Health Specialist – Urban Community Health and Nutrition (Consultant), UNICEF Regional Office for South Asia, Kathmandu, Nepal

Remote | Kathmandu

Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund
Location: Remote | Kathmandu
Grade: Consultancy - Consultant - Contractors Agreement
Occupational Groups:
- Public Health and Health Service
- Social Affairs
- Infrastructure and Urban-Rural development
- Nutrition
- Children's rights (health and protection)
- Civil Society and Local governance
- Urban Development, planning and design
Closing Date: Closed

Under the general guidance and supervision of the Regional Health Adviser, the consultant will provide technical support to UNICEF ROSA through conducting a comprehensive situation analysis of community health and nutrition systems in urban and peri-urban areas of South Asia and developing actionable guidelines for enhancing community health and nutrition programmes and strategies to reach marginalized populations in urban and peri-urban localities.

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, a future

How can you make a difference?

Background and Rationale:

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programmes, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias, or favouritism. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education, and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. Therefore, the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

UNICEF ROSA has been actively working to improve community health and nutrition across South Asia, focusing on marginalized populations in both rural and urban settings. In the past two decades, South Asian nations have made strides in improving neonatal, child, and maternal health. However, preventable deaths persist, with an average of two newborns dying every minute. Over 3,500 children under five deaths reported daily and concerns remain regarding stunting and wasting rates. Challenges like inadequate nutrition, limited clean water access, and various deprivations, coupled with issues of equity and gender disparity, impede progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Achieving further advancements in Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and SDGs requires strategic investments addressing financing gaps, out-of-pocket expenses, coverage disparities, the burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), and poverty. Prioritizing prevention, promotion, and innovative Community Health and Nutrition (CHN) strategies through a transformative approach is crucial for overcoming these challenges.

Community workers (CWs) play a pivotal role in bridging equity gaps and expanding access to health, nutrition, and other essential social services, impacting several SDGs (SDG 1; SDG 2; SDG 3; SDG 5; SDG 6; SDG 10; SDG 17). Investing in CHN is vital to prevent avoidable child and maternal deaths, interrupt the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition and poor health, address emerging health issues like NCDs and mental health, overlapping deprivations of children beyond health and nutrition, and prepare for and respond to health emergencies and humanitarian crises. Critical areas include child protection, WASH, adolescent and youth well-being and partnership, gender inequality, a healthy environment, and the impact of climate change.

In 2023, UNICEF ROSA undertook a rapid mapping of community health and nutrition programmes and polices initiative across all eight countries. Overall, the assessment revealed limited performance, scalability, and sustainability of CHN programmes in South Asia due to weak enabling environments around policies, financing, and multisectoral coordination. A key observation in the CHN system across countries is the fact that urbanization presents unique challenges and opportunities that necessitate tailored approaches for CHW programmes to be effective in urban areas.

South Asia countries are undergoing rapid urbanization at different rates and, as in other regions of the works, the current trend is primarily migration from rural areas to smaller cities rather than large megacities. The absolute number of children living in poor urban and peri-urban communities is very high. The least served and most excluded children in the SA Region are children living in poor urban and peri-urban communities who are subject to multiple overlapping deprivations that require multisectoral action.

This consultancy aims to conduct a comprehensive situation analysis of community health and nutrition systems in urban and peri-urban areas of South Asia, and to develop actionable guidelines for enhancing community health and nutrition programmes and strategies to reach marginalized populations in urban and peri-urban localities.

Purpose of assignment:

Work Assignment:

The consultant will:

Conduct a situation analysis of Community health and nutrition in urban areas and peri-urban in South Asia: This involves a thorough assessment of the current state of community health and nutrition systems in urban and peri-urban settings across sectors in South Asian countries. The analysis will focus on identifying key health and nutrition, and other related essential social services issues, assessing the effectiveness of existing CHN systems, programmes and strategies in addressing overlapping needs and deprivations of children across sectors, and understanding the unique challenges and opportunities presented by urbanization.
Develop guidelines/guidance for enhancing CHN systems and programmes in urban and peri-urban areas: Based on the insights gained from the situation analysis, the consultant will formulate detailed guidelines/guidance aimed at improving the recruitment, training, supervision, and retention of Community Workers (CWs), community-based service delivery models and approaches, including community engagement, in urban and peri-urban settings. These guidelines/guidance will incorporate best practices and innovative approaches from both within South Asia and globally, ensuring that CHN programmes are well-equipped to address the specific and multiple needs of urban populations.

Main Deliverables:

Strategic deliverable 1: Conduct a situation analysis of Community health and nutrition systems in urban and peri-urban areas in South Asia.

Hold an inception meeting with UNICEF to develop a better understanding of the assignment including roles, timelines among others
Perform a thorough review of the CHN policy and program documents, which includes but not limited to the UNICEF Strategic plan, ROSA health workplan, the World Health Organization's (WHO) guidelines on health policy and system support to enhance community health worker programs, among others.
Write a situation analysis report on the state of community health and nutrition in urban and peri-urban areas and their effectiveness in addressing overlapping needs and deprivations of children across sectors, looking at both strategic and operational components. The report will summarise the background, approach and methodology, findings, lessons and best practices, conclusions, and recommendations.
Disseminate the findings to UNICEF ROSA and 8 country offices at a virtual validation workshop, and finalize the report based on the feedback received.

Strategic deliverable 2: Develop guidelines/guidance for enhancing CHN programmes in urban and peri-urban areas

Develop a guidance note for enhancing CHN programmes in urban and peri-urban areas. The guideline should propose strategies for reaching marginalized populations, including community engagement, in urban and peri-urban localities settings:
Hold online orientation sessions for UNICEF ROSA and 8 country offices, Attend CHN workshop in Nepal, and finalize based on the feedback received.

Note: Please apply with your financial proposals. Applications without the financial proposals will not be considered.

Remarks: This is a remote based consultancy. If selected, a consultant will travel to Kathamandu once. \

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

An Advanced University Degree in public health/nutrition, pediatric health, family health, health research, global/international health, health policy and/or management, environmental health sciences, biostatistics-mathematics, socio- medical, health education, epidemiology or other health related science is required.

Work Experience:

• At least Eight (8) years of work experience in public health and development at international organization(s), with significant experience in urban health and nutrition.

• Proven experience in conducting situation analyses and developing health programme guidelines.

• Knowledge and experience in community health/primary health care systems and programmes

• Ability to identify key health qualitative and quantitative data and technical information from various policies, guidelines and reports and other sources, and present it in a manner that is less technical.

• Experience in providing technical assistance and thought leadership surrounding the analysis, design, and implementation of primary health care and/or health system strengthening.

• Knowledge and experience in health financing is an advantage.

• Knowledge on health situation in South Asia region is an advantage.

• Experience in South Asia Region is desirable.

• Demonstrated experience in working with UN agencies and governments would be an asset.

Skills and Competencies:

• Experience in reporting on qualitative and quantitative analytics

• Works independently and effectively within a team environment.

• Communicates effectively to varied audiences, including during formal public speaking.

• Able to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment.

• Sets high standards for quality of work and consistently achieves project goals.

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.

This vacancy is now closed.