Program Officer - Friedman School of Nutrition

The Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, established in 1981, is among the world's leading graduate and professional schools of nutrition. Its mission is to improve the nutritional well-being of people worldwide through the creation of new knowledge, its application and dissemination, and the education and training of future leaders in the field. Faculty, students and staff at the school include physicians and other health practitioners, biomedical and clinical scientists, nutritionists and epidemiologists, agricultural and environmental scientists, economists, psychologists and others whose work on food and nutrition contributes to the sustainable, equitable development of human societies.

The Food Prices for Nutrition (FPN) project (2020-2025) shows how the cost and affordability of healthy diets can be used to monitor food access and guide intervention. Our methods start with data on availability and price that is routinely collected around the world. We match item descriptions to food composition, and measure access to healthy diets using the least expensive locally available items that would meet national guidelines and global targets. Our project supports the work of national governments, international organizations, and educational institutions, leading to large scale impact of these metrics.

This is a grant funded position beginning on January 13, 2025 funded through until August 31, 2025, with possibility of extension part-time dependent on sponsor funding.

The Researcher supports achievement of the FPN project's objective to strengthen national governments' ability to use diet cost data for guidance on how to improve nutrition through targeted agricultural investments, food policy choices and program interventions. The project has successfully engaged with national governments in priority countries with a high burden of malnutrition, including Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria and Pakistan. The project developed working relationships with potential user group members through outreach, to complement technical assistance on the calculation of diet cost and affordability metrics. Under the direction of the FPN Principal Investigator, the Program Officer will:

• Have operational responsibility for sustaining current technical assistance
• Maintain the library of data, model code and analytical tools needed to support them
• Potentially convene user groups in other countries.
  

Basic Requirements:

• Knowledge and skills as typically acquired by a Master's degree in nutrition science, agriculture, policy, public health, development economics, business and/or related discipline, plus 3-5 years of applicable experience
• Experience working with government officials, preferably in Africa and ideally FPN priority countries
• Strong knowledge of international nutrition, food, and agriculture policy issues
• Strong research, data management and visualization skills in Excel and Stata (required) and R (optional)
• Demonstrated skill in project implementation, including written and oral communication of results
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and meet deadlines with efficiency and accuracy
• Experience collaborating effectively with diverse colleagues in person and online

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with analysis of food price data and least cost modeled diets
• Food-related experience with both public sector organizations and private enterprises in Africa
• Experience with training workshops and meeting facilitation, online or in person
• Interest in higher education, for example, intention to purse relevant doctoral degree