Contract

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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, nutrition

Turkmenistan pays high attention to maternal and child health and nutrition. There have been tangible efforts to fight iron deficiency and anemia over the past two decades leading to the introduction and nation-wide implementation of flour fortification and universal salt iodization (USI) programmes by the Government. The flour fortification and salt iodization interventions has been started in early 2000 by the Government and have gradually achieved universal coverage. Since 2008 all premium and firsts’ grade flour produced in the country has been fortified with iron and folic acid, according to the decree of President of Turkmenistan. In 2004, the country was certified as having achieved universal salt iodization.

The country implemented and evaluated a National Nutrition Strategy for 2013-2017, adopted Sustainable Development Goal related to nutrition (SDG2) and recently adopted a new National Nutrition Strategy for 2020-2025.

According to MICS data (2016), the prevalence of chronic malnutrition (stunting), that reflects the long-term exposure of a child to repeated infections and inadequate nutrition and diets, has decreased from 19 per cent in 2006 to 11 per cent in 2016.

However, the data on anemia, iron deficiency, folic acid deficiency and Vitamin A deficiency are outdated as the last study of anemia among women and children was conducted in 2011.

Given the significant impact of micronutrient deficiencies on the wellbeing of children and women and considering the fact that the current evidence on micronutrient deficiencies is outdated, undertaking a national micronutrient survey is critical. The national nutrition survey will support the policy makers to understand how the flour fortification programme and supplementation have worked; it will also provide fresh and applied evidence needed for policy advocacy and programming to address the priority micronutrients.

UNICEF office in Turkmenistan as per signed work plans for 2021 and 2022 is committed to support the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry (MoHMI) to undertake this survey and is looking to contract Survey Lead, Survey Expert and Data Support Specialist to work closely with MoHMI, the Scientific and Clinical Centre of Mother and Child Health (MCH) and the assigned National Laboratory, to provide technical assistance in designing and implementing this nutrition survey.

How can you make a difference?

The survey will assess the nutritional and micronutrients status and the coverage of the wheat flour fortification and salt iodization programs. The results of the survey must be representative to national and sub-national levels of all 6 regions.

This will include designing the methodology, data collections, analyze and reporting current situation of micronutrient deficiencies and some contributing factors in Turkmenistan which will guide evidence-based policy and strategic recommendations, with focus on;

The TNMS will be nationwide in scope, and will collect data about four target groups:

1. households, 2) children 6-59 months of age, 3) non-pregnant women 15-49 years of age, and 4) pregnant women. The specific aims for the various target groups are:
   1. To measure the prevalence and severity of anemia in children 6-59 months of age, non-pregnant women 15-49 years of age, and pregnant women based on blood hemoglobin concentrations;
   2. To assess the prevalence and severity of iron deficiency in children 6–59 months of age and non-pregnant women 15-49 years of age by measuring serum ferritin adjusted for the presence of inflammation as indicated by elevated levels of C- reactive protein (CRP) and/or alpha-1-acid glycoprotein (AGP);
   3. To assess the prevalence and severity of folate deficiency in children 6–59 months of age and non-pregnant women 15-49 years of age measuring serum folate levels;
   4. To assess the prevalence of vitamin A deficiency of children 6-59 months of age and non-pregnant women 15-49 years of age by measuring serum retinol or retinol- binding protein;
   5. To assess the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among children 6–59 months of age and non-pregnant women 15-49 years of age using serum 25-hydroxy-vitamin D concentrations;
   6. To estimate the median concentration of urinary iodine in samples of pregnant women and non-pregnant women 15-49 years of age;
   7. Measure the household coverage of adequately fortified wheat flour and iodized salt.
   8. Estimate the minimum dietary diversity among children 6–23 months of age and non- pregnant women 15-49 years of age using the WHO’s infant and young child feeding (IYCF) guidelines and FANTA’s module of minimum dietary diversity in women (MDD- W), respectively.

The Intended users of the Survey are: the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry, UNICEF and all line ministries, local governments, and academia which will use the results of the Survey to gain more knowledge on situation with anemia and other nutrients deficiency prevalence and to improve their advocacy and practical actions in development nutrition specific and nutrition sensitive interventions.

Scope of Work/ Work Assignments:

The Survey is implemented in 2 phases. First phase was completed in 2021.

1st phase resulted in development of the comprehensive survey protocol, tools, supply procurement support and sampling. All documents are agreed with the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry.

The purpose of this assignment is to provide technical support to the MoHMI in conducting of the 2nd phase of the Turkmenistan National Micronutrient Survey (TNMS) to guide the survey implementation with all required technical assistance in preparation, training, implementation, technical supervision, quality assurance, analysis and reporting of the survey and supervise national partners for data collection and reporting as well as during implementation of the survey.

Specific Tasks:

A Survey Expert will be closely working with Survey Lead and Data Support Expert to ensure full technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and Medical Industry in implementation of the TNMS.

1. Support Team Lead in recruitment of the survey team and their capacity building and training and pilot testing the protocol/ methods.
2. Support survey training and pilot testing: Team leaders, interviewers, phlebotomists and laboratory technicians are given training on all relevant survey steps. As such, this will include both laboratory testing and procedures about obtaining written informed consent for survey participation, questionnaire administration and data upload, blood sampling and processing, cold chain during transportation, etc. A two-day pilot testing will be conducted in 4 clusters (2 urban, 2 rural), which are not part of the actual sampling frame. During the pilot testing all field procedures including household selection, interviews, anthropometry, phlebotomy, labeling and specimen processing will be practiced.

3. Support Implementation of the Survey (to be initiated after the clearance from the Ethic Committee and mobilization of the financial resources) with national partners, including national staff training and Field Work with planning for data collection and supervision of data collection throughout the survey.

4. Guide, in cooperation with Survey Lead and National Survey coordinators, the field data collection to ensure compliance to protocols for data and specimens’ collection; Conduct monitoring of quality of field work, supervise biological specimen collection adherence according to SOPs and support analysis of summary statistics; Together with local staff, perform the serum assay in accordance with test instructions, from serum samples collected during the national survey;

5. Support Data Analysis in cooperation with Survey Lead and National Survey coordinators.
6. Support development of the Survey Report. Work with team to prepare draft report on the findings, present in a validation workshop. Contribute to development of a final Survey report based on the feedback provided by UNICEF and implementing partners. Contribute to development of a presentation of survey findings and a two pager for easy communication of findings.

Contribute to validation workshop and report finalization: the draft report and the main findings will be presented in a validation workshop. Following the workshop, feedback will be incorporated into the draft report the final report will be generated.

2022-07-11 TOR_TNMS survey expert posted.pdf

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

• Proven experience and knowledge in development of public nutrition policies; technical capacity building, especially related to maternal and child nutrition and micronutrient deficiency interventions;
• Proven experience to design and conduct large-scale nutrition research on the results of implementation on nutrition interventions to i.e.: effective coverage; impact of nutrition interventions etc.
• Advanced university degree in Public Health, Epidemiology, nutrition related laboratory test or related discipline;
• A minimum of 5 years relevant professional experience, in public health surveillance and research, (preferably) including experience in Europe and Central Asia;
• Demonstrated experience of developing tools and guidance, capacity building and mentoring of professional staff
• Excellent analytical, writing, communication and facilitation skills;
• Proven ability to manage multi-sector projects;
• Fluency in English and strong writing skills in English. Knowledge of Russian is an advantage;

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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.