JOB DETAILS

How can you make a difference?

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, leaving no one behind. In partnership with the government and other stakeholders, UNICEF aims to deliver good quality nutrition services at scale to build resilience and protect the most vulnerable, particularly during the First 1000 Days of Life from pregnancy to when a child is two years of age. Currently, Nigeria is off track to achieving the nutrition targets of the World Health Assembly 2025 and the Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

Nigeria currently has the highest number of malnutrition in Africa and the second highest globally. Nigeria is among a set of countries with disproportionate levels of people living in hunger and suffering from food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms. The newly released National Food Consumption and Micronutrient Survey (2024) shows that stunting is currently at 33% while 11.6% of children 6-59months are wasted.

To improve food and nutrition security in the country, including prevention and treatment of malnutrition, Nigeria has endorsed a range of policies and plans including but not limited to the National Policy on Food and Nutrition (2016), the Agricultural Promotion Policy (2016), the National Multi-Sectoral Plan of Action on Nutrition (2020-2025), the Agricultural Sector Food Security and Nutrition Strategy (ASFSNS) (2016-2025), the National Multisectoral Plan of Action for Food and Nutrition (2021-2025) amongst others.

The National Council of Nutrition, a high-level decision-making body for nutrition is headed by the Vice President of the country. The NCN, has a technical unit called the National Core Working Committee, which is charged with supporting and advising the Vice President and the NCN on nutrition. The successfully selected consultant will work closely with the Office of the Vice President and the NCWC to provide technical support on the full implementation of the National Policy of Food and Nutrition.

The NCWC has an interest in developing a nationwide nutrition financing and grassroot movement which will mobilize political will for nutrition at the federal, state and local government levels. In addition, the consultant is to develop the framework for the commencement and sustainability of the 774 grassroots movement, which is aimed at incentivizing critical governance actions and establishing a reward system for exemplary Local Governments who implement nutrition sensitive and specific interventions.

Scope of work and deliverables:

The consultant will undertake key activities as outlined below (but not be limited by them) to ensure the submission of the deliverables detailed below;

a. Drive the planning of 774 Grassroots Movement for Nutrition Programme:

• Develop a concept note including the framework for planning and execution/delivery.
• Support the national and subnational stakeholder consultations, generating buy-in and state-level investment on nutrition.
• Support the office of the VP in the operationalization of the programme in the states/local governments.

b. Support Government Financing for Nutrition at National and Sub-National Levels:

• Work with the Nigeria Governor’s Forum to increase utilization of the scorecard to drive state release of resources.
• Consult with key Government agencies to ensure the release of the resources under the Child Nutrition Fund (CNF).

c. Technical support to the National Core Working Committee and the Office of the Vice President on Nutrition:

• Provide strategic advisory support and guidance to the Special Adviser to the Vice President on Public Health and to the NCWC on emerging issues, policy implications and strategic directions related to nutrition programming.
• Undertake capacity needs assessment to identify gaps, challenges and opportunities for institutional capacity strengthening for nutrition across key MDAs.
• Provide expert recommendations for policy advocacy and decision-making to advance nutrition goals at the national and sub-national levels.
• Support the development of a concept note, framework, planning and execution/delivery, accountability framework for the Conveying high-level meetings with global and regional participation.

d. And any other tasks assigned tasks

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

Education: Master’s degree in public health or a field relevant to global health.

Experience:

• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in Nutrition and/or Public Health.
• Experience in public administration
• Experience in engaging multi-sectoral Food and Nutrition Systems stakeholders.

• Extensive knowledge of micronutrient programming in Nigeria, Nigerian health systems and nutrition sectoral policy landscape.
• Experience in managing multi-stakeholder working groups.
• Experience in institutional capacity building at the national level. vii. Experience in monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.
• Proficiency in MS Excel, PowerPoint, and Word.
• Experience related to global public health is an asset.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in written and spoken English is required.