Policy and Systems Researcher - Maternal Nutrition, Child Nutrition and Development Practice, UNICEF Centre of Excellence, Bangkok, Job No #595905

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 fulfilling 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, a better future

UNICEF works to ensure the rights of all children in the East Asia and Pacific Region.  This means the rights of every child living in this country, irrespective of their nationality, gender, religion or ethnicity, to:

• survival – to basic healthcare, peace and security;
• development – to a good education, a loving home and adequate nutrition;
• protection – from abuse, neglect, trafficking, child labour and other forms of exploitation; and
• participation – to express opinions, be listened to and take part in making any decisions that affect them

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF has been working to support government, and partners scale up proven maternal nutrition interventions through multi systems through 22 country offices in Asia-Pacific. Using four data sources – a) self-reported programme insights by UNICEF staff, b) published survey reports, c) online interviews with UNICEF country level programme nutrition specialists/officers and d) systems readiness rubrics developed by UNICEF, a report is being prepared on Maternal nutrition in Asia: building systems that deliver at scale.

The consultant will contribute to three sections of the sections for the report. First ‘detailed country profiles for each country’ which encapsulate the nutrition situation, availability of policies, programmes and systems readiness Second, ‘short case studies’ capturing type of systems engaged (health, food, social protection, women empowerment) pathways to deliver universal and differentiated packages for reaching those left out and left behind and triangulating the case studies to identify pathways for differentiated programme response. Third, scoping UNICEF country team capacity needs and their experienced barriers and opportunities to deliver at committed results at scale. This will also entail in discussions with programme teams, scoping partners and mapping local institutional capacity to map pathways for workforce development, South-South cooperation, Implementation science, and fulfilling Country demand for technical assistance.

Work Assignment and Deliverables:

Work assignment #1: To provide policy and systems readiness relevant analysis and technical writing services from 1 November 2026 to March 2027 for three sections of UNICEF Report - Maternal Nutrition in Asia.

Expected deliverable:

• Section 1 (detailed Country Profiles): Use and enhance the template provided by UNICEF Centre of Excellence Bangkok to develop 3 page country profiles for each of the 22 countries for annexure of the report along side a narrative for each country for the main report. Of these 16 are already developed which require updation.
• Section 2 (Case studies): Use the case study template provided by UNICEF Centre of Excellence Bangkok, to identify the case study country case studies (at least one per country, highlighting the multisystem pathways to scaling results along with pathways to reach those left out and left behind). A total of 22 case studies are envisaged covering progress of maternal nutrition- before, during and after pregnancy across food, health and climate-sensitive social protection systems and in humanitarian and climate-risk settings.
• Section 3 (scoping capacity needs): This section will focuses on conversation with the 30 unicef officers through 1:1 interviews online to identify pathways to build work force and institutional capacity mechanism to government capacity in a self sustaining basis.

Delivery schedule:

• Expected deliverable 1: Inception Report and Methodology along with development of data gathering plan. 
  Delivery schedule: 15 November 2026
• Expected deliverable 2: Data gathering for all three sections of the report completed.
  Delivery schedule: 15 January 2027
• Expected deliverable 3: First draft edited versions of all three sections for incorporating in the main report state of maternal nutrition in Asia report.
  Delivery schedule: 28 February 2027
• Expected deliverable 4: First draft edited versions of all three sections for incorporating in the main report, with summary slide deck and policy brief.
  Delivery schedule: 30 March 2027

Duration of Contract:  1 November 2026 – 30 March 2027

Duty Travel: None.

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

Education Qualification: Development Studies, Public Policy and Practice, Health Systems, Systems Research, Nutrition, Nutrition Policy/ Epidemiology or related discipline.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:

• At least two years of proven experience on policy and programmes research for improving maternal nutrition in Asia-Pacific.
• Proven track record of producing high quality qualitative, systems and policy research reports and peer review journal papers on maternal nutrition in Asia.
• Previous experience working with UNICEF and experience with programming on maternal nutrition and anaemia in Asia-Pacific.

Interested candidates are requested to submit CV, cover letter, full contact information of minimum 3 references, availability, and financial proposal in USD by 1 October 2026

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.

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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 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. 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. 

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 for ensuring 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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants 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.