Nutrition Specialist (Obesity), NO-C/FT, Athens, Greece

Contract

This is a NO-3 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-3 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, a champion

UNICEF became operational in Greece in early 2016 as an outposted team from the Regional Office of Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) to respond to the significant influx of refugee and migrant children and their families at that time. Following several years of engagement with national stakeholders, UNICEF and the Government of Greece made a decision in January 2020 to formalize the agency’s presence in the country under the form of a Greece Country Office. This office falls under the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia located in Geneva, which supports the work of 21 Country Offices within its geographical scope, reporting in turn to global headquarters in New York. Within the framework of an expanded mandate for all children in Greece, UNICEF and Greece moved towards an even greater collaboration and partnership in order to address the needs of all vulnerable, marginalized and left-behind children in the country. In the context of the Country programme for Greece (2022-2026) approved by the UNICEF Executive Board in March 2022, UNICEF and the Government of Greece have agreed on national targets for children, concerning health, education, social protection, child protection, justice and youth employability. Regarding the Health and Nutrition agenda, and within the context of the National Action Plan on Public Health (2021-2025) and the National Prevention Programme ‘’Spyros Doxiades’’. UNICEF is scaling up programming to address the high prevalence of childhood obesity in the country through the following pillars: i. advancement of an enabling environment including strengthening regulations, policies, and strategies to promote healthy diets, practices, and services for the prevention of childhood obesity, ii. programmes that strengthen the primary prevention of childhood obesity, including actions to improve nutrition in infancy and early childhood, prevention intervention programs at the school and community/municipal level, as well as developing awareness raising campaigns for social and behavioral change, iii. interventions to enhance secondary and tertiary prevention and response programmes, iv. establishment of a European Regional Initiative on Childhood Obesity as a platform to enable exchange of lessons learned, good practices, and proven effective approaches to address childhood obesity among and within EU member states, v. development of strategies and programmes focusing on achieving social and behavioral change so that children and their caregivers across Greece make more informed lifestyle choices.

How can you make a difference?

1. Support to programme development and planning

2. Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results

3. Technical and operational support to programme implementation

4. Networking and partnership building

5. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

   Nutrition Specialist Level 3 (Obesity)_ GCO 190423 TMS.pdf

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

• An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: nutrition, public health, nutritional epidemiology, global/international health and nutrition, health/nutrition research, policy and/or management, health sciences, nutritional epidemiology, or another health-related science field.

• A minimum of five years of professional experience, ideally in a high- and/or middle-income country, and in one or more of the following areas is required: obesity prevention and management, nutrition planning and management, or maternal, infant and child health/nutrition care.

  Experience in health and nutrition programme and project management experience in a UN agency is an asset.

• Fluency in English is required, and fluency in Greek is an advantage. Working knowledge of Greek is essential

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. (8) Nurtures, leads and manages people

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. For this position, eligible and suitable Nutrition programme/project knowledge are encouraged to apply.

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.