Individual Consultancy: Nutritional Treatment Protocol Specialist Full-Time

Purpose of Activity/Assignment: To facilitate the revision and updating of the national guidelines on the management of child acute malnutrition and nutritional edema and the training manuals.

Scope of Work

• Identify and review all relevant and up-to-date materials and resources needed for the revision of the national guidelines (PRN-I and II Manual, the PRN training package and on-the-job support materials). This includes current progress on the national adaptation of the PRN guidelines, including recommendations or agreements from regional and national consultative meetings, child health guidelines (community health subsystem, maternal, infant and young child health and nutrition, newborn action plan, HIV standards, among others) existing in the country and at international level, and landscape analysis of the management of acute malnutrition in infants under 6 months at risk of poor growth and development.
• Facilitate consultative workshops to review the documents under development and existing evidence to reach a consensus on the content to be included, if necessary. Subsidize the decision-making processes during these seminars, by reviewing the existing evidence, critically analyzing it and presenting a summary of it to the working group.
• Promote and coordinate discussions with the key sectors for strengthening the NRP, namely the Ministries of Agriculture, Women, Gender and Social Action, Public Works and Housing, Industry, and Commerce, among others involved in the problem of acute malnutrition, to reach consensus on the contribution of these sectors in preventing and combating moderate acute malnutrition in the country.
• Update the existing national protocol, namely the PRN-I Manual, the on-the-job support materials, and the training package including the trainer’s manual, participant’s manual, and presentations in line with the competency-based training standards and incorporating comments from stakeholders, guided by the Nutrition Department of the Ministry of Health, with the collaboration of the PRN technical group (GT-PRN) and other stakeholders.
• Present the final products to the GT-PRN and draw up a detailed work plan describing the steps that should be taken to adapt the WHO recommendations where there was no clear consensus on how to adapt them. This plan should specify the main people responsible and collaborators for each task, estimate the time required, and, where possible, estimate the resources needed to carry it out.
• Facilitate the validation of national PRN guidelines, on-the-job support materials, and the updated training package.
• Perform other related tasks as requested.

Deliverables

• By month 1: Inception report.
• By month 2: Desk review report.
• By month 3: Consensus Building Workshop report.
• By month 4: Draft PRN manual revised.
• By month 5: Draft job aids and guidelines revised.
• By month 6: Draft participant manual revised.
• By month 7: Draft facilitator manual revised.
• By month 8: Draft course guide revised.
• By month 9: Draft clinical guide for the trainer of trainers and PowerPoint presentations in line with competency-based training standards revised.
• By month 10: Consensus Workshop and final national training package on the integrated management of acute malnutrition and nutritional edema adopted.
• By month 11: Final consultancy report.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

•  A master’s degree in Master’s Pediatrics and Child Health, Clinical Nutrition or Public Health and Nutrition, Nursing
• Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required: A minimum of 5 years’ proven experience in the development or implementation of interventions for the prevention and management of acute malnutrition in children under five years of age.
• Experience in developing strategies, guidelines and/or protocols.
• Experience in conducting training and in the prevention and management of acute malnutrition in infants and children under five.
• In-depth knowledge of national health systems and primary health care
• In-depth knowledge of national and international guiding documents and technical guidelines in the field of child health and nutrition. Experience in nutrition programs in the African region.

Skills/Knowledge

• Computer skills in basic software programs.
• Proven understanding of the existing and needed quality of public health nutrition and case management in Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) with medical complication practices at health facilities.
• Excellent communication, writing, leadership and analytical skills.
• Languages and level required: Fluency in Portuguese and excellent knowledge of English.

For every Child, you demonstrate

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

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.