National Consultant- Nutrition-Sensitive Food Systems at UNICEF

The purpose of this consultancy is to contribute to the development of Food-Based Dietary Guidelines for Nigeria in close collaboration with technical partners from the UN, other organizations and the Nigerian government.

Scope Of Work

• Contribute to the definition of the Food-Based Dietary Guidelines mandate by identifying national policies and commitments that can support the inclusion of different aspects of sustainability.
• Propose entry points for sustainability to be included in the mandate, as per country policies and data availability.
• Help to identify additional stakeholders who should be involved in the Food-Based Dietary Guidelines development process, to ensure sustainability-related aspects identified above are well covered.
• Contribute to the proposal/plan for the situation analysis and evidence review (SAER) with the intended users, rationale, overview of methods, and estimated timeframe.
• Conduct a targeted policy and programme review covering food systems-related policies and programmes, working closely with the national nutrition specialist. This will include looking at policies and programmes from sustainability-related disciplines, such as agroecology, climate resilience, social equity, and indigenous and traditional food systems, but will exclude health and nutrition sectors. This task involves:
• Proposing a food system framework to guide the analysis, with cross-cutting consideration of socio-cultural, economic, and environmental dimensions;
• Obtaining consensus on the food systems framework to be used, from the Technical Task Team and other professionals involved;
• Defining guiding questions, scope, metrics, and methods;
• Conducting a mapping and analysing the selected policies and programmes;
• Summarizing the findings and seeking input from the technical task team and other professionals involved in the Food-Based Dietary Guidelines development;
• Revising and finalizing the document.
• Conduct a targeted analysis along the food system by analysing relevant secondary data. This will be guided by findings from the work carried out by the National Nutrition Specialist and the Technical Task Team, which will set draft dietary goals and targets for the population groups. This task will include:
• Using the food system framework selected, to guide the analysis, with cross-cutting consideration of socio-cultural, economic, and environmental dimensions;
• Conducting the targeted food system analysis, considering food systems’ constraints, opportunities, and interactions;
• Presenting the results of the analysis to the Technical Task Team and other professionals involved;
• Revising as needed and finalizing.
• Contribute to the description of diet factors associated with the prioritized health and nutrition issues, as well as with the sustainability issues identified.
• Contribute to the conclusions on relevant relationships between diet-health, diet-environment, and diet-socioeconomic outcomes from the evidence.
• Contribute to the revision of the diet goals/targets, taking into consideration trade-offs involved from a food systems perspective.
• Review the evidence on effective interventions across the food system by analysing relevant secondary data, which can support each of the dietary goals/targets that have been established:
• Proposing research questions and methods for reviewing the evidence on food systems interventions, and obtaining consensus from the Technical Task Team and other professionals involved;
• Conducting the review and extracting the data;
• Synthesizing the evidence, prioritizing interventions, and preparing draft recommendations covering interventions across food systems, food environments, and consumer behaviours;
• Identifying potential major consequences to sustainability-related outcomes from implementing specific interventions;
• Presenting the results of the analysis to the Technical Task Team and other professionals involved;
• Revising as needed and finalizing.
• Contribute to the situation analysis and evidence review report by a) drafting the chapters relating to the food systems analysis, b) reviewing other chapters, c) considering the report with a food systems lens, so that the SAER can be useful to those beyond health and nutrition experts
• Contribute to the validation of the SAER report, in particular, by identifying potential experts to invite, and during the validation workshop, presenting the work carried out above, and explaining potential tensions and trade-offs between different outcomes of proposed interventions.

Work Assignments Overview

• Propose entry points for sustainability to be included in the mandate, as per country policies and data availability.
• Help to identify additional stakeholders who should be involved in the FSBDGs development process
• Contribute to the proposal/plan for the situation analysis and evidence review (SAER) with the intended users, rationale, overview of methods, and estimated timeframe
• Conduct a targeted policy and programme review covering food systems-related policies and programmes, working closely with the national nutrition specialist
• Contribute to the description of diet factors associated with the prioritized health and nutrition issues, as well as with the sustainability issues identified
• Contribute to the revision of the diet goals/targets, taking into consideration trade-offs involved from a food systems perspective.
• Contribute to the conclusions on relevant relationships between diet-health, diet-environment, and diet-socioeconomic outcomes from the evidence.
• Contribute to the description of diet factors associated with the prioritized health and nutrition issues, as well as with the sustainability issues identified
• Contribute to the conclusions on relevant relationships between diet-health, diet-environment, and diet-socioeconomic outcomes from the evidence.
• Contribute to the revision of the diet goals/targets, taking into consideration trade-offs involved from a food systems perspective.
• Review the evidence on effective interventions across the food system by analysing relevant secondary data, which can support each of the dietary goals/targets that have been established
• Contribute to the situation analysis and evidence review report, so that the SAER can be useful to those beyond health and nutrition experts

Deliverables/Outputs

• A record of inputs provided from a food systems perspective to the draft mandate for the FSBDGs, including on potential entry points for sustainability.
• A map of food systems-related policies and programmes relevant for the Food-Based Dietary Guidelines, covering sustainability-related disciplines.
• The food system framework is proposed to guide the analysis, together with justifications for the choice.
• A report on the food systems-related policies and programmes detailing priorities, target populations, and key entry points for Food-Based Dietary Guidelines.
• A report describing the food system factors contributing to key diet issues.
• Comments provided on the feasibility of preliminary diet goals and targets from a food systems perspective.
• Conclusions on relevant relationships between diet-health, diet-environment, and diet-socioeconomic outcomes from the evidence.
• A record of inputs provided to the Nutrition Specialist, who will be putting together the description of diet factors associated with the prioritized health and nutrition issues and sustainability issues.
• A record of inputs provided to the Nutrition Specialist, who will be putting together conclusions on relevant relationships between diet-health, diet-environment, and diet-socioeconomic outcomes from the evidence.
• Report regarding effective interventions across the food system, including key interactions and gaps to consider.
• SAER chapters on the food systems analysis and interventions

Education

• Advanced degree in Nutrition, Dietetics, Food Science, Public Health, or any discipline related to Nutrition

Experience

• Excellent knowledge of nutrition, food security, and the health system in Nigeria is mandatory.
• Knowledge and experience in nutrition, food security, or health-related surveys and assessments in Nigeria.
• Knowledge and experience in analyzing scientific data and writing scientific reports, including evidence in publishing papers
• Excellent interpersonal, communication, and presentation skills to proactively establish and maintain working relations, and to promote synergies with other stakeholders.
• Ability to take the initiatives and work independently and systematically.
• Knowledge and experience on FBDG.
• Knowledge and experience with the development of nutrition and food security guidelines.
• Experience in working with the UN and NGOs can be useful.
• Strong skills in using Microsoft software (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint)
• In-depth understanding of various types of data and their key sources, and limitations
• Data quality assessment skills
• Ability to interpret data critically
• Good data visualization skills
• Ability to communicate results and gaps to support decision making
• Knowledge in using statistical packages and interpreting statistical data.
• Experience with framing research questions
• Experience in systematic searching, screening, and selection, including using search engines
• In-depth understanding of nutrition study designs
• Experience with assessing bias in nutrition research and selecting the most appropriate tools