National Consultant: Multiple Micronutrient Supplement Scale-Up Consultant, Nigeria, Home-based, 6 months

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, Hope

How can you make a difference?

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, leaving no one behind. In partnership with the government and other stakeholders, UNICEF aims to deliver good quality nutrition services at scale to build resilience and protect the most vulnerable, particularly during the First 1000 Days of Life from pregnancy to when a child is two years of age.

Nigeria is among ten countries globally where anaemia among women is above 50%. With an estimated eight million live births in a year, Nigeria accounts for 12% of the global maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths. Whilst 67% of pregnant women received at least one antenatal care (ANC) visit, only 31% received iron folate acid supplementation, with high geographic disparities in coverage across the states. Currently, Nigeria is off track to achieving the nutrition targets of the World Health Assembly 2025 and the Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends multiple micronutrient supplements (MMS) as part of ANC. They are also on WHO’s Essential Medicines List (EML), and countries are increasingly interested in introducing MMS as the standard of care (SoC). MMS contains 15 vitamins and minerals, including iron 30mg and folic acid 400mg. In 2021, a ministerial order permitted the use of MMS during pregnancy as part of the standard of care in Nigeria. MMS has since been added to the National Micronutrient Deficiency and Control Guidelines, and approval has been given for its inclusion in Nigeria’s 8th edition of the Essential Medicines List.

UNICEF and development partners are supporting the newly established Nutrition Department, the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to design and implement nutrition programmes at scale.  It is leading the scale-up of MMS in the country and has the mandate for the prevention and treatment of malnutrition.

Scope of work:

The consultant will undertake key activities as outlined below (but not be limited by them) to ensure the submission of the deliverables detailed below:

a. Develop a costed plan for the scale-up of MMS

• Provide technical assistance and support to the Ministry of Health (Nutrition Department) in scaling up Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS) nationwide.
• Provide technical support for the development of a scale-up plan for MMS in the country
• Facilitate stakeholder consultation for the scale-up of MMS in both humanitarian and development contexts

b. Support the integration and scale-up of MMS as the standard of care

• Support the mainstreaming of MMS as the standard of care in policy documents and strategies.
• Support the integration of MMS into the health system and last-mile delivery to pregnant women in Nigeria.
• Provide strategic advisory support and guidance to the Director and Head of Department and senior management on emerging issues, policy implications and strategic directions related to MMS and nutrition programming
• Facilitate collaboration and coordination with relevant stakeholders, including other government agencies, international organizations, and NGOs to leverage resources and expertise for MMS programming at national and state levels

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Education:

Master’s degree in public health nutrition or a field relevant to global health.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in Nutrition and/or Public Health.
• Demonstrated experience in formulating nutrition policies and strategies.
• Experience in engaging multi-sectoral Food and Nutrition Systems stakeholders.
• Extensive knowledge of micronutrient programming in Nigeria, Nigerian health systems and nutrition sectoral policy landscape.
• Experience in managing multi-stakeholder working groups.
• Experience in institutional capacity building at the national level.
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
• Proficiency in MS Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
• Experience related to global public health is an asset.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in written and spoken English is required.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit  here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

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: 

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract 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 and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors 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 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 contract.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

To view our competency framework, please visit  here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

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: 

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract 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 and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors 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.