Consultancy - Consultant to Strengthen UNICEF Food Environment Policy Advocacy, Governance & Conflict-of-Interest Resources,GPD-Nutrition,Bangkok, Thailand, 11 Months (Remote)

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, the right to health.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

UNICEF is seeking an individual consultant to provide specialist, time-bound support to strengthen its global, regional and country-level work on preventing overweight and obesity among children and adolescents. Globally, one in five children and adolescents aged 5–19 years—391 million—are living with overweight, including 188 million living with obesity. While undernutrition remains a significant concern in most low- and middle-income countries, the prevalence of overweight and obesity is increasing among school-age children and adolescents.

Since initiating its work on food environments in 2020, UNICEF has made substantial progress in developing evidence-based tools and resources to support Country Offices. Demand for support is increasing, notably through REACH, as more offices seek to translate these resources into national action. During this Strategic Plan period, UNICEF aims to scale up technical assistance to help Country Offices apply available tools and advance the introduction, implementation and monitoring of national food-environment policies, contributing to UNICEF’s Strategic Plan commitment to reduce malnutrition in children and adolescents.

The assignment will strengthen and update UNICEF’s overweight programming guidance, technical resources and strategic positioning. This includes developing an evidence-informed position on the clinical management of obesity in children and adolescents, clarifying its relevance to UNICEF’s mandate and prevention-focused programming, and integrating the implications into updated guidance. The consultant will support selected Country Offices to apply UNICEF advocacy, technical, and conflict-of-interest resources to priority food-environment policy processes; provide responsive technical assistance to country and regional teams; and synthesize implementation lessons for wider learning. The assignment will strengthen the quality, consistency and practical application of UNICEF’s support for overweight and obesity prevention and help identify priority evidence, implementation and guidance gaps.

How can you make a difference? 

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the Terms of Reference here: TOR Consultant to Strengthen UNICEF Food Environment Policy Advocacy TMS Text.pdf  

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

Minimum requirements:

Education: Master’s degree in Human Nutrition, Public Health Nutrition.

Work Experience:

• At least 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in food systems, food environment policy, nutrition policy, public health policy, governance, advocacy, or related fields.
• Demonstrated experience supporting the development, implementation or evaluation of food-environment policies, including areas such as food marketing restrictions, healthy school food environments, healthy retail, fiscal measures, food labelling, public procurement or related policy interventions.
• Demonstrated experience developing policy toolkits, guidance documents, frameworks, implementation resources, decision-support tools or advocacy resources for governments, UN agencies, development partners or civil society organizations.
• Experience conducting stakeholder analysis, political economy analysis, governance assessments and/or conflict-of-interest assessments related to public policy processes.
• Experience synthesizing evidence and translating technical information into practical guidance, policy recommendations and advocacy products.
• Experience working with UN agencies, international organizations, governments or development partners.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in written and spoken English is required.Knowledge of another UN language is desirable.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills:

• Strong understanding of food-environment policies and overweight and obesity prevention.
• Strong analytical, research and writing skills.
• Demonstrated ability to develop practical tools, frameworks and guidance resources for non-technical users.
• Excellent facilitation, consultation and stakeholder-engagement skills.
• Ability to synthesize complex information into user-friendly products and recommendations.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.

Desirables:

• Experience working on food policy advocacy, governance and conflict-of-interest management.
• Familiarity with UNICEF, WHO or other UN system policy and programme environments.
• Experience working across multiple countries and regions.
• Experience supporting policy change processes in low- and middle-income countries.

For every Child, you demonstrate Care

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal (Talent Management System):

• An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
• Cover letter (max. 2 pages) describing relevant experience.
• A separate financial proposal  Financial proposal Consultant to Strengthen UNICEF Food Environment.docx
• Technical proposal requirement :
• Two examples of comparable work products (e.g. toolkit, framework, guidance document, policy resource, governance resource, advocacy resource or strategic report).
• A short description of the applicant's proposed approach to developing the Food Policy Advocacy and Conflict-of-Interest Toolkit (about half a page).

Remarks:  

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.