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, Help!

How can you make a difference?

The reach and scope of nutrition service delivery for women and children in Afghanistan have expanded significantly over the past two years. UNICEF’s nutrition programs, including Maternal, Infant, and young Child Nutrition (MIYCN), Community Based Nutrition Program (CBNP), Multi Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS), Micronutrient Powder (MNP), Iron and Folic Acid (IFA) supplementation, have been scaled up across all 34 provinces. This rapid expansion underscores the critical need for national-level expertise to ensure effective program reporting, monitoring, and quality assurance.

UNICEF is supporting national MIYCN and caring practices as one of the major components of nutrition program targeting maternal Nutrition which refers to the nutrition of women during adolescence, pregnancy, and lactation, as it affects their health and the health of their foetus and/or infant, through their childbearing and nurturing roles, furthermore, the program is focusing on infant and young child feeding practices.

The consultant will report directly to UNICEF’s Nutrition Specialist at ACO contributing to the continuous improvement of program outcomes and data-driven interventions.

Scope of Work:

Provide technical support for MIYCN programming, including guideline development, service quality improvement, partner mapping, and capacity building training to strengthen nutrition outcomes at national and subnational levels.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

1. Provide technical support to MIYCN program across all players
2. Provide technical support on development of the MIYCN guidelines for relevant strategies.
3. Provide technical support to improve the quality of growth monitoring and promotion throughout the country
4. Provide technical support implementation of nutrition interventions under BPHS/EPHS both at the facility and community level and prioritize nutrition activities which should be implemented by SPs under HER
5. Support mapping of MIYCN and nutrition partners.
6. Provide technical support to Maternal, infant and young child nutrition technical working group and follow up of the agreed action points and organize and conduct MIYCN taskforce meetings on the need bases and actively participate in MIYCN related events/conferences and coordination with the relevant sectorial ministries.
7. Conduct nutrition counselors’ performance review on a quarterly basis and review the ToR of NCs and midwife on need basis.
8. Ensure proper implementation of regulation of Breast milk substitute and support conducting the BMS national committee meetings.
9. Provide of monthly activities report to line manager.
10. Support development and dissemination of new operational guidelines and tools and ensuring the required coordination.
11. Conduct training and mentoring for front-line workers,
12. Technical support to run gap analysis across all 34 provinces and follow up of the nutrition indicators (MIYCN) at national and provincial level.

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

• A bachelor university degree in Data science/statistics or computer science, Database development, SQL server.
• A Minimum of 2 years of progressively responsible professional experience in the design, implementation, and coordination of nutrition programs in humanitarian or emergency settings, working experience managing or coordinating MIYCN services at national or sub-national levels is an advantage.
• Proven experience in revision of protocols/guidelines, and implementation of nutrition in emergencies (NiE) programming, including MIYCN Mapping framework analysis.
• Strong background in program performance monitoring, data analysis, and supporting technical working groups or task forces.
• Solid understanding of WHO global guidelines on breastfeeding promotion and ability to translate technical recommendations into national programmatic guidance.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate TWGs and multiple stakeholders (UN agencies, donors, NGOs, government counterparts).
• Experience in designing, reviewing, and evaluating annual work plans, operational frameworks, and key performance indicators for nutrition service delivery.
• Proficiency in nutrition supply estimation and planning, including quarterly forecasting and verification of commodities
• Familiarity with BPHS and non-BPHS systems, and practical experience in oversight and quality assurance of implementers across different service models.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

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.

How to apply:

• Interested applicants are required to submit a financial proposal with an all-inclusive fee.  Please see the financial proposal template here:  Consultancy Financial Offer template.docx
• Applications without a financial proposal will not be considered.
• You may apply for the position through the provided link: https://jobs.unicef.org/en-us/job/581930/national-mother-infant-and-young-children-nutrition-miycn-consultant

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