Senior Adviser - Food Systems for Children (P5), FT, Programme Group, Nutrition and Child Development Section in Brussels (post #00124676)

Contract

This is a P-5 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 10 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 110,869 USD and 138,944 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

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 hope…

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, grow, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, nutrition, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

How can you make a difference?

Our efforts have contributed to reduce the global prevalence of child stunting by one-third and the number of children with stunted growth and development by 55 million (2000-2020), demonstrating that progress for child nutrition at scale can happen and is happening across countries and regions.

However, despite this unprecedented progress, the burden of poor child nutrition and development remains unsolved, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, and in countries suffering from fragile governance and/or humanitarian crises.

Currently, one in three children under five years of age is not growing and developing well because of malnutrition – undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and overweight – and two in three children are living in food poverty, without the minimum diet they need to grow healthy.

Guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the UNICEF Nutrition Strategy 2020-2030 aims to prevent maternal and child malnutrition in all its forms across the life cycle and ensure the early detection and treatment of children suffering from life-threatening malnutrition.

Our Strategy calls for a systems approach to improving maternal and child nutrition by supporting the delivery of nutrition-specific actions through five key systems: the food system and the health, water and sanitation, education and social protection systems.

These are the five systems with the greatest potential to protect and promote nutritious diets, essential nutrition services, and positive nutrition practices that support optimal nutrition for all children, adolescents and women, in all contexts: development, fragile and humanitarian.

Purpose of the Position

The Senior Advisor works to protect and promote nutritious diets, essential nutrition services, and positive nutrition practices that support optimal nutrition for all children and women, everywhere – including among those living in fragile and humanitarian settings.

The Senior Advisor provides strategic direction, technical expertise, and strategic coordination to support the planning and implementation of all activities related to UNICEF programming on Food Systems for Children, which aims at improving child nutrition through food systems actions.

The Senior Advisor provides strategic direction, expertise, and coordination on behalf of UNICEF as part of the Global Network against Food Crises, which – with FAO and WFP – aims to address the causes of food crises through sustainable solutions for children, women and populations.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

In support to UNICEF Global Director, Child Nutrition and Development, the key functions of the UNICEF Senior Advisor, Food Systems for Children, are summarized as follows:

1. Leads UNICEF’s global work on Food Systems for Children, which aims to improve child nutrition and development outcomes through strategic actions in food systems to improve the quality of children’s foods, food environments and food practices.

• Leads and coordinates global strategic direction to improve the quality of children’s foods, food environments and food practices from early childhood, though the school years into adolescence, in line with the UNICEF Strategy 2020-2030.
• Leads and coordinates global advocacy efforts on food systems actions to deliver nutritious, safe, affordable and sustainable diets for children in all programming settings – including for children living in development, fragile and humanitarian contexts.
• Leads and coordinates the provision of high quality and timely technical support to UNICEF regional offices and country teams on food systems actions to improve the quality of children’s foods, food environments and food practices in all contexts.
• Leads and coordinates UNICEF’s knowledge generation and knowledge management function as it relates to UNICEF’s and partners’ actions, results and learnings in transforming food systems for children’s nutrition and development.

2. Leads UNICEF’s contribution to the Global Network Against Food Crises, which aims to address the causes of food crises and promote sustainable solutions through strengthened analysis and knowledge and coordination in evidence-based and sustainable responses.

• Leads and coordinates UNICEF’s contribution to the work of the Global Network in understanding food crises, which includes the generation and analysis of evidence, data and information as the basis for advocacy, resource mobilization and action.
• Leads and coordinates UNICEF’s contribution to the work of the Global Network in strengthening and mobilizing strategic investments in food and nutrition security to prepare, prevent and respond to food and nutrition crises.
• Leads and coordinates UNICEF’s contribution to the work of the Global Network in strengthening action beyond food by fostering political uptake and coordination across clusters/sectors to address other dimensions driving food and nutrition crises.
• Leads and coordinates UNICEF’s contribution to the advocacy work of the Global Network to prepare and respond to food and nutrition crises and support the collective outcomes related to ending hunger, achieving food security and improving nutrition (SDG 2).

Impact of Results

The efficiency and efficacy of the support provided by the Senior Advisor, Food Systems for Children, contributes to and accelerates UNICEF’s efforts to improve nutrition and development outcomes for children in all contexts – development, fragile and humanitarian – including nexus programming.

More specifically:

1. Strengthened UNICEF leadership on Food Systems for Children through strategic advocacy, policy formulation, programme scale up, and knowledge generation aiming at improving the quality of children’s foods, food environments and food practices in all programming contexts, in line with the UNICEF Nutrition Strategy 2020-2030.
2. Strengthened partnership with FAO and WFP to accelerate the work of the Global Network Against Food Crises by generating data and analyses, supporting the scale up of evidence-based and sustainable policies and programmes; and mobilizing resources to fight food and nutrition crises among the most vulnerable children and populations.

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

• Master’s Degree in public health nutrition, global health and nutrition, maternal and child nutrition, or child nutrition and development.
• Minimum ten (10) years of progressively responsible professional experience related to public health nutrition, maternal and child nutrition, nutritional epidemiology, humanitarian assistance and development, or related human nutrition field is required.
• Direct, practical experience in the design and implementation of nutrition interventions, including in fragile, humanitarian and multi-country contexts is required.
• Prior experience in partnership management, including UN agencies, bilateral donors, foundations and civil society is required.
• Prior experience in child nutrition and development program/project development and management in any UN system agency or organization is required.
• Demonstrated analytical and persuasive writing skills experience as well as editing skills, including ability to convey complex information in a clear manner to a diverse audience is required.
• Excellent writing and communication skills in English are required.
• Working knowledge of another UN language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS)

Please click Here to view UNICEF's core values and Here to view our competency framework.

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

i) Core Values

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability

ii) Core competencies (Required)

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (3)
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (3)
• Works Collaboratively with others (3)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (3)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (3)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (3)
• Drives to achieve impactful results (3)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (3)

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 including 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, 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 promoting 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.

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 may also be 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.

“UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/”

For more information on remuneration and benefits, please visit UNICEF’s Entitlements’ page. If you would like to find estimates for entitlements, you may use the online Salary Estimate Calculator

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