Long Term National Individual Consultancy for the Young and Child Feeding Nutrition with Early Childhood Development, Ankara, Turkiye

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For every child, inclusivity

 On 6th February 2023, a 7.7 magnitude earthquake on Richter Scale occurred in Pazarcik District of Kahramanmaras Province (south-eastern Türkiye affecting 10 provinces (Kahramanmaraş, Hatay, Gaziantep, Kilis, Osmaniye, Malatya, Adıyaman, Diyarbakır, Şanlıurfa, Adana). Approximately 15.2 million people suffered (13.5 million Turkish citizens, 1.7 million registered refugees), including 4.6 million children, of whom 811,000 are refugees. An eleventh province, Elazığ, has also been affected. This is Türkiye’s most powerful earthquake recorded since 1939.

Around 2.4 million people live in formal sites and informal settlements in earthquake affected provinces (1.6 million people in informal settlements and nearly 800,000 in formal sites including around 218,000 people in container cities). There are also nearly 118,000 people living in public facilities in other provinces. The earthquake has drastically affected the availability of essential services, including health and nutrition related services.

Safe and appropriate nutrition is one of the critical aspects of child growth and development. During emergencies, the availability of appropriate and safe nutritional options for infants and young children is disrupted, which results in immediate and long-term consequences for child survival, health, and wellbeing. It is essential to protect and support the infant and young children feeding in emergencies, from breastfeeding to complementary feeding.

Within the earthquake response, UNICEF initiated a capacity building program for Infant Young Child Feeding (IYCF). Over 300 frontline workers were trained to support parents with nutrition counseling sessions.

Mother Baby Corners (MBC), established in cooperation with local NGOs, created a new platform for the provision of nurturing care support to mothers and young children residing in the earthquake-affected areas. Within the IYCF programme, near 100,000 mothers were reached with nutrition knowledge through counselling at MBC premises, a 6-month home visiting programme and counselling at the PHC level, and over 70,000 parents/caregivers benefitted from parenting programmes within EQ response.

UNICEF’s IYCF programme aims to strengthen capacity of health, ECD and education professionals, as well as outreach workers for provision of effective nutrition counselling of parents/caregivers and children, including the most vulnerable ones. The IYCF programme safeguards child nutrition in the EQ area and promotes healthy growth and development for children affected by the earthquake. It is important to ensure the continuation of UNICEF’s IYCF programme in the EQ area while enhancing and improving nutrition activities.

Good nutrition starts from maternal nutrition before and during pregnancy. Early initiation of breastfeeding after birth, exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, and continued breastfeeding with appropriate and responsive complementary feeding after 6 months are optimal, with micronutrient supplementation for the mother and child as needed. Dietary practices in early childhood include responsive feeding and stimulation. Age-appropriate, nutrient-rich, safe, and affordable foods should be available and accessible for children of all ages, with the provision of quality nutrition services.

The vision of the UNICEF Nutrition Strategy 2020–2030 highlights the design and implementation of rights-based, equity-focused, gender-responsive, context-specific, evidence-informed, and systems-centred nutrition programmes. UNICEF aims to promote maternal and child nutrition and combat all forms of malnutrition (undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and obesity). This includes empowering children and their parents in healthy nutrition and ensuring access for all children to high-quality essential primary healthcare and nutrition services. 

How can you make a difference? 

The overall objective of this consultancy is to provide technical support in in mapping existing nutrition services in the EQ area to assess the needs, providing IYCF training and supervision sessions for UNICEF partners, providing technical expertise on flour fortification, preparing, relevant reports, development and adaptation of information materials in mother and child nutrition.

The consultancy requires strong technical expertise and an understanding of IYCF and nutrition in regular programming and in emergencies. The consultant will work to conduct:

1. Supporting the UNICEF’s ongoing IYCF programme in the EQ area by updating the IYCF package and delivering training and supervision sessions for municipality workers, Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (SGDD-ASAM), Development Foundation of Türkiye (TKV) and SENED Organization.
2. Analysis, assessment, and mapping of the nutrition-related needs and available services in EQ area (Adıyaman, Gaziantep, Kilis, Hatay, Malatya, Diyarbakır, Adana, Osmaniye, Kahramanmaraş, Şanlıurfa)
3. Supporting the UNICEF’s nutrition advocacy activities for protecting breastfeeding and preventing childhood obesity
4. Supporting UNICEF nutrition activities by developing nutrition-related document/information materials for strengthening the capacity of children, parents, and teachers in healthy nutrition
5. Provide technical expertise in flour fortification by conducting a desk review of regulatory base and enabling environment for introduction of flour fortification, compile and share documentation on best practices in introduction of flour fortification worldwide.

Deliverables and Tasks:

The local individual institutional consultancy shall work under the guidance of the UNICEF Health Officer. The contract will be effective from the date of signing until successful submission of the deliverables, which are estimated to require a total of 112 working days covering a period of 14 months.

*All deliverables as per the scope of work must be satisfactorily completed and accepted by UNICEF TCO to facilitate the payment. Delivery estimated working days are tentative.

Deliverables are contingent upon approval by the supervisor.  

The deliverables will be in Turkish. The consultant will be responsible for meeting the set deadlines as described above and produce high quality deliverables. UNICEF will measure the consultant’s performance and quality of deliverables in accordance with UNICEF’s regulations. Additionally, the consultant will participate in regular weekly meetings with UNICEF and Ankara Municipality representatives when required.

Duty Station: 

The assignment will be home-based, with meetings in Ankara and travels to the earthquake affected areas and other provinces as necessary. The consultant will work in close coordination with the UNICEF ECD Team and other programme teams, as required.

Supervisor: 

Health Officer, UNICEF Türkiye Country Office

Estimated Duration and Cost of Consultancy: 

Duration: The contract will be effective from the date of signing until the successful submission of the deliverables, which are estimated to require a total of 112 working days which will be planned during the initial working days. The consultancy is spread within 14 months.

Estimated Cost of Consultancy: Applicants shall present a detailed financial proposal that elaborates on daily costs based on the above-mentioned programme and deliverables, including the total sum demanded. All costs, including travel, accommodation, administrative tools, communications, etc. shall be covered by the consultant/s and should be included in the financial proposal as a separate heading and broken down into details e.g. accommodation and travel costs in line with the UN DSA rates.

Payment: UNICEF will issue a contract in TRY. The payment will done in instalments upon submission of the deliverables as per the above list and will be executed in TRY.

Payment Schedule: The payments will be made upon the delivery of outputs. In case of any unexpected delay(s) in the estimated time frame (approval process, force majeure, etc.), the duration of the assignment might be extended subject to the same conditions and mutual will of the parties.

Travel Requirements: The assignment will be home-based, with meetings in Ankara and travels to the earthquake affected areas and other provinces as necessary. Payment will be based on actual expenses or published DSA rates. The consultant will work in close coordination with the UNICEF ECD Team and other programme teams, as required.

Remarks and Reservations: UNICEF reserves the right to terminate the contract and/or withhold all or a portion of payment if the rules and the regulations regarding confidentiality, ethics and procedures of UNICEF and the partners are not followed, the performance is unsatisfactory, or work/deliverables are incomplete, not delivered or fail to meet the deadlines. 

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

• A University Degree in nutrition & dietetics, nutritional sciences, medicine, public health or other relevant field is required.
• Proven experience in providing consultancy services in infant and young child feeding.
• Minimum 5 years of working experience in the relevant field;
• Knowledge of global and national policies, protocols and practices in child nutrition
• Excellent analytical thinking, training, presentation, report writing and communication skills;
• Experience in working with vulnerable groups (women, men, children, persons with disabilities, the elderly, etc.) is preferred
• Ability to undertake in-person interviews, group work, and community work
• Good command of MS Office tools
• Proven experience in nutrition in the emergency context;
• Fluency in Turkish and English.

Application and Selection Process

Terms of Reference for this consultancy can be accessed through here  TOR IYCF ECD Consultant

Applicants are expected to submit to UNICEF the following documents:

1.Financial proposal  Financial Offer Template 1

Financial Offer template 1

2.CV

3.Technical proposal. The minimum content for the technical proposal is:

• Methodology
• A sample of relevant previous works, including developed materials and reports in the past.
• Risks and mitigating measures (with risks related to ethical issues clearly spelled out)

Applicants are expected to submit to UNICEF the following documents:

Financial proposals should be submitted in separate folders from the remaining documentation. After the technical evaluation, the financial proposals of qualified candidates will be evaluated. The technical evaluation will be completed based on the attached technical evaluation criteria.

The applications will be evaluated from the technical and financial point of view. Technical aspects will be evaluated using the criteria outlined in the below matrix:

The financial proposals will be opened only for the candidates that reach or exceed forty-nine (49) points out of maximum seventy (70) points. Thirty (30) points will be awarded to the candidate that presented the lowest fee for the services requested. The remaining financial offers will receive proportional points ([lowest bid/bid] x 30 points).

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.