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 fulfilling 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 better future

UNICEF works to ensure the rights of all children in the East Asia and Pacific Region.  This means the rights of every child living in this country, irrespective of their nationality, gender, religion or ethnicity, to:

• survival – to basic healthcare, peace and security;
• development – to a good education, a loving home and adequate nutrition;
• protection – from abuse, neglect, trafficking, child labour and other forms of exploitation; and
• participation – to express opinions, be listened to and take part in making any decisions that affect them

How can you make a difference?

The prevalence of wasting and stunting in young infants causes permanent damage to brain cell development during this critical growth period in a child’s life. Children, who are wasted or stunted at any point under 6 months of age are at risk of reduced cognitive function, lower IQ scores and poorer educational attainment than children who were never malnourished. Stunting has long-term effects on individuals and societies, including poor cognition and educational performance, low adult wages, lost productivity and, when accompanied by excessive weight gain later in childhood, an increased risk of nutrition-related chronic diseases in adult life[1].

Adequate nutrition is one of the five components of the Nurturing Care Framework for Early Childhood Development[2], the evidence-based framework by WHO, UNICEF, and the World Bank Group that sets the pathway for children to reach their full potential. Good nutrition provides the fuel for babies’ physical and brain development. Well-nourished children are better able to grow, learn, play and participate in their communities.

In Thailand, the nutritional status of children under 5 years is a concern as the country faces the “Triple Burden of Malnutrition”[3]. While the prevalence of overweight among children is rising fast, the rate of undernutrition is stagnant. Data from MICS over the past 10+ years that the nutritional status of children is worsening in Thailand.

Nutrition is reflected in the Country Programme 2022-2026 for ECD, especially Output 1 - “By 2026, national and sub-national institutions have increased capacity to engage parents and provide quality, inclusive and integrated ECD services and affordable quality childcare for children (aged 0-3 years).”; and contributes to the Outcome for the ECD programme - “By 2026, more children in Thailand (aged 0-6 years), especially the most disadvantaged, are developmentally on track and ready to start school.”

In this context, UNICEF Thailand is seeking a national consultant to provide support to the implementation of the activities related to nutrition within the ECD programme, as well as to support other programmes as required.

 

Work assignment and deliverables:

The consultant will focus on providing technical and operational support to the projects by the government, academic, and/or NGO partners related to nutrition for children under 5. Particularly, the nutrition consultant will work with the Ministry of Public Health and other partners on programmes related to a) malnutrition challenges for children under five in struggling regions such as the Southern Border provinces; b) communication and outreach to support parents to provide optimal nutrition as part of nurturing care.

The nutrition consultant is also expected to work closely with colleagues across sectors and contribute to related work to improve health and nutrition of all children in Thailand, including on school nutrition with the Education section, nutrition sensitive social protection with the Social Policy Section, and on nutrition in emergency with the Emergency team.

The consultant will perform the following assignments.

Assignment 1: Provide technical support and monitoring for UNICEF’s supported activities conducted by Bureau of Nutrition.

The ECD programme is supporting the Bureau of Nutrition, Department of Health, on a project to develop guidance and examples of how early childhood development centers and schools can prepare school lunches with appropriate nutritional values and appealing to children.

The tasks under this assignment include:

1. Provide technical support to the development of the resources, especially ensuring that the feedback and input from the intended users are incorporated.

2. Conduct field visits to monitor the pre-testing of the draft resources

3. Support the coordination between Bureau of Nutrition, Department of Local Administration and Office of Office of Basic Education Commission to ensure involvement of the intended users at the ECD centers, and the disseminate the resources to the ECD centers and schools.

4. Work with the Bureau of Nutrition and UNICEF’s Supply team on the production and dissemination of the resources.

5. Develop 1 human interest story of health workers and beneficiaries that benefit from the project.

Expected deliverable:

•  Feedback on the draft resource developed by the BONU

•  Field monitoring report

•  1 report on dissemination activities by BONU and DLA

•  1 human interest story (Thai and English)

Delivery Schedule: 25 days

 

Assignment 2: Provide technical support to improve nutrition status of young children in the Southern Border Provinces (SBP), including developing the Nutrition Action Plan and strengthening the capacity of teachers and cooks in providing school lunch.

The MICS 2022 survey confirmed that undernutrition among young children in the SBPs remains high, and it has not been improving. After the rapid nutrition landscape analysis, it is recommended that UNICEF should advocate for and support the development of a strategic plan to address undernutrition in the SBPs. While there have been recent efforts to develop food systems policy, a clear strategic plan for combatting undernutrition is still lacking. UNICEF and the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center have initially agreed to work together to consolidate the effort to strengthen the implementation of nutrition programmes in the SBP.

The tasks under this assignment include:

1. Work closely with the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Center to design the process for developing the Nutrition Action Plan for the SBP.

2. Together with the international nutrition consultant, provide technical support on the development of the Nutrition Action Plan for the SBP

3. Engage with SBPAC and other stakeholders in organizing the training on nutrition for teachers and cooks in ECD centers and schools. Provide technical support to integrate the resources on school meals to address stunting, wasting, and obesity by the Bureau of Nutrition in the training.

4. Monitor the UNICEF-supported activities and support the coordination between ECD team and SPBAC.

5. Develop 1 human interest story on improving the quality of nutrition at ECD centers/ schools in the SBP.

Expected deliverable:

•  Draft process for developing the Nutrition Action Plan for the SBP

•  Draft Nutrition Action Plan

•  Report on training of teachers and cooks on nutrition

•  1 human interest story (Thai and English)

Delivery Schedule: 30 days

 

Assignment 3: Provide technical support to the ECD/EDU team to ensure that nutrition is well-analysed in the process of Country Programme Development, as well as other tasks needed.

The tasks under this assignment include:

1. Support the evidence synthesis on nutrition-related dimensions as needed.

2. Translate the Policy brief on Breastfeeding

3. Work with the Parenting consultant to provide support on nutrition information to parents

4. Provide support to Bureau of Health Promotion on UNICEF’s contribution to the ASEAN breastfeeding conference

5. Work with the Education officer (ECE) on strengthen nutrition in ECD center

Expected deliverable:

•  Evidence synthesis on nutrition-related dimensions (as needed)

•  Translation of Policy brief on breastfeeding

Delivery Schedule: 30 days

 

Assignment 4: Support the rapid assessment of nutrition in school.

The consultant will be providing support to the international Nutrition Consultant and the Education

section of UNICEF Thailand in developing the assessment of nutrition in school. The tasks under this

assignment include:

1. Support the desk review of policies, plans, data, and programmes framing/focused on school nutrition environment in Thailand, and the review of the related research on the school lunch programme in Thailand

2. Support the coordination, translate the tools, and conduct the key informant interviews with stakeholders

3. Contribute to the development of the recommendations for the Ministry of Education and UNICEF programme engagement

4. Translate the rapid assessment and recommendation into Thai for sharing with partners.

 

Expected deliverable:

• Inputs from desk review and Thai-language researches to contribute to the rapid assessment of school nutrition environment

• Key informants interviews conducted, and key points translated

• Translation of the rapid assessment and recommendations

Delivery Schedule: 30 September 2025 (30 days)

 

Assignment 5: Provide technical support on the implementation of Nutrition in Emergency Guidelines.

UNICEF is developing the Nutrition in Emergency Guideline to address the gaps in nutrition among

the Thai-Myanmar border. The tasks under this assignment include:

1. support dissemination of the Nutrition in Emergency guidelines to UNICEF partners and other actors providing nutritional support along the Thai-Myanmar border.

2. Work with the International Nutrition consultant to conduct training on the Nutrition in Emergency guidelines to UNICEF partners

Expected deliverable:

• Training of UNICEF partners

Delivery Schedule: 10 days

 

Assignment 6: Provide technical support on nutrition sensitive social protection.

The tasks under this assignment include:

1. Work with the Social Policy section to explore the possibility of introducing a nutrition sensitive social protection scheme in the Southern Border Provinces.

Expected deliverable:

• Technical support provided.

Delivery Schedule: 5 days

 

Duration of Contract:   June – December 2025 (130 working days)

 

Duty Travel: The consultant will work from their own premises, with weekly online meetings with the contract supervisor to discuss the progress of the assignment and will be required to work at the UNICEF office one day per week. Additionally, 6 to 8 domestic trips will be required.

 

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

Qualifications or specialized knowledge/ experience required

• Advanced degree in health, nutrition, early childhood development, or related field

• More than 5 years of working experience related to nutrition, health, early childhood development, child development in Thailand  

• Good understanding of ECD, and issues affecting maternal and child health and nutrition and developmental issues.

• Familiarity with Thai public health and government system, and maternal and child health and nutrition programme in Thailand.  

• Experience in programme/project management and understanding of result-based management is an asset.  

• Excellent oral and written communications in English and Thai is required.

 

Interested candidates are requested to submit CV, full contact information of minimum 3 references, availability, technical proposal, and financial proposal by 2 June 2025

 

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 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. Consultants 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.