The purpose of this consultancy is to provide technical and strategic support for the planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of food systems approaches and initiative strengthening actions in Sudan—working closely with national partners, private sector actors, and communities to advance availability, affordability, and consumption of nutritious first foods. A dedicated consultant will provide the focused expertise and operational bandwidth necessary to translate the First Foods Africa framework into actionable, context-specific interventions for Sudan, while ensuring alignment with national systems and UNICEF’s nutrition mandate.

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture., coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, the right to Health

Implementing the First Foods Africa initiative in Sudan is focused on life-saving nutrition service delivery, emergency response, and programme management in a highly constrained operating environment. The initiative demands in-depth market and food systems assessments, structured engagement with private sector actors, analysis of food environments, and facilitation across multiple sectors including agriculture, trade, industry, and consumer protection. A dedicated consultant will provide the focused expertise and operational bandwidth necessary to translate the First Foods Africa framework into actionable, context-specific interventions for Sudan, while ensuring alignment with national systems and UNICEF’s nutrition mandate.

How can you make a difference? 

Scope of Work:
A. Conduct Assessment and Analysis and develop guidelines
1.Conduct a comprehensive food systems assessment relevant to young children’s diets in Sudan, including:
o Supply side: production, processing, distribution of nutritious foods suitable for infants and young children.
o Market analysis: affordability, availability, and quality of foods categorized as first foods.
o Regulatory environment: standards, enforcement, and gaps related to child food products.
o Barriers and opportunities within food environments that affect caregivers’ choices.
2. Map private sector actors (especially SMEs, processing firms, aggregators) with potential to produce and market nutritious first foods.
3. Conduct consumer and caregiver assessments to understand perceptions, demand drivers and barriers related to nutritious complementary feeding.
Deliverables:
• Food Systems Assessment Report.
• Private Sector Mapping and Market Opportunity Brief.
• Consumer/Household Food Practices Assessment.
B. Strategy & Partnership Development
1. Advise on development of a national First Foods Africa implementation strategy tailored to Sudan’s context.
2. Support structured engagement with private sector — convene roundtables, co-design models for product innovation, financing and distribution partnerships.
3. Strengthening collaboration with government ministries (Health, Agriculture, Trade), UN agencies, research institutions, and civil society.
Deliverables:
• Draft Implementation Strategy and Roadmap.
• Private Sector Engagement Framework.
• Partnership Action Plans.
C. Implementation Support
1. Provide technical inputs to roll out market-based interventions that improve local production and distribution of first foods (e.g., value chain strengthening, quality assurance).
2. Support design of behaviour changes communication (BCC) strategies to promote consumption of nutritious foods for infants and young children.
3. Establish systems for monitoring, reporting and learning on progress against First Foods Africa indicators.
Deliverables:
• Technical briefs/guidelines for production and quality standards.
• SBCC strategy outline and operational plan.
Monitoring & Evaluation framework.
D. Development and Dissemination of Food-Based Dietary Guidelines
The contractor shall:
1. Review existing national and sub-national complementary feeding guidance and analyses Sudan’s National Food Composition Tables. Support the Ministry of Health (MoH) and UNICEF in developing affordable, culturally appropriate, and evidence-based dietary guidelines for infants and young children.
2. Design and produce user-friendly communication and behaviour change materials (print and digital) translating guidelines into practical actions for caregivers.
Deliverables:
• Final draft of dietary guideline
• user-friendly communication and behaviour change materials
E. Knowledge Management
1. Document and disseminate lessons learnt, success stories and best practices.
Deliverables:
• Knowledge products (briefs, case studies).
Work assignments and deliverables: 

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

Minimum requirements:

Education: Master’s degree in Nutrition, Food Systems, Public Health, Agricultural Economics, Food Science, or a related field.Work

Experience: 

• Minimum 7 years of progressively responsible work experience in food systems analysis, nutrition, or related public policy/food value chain work.
• Demonstrated experience supporting private sector engagement in nutrition food markets.
• Experience in consumer/market assessments and social behaviour change frameworks.
• Strong understanding of food regulations, standards and quality assurance.
• Experience working with government, UN agencies, and civil society in development settings.
• Prior experience in Africa, preferably Sudan, is an advantage.
Skills:
• Excellent analytical and report writing skills.
• Strong stakeholder facilitation and partnership building capabilities.
Language Requirements:  Fluency in English and Arabic is required.

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others 

amiliarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:  

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.

At Impactpool we do our best to provide you the most accurate info, but closing dates may be wrong on our site. Please check on the recruiting organization's page for the exact info. Candidates are responsible for complying with deadlines and are encouraged to submit applications well ahead.
Before applying, please make sure that you have read the requirements for the position and that you qualify. Applications from non-qualifying applicants will most likely be discarded by the recruiting manager.