Junior National Consultants (two positions) – Technical support on Assessment of School Nutrition Policies, Interventions and Programmes, and Marketing of unhealthy food to Children in North Macedonia

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 and Nutrition

UNICEF Skopje is looking for two Junior National Consultants that will work together with the senior national consultant and provide in-country technical support to Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Regional Office selected entity on Assessment of School Nutrition Policies, Interventions and Programmes, and Marketing of Unhealthy Food to Children in North Macedonia. The technical support for the selected consultant will include: assess healthy food environments in primary and secondary schools, provide policy recommendations on improving the environments; review and revise the policy proposals for introduction of healthy school meals/snacks in primary and secondary schools and enhancing nutrition outcomes for school-children, developed within an UNICEF analysis on introduction of the European Child Guarantee in the country; provide technical support to the Ministry of Health and or Ministry of Education in North Macedonia for the drafting of school food policy briefs and advocacy materials for improving the school food environment.

How can you make a difference? 

In 2024, UNICEF North Macedonia, supported by UNICEF NYHQ and the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office, used Systems Thinking approach to support the development of a systems map addressing overweight and obesity within North Macedonia.  

To address overweight and obesity, UNICEF is supporting governments across the ECA region to introduce and strengthen key policies and legislation including taxes on sugary drinks, controls on the marketing of unhealthy food and drink, front-of-pack nutrition labelling on packaged foods and school-based policies related to provision of healthy meals. To support governments in developing comprehensive policies for school-age children, UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia proposes to use the Nutrition Environment Assessment Tool (NEAT-s) for schools to assess school nutrition policies, interventions, and programmes to generate evidence for government to inform their policy and for monitoring purposes. 

To support country level assessments within countries, UNICEF ECA Regional Office has contracted an academic institution that shall be the overarching technical lead and coordinator for the school nutrition environment assessment. The contracted institution will design a detailed methodology for the school nutrition assessment and use the tool developed by UNICEF East Asia Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO) and will work with individual countries to contextualize and adapt the tool. The in-country consultant/s shall be trained by the ECAR contracted institution, and they will be supported to administer the school environment assessment tool in the country.

To implement this task, UNICEF North Macedonia seeks to contract two Junior National consultants that should work in close collaboration with Health and Nutrition Officer and complete the following tasks:

Junior consultants will:

i. Support senior consultant in the adaptation of the NEAT-s 

Led by the international institutional contractor and senior national consultant, participate in the consultations with key stakeholders in adaptation of the NEAT-s to the country context.

ii. Support senior consultant in literature review and ethical approval 

Led by senior consultant and in collaboration with UNICEF country office, Ministry of Health, and Ministry of Education and Science, support the review a recent UNICEF analysis on introduction of the European Child Guarantee in the country, which contains some insights on the school food environments and introduction of nutritious food in schools. The analysis was conducted on the basis of survey of 60 municipalities, survey of parents and survey of school staff. The consultant/s will support the review of the relevant legal framework on foods in schools and school food environments. Based on the existing data the consultant will support the lead consultant to propose additional data points that may need to be collected, and will propose the modalities to collect such data (e.g. interviews, survey, administrative data collection, etc.) Support in preparation of documents relevant for ethics approval processes within country and all other processes required to recruit schools. 

iii. Participate in capacity development on NEAT-s and data collection 

Participate in capacity building and training on use of the NEAT-s tool that will be provided by the lead Institution contracted by ECARO. In-country consultants are expected to participate in training and capacity development activities to learn how to use the tool, how to conduct the data collection and to clean and analyze data. Support senior consultant to carry out the data collection phase of the assignment.  

iv. Support senior consultant in data analysis and report writing. 

Led by the ECARO contracted institution and senior consultant, support writing of the country specific report and production of policy briefs and data visualization. 

v. Support organisation of the stakeholder consultation workshop 

Support senior consultant in arranging and facilitation of stakeholder consultation workshop to present the findings of the school nutrition environment assessment (domains 1 and 2 mentioned above) and discuss key policy recommendations. Prepare minutes of the consultation process and incorporate the feedback in the final version of the report. 

vi. Final report  

Support senior consultant in writing the final report that will cover the process undertaken to complete the assessment including any lessons learned, recommendations and feedback from the stakeholder consultations for how to scale up the use the NEAT-s in the country and how to advocate for the agreed policy recommendations.  

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

– Degree in health, public health or nutrition, education, social sciences, or related fields. Master’s degree is an asset.
– At least 8 years work experience working at an advanced level in public health/nutrition policy and/or education, including research and policy development.  
– Prior experience conducting school-based research or assessments 
– Extensive knowledge of school nutrition environments. 
– Knowledge of the nutrition challenges and nutrition policy environment in North Macedonia. 
– Fluent in Macedonian and English and excellent writing skills.  Knowledge of Albanian language is an asset.   

How to apply: 

To apply please upload your most recent Motivation letter, most recent CV and submit the financial proposal for this assignment. The financial proposal should indicate gross daily fee in Macedonian denars.

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 committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. At UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility jobs-near-me.org UNICEF.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

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.