International Consultancy Roster: Emergency Nutrition and Food Security

Mercy Corps

1d•Hybrid

About The Position

Mercy Corps is a leading global organization powered by the belief that a better world is possible, partnering in over 40 countries to help people triumph over adversity and build stronger communities. Mercy Corps is establishing a global roster of experienced Emergency Nutrition and Food Security (ENFS) consultants to provide rapid, high-quality technical support across humanitarian and fragile contexts. This roster will be utilized by country teams, regional teams, and headquarters to address short-term technical gaps during emergencies and periods of high operational demand. Assignments may include remote business development and proposal support, on-the-ground deployment for rapid start-up, assessments, and early implementation, as well as targeted technical troubleshooting during scale-up or transition phases. Specific assignments will be governed by individual consultancy agreements or task orders.

Requirements

Advanced degree or equivalent professional experience in nutrition, food security, public health, or a related field.
7–10+ years of experience in humanitarian nutrition and/or food security, including direct field-based humanitarian response.
Demonstrated experience in nutrition and/or food security rapid assessments and emergency program design.
Strong experience supporting proposal development for emergency nutrition and food security funding.
Proven ability to translate technical standards into practical field solutions.
Excellent analytical, writing, and communication skills.
Willingness and ability to work in high-pressure, fast-changing emergency environments.

Nice To Haves

Experience integrating nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive approaches.
Familiarity with cash and market-based approaches in nutrition and food security responses.
Experience across multiple geographic regions.
Fluency in English required; French, Arabic and/or Spanish preferred.

Responsibilities

Lead or support rapid needs assessments, including food security, nutrition, market, and multi-sectoral assessments (e.g. SMART, Rapid Nutrition Assessments, FSNA, MSNA, RAM, market assessments).
Analyze and synthesize assessment data to inform program design, targeting, and strategic decision-making.
Provide clear, actionable recommendations for emergency response options, including nutrition specific, nutrition sensitive, and integrated response options.
Produce concise assessment reports and briefing notes suitable for operational and donor decision making.
Provide technical leadership for the design of emergency nutrition and food security interventions, including Community based Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM/IMAM), Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies (IYCF-E), Blanket Supplementary Feeding Programmes (BSFP) and Targeted Supplementary Feeding (TSFP), Emergency food security and livelihoods (ESFL), and Nutrition-sensitive market-based approaches and cash and voucher assistance (CVA).
Ensure alignment with global technical guidance, national protocols, and donor requirements.
Support development of targeting criteria, referral pathways, integration with health services, and linkages with protection and WASH as relevant.
Advise on adaptive design in volatile and insecure operating environments.
Support or lead the development of high-quality emergency nutrition and food security proposals and concept notes, often under tight deadlines.
Serve as Technical Lead for nutrition and/or food security components within complex humanitarian proposals.
Contribute to donor engagement strategies and input into response frameworks, scenario planning, and pre-positioning efforts.
Draft or review technical narratives, logframes and theories of change, and indicator frameworks (nutrition and food security).
Ensure alignment with donor priorities (e.g. ECHO, WFP, UNICEF, country-based pooled funds) and global best practice.
Support rapid program start-up, including workplans, targeting approaches, implementation tools, SOPs, community mobilization and outreach strategies, and field-level guidance.
Provide surge technical support during early implementation or scale-up phases.
Troubleshoot technical challenges related to targeting, performance, delivery modalities, community engagement, referral mechanisms, and integration across sectors.
Review and improve program quality through spot-checks, remote accompaniment, or in-country support.
Strengthen linkages between emergency food security, nutrition outcomes, and market recovery approaches.
Provide practical, applied coaching to program teams and partners implementing emergency nutrition and food security activities.
Strengthen staff capacity on CMAM/IMAM, IYCF-E and/or nutrition-sensitive CVA in emergencies, nutrition-sensitive design within food security programming, and use of assessment data for adaptive management.
Deliver short trainings, orientations, or technical refresher sessions as required.
Support or represent the organization in Nutrition Cluster and Food Security coordination mechanisms and technical working groups at country or sub-national level, where requested.
Engage with local and international partners, UN agencies, and donors to strengthen coordination and response coherence.
Document key lessons learned, adaptations, and good practices from emergency nutrition and food security responses.
Produce assessment reports and technical briefs.
Develop emergency response strategies or intervention recommendations.
Prepare proposal sections: technical narratives, logframe, indicator and budget inputs.
Create start-up tools, SOPs, and technical guidance notes.
Write mission or deployment reports with prioritized, actionable recommendations.
Document learning notes or short case studies.