National Individual Consultancy – Nutrition Consultant for Young Child Well-being Section, 104 working days, Remote with occasional travel
Job no: 566550
Position type: Consultant
Location: Bosnia & Herzegovina Division/Equivalent: CEE/CIS
School/Unit: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Department/Office: Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Categories: Health and Nutrition
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, health
UNICEF is implementing programme “Leading the Change in Nutritional Status for Children and Adolescents” in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The objective is to prevent obesity in early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescence of children in BiH by strengthening the policy and the capacity of health and education sectors to put in place effective preventive programs.
In December 2022 Bosnia and Herzegovina received a candidate status to the European Union with the goal to become the part of EU. Over 170,000 households — 17 per cent of the total population — live below the national relative poverty line. In BIH, too many of the country’s nearly 700,000 children are deprived of this essential foundation.
Recent quality data on nutrition of children and adolescents is lacking. With only one in five children exclusively breastfed in the first six months, the majority of the country’s children are deprived of the best nutritional start in life. Compounding the problem is that almost a third (31.6%) of children aged 5 to 15 are at risk of poverty. While the latest Household Budget Survey indicates that every sixth household in the country is poor, the poorest households are families with children (23,1%) . Marginalized families face even greater disadvantages, with Roma children three times more likely to be born into poverty and one in three stunted due to chronic undernutrition.
While there is a risk of undernutrition among the poor families due to both Covid-19 pandemic and Ukraine war, the prevalence of obesity among under 5-year-old children in Bosnia and Herzegovina is 17% (4th highest in the region). KAP study from 2018 among school-aged children (7-15) showed generally low levels of knowledge on nutrition among children and their parents. Due to such poor indicators in the field of nutrition, UNICEF BiH has been supporting the government to improve the nutrition related legislative frameworks and to test the models for improved nutrition education in preschools and schools. UNICEF supported the adaptation of the Nutrition Friendly School Initiative model to the local needs and conditions. There is a need to scale up the programme to reach most children in the country.
How can you make a difference?
The Individual Consultant supports the UNICEF Health (Young Child Well-being) Section in strengthening the policy and the capacity of health and education sectors to put in place effective nutrition preventive programs by ensuring timely and effective planning, delivery and monitoring of the UNICEF funded programs consistent with UNICEF rules and regulations.
The purpose of this assignment is to contribute to strengthening health and education systems to ensure that early childhood, middle childhood, and adolescent children in Bosnia and Herzegovina are protected from malnutrition and included in preventive nutrition programs.
The objective of the consultancy is to increase technical capacities of health and education relevant professionals through:
- Supporting the office to conduct a study on assessing knowledge, attitudes, and practices including drivers of food choices (especially among children 5-19 years of age) in the field of nutrition among school administrations, parents and students (KAP) on Nutrition in BiH in collaboration with SBC Officer,
- Supporting work of two Entity/Brcko District Working Groups on Development and Advocacy for regulatory frameworks on the marketing of breast milk substitutes and the marketing of unhealthy foods to children,
- Supporting process of development and nutrition of children and breastfeeding data collection tools and monitoring od data collection in two Entities and BD,
- Supporting implementation of Nutrition-friendly Kindergartens/Schools Initiative in designated 10 communities,
- Supporting workshops on breastfeeding and healthy eating with religious communities,
- Supporting development of the promotional materials with focus on digital formats.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
- Master’s degree or Bachelor degree with 6 years of relevant experience in nutrition, public health, medicine or a related technical field;
- At least 3 years of work experience in nutrition, especially in infant, children, adolescent and women nutrition and breastfeeding, including experience in the development of national policy documents, standard operating procedures and regulatory framework, including work for different international agencies (especially UN);
- Previous work experience with UNICEF or another UN agency is an asset.
- Profound knowledge of international maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health standards including BFHI
- Familiarity with UNICEF’s mandate and goals
- Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
- Familiarity with results-based monitoring
- Previous work experience with UN/UNICEF or other international organization will be considered as an advantage.
- Fluency in both BHS languages and English is required
- Excellent writing skills, presentation skills, strong strategic and analytical skills.
- Ability to work with different stakeholders.
- Demonstrates tact and high sense of responsibility and discretion.
- Demonstrates integrity and high ethical standards.
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
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.
Advertised: Oct 11 2023 Central European Daylight Time
Application close: Oct 25 2023 Central European Daylight Time
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- Closes Oct 25 2023National Individual Consultancy – Nutrition Consultant for Young Child Well-being Section, 104 working days, Remote with occasional travel in Bosnia & Herzegovina
The Individual Consultant supports the UNICEF Health (Young Child Well-being) Section in strengthening the policy and the capacity of health and education sectors to put in place effective nutrition preventive programs by ensuring timely and effective planning, delivery and monitoring of the UNICEF funded programs consistent with UNICEF rules and regulations.