Nutrition Officer (Coordination and Knowledge Management), NO-1, Mexico City, Mexico, Temp Appointment - Mexican Nationals Only

Contract

This is a NO-1 contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. More about NO-1 contracts.

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, health

Mexico is going through a nutritional transition characterized by a double burden of malnutrition; where undernutrition and micronutrient deficiencies coexist with a high prevalence of overweight, obesity, and chronic diseases. Although the measures taken by the country have managed to reduce the prevalence of chronic undernutrition in children under 5 years of age, the prevalence of overweight and Obesity (O&O) continues to increase in all age groups and became one of the main public health concerns in Mexico.

Malnutrition has a multifactorial origin and is the result of practices and risk factors that can be immediate (at the individual level), intermediate (in the environment of individuals), and basic or structural (at the macro level), and that occur at different stages throughout the life course. In this context, it is necessary to implement public policies that create healthy food environments. Such policies must be based on scientific evidence, implemented in a coordinated manner, monitored, and evaluated. To support this, UNICEF improves partnerships, data, knowledge, advocacy, and financing, which are the five pillars of governance work for nutrition.

Under the overall leadership of the Chief of Nutrition, this ambitious agenda will require the support of a Nutrition Officer (NOA - TA) focused on the coordination of strategic partnerships for nutrition and data and knowledge management to achieve the expected results under strategic priority (ii) Children and adolescents grow up in enabling environments that promote improved nutrition.

The Nutrition Officer – Coordination and Knowledge Management (NO-1) will work under the direct supervision of the Nutrition Officer – Enabling Environments (NO-2). He/she shall acquire an in-depth understanding of the current challenges and opportunities in establishing partnerships and improving coordination for nutrition. The Nutrition Officer shall provide adequate insights and recommendations to strengthen nutrition coordination at the national, state, and municipal levels in Mexico. Additionally, the nutrition officer shall provide support to knowledge management including monitoring and evaluation.

Coaching implementing partners and networking with authorities to monitor and ensure the quality of the programme implementation is a key component of the coordination work. Additionally, the Nutrition Officer is also expected to provide technical support in donors’ reporting and proposal development, in collaboration with other areas. The duration of the post is for 12 months initially, but with the possibility of extension based on the needs of UNICEF, the incumbent's performance, and funds availability.

For more information on the work of our organization in Mexico, please visit our website: UNICEF Mexico and the video of our amazing results in 2021: Informe Anual 2021: Acciones de UNICEF - YouTube

How can you make a difference?

Under the leadership of the Nutrition Officer your main responsibilities will be:

1. Support for the development of a nutrition governance model at national, state and municipal levels in Mexico, in collaboration with UN, Academia, and CSOs partners.

2. Proposal of an actor mapping and key priority areas for coordination with the Ministry of Health to strengthen nutrition governance.

3. Direct technical support to Government authorities at the Sate’s level (in selected priority states) to strengthen nutrition coordination, monitoring, review, and evaluation.

4. Management of activities to generate, share and use evidence and knowledge to support nutrition governance, including advocacy, planning, budgeting, implementation, and coordination, monitoring and evaluation.

5. Contribution to programme management: planning, implementation, monitoring and reporting of nutrition programme activities and results. Development of funding proposals.

6. Contribution to the development and establishment of long-term nutrition programme goals and strategies in the UNICEF Mexico Country Programme.

   If you are interested in learning more about this position and the key functions, activities and accountabilities, read the Complete Job Description: TORNUT~1.PDF

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

• Education: University degree in Nutrition, Public Health, global/international Health, nutritional epidemiology or other related disciplines.
• Work Experience:
  • One year of professional work experience in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of public policies to improve child and adolescent nutrition.
  • Experience in translating scientific evidence into advocacy communication.
  • Experience in the Mexican context.
• Language:
  • Fluency in Spanish.
  • Proficient (advanced) level of English.

You may also have the following assets...

• Experience in nutrition programme/project development in a UN system agency or organization
• Fluency in English.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework 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. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. 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 is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

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

Candidates must be nationals of Mexico to be considered eligible for this post.

This position is based in UNICEF’s Mexico City Country Office.