, SON, FCCPC, and other project partners. Ensure timely follow-up on action points from meetings and engagements.
• Support the planning and execution of training sessions, workshops, and events such as the Director Generals’ Roundtable. Assist with logistics, invitations, and participant coordination.
• Maintain and update contact lists for partners and stakeholders, as well as a list of pre-qualified service providers.
• Assist project teams to prepare and format standard contracts and related documents (amendments and extensions), in strict compliance with the standard contracting process and templates.
• Implement and maintain reporting procedures and administrative systems in an accurate and timely manner, such as managing the databases and filing systems and compiling reports.

About you

The ideal candidate should have experience providing support to projects with administrative and coordination support. Experience coordinating communication with government agencies and implementing partners is required. You should possess excellent organization skills with ability to coordinate different activities for operational efficiency of the project. Previous knowledge or experience in areas of food fortification or public health or policy implementation would be good to have.

The position holder should be detail oriented with good written and verbal communication skills in English and can operate independently with minimal supervision. You need to be a self-starter and proactive in your approach to work and able to handle confidential information with discretion.

An educational background with a degree in Business Administration, Project Management, Public health, international development, Nutrition, Food sciences, Political Sciences, Agriculture or any other relevant field is required.

About our Offer

The starting gross salary on offer for this role is from NGN 6,385,980 – NGN 7,282,260 gross per annum, depending on experience.

GAIN has a fair and competitive salary structure that allows for annual progression subject to good performance. In addition, GAIN offers a total of 37 days holiday per year (including annual leave, public holidays and additional office closure days), an attractive pension scheme and competitive insurance cover including health, travel and life assurance. We are committed to the health of our staff, especially in these challenging times, and have developed a programme of wellbeing that includes flexible and hybrid working, additional leave allowances, wellbeing days, mindfulness coaching and access to independent and confidential counselling.

GAIN also has a strong commitment to professional development. We will support you to grow in your career through both formal and informal training, and are committed to providing opportunities through internal recruitment, secondments, and promotion. All of this is delivered in a supportive and collaborative environment.

About GAIN

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a Swiss-based foundation launched at the United Nations in 2002 to tackle the human suffering caused by malnutrition. Due to COVID19, conflict in Ukraine and climate change, malnutrition and hunger have worsened significantly since 2019, reversing a decade of progress. There is growing recognition that our food systems need to change if we are to reverse these trends.

GAIN’s Strategy aims to transform food systems to make healthier diets from sustainable food systems accessible to all people and especially those whose are most vulnerable to shocks. By 2027, we aim to improve the access of 1.5 billion people to nutritionally enhanced staple foods, improve the access of 25 million people to healthier diets, and support positive food system change in 10 countries. This is bold and complex, and the only way to achieve this is to work together with partners including governments, businesses, and civil society at the country and global level. These goals, and the ways of achieving them, build on our twenty-year legacy of transforming people’s lives with improved nutrition through concerted action and effective policy change.

Our Working Culture and Environment

We provide a flexible working environment that includes a combination of home and office working opportunities through our global hybrid working policy. This encourages our staff to have a healthy work-life balance and increases staff motivation, enriches employee wellbeing, and improves performance and productivity.

All of our positions are based in one or more of GAIN’s designated offices as stated on our job advertisements. Successful candidates will be based in one of GAIN’s country offices and must have the existing right to live and work within a reasonably commutable distance of the relevant city / cities in which the role is advertised. Please note, that GAIN does not sponsor working visas and relocations.

GAIN reserves the right to withdraw an offer of employment for candidates who are considered to ineligible under the above conditions during or after the recruitment process.

Applicants must have the right to work and be currently based in the advertised country location, to be eligible to apply for this position.

This advert closes on 4th November 2024. Early applications are encouraged. GAIN reserves the right to close this advert early should we receive suitable candidates ahead of the closing date.

The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition is committed to equality of opportunity and creating an inclusive environment where diversity is valued. We are keen to reflect the diversity of our society at every level within our organisation and therefore welcome applications from talented and committed people from all backgrounds, representing the diverse societies we operate in.