Current vacancies

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, Results 

How can you make a difference? 

To take these commitments forward, a coordinated approach to address childhood overweight and obesity prevention across all Gulf countries is proposed by UNICEF and WHO, bringing together partners from the public, private, community sectors and government to agree on strategic priorities to be implemented across the sub-region. The two-day partnership meeting in February 2025 (dates TBC) is a step towards implementing this approach. The meeting dialogue will build on the ongoing work to address the rising overweight and obesity in each of the Gulf countries, discuss identified gaps and provide recommendations on priority actions to accelerate interventions and commitments from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries to prevent childhood overweight and obesity.

advocacy purposes  to raise awareness about the prevalence of overweight and obesity, identification of Output 3:  Write one overarching report (max 15 pages) for all of the Gulf countries, for policy and advocacy purposes  to raise awareness about the prevalence of overweight and obesity, identification of good practices already being implemented in the country to address childhood overweight and obesity, and to provide suggested priorities and evidence-based actions to address the issue.  The policy brief will be used ahead of the partnership meeting in February 2025.  Following discussions at the meeting, the brief will be revised after the meeting (linked to output 5).

Output 4: Support the development, planning and delivery of the two-day meeting in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in February 2025 (dates TBC), including recording the main discussions and outcomes of the meeting.

Output 5: Update the policy brief based on discussions during the two-day meeting and the outputs from the meeting. Produce a summary report of the key discussion points and actions from the two-day meeting.

The consultant will report to Kate Heneghan, Nutrition Specialist in the Middle East and North Africa Regional Office for all outputs.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Nutrition, Global/Public Health, Nutrition Epidemiology, Health Economics, Health/Nutrition Research, Health/Nutrition Policy.   
  *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree. 

• At least 5 years of professional work experience in child nutrition specifically on the prevention of childhood obesity Proven skills in knowledge management including quantitative and qualitative data analysis, research, literature reviews, and writing. Knowledge of UNICEF tools and systems for the prevention of childhood overweight and obesity highly preferred.

  • Excellent command in written and spoken English is required. Knowledge of Arabic is considered as an asset.
  Excellent command in written and spoken English is required. Knowledge of Arabic is considered as an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset. 

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 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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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:  

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.