Nutrition Officer (Multi-system and youth engagement)

Details

Mission and objectives

UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work to translate that commitment into practical action, especially for the most disadvantaged children.
In the Pacific we work in Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu: These 14 Pacific island countries are home to 2.3 million people, including 1.2 million children and youth, living on more than 660 islands and atolls stretching across 17.2 million square kilometres of the Pacific Ocean, an area comparable to the combined size of the United States of America and Canada.
Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Solomon Islands, and Tuvalu are classified as Fragile States according to World Bank/OECD criteria. All 14 Pacific island countries have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, but only a third are on track with reporting obligations.

Context

UNICEF’s work in the Pacific includes responding to a triple burden of malnutrition, i.e., undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, overweight and obesity. Above all, UNICEF will accelerate efforts to promote multi-system and multi-stakeholder approaches to reduce stunting and improve the quality of foods, food environments, and nutritional practices of children, adolescents, and women, and ensure household food security.
UNICEF will support governments to strengthen the existing legislation and regulatory frameworks, or to develop new ones that support the availability and affordability of nutritious foods and regulate the importation and marketing of unhealthy foods. Given the growing prevalence of obesity in children, UNICEF will invest in multisectoral approaches to promote healthy lifestyles and dietary practices, including social and behavioural change and youth-led advocacy initiatives, engagement with private sector food producers, and strengthening school nutrition programmes. This UNV assignment is to support the Nutrition Specialist and team in UNICEF nutrition programming, with special focus on multi-system and youth engagement.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of Nutrition Specialist or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UN Volunteer Nutrition Officer (Multi-system and youth engagement) will:
• Support the management of “Fix My Food” campaign, a multi-year and multi-country campaign to empower youth to advocate for healthier food environments and to drive demand for effective government policies in Fiji, Solomon Islands, and Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). This will include: mobilization of youth champions; consolidation of available data / information from multiple studies, assessments and analyses to help youth identify advocacy priorities; organization of the co-creation workshops and capacity building interventions for youth; provision of necessary administrative, logistic and programmatic support for campaign implementation; and development and operationalization of monitoring and evaluation framework for the campaign
• Support the planning and management of other youth engagement and social mobilization activities to promote and advocate for healthy food environment and dietary practices
• Support the coordination of multi-sectoral school-based interventions for students’ health, nutrition, and well-being, in close collaboration with Education, WASH, and Child Protection teams as well as relevant line Ministries and other partners
• Support planning, implementation, and monitoring of integrated school nutrition assessments and other studies such as feasibility assessment on school meal programme
• Support knowledge management, including consolidation of nutrition related resources and programme data particularly in the countries where UNICEF does not have a field presence, as well as nutrition programme reporting
Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:
• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• Provide annual and end of assignment self- reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities;
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers;
• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.
Results/expected outputs
• As an active UNICEF team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly and high-quality support rendered to UNICEF and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including:
o Successful implementation and monitoring of ‘Fix My Food’ campaigns in Fiji, Solomon Islands and FSM, and other youth/social engagement activities that promote nutrition in select countries
o Functional coordination mechanism for multi-sectoral school-based health and nutrition programming supported by UNICEF
o Successful conducts of school nutrition assessments and follow-up in select countries
o Functional and well-organised repository of nutrition resources and programme monitoring data in sharepoints
• Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated and documented in all activities throughout the assignment
• A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed.