Current vacancies

Consultancy Title: Wasting Cascade Guideline Writer Consultant

Section/Division/Duty Station: Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring (DAPM), NYHQ

Duration: March 15, 2025 to August 31, 2025

Home/ Office Based: Home-based/REMOTE

About UNICEF 

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For over 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

The purpose of the contract is to support the D&A nutrition team with the development and writing of global guidance on Monitoring the Child Wasting Cascade with appropriate technical detail to facilitate the standardized and regular monitoring of child wasting programming.  

The guide on monitoring the wasting cascade will include indicators, definitions, and the recommended data sources and analyses to follow the child population through the steps of prevention, screening and treatment of child wasting.  The guidance will include methods for assessment of the target populations, calculation of locally contextualized estimates of annual burden of acute malnutrition and guidance on the monitoring of screening, referrals, program admissions, exits and relapses, and coverage estimates. The global guidance intends to provide recommendations on monitoring of wasting to support programming on child wasting for all contexts and to support the global monitoring of wasting.

This work will address outstanding monitoring issues related to the use of non-harmonized indicators for the regular and annual reporting of child wasting programming.  The clarifications on a comprehensive set of indicators needed to follow children through prevention services, screening, treatment and potential relapse or reoccurrence will support countries to strengthen monitoring and be the main reference for standardized indicators for programmes to address child wasting.  The recommended indicators and data collection methods will improve the estimation and global tracking of numbers of children suffering from wasting and severe wasting. 

1. Develop Draft Outline of Global Guidance

Review all relevant background work on the Child Wasting Cascade conducted (basic materials will be shared and scope to be discussed with UNICEF team).

Create a draft outline that aligns with the structure and approach of UN technical guidelines used for public health

Compile definitions of monitoring indicators from all available sources for the Child Wasting Cascade currently or previously used.  

The consultant will collect feedback from regular technical meetings and update draft outline following the guidance from Program Group and Data & Analytics UNICEF colleagues. 

2. Produce first draft of the global guidance on Monitoring the Child Wasting Cascade

Draft first draft of the global guidance for monitoring the prevention, screening and treatment of child wasting in a simple, direct and implementation friendly language.

This draft should include a core set of proposed indicators and rationale, with clear numerators and denominators and proposed data sources.

Collect and integrate the findings from reports on pilot testing of specific aspects of the child wasting cascade. The piloting activities will be coordinated by other counterparts 

The consultant will collect feedback from regular technical meetings and update the first draft of global guidance following the guidance from Program Group and Data & Analytics UNICEF colleagues. 

3. Produce second draft of the global guidance on Monitoring the Child Wasting Cascade

Collate expert inputs from a round of reviews from monitoring and implementation experts to revise the draft guidance document

The round of reviews will be conducted with:

• Country Counterparts

• NGO and other technical partners

• United Nations Agencies

Following collection of feedback, refine the indicators and clarify and/or improve the methods for the collection of the monitoring indicators.

The consultant will collect feedback from regular technical meetings and update the second draft of global guidance following the guidance from Program Group and Data & Analytics UNICEF colleagues. 

4. Produce final draft of the global guidance on Monitoring the Child Wasting Cascade

Consultant will participate in coordination meetings and

Address final points in review of final draft of global guidance from Program Group and Data & Analytics UNICEF colleagues. 

Work Assignments Overview (Task / Milestone)

Deliverables/Outputs Delivery deadline

- Analyse prior work on the Wasting Cascade and key references, including WHO guidelines, reports, and standards

Create a preliminary structure for the global guidance document as Draft Outline  (5 days).

Draft Outline of the global guidance for the Monitoring the Child Wasting Cascade

15 April 2025

- Collate the inputs from round of feedback generated from pilot testing. Develop first draft of the global guidance for the Monitoring the Child Wasting Cascade (25 days).

First draft of the global guidance for the Monitoring the Child Wasting Cascade

31 May 2025

- Collate the inputs from technical reviews. 

Develop a second draft of the global guidance for the Monitoring the Child Wasting Cascade  

(10 days).

Second draft of the global guidance for the Monitoring the Child Wasting Cascade

31 July 2025

- Complete final draft of global guidance for the Monitoring the Child Wasting Cascade 

(10 days).

Final draft of global guidance for the Monitoring the Child Wasting Cascade

31 August 2025

Advance University degree (Masters or PhD) in public health, global health, epidemiology, or a related field. 

Work experience: 

- A minimum of 5 years of experience working in public health program monitoring, ideally with experience in wasting programming. 

- Solid experience and expertise in monitoring and measurement, and familiarity with health management information systems and administrative systems.

- Excellent verbal and written communication skills to present concepts clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.

- Demonstrated experience in drafting, editing and formatting high-quality technical documents, such as guidelines or and policy briefs.  Previous experience in developing monitoring guidance in a public health field is an asset.

- Experience in collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, policymakers, researchers, and other stakeholders to integrate diverse perspectives.

- Attention to detail and commitment to producing high-quality work. 

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and 

- Upload copy of academic credentials 

- Financial proposal that will include/ reflect :

o the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.

o travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR. 

o Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.

o Indicate your availability 

- Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.

- At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.

- Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. 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. 

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.  

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

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 | 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.

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.