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Vacancy Announcement: Consultant

Consultancy Title: Consultancy Development 2024 Child Nutrition Report and knowledge management

Station: Nutrition Section – Programme Group – NYHQ

Duration: 15 March 2024 – 31 December 2024

Home/ office Based: REMOTE

About UNICEF

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world’s leading children’s rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children’s survival, protection and development. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The purpose of this consultancy is to a) prepare background papers to support the development of the 2024 Child Nutrition Report on child overweight and obesity b) knowledge management and community of practice for implementation of Guidance “Building synergies between child nutrition and social protection to address malnutrition and poverty”.

Scope of Work:

Background & Rationale

UNICEF Headquarters develops an annual Child Nutrition Report (CNR) on an issue of topical importance. The 2024 edition on child overweight and obesity will examine the status, trends and inequities in child overweight and obesity, and explore how and why children’s food environments are holding back progress.

The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adolescents is increasing almost everywhere. Around 39 million under-fives around the world have overweight, about 5.6 per cent of children in this age group (WHO, 2023). The toll is even higher among older children aged 5 to 19 years, with estimates of more than 340 million having overweight, nearly 18 per cent worldwide (WHO, 2023). Once regarded as a condition of the urban rich, overweight and obesity now affects both urban and rural poor children, and 75% of children experiencing overweight and obesity live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (UNICEF, 2019). Additionally, LMICs now face a triple burden of child malnutrition – undernutrition (stunting, wasting), micronutrient deficiencies, as well as overweight and obesity – which presents a complex and costly set of challenges for governments with fragile health systems.  The rapidly growing prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity, and UNICEF’s role in prevention, is linked to numerous global goals, and is integral to UNICEF’s current strategic plan and the recently released Nutrition Strategy 2020-2030. However, thus far, a global situational report has not been compiled. As data on children’s nutrition status becomes increasingly available, there is an opportunity to synthesize existing and new global evidence related to diets, exposure and prevention strategies.

The Nutrition and Child Development team together with the Social protection team in UNICEF have recently released the Programme Guidance “Building Synergies between child nutrition and social protection to address malnutrition and poverty”.  This represents a critical milestone towards implementing UNICEF’s Nutrition Strategy 2020-30, particularly in relation to implementing the systems approach to child nutrition. In 2024, to support the implementation the Guidance, UNICEF HQ together with the ROs will strengthen the knowledge management and establish and sustain a Community of Practice.

Scope & duty  

UNICEF is seeking a consultant to conduct literature reviews of white/grey literature, compile relevant data and prepare background papers to support the development of the 2024 Child Nutrition Report on child overweight and obesity.  The background papers will cover the following topics. Further details of the content of each background paper will be identified during the preparation of the outline for each background paper:

• Background paper 1: Dominance of ultra-processed foods in children’s diets
• Background paper 2: Children’s exposure to unhealthy foods and beverages
• Background paper 3: Policies and practices of the food and beverage industry
• Background paper 4: National policies and legislation related to the prevention of child overweight and obesity
• Background paper 5: Contextual information for Chapter 1

The consultant will work closely with the Child Nutrition Report team on this assignment. For each of the above background papers, the consultant will first develop an outline that

• Lists the issues that will be explored through the literature reviews, including the search teams that will be applied for literature searches.
• Where relevant, prepare dummy table(s) to show the data that will be compiled on the status of national policies and legislation.

These outlines should be agreed with UNICEF before starting the preparation of the background papers and/or compilation of data.

For the child nutrition and social protection outputs, the Consultant will work closely under the supervision of the Senior Adviser for nutrition and social protection for the following 2 outputs. Work will be closely coordinated with the Core lead group as well as the “champions”.  As a contribution to implementing Guidance “Building Synergies between Child nutrition and social protection” provide technical support to knowledge management strategy

• Output 1: Complete tracking tool on child nutrition and social protection with regional/country focal points
• Output 2: Provide technical support for development of three ‘stories of success’ with countries.
• Output 3: Provide technical support for four webinars including gathering inputs from countries.
• Output 4: Research articles and update SharePoint site.

As a contribution to implementing Guidance “Building Synergies between Child nutrition and social protection” provide technical support to build a community of practice

• Output 5: Organize meetings and agendas for the Community of Practice
• Output: 6: Facilitate ongoing communications between ‘champions’ to facilitate ongoing discussion/learning

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Deliverable 1: Background paper 1: Dominance of ultra-processed foods in children’s diets

By 15th April 2024

Deliverable 2: Background paper 2: Children’s exposure to unhealthy foods and beverages

By 15th May 2024

Deliverable 3: Background paper 3:   Policies and practices of the food and beverage industry

By 15th May 2024

Deliverable 4: Background paper 4:  National policies and legislation related to the prevention of child overweight and obesity

By 15th June 2024

Deliverable 5: Background paper 5: Contextual information for Chapter 1 (Introduction)

By 15th June 2024

Deliverable 6: Mapping and Tracking tool on child nutrition and social protection with regional/country focal points

By 30th June 2024

Deliverable 7: Three case studies completed with relevant country examples

By 30th July 2024, by 30th Sept and by 30th Nov 2024

Deliverable 8: Preparation for 4 webinars including gathering inputs from research, countries and partners

By 30th April 2024, by 30th June, by 30th Sept and by 30th Nov 2024

Deliverable 9: Update SharePoint site with at least 10 recent research articles or guidelines

By 30th July 2024

Deliverable 10: Prepare for, organize and communicate for, 6 meetings with the  UNICEF “champions group” as part of building the Community of Practice across nutrition and social protection

By 15th April, by 15th July, by 15th Sept and by 15th Dec 2024

Qualifications

Education:

• Master’s or high qualifications in public health or a related subject area.

Work experience:

• Minimum of five years’ experience working on the overweight and obesity prevention agenda / diet related NCD prevention agenda with specific focus on data consolidation and policy analysis.

Competencies/Knowledge:

• Skilled in nutrition epidemiology in the context of international public health ideally with experience working within UNICEF
• Knowledge of social protection and nutrition.
• Fluency in English is required; excellent written and verbal communications skills in English.
• Excellent analytical, report writing, and human relations skills.
• Strong skills in IT, webpage management, and knowledge management.

Requirements:

Completed profile in UNICEF’s e-Recruitment system and

• Upload copy of academic credentials
• Financial proposal that will include/ reflect:
  • the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
  • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability
• Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF
• At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage
• Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at Here

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check

Remarks:  Individuals engaged under a consultancy will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants. Consultants are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.