National Consultant – School Health Programme, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 6 months (home based) - Sri Lankan nationals only
Home-based;
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, Results
UNICEF works to protect the rights of every child in Sri Lanka. Our goal is to ensure that all of our children survive, thrive and fulfill their vast potential.
In a world that is rapidly changing, children are faced with complex challenges and unprecedented opportunities. UNICEF’s programs are designed to reach and benefit all children so that they can withstand these challenges, leverage these opportunities and be the drivers of their own destiny.
UNICEF is committed to creating a country in which every child is free to learn, play and grow. Our programs work towards providing all children in Sri Lanka with shelter, nutrition, protection and education, wherever they may be. We strive to create communities in which children can live with dignity and hope, free from discrimination, violence and fear.
We make every effort to create and maintain environments that will enable and empower children to be the very best that they can be.
In this way, all children will not only benefit from economic and social growth but will become the driving force behind sustainable national development.
For over 50 years, with the help of our vast network of partners, UNICEF has made significant strides in raising health, education and protection standards for children in Sri Lanka. From achieving Universal Child Immunization (1989) to establishing The National Child Protection Authority (1998) to providing decades of crucial relief in the wake of devastating conflict and natural disaster, UNICEF has played a pivotal role in creating an environment in which children have the best chance to survive and thrive.
Yet, many challenges still exist, especially for the most vulnerable. Some national and regional bodies require resources and reinvigoration. Individuals and institutions need to be strengthened, coordinated and aligned with global standards so that children enjoy support in their schools, communities and homes to help them overcome challenges and unleash their full potential into the world.
Due to our long-standing reputation as an experienced, neutral and collaborative partner, UNICEF is ideally suited to drive these efforts. Our history of success in Sri Lanka is built on our ability to tap into a wide network of national and international partners which, in turn, is bolstered by our own far-reaching presence in the field. In working closely with these government, non-government and private entities, UNICEF takes a leadership role, drawing on our technical expertise to accurately assess existing challenges and develop, execute and coordinate solutions that are relevant and scalable on the ground. For more information about UNICEF Sri Lanka and its work visit: http://www.unicef.org/srilanka
How can you make a difference?
Purpose
To recruit a local consultant for adaptation and validation of the Nutrition Environment Assessment Toolkit for Schools (NEAT -S) for Sri Lanka and assessment of the school food environment in selected districts
Scope of Work:
Background:
The school food environment refers to the spaces, infrastructure, and conditions inside and around the school premises where food is available, obtained, purchased and/or consumed (1). A healthy school food environment is critical for life-long healthy food practices and contributes to social norms related to healthy and nutritious dietary patterns, which in turn are essential for the achievement and maintenance of a healthy body weight. Governments around the world have committed to focusing on education settings as an opportunity to promote nutritional outcomes for school-age children.
UNICEF is committed to supporting governments to protect and promote diets, practices, and services that support optimal nutrition, growth, and development in middle childhood and adolescence. To enable this, the Nutrition Environment Assessment Toolkit for Schools (NEAT-S) has been developed by UNICEF to help schools, government agencies and partners in the East Asia Pacific Region to better understand nutrition in school environments. The purpose of the Nutrition Environment Assessment Toolkit for Schools is to provide step-by-step guidance for the assessment of school nutrition environments in countries.
About twenty percent of the Sri Lankan population comprise of school children. Their nutritional status of the students has a significant influence over their educational performances. The school environment has a great potential to influence many lifestyle choices of school children. The global school health survey (2) highlights concerning trends in adolescent dietary habits, with 7.1% not consuming any fruit in the past 30 days, 1.7% not eating any vegetables during the same period, 26.2% consuming carbonated drinks at least once daily, and 20.7% obtaining food from fast-food restaurants at least twice a week. According to the National Nutrition and Micronutrient Survey (3), conducted by the Medical Re- search Institute in 2022, the prevalence of stunting, wasting/thinness, overweight, and obesity among children aged 10-17 years were reported at 16.5%, 25.2%, 7.9%, and 4.0%, respectively.
Given that 70% of adolescents are in schools, it is crucial to address their habits during this formative period, as these behaviors often persist into adulthood. Adolescents, whose brains are still developing, may be more prone to making impulsive decisions without considering the long-term consequences, contributing to unhealthy lifestyles. Addressing the obesogenic environment within and outside schools is key to mitigating these behaviors.
With this background, UNICEF Sri Lanka Country Office along with the Regional Office for South Asia, in collaboration with the School Health Unit of Family Health Bureau of Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, is planning to adapt, validate the NEAT-S for Sri Lanka and conduct the assessment in selected districts of the country.
Objectives and Purpose
The overall objective of the assessment is:
- To provide individual schools with an understanding of the healthiness of their school nutrition environment.
- To provide data that can be used by policymakers to gain insight into the status of school nutrition environments nationally, for priority-setting and for policy and programme development and implementation.
Specific Objectives of the proposed consultancy:
- To do adaptation and validation of the Nutrition Environment Assessment Toolkit for Schools to Sri Lanka, in collaboration with the Family Health Bureau and Deakin University of Australia.
- To develop the proposal for the study with appropriate methodology and sampling, representing districts of urban, rural, estate and northern/eastern sectors of the country.
- To obtain necessary ethical and administrative clearance from ethics review committee and ministry of education.
- To train the data collectors and conduct the assessment using both data collection tool 1 and 2.
- To assist data analysis and report writing by the Deakin University team, Australia.
- To report data back to the schools at individual level and recommendations for policy and programme development at national level.
Throughout the process, the contracted consultant will work closely with the School Health Unit of the Family Health Bureau, Ministry of Education and UNICEF for relevant technical information at each level.
Description of assignment:
The contracted consultant will be responsible for the tasks as stipulated below:
- Toolkit familiarization and collation of existing contextual data: Please find the information related to the tool in the below link
- Adaptation and validation of the toolkit to Sri Lanka with the support of the University of Deakin, Australia team, Family Health Bureau and Ministry of Education.
- Development of the proposal with methodology, obtaining ethical and administrative clearance.
- Training of data collectors and pilot testing.
- Data collection by the local research team
- Data analysis and final report writing by the local team with collaboration of the Deakin University team.
- Report data back to the schools at individual level and recommendations for policy and programme development at national level.
The data collected through FGDs and KIIs will be transcribed and translated by the research team. Adequate measures should be taken to ensure that the process responds to quality and ethical requirements.
The contracted consultant should be sensitive to beliefs, manners and customs and act with integrity and honesty in their relationships with all stakeholders. Furthermore, it should protect the anonymity and confidentiality of individual information.
Reporting Requirements:
Weekly or monthly updates and touch base meetings – the contracting consultant should share weekly updates of activities taken place to UNICEF and the School Health Unit of FHB and as required organize touch base meetings to discuss any issues/concerns to ensure the research progress in line with the expected requirements and timeline.
Duration of the consultancy: 6 months
Duty station – Colombo, Sri Lanka. (Home Based)
Start date - August 2024
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Minimum Qualifications required:
- Must have an advanced degree (Masters) in public health with a background knowledge in public health research.
Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:
- Must have at least 5 years of relevant experience with data collection, analysis, and reporting.
- Must have experience in qualitative and quantitative data analyses.
- Must have access to adequate number of enumerators to conduct the assignment.
- Must have proven experience in providing strategic analyses with a multidisciplinary approach (expertise in statistics, qualitative analysis)
- Must have demonstrated strong statistical and analytical skills.
- Experience with international organizations, UN Agencies is an asset, but not a requirement.
- Must have a team comprised of:
- One or more co-researchers with a background knowledge in public health research.
- A trained team for data collection
- previous experience in health-related research and sociological research in Sri Lanka.
- Team members must be proficient in English and should comprise of members proficient in both Sinhala and Tamil.
The team must have proven technical experience on similar assignments and be able to deliver the assignment on time and to the desired quality.
Languages required:
Ability to work in English is essential. During the assessment ability to work in Sinhala and/or Tamil is required
How to apply:
Qualified candidates are requested to submit a resume and other relevant documents
Please complete your profile in UNICEF's e-recruitment system.
https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_consultancy_assignments.html
Please indicate your ability, availability and fee/rate (in LKR) to undertake the terms of reference above. (Indicate an all-inclusive fee (including lump sum travel, IT accessories, Internet and subsistence costs, as applicable) to undertake the tasks in the Terms of reference. Office 365 license will be provided by UNICEF, as applicable)
Applications submitted without a fee/rate will not be considered
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:
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.
If you think this position might be for you, please take the time to review our Country Office Mutual Agreements before you apply.
If you believe you can team member that can uphold these everyday, then we look forward to receiving and reviewing your application.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
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Source:
unicef.org
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