Technical support on Assessment of School Nutrition Policies, Interventions and Programmes, and Marketing of Unhealthy Food to Children in Uzbekistan

UNICEF Global

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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, quality food!

Despite significant progress over the past decade, including a reduction in stunting, wasting and overweight, Uzbekistan continues to face substantial nutrition-related challenges, particularly among school-aged children. Adolescent girls remain particularly vulnerable, facing a triple burden of malnutrition, with 16.5% affected by anaemia and many others either underweight or overweight, posing long-term risks to their reproductive health and future generations.
 
While the school feeding program has been successfully piloted in the Republic of Karakalpakstan and the Khorezm region, setbacks in the broader implementation of the school meal initiative for primary school children highlight systemic gaps in ensuring adequate nutrition. UNICEF is committed to addressing malnutrition, including overweight and obesity, throughout the life cycle. For school-age children, UNICEF has set five programming areas that together represent a comprehensive approach to improving nutrition both in and out of school:
 
Nutritious foods, in schools and beyond
  1. Healthy food environments, in schools and beyond
  2. Micronutrient supplementation and deworming
  3. Nutrition education in school curricula
  4. Healthy dietary practices for school-age children and adolescents.
To support governments in developing comprehensive policies for school-age children, UNICEF 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 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. The Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education in Uzbekistan has requested specific support from UNICEF to assess the policy and programmes related to the food environment in and around schools.
 
To support country level assessment, UNICEF is seeking qualified expert to assess school nutrition policies, interventions, and programmes in a selected number of schools across the country; provide technical support to the Ministry of Health and or Ministry of Education in Uzbekistan for the drafting of school food policy briefs and advocacy materials for improving the school food environment, and provide actionable recommendations to improve School feeding/school food environment.
 
Duration of Assignment: 10 Mar – 15 Dec 2025
 
Work Assignments Overview – Deliverables and means of verifications – Timeline
  • Adaptation of NEAT-s to the country context – Adapted and translated NEAT-s tool and supporting literature – Mar-Apr – 30 days
  • School selection and ethics approval – Ethical approval – May – 20 days
  • Capacity development and training on use of NEAT-s tool – Trainings coordinated and conducted – June – 10 days
  • Data collection – Dataset of data collected from selected schools – June-Sep – 40 days
  • Data analysis and report writing – Data analysed, discussed with national stakeholders/Policy brief and data visualization developed/Draft assessment report – Oct – 20 days
  • Stakeholder consultation workshop – Stakeholder consultation workshop conducted – Nov – 5 days
  • Final report – Final report developed and submitted – Dec – 10 days
TOTAL: 135 days
 
Final rate shall follow the “best value for money” principle, i.e., achieving the desired outcome at the lowest possible fee. Consultants will be asked to stipulate all-inclusive fees, including lump sum travel and subsistence costs, as applicable.
 
Please submit a professional fee (in USD) based on 135 working days to undertake this assignment, without travel fees as this will be reimbursed as and when they take place.
Payment of professional fees is made against approved deliverables and monthly workplans. Monthly payments will be made upon submission of a monthly report and invoice. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

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

  • An advanced university degree University degree in Health/Public Health;
  • At least 10 years work experience working at an advanced level in public health/nutrition policy including research and policy development;
  • Prior experience conducting school-based research or assessments;
  • Extensive knowledge of school nutrition environments;
  • Knowledge of the in-country nutrition challenges and nutrition policy environment;
  • Fluent in Uzbek, Russian, and English;
  • Strong facilitation and coordination abilities.

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. 

Advertised: 14 Feb 2025 West Asia Standard Time
Deadline: 28 Feb 2025 West Asia Standard Time

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