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Internal & External: Nutrition Specialist - Child Wasting, P-4, FT #113267, PG, NYHQ

New York City

  • Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund
  • Location: New York City
  • Grade: Mid level - P-4, International Professional - Internationally recruited position
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Nutrition
    • Children's rights (health and protection)
  • Closing Date: Closed

To meet UNICEF’s ambitious agenda on child wasting, under the leadership of the Senior Nutrition Advisor, you will operationalize UNICEF’s global strategies for accelerating progress on the prevention, early detection and treatment of child wasting. In doing so, you will oversee the timely and effectively alignment of efforts to address financing, supply chain, technical and operational challenges that contribute to the persistently high levels of child wasting and low coverage of treatment services in emergency and non-emergency contexts. You will support UNICEF regional and country-level efforts in the implementation of the operational priorities identified in the Global Action Plan on Child Wasting, and work closely with UN agencies, civil society and academics to identify and roll-out emerging solutions and approaches to address child wasting in all contexts.

Note: Programme Group (PG) is currently undergoing organizational changes, therefore the exact location of the post is still under consideration.  Currently, the post is based in New York but in case the location of the post will change, s/he would be expected to work remotely as the case may be, during the contractual period.    

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.

One of the critical goals of UNICEF for child survival and development is to improve child nutrition and prevent associated mortality. The management of wasting is critical for child survival and a key cost-effective component of the scaling up nutrition framework for addressing undernutrition. Globally, 47 million children under 5 years old are wasted and of these, over 14 million are severely wasted. Although significant progress has been made, the overall rate of admissions lags far behind and more needs to be done. To that end, UNICEF will be launching a new nutrition strategy (2020-2030) and an inter-UN agency Global Action Plan (GAP) on Child Wasting in 2020, providing renewed commitment to expanding the availability and accessibility of current prevention, early detection and treatment services.

For every child, Nutrition…

How can you make a difference?

To meet UNICEF’s ambitious agenda on child wasting, under the leadership of the Senior Nutrition Advisor, you will operationalize UNICEF’s global strategies for accelerating progress on the prevention, early detection and treatment of child wasting. In doing so, you will oversee the timely and effectively alignment of efforts to address financing, supply chain, technical and operational challenges that contribute to the persistently high levels of child wasting and low coverage of treatment services in emergency and non-emergency contexts. You will support UNICEF regional and country-level efforts in the implementation of the operational priorities identified in the Global Action Plan on Child Wasting, and work closely with UN agencies, civil society and academics to identify and roll-out emerging solutions and approaches to address child wasting in all contexts.

1. Support the successful implementation of the UNICEF Nutrition Strategy (2020-2030) and the Global Action Plan on Child Wasting.

  • Support Regional Nutrition Advisors and Country Offices in the development and/or implementation of activities to the design, review and/or implementation of regional and country-level programmatic scale up plans, identification of key technical, policy and financing requirements to support scale-up of services and identification of key opportunities for resource mobilization at a global, regional and/or national level.
  • Support the development and/or implementation of key partnerships with UN agencies, civil society and academia to accelerate progress on the prevention, early detection and treatment of child wasting.
  • Coordinate and collaborate with WFP, WHO, UNHCR and other partners in identifying strategies, operational opportunities and advocacy opportunities to promote a continuum of care for acute malnutrition through respective agency policy, strategy, tools and approaches and communicate these with regional and country level counterparts.
  • Contribute to internal and external-facing communication activities on the prevention, early detection and treatment of child wasting in all contexts.

2. Support the provision of technical support and the effective use of technical information to accelerate progress on the prevention, early detection and treatment of child wasting

  • Provide technical assistance and support to Regional and Country Offices in support of delivery of integrated nutrition and health services at community level.
  • Strengthen existing efforts to identify, test and mainstream technical innovations and simplified approaches to improve the reach, equity and effectiveness of community-based nutrition services.
  • Strengthen UNICEF’s nutrition knowledge and information management related to early detection and treatment of child wasting, with an emphasis on information for coverage and programme quality management.
  • Support UNICEF Regional and Country Offices and the Global Nutrition Cluster in the collection, collation and strategic use of nutrition information related to programming for children with wasting.

3. Support strategic partnerships to improve the availability and effective utilization of resources for the prevention, early detection and treatment of child wasting

  • Provide technical and programmatic support for the effective implementation of partnerships with USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance (BHA), the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the Eleanor Crook Foundation (ECF).
  • In coordination with the Associate Director of Nutrition and the Senior Nutrition Advisor support UNICEF’s engagement with key institutional and corporate partners supporting the prevention, early detection and treatment of child wasting.

To qualify as a champion for every child, the candidate must have…

  • An advanced university degree in public health, international development or social sciences.
  • A minimum eight years of progressively responsible professional work related to public health nutrition, public health, humanitarian assistance and development, health/nutrition research, policy and/or management, or other health related social science field is required.
  • Prior experience in partnership development and management, including bilateral donors, foundations and civil society is required.
  • Direct, practical experience in the design and implementation of nutrition interventions through community-based platforms, and the integration of nutrition into basic health packages is required.
  • Prior experience in nutrition program/project development and management in any UN system agency or organization is an asset.
  • Previous experience in the identification, evidencing and roll-out of technical improvements in nutrition policy and practice is an asset.
  • Demonstrated analytical and persuasive writing skills experience as well as editing skills, including ability to convey complex information in a clear manner to a diverse audience
  • Knowledge of UNICEF programs in the field of child survival and development, UNICEF strategic plan is an asset
  • Experience in planning and financial management is an asset
  • Computer skills, including Sharepoint navigation and various office applications and VISION, is an asset.
  • Excellent writing and communication skills in English is required.  Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability.

For more information on remuneration and benefits, please visit UNICEF’s Entitlements’ page.  If you would like to find estimates for entitlements, you may use the online Salary Estimate Calculator

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, race, sexual orientation, nationality, culture, appearance, socio-economic status, ability, age, religious, and ethnic backgrounds, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and 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.

“UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/

This vacancy is now closed.
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