Current vacancies

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture., coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, Strength 

Despite economic development over recent decades, Indonesia continues to face significant challenges related to malnutrition, particularly among school-aged children, children under 5 years old and pregnant women. The country is experiencing the “triple burden” of malnutrition—undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and rising overweight and obesity rates—affecting vulnerable populations in both rural and urban areas. These issues are more acute in Papua Provinces, where food insecurity, poor dietary diversity, limited access to health services, and poverty persist as structural barriers to adequate nutrition.

According to the National Nutrition Survey in 2023, over one-fourth of children under five in Papua are stunted, one in eight suffer from wasting, and about 5% are overweight or obese. Among children aged 5–12 years, more than 20% are short for their age, nearly 10% are underweight, and close to 20% face overweight or obesity. In Papua, many children go to school without eating breakfast, reducing cognitive performance and school attendance. Meanwhile, dietary intake is heavily reliant on carbohydrate-rich but nutrient-poor staples, with limited consumption of animal-source foods, fruits, and vegetables.

Evidence shows that school feeding programs and maternal supplementation initiatives can significantly improve nutrition outcomes, school performance, and birth outcomes. Providing balanced meals and micronutrient supplements can address key deficiencies such as iron, vitamin A, and folate. Recognizing these benefits, the Government of Indonesia, through Presidential Regulation No. 72 of 2021 on Stunting Reduction, has prioritized integrated nutrition interventions for women and children. The government has pledged to provide free nutritious meals to pregnant women, children under five and school children as part of its efforts to reduce stunting and improve human capital. The implementation of the programme in Papua province provides a unique opportunity to design an effective, context-specific implementation model for Papua.

To support the success of this initiative in remote and underserved areas, UNICEF Papua Field Office and the government aim to generate evidence and support the rollout of the Integrated Free Nutritious Meal in selected districts of Papua provinces. The programme will target school-aged children (primary to secondary level), children under 5 years old and pregnant women, especially in food-insecure districts, through the provision of free nutritious meals, and integrated nutrition services, including IFA supplementation, nutrition education, and community-based support. Given the complexity and multisectoral nature of this effort, a dedicated national consultant is needed to provide technical assistance in planning, coordination, implementation, monitoring, and documentation of the programme.

How can you make a difference? 

The consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:
1. Technical Support for Program Design and Modeling
a. Provide technical inputs to UNICEF and the government for the contextualized design of the integrated free nutritious meal and supplementation programme in collaboration with the Provincial and District Health, Education, planning agency, religious affairs offices and the representative of the National Nutrition Agency for Papua province.
b. Collect data from the selected districts to design and plan the programme and ensure the alignment with the local situation, culture and local policies
c. Support the modeling of the programme in selected districts (Jayapura and Biak) including coordination with schools, health facilities, SPPG (kitchens), community actors and government counterparts.

2. Support Policy and Guideline Development
a. Assist the government in drafting local technical guidelines, SOPs, and monitoring tools aligned with national policies on the free nutritious meal, maternal nutrition, and food supplementation programmes.
b. Support the government, UNICEF and its partners in piloting and implementing technical guidelines, SOPs and tools for programme implementation
c. Provide inputs to local policy dialogues to strengthen government ownership and budget allocation.

3. Capacity Building and Training
a. Support the capacity building activities for health workers, school staff, community health volunteers (cadres), and food service providers.
b. Facilitate coordination meetings and on-the-job training sessions at district and sub-district levels, including the coordination with the regional center of excellence on the free nutritious meal programme
c. Support the implementing partners and regional centre of excellence in facilitating capacity building activities and documenting lessons learned from the capacity building

4. Monitoring and Documentation
a. Assist in the development and implementation of a simple monitoring system (including digital tools if feasible) to track meal distribution, and program coverage.
b. Support real-time documentation of lessons learned, bottlenecks, and community feedback to inform scale-up strategies.

5. Community Engagement and Communication for Behavior Change
a. Coordinate with local CSOs, religious leaders, parent-teacher associations, and youth groups to mobilize community support and promote key nutrition behaviors.
b. Support the development and localization of BCC materials in appropriate languages and formats.

6. Knowledge Management
a. Contribute to progress reports, briefs, human interest stories, and documentation of best practices for internal and external sharing.
b. Support cross-provincial/district learning and exchange where relevant.

Please refer to the Term of Reference attached for the detailed tasks and deliverables.

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

• Master’s degree in Public Health, Nutrition, Social Policy, or related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in program implementation in nutrition, maternal and child health, or food systems, preferably in eastern Indonesia.
• Strong understanding of health and education service delivery mechanisms in Papua.
• Experience working with multi-sectoral government programs, ideally in school feeding or UKS/M
• Proven skills in training, community engagement, and behavior change communication.
• Excellent analytical, coordination, and report writing skills.
• Fluency in Bahasa Indonesia; working knowledge of English is preferred

(* A first level university degree (Bachelor's) in a relevant technical field (as identified above), in conjunction with seven (7) years of relevant work experience may be considered in lieu of an advanced university degree

 TOR Nutrition Conslt Free Nutritious Meal Biak Papua for TMS.pdf

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

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.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:  

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. 

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.