Nutrition and Development Facilitator (NDF) - Lahore Division

Act International; Lahore; On-site; PKR 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

Act International in Lahore seeks a Nutrition and Development Facilitator (NDF) to support nutrition-responsive social protection through SBC, community engagement and early childhood development. The role connects households with FC services and local health networks to promote nutrition and positive family practices.

Responsibilities include outreach, counselling, referral completion, and campaign support, with a focus on safeguarding and accountability.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in nutrition, Public Health, Social Sciences, Community Development, Education, Psychology, or a related field.
• 1–2 years of relevant experience in community mobilization, nutrition, health, SBC, ECD, social protection, counselling, or development program.
• Experience working with communities, particularly women, children, adolescents, and vulnerable households.
• Fluency in Urdu; English will be an advantage.

Responsibilities

• Targeted Outreach and Mapping: map households, identify PBWs and children 0–23/24 months, coordinate with LHWs/LHSs and FC services.
• Community Engagement and SBC: facilitate groups, carry out counselling sessions, engage key community decision-makers.
• FC-Based Counselling and ECD: provide practical counselling, support Parenting/Nutrition corners, demonstrate feeding and caregiving practices.
• Follow-up and Referral: track missed visits, promote referral completion for ANC/PNC/EPI and related services.
• Campaigns and Accountability: support nutrition campaigns, ensure entitlements and feedback mechanisms are understood.
• Monitoring, Reporting and Learning: maintain trackers, submit monthly reports, use data to improve SBC plans.

Job description

Nutrition and Development Facilitator (NDF) - Lahore Division

Category Development Sector

Type Contractual Positions 20

Experience 3 years Maximum Age 25 years

Background

BNP Phase III is expanding nutrition-responsive social protection with a stronger focus on Social and Behavior Change (SBC) for nutrition, community engagement, Early Childhood Development (ECD), equity, demand generation, and Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP).

The Nutrition and Development Facilitator (NDF) will serve as a frontline link between eligible BISP/Kafaalat households, Facilitation Centre (FC) services, LHW/community platforms, and households to promote improved nutrition, child development, service uptake, and positive family behaviors.

The NDF will complement—not replace—the roles of LHWs, LHSs, FC staff, and health providers by supporting community mobilization, counselling, follow-up, referral completion, and practical household-level behavior change.

Key Responsibilities

1. Targeted Outreach and Mapping

• Map BISP/Kafaalat households within the FC catchment area.
• Identify eligible pregnant and breastfeeding women (PBWs) and children aged 0–23/24 months.
• Coordinate with BISP ADs/POS agents, LHWs/LHSs, and relevant community structures.
• Support outreach during Kafaalat payment days where feasible.

2. Community Engagement and Social & Behavior Change

• Facilitate mother, father, and adolescent peer groups.
• Conduct household and group counselling and interpersonal communication sessions.
• Engage fathers, grandmothers, mothers-in-law, religious leaders, community influencers, and other key decision-makers.
• Identify key barriers to desired nutrition and ECD behaviors and contribute to the FC SBC micro-plan.

3. FC-Based Counselling and Early Childhood Development

• Provide short, practical counselling to beneficiaries at Facilitation centers.
• Support and animate the Parenting and Nutrition Counselling Corner.
• Demonstrate appropriate feeding, play, communication, and responsive caregiving practices.
• Support basic developmental monitoring/screening using approved tools and facilitate referrals for identified red flags.

4. Follow-up and Referral Completion

• Track missed visits, defaulters, SAM/MAM cases, PBWs/adolescent girls with nutrition risks, developmental concerns, and incomplete referrals.
• Conduct return-to-service counselling and support referral completion for ANC, PNC, EPI, CMAM/NSC, anemia prevention/treatment, and ECD-related services.
• Promote continuity of essential nutrition, health, and development services.

5. Campaigns, Accountability and Community Feedback

• Support campaigns such as World Breastfeeding Week, Parenting Month, adolescent nutrition initiatives, and other project campaigns.
• Promote practical and consistent nutrition, parenting, and ECD messages.
• Ensure beneficiaries understand their entitlements, service schedules, referrals, and available complaint/feedback mechanisms.
• Promote informed consent, safeguarding, dignity, and respectful engagement with communities.

6. Monitoring, Reporting and Learning

• Maintain simple and accurate trackers covering outreach, counselling, group sessions, referrals, missed visits, ECD screening/referrals, community feedback, and service bottlenecks.
• Submit timely monthly reports to the supervisor.
• Use monitoring data and community feedback/social listening to identify challenges and improve SBC micro-plans and outreach activities.

Priority Behavior Change Areas

The NDF will promote practical life-cycle behaviors related to:

• Uptake and continuity of nutrition and health services.
• Maternal and adolescent nutrition, including improved diets during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
• ANC/PNC attendance and appropriate care-seeking.
• Early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months.
• Timely, adequate, diverse, and age-appropriate complementary feeding from six months.
• Responsive caregiving and positive parenting.
• Play, talking, singing, storytelling, and age-appropriate stimulation.
• Recognition of developmental milestones and timely referral for developmental concerns.
• Engagement of fathers, mothers-in-law, grandmothers, and other household decision-makers.

Required Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in nutrition, Public Health, Social Sciences, Community Development, Education, Psychology, or a related field.
• [1–2] years of relevant experience in community mobilization, nutrition, health, SBC, ECD, social protection, counselling, or development program.
• Experience working with communities, particularly women, children, adolescents, and vulnerable households.
• Knowledge of maternal, infant and young child nutrition (MIYCN), ECD, parenting, community engagement, and behavior change approaches will be an advantage.
• Experience working with BISP/Kafaalat, LHWs/LHSs, Facilitation centers, or similar government/community platforms will be an added advantage.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, counselling, and community mobilization skills.
• Ability to conduct household visits, group sessions, and community-level activities.
• Basic skills in data collection, record keeping, reporting, and use of simple monitoring tools.
• Ability to work respectfully with diverse communities and maintain confidentiality, safeguarding, and accountability standards.
• Fluency in the local language(s) is required; proficiency in Urdu is essential. English communication skills will be an advantage.

Core Competencies

• Community Mobilization & Engagement
• Interpersonal Communication & Counselling
• Social and Behavior Change Communication
• Early Childhood Development & Positive Parenting
• Referral & Follow-up
• Accountability to Affected Populations
• Data Collection & Reporting
• Teamwork & Coordination
• Safeguarding and Ethical Conduct