General
Description of assignment title: Nutrition Officer
Assignment country: Ghana
Expected start date: 04/01/2025
Sustainable Development Goal: 2. Zero hunger
Volunteer category: National UN Volunteer Specialist
Host entity: UNICEF
Type: Onsite
Duration: 12 months
Number of assignments: 1
Duty stations: Accra
Details
Mission and objectives
The Child Protection Programme of UNICEF Ghana is committed to ensuring that girls and boys in Ghana, especially the most disadvantaged, increasingly benefit from an equitable and integrated child protection system that better protect them from violence, abuse, exploitation and neglect. The system is focus on the establishment of effective structures, functions and capacities that can prevent and respond to all child protection issues. It also seeks to integrate the actions of families (and children including adolescents), communities, formal and informal laws and practices together to protect children. To achieve these, strategic investments are made to: i) Bringing relevant policy, legal and regulatory framework in line with international standards and good practices ii) strengthening the capacity of formal and informal service providers actors to prevent and respond effectively to protection issues; and iii) supporting interventions aimed at behavioural and social change among girls, boys, families and communities.
Among all children, adolescent girls in Ghana are disproportionately affected by child protection concerns, including exposure to gender discrimination, child marriage and female genital mutilation/cutting, sexual violence, unsafe migration and trafficking, among others. The purpose of the proposed UNV assignment is to provide assistance to the Child Protection section of UNICEF Ghana in further developing and strengthening its interventions for better protection of adolescent girls, by working closely with particularly vulnerable group of girls, their families and communities, service providers and other key local and national stakeholders.
Context
Ghana has made substantial progress in nutrition, halving the prevalence of stunting and wasting since the 1990s. However, the last decade has been marked by stagnation. The diets of young children in Ghana are failing, resulting in 18% of children being stunted, 12% being underweight, and 6% being wasted. In Ghana today, almost three in five children live in child food poverty, translating to 2.4 million children aged under five years, of which 1.1 million live in severe child food poverty – surviving on diets consisting primarily of grains, roots, tubers and breastmilk but largely deficient of the dairy, eggs, legumes and nuts needed to provide nutrients for optimal growth.
UNICEF Ghana is committed to improving child nutrition outcomes by implementing evidence-based programs, policies, and partnerships. As part of the 2025 Annual Nutrition Work Plan, UNICEF works with government agencies, private sector actors, and development partners to enhance access to nutritious foods, strengthen nutrition governance, and improve data-driven decision-making.
To support these efforts, UNICEF Ghana seeks the support of a UNV to provide technical and coordination support across key priority areas, including private sector engagement for complementary foods, nutrition policy development, school-based nutrition initiatives, capacity building for nutrition in emergencies, and evidence generation through nutrition surveillance. The UNV will also assist in donor reporting, proposal development, and administrative coordination to ensure planned activities’ effective and timely delivery.
Task description
Under the direct supervision of the Nutrition Manager the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks: 1.Support Private Sector Engagement for the First Foods Initiative in Ghana
- Contributes to mapping and identifying local food manufacturers producing nutritious complementary foods for young children.
- Assists in organizing stakeholder meetings and engagements with private sector actors to promote improved child nutrition.
- Supports documentation of good practices and lessons learned from private sector partnerships.
- Participates in the development of knowledge-sharing materials, such as briefs and presentations, to facilitate collaboration with private sector partners.
- Assist in Nutrition Policy Development and Review Processes
- Supports the review of existing national policies related to nutrition by compiling relevant documents and summarizing key findings.
- Assists in stakeholder consultations by preparing background materials and taking notes during meetings.
- Contributes to policy review processes by gathering relevant data, reports, and best practices from other countries.
- Assists in the preparation of technical reports and recommendations to support policy dialogue.
- Support Development of School-based Food and Nutrition Education (SFNE) Materials
- Contributes to the collection of existing SFNE materials and assists in reviewing their relevance and effectiveness.
- Supports the adaptation or development of new materials in collaboration with education and nutrition experts.
- Assists in organizing pilot testing of SFNE materials in selected schools and gathering feedback.
- Participates in workshops and meetings related to SFNE material development.
- Contribute to Planning for Nutrition Surveillance Data Collection
- Assists in compiling and organizing data collection tools and guidelines.
- Supports coordination with relevant government and partner institutions for data collection activities.
- Participates in training sessions for data collectors by providing logistical and administrative support.
- Contributes to the analysis and presentation of preliminary findings by assisting with data entry and organization.
- Contribute to the Development of Concept Notes for Relevant Nutrition Projects
- Supports background research and information gathering on key nutrition issues and programmatic approaches.
- Assists in drafting concept notes by organizing key points and structuring sections.
- Contributes to integrating a health systems strengthening approach into concept notes, particularly in relation to breastfeeding promotion.
- Participates in brainstorming sessions and discussions on new project ideas.
- Gather Information for Human Interest Stories
- Assists in identifying and engaging with beneficiaries and key stakeholders to collect impactful stories.
- Supports field visits to document community experiences and success stories related to nutrition programs.
- Contributes to drafting human interest stories by summarizing key insights and quotes from beneficiaries.
- Assists in organizing photos, videos, and other multimedia content to complement stories.
- Support the Development of a Social Marketing Strategy for Nutritious Foods in Ghana
- Participates in reviewing existing social marketing initiatives and lessons learned.
- Supports stakeholder engagements and discussions on behavior change strategies for promoting nutritious foods. ep4xZcY BIpnb
- Assists in compiling and organizing research findings on consumer preferences and food purchasing behavior.
- Contributes to the development of key messages and outreach strategies targeting caregivers and families.
- Support the Strengthening of Vitamin A Supplementation (VAS) Distribution through Pre-Schools
- Assists in mapping pre-schools currently involved in VAS distribution and identifying gaps.
- Supports engagement with education and health sector stakeholders to enhance VAS integration into pre-school settings.
- Contributes to the development of communication materials to raise awareness among teachers and parents about VAS.
- Assists in documenting best practices and lessons learned from VAS distribution efforts.
- Compile and Submit Donor and Internal Reports
- Supports the collection of relevant data and updates from different nutrition initiatives.
- Assists in compiling inputs from various team members into donor and internal report templates.
- Contributes to ensuring reports align with UNICEF and donor reporting guidelines by reviewing content and structure.
- Participates in internal review meetings to discuss key achievements and challenges before report submission.
- Collate and analyse relevant nutrition data to inform programme refinement.
Eligibility criteria
Age: 18 – 80
Required experience
3 years
Nationality
Candidate must be a national or legal resident of the country of assignment.
Assignment requirements
Relevant experience
3 years
Languages
English, Level: Fluent, Required
Required education level
Bachelor degree or equivalent in Nutrition, public health, or related biomedical science.
Competencies and values
Core Values
- Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability & Sustainability
Core Competencies
- Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness
- Works Collaboratively with others
- Builds and Maintains Partnerships
- Innovates and Embraces Change
- Thinks and Acts Strategically
- Drive to achieve impactful results
- Manages ambiguity and complexity
Skills and experience
Health or Nutrition, Social behaviour change or other relevant programmes; experience with community work is an asset, as is experience working in the UN or other international development organization.
Other desired/mandatory required technical knowledge;
- Excellent oral and written skills; excellent drafting, formulation, reporting skills.
- Accuracy and professionalism in document production and editing;
- Excellent interpersonal skills; culturally and socially sensitive; ability to work inclusively and collaboratively with a range of partners, including grassroots community members, religious and youth organizations, and authorities at different levels; familiarity with tools and approaches of communications for development;
- Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging environment; ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel;
- Solid overall computer literacy, including proficiency in various Microsoft Office applications (Excel, Word, among others), email, and internet; familiarity with database management; and office technology equipment.
- Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision; ability to work with tight deadlines;
- Desirable: valid national driver’s license and proven ability to drive manual gear 4×4 over rough terrain.
- Sound security awareness;
- Have affinity with or interest in children’s right volunteerism as a mechanism for durable development, and the UN system.
Area(s) of expertise
Health, Communication, Community development
Driving license
Other information
Living conditions and remarks
The UN Volunteer will be based in Accra, Ghana which is currently classified as hardship category B and a family duty station. At sea level, the climate of the country is tropical-hot and humid with average yearly temperatures of about 27oC (80oF) and little daily variation. At the interior’s higher altitudes, the average yearly temperature is 20oC (68oF), and nights are generally cool. Annual rainfall varies from 500 centimetres (200 in.) on the southwestern slopes to 100 centimetres (40 in.) in the northern lowlands. Food, household commodities and clothing can be found in shops and local markets at reasonable prices. Some commercial banks are operating in the country and Visa cards are accepted in very limited hotels. You can check full entitlements at the duty station at https://app.unv.org/calculator.The complete UN Volunteer Conditions of Service is available at https://explore.unv.org/cos.”
Inclusivity statement
United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme that welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, care protected characteristics. As part of their adherence to the values of UNV, all UN Volunteers commit themselves to combat any form of discrimination, and to promoting respect for human rights and individual dignity, without distinction of a person’s race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
Reasonable accommodation
UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for UN Volunteers 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 recruitment process and afterwards in your assignment.
Note on Covid-19 vaccination requirements
In addition to duty station-specific vaccine requirements, appointments 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 appointment. It does not apply to UN Volunteers 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 contracts.
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More Information
- Job City Ghana
