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 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 fordeveloping 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.

Consultancy Title: Consultant, Senior Technical Expert on Children’s Environmental Health

Division/Duty Station: CEED, PG, NYHQ   

Duration: 1 October 2025 – 30 September 2026

Home/ Office Based: Remote

 

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:

The purpose of the consultancy is to develop high-quality technical content on children’s environmental health and support capacity development and CEH global leadership.

Scope of Work:

The last three decades have witnessed huge progress in the reduction of poverty-related environmental risks to children’s health. With the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals, the global community made a promise to all children: to safeguard the gains made on child survival and to ensure that every child has the chance to thrive and fulfil their potential. However, climate change and environmental degradation are seriously jeopardizing these precious gains and our promise to the world’s children.

The UNICEF Strategic Plan has elevated action on climate change and environmental degradation as an organizational priority, to be integrated throughout UNICEF programmes. To concretize this, UNICEF HQ is implementing its global Healthy Environments for Healthy Children (HEHC) programme framework in over 30 countries with the ambition to grow the programme to 50 countries by 2030. To mobilize collective action, UNICEF and partners have founded Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative to protect child health and development from the impact of climate change and environmental degradation.

To support these efforts, UNICEF requires a senior expert in Children's Environmental Health to support  high-level content development, strengthen technical collaboration, and expand capacity development initiatives for a global audience.

This is a 12 month consultancy and the consultant will be responsible for spearheading the development and quality assurance of a suite of technical knowledge products. This includes  the conceptualization of an advanced lecture series on Children's Environmental Health (CEH) for medical professionals, creating comprehensive global guidance for healthy environments where children live, learn, and play, and authoring and/or quality assuring a series of evidence-based policy briefs on high-priority topics. A key function of this role will be to serve as a primary technical reviewer for UNICEF's CEH publications, providing rigorous quality assurance for technical reports, country-level analyses, and other global guidance documents to ensure they are evidence-based and of the highest standard.

Furthermore, the consultant will play a critical role in expanding UNICEF's technical collaboration and capacity development efforts. This involves support to the identification of key technical partners, including academic institutions, WHO CEH collaborating centers, and professional networks to enhance evidence generation and knowledge sharing. The role will also focus on strengthening the capacity of stakeholders by mapping existing development programs in LMICs, serving as a key resource person for a global webinar series, engaging leading experts to create impactful videos for policymakers, and providing on-demand technical review and strategic advice for country-level documents and programme strategies to ensure alignment with global best practices.

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Work Assignment Overview/Deliverables and Outputs/Delivery deadline

 1) Content development and quality assurance:

• Support the conceptualization and development of an advanced lecture series on CEH tailored for medical professionals, including pediatricians, building upon existing introductory materials.
• Develop comprehensive global guidance on healthy environments for children where they live, learn, and play (e.g., day care centers, schools, playgrounds, homes, maternity wards, NICUs) connected to existing sectoral guidance.
• Author and/or quality assure a series of evidence-based policy briefs on high-priority CEH topics
• Serve as a primary technical reviewer for UNICEF's CEH publications, providing rigorous quality assurance for technical reports, country-level analyses, and policy briefs.
• Provide expert contributions to the development and refinement of other global guidance documents as required

- An advanced lecture series with at least 10 15–20-minute online lectures for doctors, including pediatricians

-  At least three CEH guidance for Health Care Facilities, Schools and day care centers, Playgrounds, linked to sectoral guidance

-  Develop at least 4 policy briefs 

30 September 2026

2) Technical collaboration and partnerships:

• Identify, engage, and build strategic partnerships with key CEH technical partners, academic institutions, and professional networks (IPA, ICN)  to enhance collaboration on evidence generation and knowledge sharing.
• Conduct a comprehensive mapping of existing capacity development programmes and resources available for public health and environment ministry staff in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).

- At least 2 professional associations actively disseminate CEH learning resources

- At least 10 technical partners join CEH collaborative

-  Guidance for UNICEF offices on available capacity development programmes available

30 September 2026

3) Capacity Development:

• Serve as a resource person on a global webinar series on Children's Environmental Health, and contribute to securing high-profile speakers
• Identify and engage leading global experts to create a series of short, impactful videos on key CEH topics specifically targeted at policymakers.
• Provide on-demand technical review and strategic advice for country-level documents and programme strategies to ensure alignment with global best practices 

- At least 10 new expert videos for policy makers on CEH topics

-  Contribute as resource person to at least 5 global webinars

30 September 2026

Qualifications

Education: Master’s or PhD or a medical degree (MD) in public health, environmental health, pediatrics, epidemiology, environmental science, or a related field

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required *: 

• A minimum of 15 years of professional experience in the field of children’s environmental health, with a strong focus on research, policy, and programme implementation.
• Demonstrated experience in developing high-quality technical content, such as training curricula, published articles, guidance documents, and policy briefs (a portfolio of work may be requested).
• Proven track record of working with international organizations, academic institutions, and government bodies
• An established network of contacts within the global CEH community is highly desirable.
• Experience working on issues relevant to Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).
• Previous experience of working with UNICEF and the UN is desirable. 
• Exceptional writing, editing, and analytical skills in English.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to engage effectively with a wide range of partners and stakeholders.
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to manage multiple complex tasks to meet deadlines.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a remote team

Work arrangements:

This is a remote-based consultancy. The consultant is expected to be available for regular virtual meetings, potentially across different time zones. No travel is anticipated for this role. The consultant must have their own equipment and a reliable internet connection.

Requirements:

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and

- Upload copy of academic credentials

- Financial proposal that will include/ reflect :

• • the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
  • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • 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 core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at: Here

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:  

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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.