Project Manager - Food & Nutrition Security (kenyan Nationals Only)

Job Summary

• The Project Manager - Food & Nutrition Security will manage, coordinate, and monitor project activities and relationships with partners and other project stakeholders to assist the achievement to reduce food insecurity and acute malnutrition among children under five and pregnant and breastfeeding women and advancing Catholic Relief Services' (CRS) work serving the poor and vulnerable. Your project management skills and knowledge of the program area will ensure that the team delivers high-quality programming and continuously works towards improving the impact of this project.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

Project Management and Integrated Implementation

• Manage and oversee day-to-day GFD, Emergency Nutrition, and FFA activities from start-up through implementation, monitoring, adaptation, and close-out.
• Coordinate GFD, Emergency Nutrition, and FFA activities to ensure they are appropriately sequenced and integrated in line with the approved project design, implementation calendar, budget, and technical standards.
• Lead the consolidation and routine review of detailed implementation plans, activity schedules, resource requirements, and deliverables with technical, partner, MEAL, operations, and field teams.
• Monitor progress against plans, milestones, budgets, and results; facilitate routine implementation reviews; and ensure agreed actions are documented, assigned, tracked, and completed.
• Address or promptly escalate significant delays, quality concerns, bottlenecks, resource constraints, partner performance issues, and strategic matters to the appropriate project leadership.

Technical Integration and Program Quality

• Coordinate with the Program Manager - Health, Nutrition and Social Services; the Program Manager - Emergency Response, Markets and Livelihoods; relevant Senior Project Officers; and CRS technical advisors to integrate appropriate technical guidance into implementation.
• Promote the integration of food assistance, nutrition, FFA, safe food handling, dietary diversity messaging, community engagement, accountability, and participant targeting.
• Ensure activities comply with approved technical approaches, SOPs, government guidelines, CRS quality standards, and applicable donor requirements; refer matters requiring specialist judgment to the appropriate technical lead.
• Ensure technical monitoring findings and recommendations inform implementation and facilitate resolution of cross-sector issues requiring coordinated nutrition and food security responses.

Program Implementation

• Coordinate the programmatic aspects of GFD, including targeting, scheduling, community engagement, distribution readiness, monitoring, and post-distribution follow-up. Work with technical and MEAL teams to ensure targeting and caseload reviews are transparent, needs-based, data-informed, and aligned with approved eligibility criteria.
• Review food security, market monitoring, PDM, and seasonal data to inform management decisions. Communicate program requirements, caseloads, distribution schedules, and field-readiness needs early to supply chain and field operations and follow up on programmatic issues identified during distributions.
• Coordinate Emergency Nutrition implementation with designated technical leadership, government structures, partners, and field teams. Ensure timely integration of malnutrition screening, integrated outreaches, Family MUAC, supplementary CSB++ distribution, MIYCN-E messaging, and participant referrals with food distributions.
• Monitor nutrition plans and results, use MEAL and technical findings to guide corrective action, and support coordination with county and sub-county health structures while respecting specialist technical authority.
• Coordinate FFA planning, monitoring, and integration with food security and livelihoods leads partners, government technical departments, and field teams; link activities to seasonal food security analysis and approved project criteria.
• Support community asset identification, safeguards, work scheduling, monitoring, completion, and handover. Coordinate with Asset Management Committees, NDMA, county technical teams, extension services, and community structures, and escalate concerns related to quality, safeguarding, safety, the environment, community acceptance, or scheduling.
• Lead the compilation and timely submission of donor reports.

Partner Coordination, Work Planning, and Resource Management

• Serve as a key program management coordination point for World Vision Kenya and Caritas Marsabit, and facilitate regular partner reviews covering progress, quality, deliverables, implementation challenges, agreed actions, and emerging risks.
• Coordinate technical support and capacity strengthening; monitor implementation against agreed plans and standards; escalate material performance concerns; and promote consistency across Marsabit and Turkana while respecting approved partner roles, subaward responsibilities, and CRS accountabilities.
• Lead or coordinate program work plans, implementation calendars, activity schedules, and resource forecasts. In collaboration with Finance and Operations, monitor relevant expenditures against approved activity budgets and address significant variances, delays, or resource constraints.
• Forecast procurement, transportation, staffing, field travel, and other operational needs sufficiently in advance. Promote efficient stewardship of financial, material, and human resources, and escalate adjustments requiring senior management or donor consideration.

MEAL, Risk, Compliance, Safeguarding, and Accountability

• Work with the MEAL Manager and team to monitor outputs, outcomes, and indicators, and routinely review monitoring findings, PDM results, nutrition screening data, market information, FCRM data, partner reports, and other implementation evidence.
• Facilitate reflection sessions, implementation reviews, and after-action processes. Incorporate recommendations into work plans and provide timely, accurate programmatic inputs for donor reports, management updates, partner reviews, and other required documentation.
• Use implementation evidence, participant feedback, and lessons learned to support adaptive management, while maintaining a clear distinction between program management's use of data and MEAL's responsibility for data systems, quality assurance, measurement, and evaluation.
• Identify programmatic risks and integrate safeguarding, protection, inclusion, accountability, environmental and social safeguards, and FCRM requirements into implementation. Track corrective actions arising from MEAL and compliance monitoring, risk reviews, audits, partner reviews, participant feedback, or management decisions.
• Promptly escalate suspected fraud, diversion, safeguarding violations, serious misconduct, or material compliance concerns through established CRS mechanisms. Coordinate corrective action with Compliance, MEAL, Security, Operations, and technical functions while maintaining segregation of duties and responsible stewardship of donor resources.

Government, Consortium, and Stakeholder Coordination

• Represent the project, as delegated, in relevant food security, nutrition, humanitarian, and technical forums. Maintain productive relationships with national and county institutions, including NDMA, Ministry of Health structures, County Steering Groups, and relevant technical departments.
• Support alignment with government strategies, technical standards, humanitarian coordination systems, and complementary interventions. Participate in consortium meetings and follow up on agreed actions.
• Coordinate with project leadership on matters requiring senior-level representation or engagement with the donor or national authorities.

Staff Supervision and Team Leadership

• Supervise designated direct reports in accordance with the final approved organizational and supervisory structure. Set clear expectations and provide regular feedback, coaching, performance management, and professional development support.
• Promote staff well-being, accountability, collaboration, and high performance across food security, nutrition, MEAL, field operations, supply chain, accountability, and partner teams. Identify capacity needs and coordinate appropriate learning and technical support.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Strong project management, coordination, planning, and implementation monitoring skills, supported by a sound understanding of integrated food security and nutrition programming.
• Ability to coordinate multidisciplinary teams while respecting distinct technical and functional authorities; apply strong analytical and problem-solving skills; and use monitoring evidence to inform management decisions.
• Demonstrated partnership management skills and a sound understanding of MEAL, accountability, safeguarding, compliance, and risk management principles.
• Strong interpersonal, relationship management, supervisory, coaching, facilitation, presentation, negotiation, and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively with government institutions, partners, communities, and internal stakeholders.
• Ability to prioritize effectively in a complex, fast-paced humanitarian environment, with a proactive, resourceful, solutions-oriented, and results-focused approach.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications and relevant project management and information systems.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in food security, Nutrition, Public Health, International Development, Project Management, or a related field.
• Experience managing integrated food security and nutrition programs in Kenya's arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs), including emergency food assistance, nutrition in emergencies, Food for Assets, or related humanitarian interventions.
• Experience collaborating with government institutions and humanitarian coordination mechanisms, particularly in ASALs or comparable humanitarian settings.

Required Languages:

• Fluent written and spoken English required.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Food Security, Nutrition, Agriculture, Public Health, International Development, Project Management, International Relations, Community Development, or a related field.
• At least ten years of relevant field-based project management experience in humanitarian or development programs related to food security, nutrition, food assistance, livelihoods, or similar areas.
• Demonstrated experience managing moderately complex projects or major components of complex projects, coordinating multidisciplinary technical and operational teams, and working with local or international partner organizations.
• Experience managing donor-funded projects, including work planning, budget monitoring, partner coordination, reporting, and results-based management.