National Individual Consultancy

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. UNICEF Viet Nam is one of more than 190 offices of the United Nations Children’s Fund globally and part of the United Nations system in Viet Nam working in close collaboration with all UN agencies in the country. Guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, UNICEF has a universal mandate to promote and protect the rights of all children, everywhere – especially those hardest to serve and most at risk. UNICEF’s mission in Viet Nam is to make sure every child in the country is healthy, educated and safe from harm, therefore having the best start in life and a fair chance to reach her or his full potential and benefit from the country’s prosperity. We believe children have a right to live in a more equitable society, where their voices are heard and needs met as a matter of priority in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. More information on what we do in Viet Nam is available at https://www.unicef.org/vietnam/ Background and rationale: The Vietnamese Government attaches great importance on the improvement of health status for all its people especially young children and adolescents, with nutrition improvement is the most crucial and urgent basis. To continue striving to achieve the primary targets relating to the population’s health, the Prime Minister approved the National Nutrition Strategy for the period of 2011 - 2020 with a vision to 2030 on 22 February 2012. The National Strategy on Nutrition is a plan on the nutrition direction in the country, confirming the Government’s strong efforts and commitment to action for improving the country’s nutritional status. The National Nutrition Strategy (NNS) was widely disseminated from central to local levels, among ministries and sectors throughout the country. The objectives of the NNS have been documented in the sixth and seventh congresses of the National Communist Party and became the striving objectives for socio-economic development programs of all levels of government as well as programs of action of social organizations. The Government has invested in many nutrition programs and projects, in line with the NNS and international cooperation projects. This has significantly improved the nutritional status of the population. There is a need to develop a new NNS for the next planning cycle. 2019 was a key year for gathering data. The review of the current NNS was initiated internally with the General Nutrition Survey in 2019 and the collection of reports/reviews from different stakeholders, including line ministries, agencies, associations, and sub-national government. Findings have been documented and used to guide and inform decisions for implementing the strategy in the new period. 2020 is a significant milestone to review the implementation of the current NNS and to develop the next strategy (third one in a row for Vietnam). Nutrition is an essential building block in the response and recovery of the COVID-19 pandemic and the launch of the next strategy is key for continuity and priority of efforts to combat malnutrition. The Government of Vietnam, thus, is seeking technical support from developing partners and networks in the development process of this new strategy. Rationale: The development of the next National Nutrition Strategy is of great importance for the continuity of the critical nutrition efforts and programs and in uniting all stakeholders of the nutrition partnership group. Given the high level of technical rigor required to support the development of the new NNS (a succinct and analytically sound document), dedicated human resource capacity and following the SUN principles, is required in terms of time and technical expertise in carrying out this exercise. Global Technical Assistance Mechanism for Nutrition (GTAM) through the SUN secretariat has supported the recruitment of an international consultant to provide technical support to the development process, ensuring the SUN principles to be embraced in the new NNS 2021-2030. Given the workload of the nutrition team is very high during the Covid-19 and responses to the flood emergencies in the Central Region, UNICEF Viet Nam will hire a national consultant, who will provide full professional technical, operational and administrative assistance to the International consultant throughout the consultancy process.  This will enable the international consultant to successfully complete his/her tasks. Purpose and Audiences: The purpose of this consultancy is to provide short-term national support to the International Consultant to develop the new NNS. The consultant will work closely with agencies of the Nutrition Working Group to support Government (the Ministry of Health, National Institute of Nutrition) in the development of NNS. MOH and all of these agencies are the key audiences of this study. Location:  The working location for the consultant is based in Ha Noi without travel to provinces.  Objectives/tasks: Specific objectives:

1. Review the results of the previous NNS including the nutritional situation and status of nutrition policies, programs and governance in the country through the reports and data collected and other documents and sources;
2. Facilitate virtual multi-stakeholder bilateral and group meetings and consultation as required, for conducting a review and lessons learned documentation of the implementation of NNS, including recommendations on the way forward, which would be used to inform adjustments needed for the new NNS.
3. Generate and share evidence to create a political space for nutrition, to inform policy and programme action and provide technical advice for the development of policy and strategic framework for multisectoral response.
4. Facilitate the development of a new NNS and follow up revisions with inputs from relevant stakeholders via different channels.
5. Present the final draft of the new NNS in a high-level advocacy meeting for disseminating the results.

Methodology and Expected deliverables and timeline: Scope and Methodology: The development of NNS should address the following three main questions:  Research questions to answer: Question 1: What is the current situation of nutrition in Vietnam? policies/programs/coordination; lessons learned Question 2: What is SWOT of nutrition in the next era? (strength, weakness, opportunities, threats/risks, key stakeholders and partnerships) Question 3: New NNS with instructed outline following the Government format?  The expected outline of the NNS would include the headings: Executive Summary, Background, Review of previous period, Main NNS (Foundation, Situation/Challenges/Opportunities, Vision, Principles/Orientations, Objectives, Approaches, Main programs and projects, Operation/Coordination). The consultants will provide key methods for this assignment in the proposal, including secondary data and document review, qualitative and quantitative data analysis, focus group discussion, case studies, process mapping etc. The study will take into account key issues such as:

• Gender aspects of nutrition issues
• A focused analysis on disadvantaged groups – including migrants, ethnic minorities, people in social centers etc.
• Nutrition in emergency situations

Tasks and Deliverables: as per the attached TOR  Consultancy Notice to support development of new National Nutrition Strategy.docx Management and Reporting: The national consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Nutrition Policy Specialist of UNICEF and overall guidance of the Chief, CSD programme, at UNICEF.  The consultant will operate in close cooperation with the international consultant, nutrition team, delegated staffs at relevant ministries, national institute of nutrition, ministry of health … as required.  Performance indicators for evaluation: Indicator for completion and satisfaction measurement will be based on UNICEF Viet Nam own evaluation and judgement, and not that of the Consultant. This means that deliverables will be deemed to be satisfactorily completed by the Supervisor of the Consultancy. The Supervisor is required to provide timely and written feedback to the Consultant in order to avoid miscommunication, and also hold regular meetings with the Consultant as needed.  Assessment criteria: For evaluation and selection method, the Cumulative Analysis Method (weight combined score method) shall be used for this recruitment:  Technical Qualification (max. 100 points) weight 70 % An advanced degree or equivalent in public policy or administration, international development, public health, nutrition, agriculture, or related field, 25 points. At least 12 years progress professional work experience at government level and/or professional experience working in large national and/or international institutions in policy analysis, planning, coordination, development, evaluation and system innovation in MIC context, 30 points. Experience in improving health system – beneficiary interface and community-based nutrition in national scaling up nutrition initiative to eliminate stunting, 25 points. Experience in policy development in rapidly changing/evolving contexts, able to work under tight deadlines, 20 points. Financial Proposal (max. 100 points) weight 30 % The maximum number of points shall be allotted to the lowest Financial Proposal that is opened /evaluated and compared among those technical qualified candidates who have attained a minimum 70 points score in the technical evaluation. Other Financial Proposals will receive points in inverse proportion to the lowest price. The Contract shall be awarded to candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores, subject to the satisfactory result of the verification interview if needed.  Qualification/Specialised Knowledge and Experience: 

1. Education:

• An advanced degree or equivalent in public policy or administration, international development, public health, nutrition, agriculture, or related field.

2. Work Experience:

• At least 12 years progress professional work experience at government level and/or professional experience working in large national and/or international institutions in policy analysis, planning, coordination, development, evaluation and system innovation in MIC context.
• Experience in improving health system – beneficiary interface and community-based nutrition in national scaling up nutrition initiative to eliminate stunting.
• Experience in policy development in rapidly changing/evolving contexts, able to work under tight deadlines.
• Strong analytical, planning and report writing skills.

3. Competencies:

• Excellent communication skills
• Excellent organizational skills
• Demonstrable analytical and research skills, review and synthesis of data and information and planning experience.

4. Language Proficiency:

• Excellent oral and written English skills are required.

Submission of applications: Interested candidates are kindly requested to apply and upload the following documents to the assigned requisition in UNICEF Vacancies: http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/

1. Letter of interest and confirmation of availability;
2. Technical proposal which clearly explains the outline on how to deliver the tasks and deliverables (preferably less than 3 pages);
3. Performance evaluation reports or references of similar consultancy assignments (if available)
4. Financial proposal: All-inclusive lump-sum cost including consultancy fee, and any other costs for this assignment.
5. CV/P11 form (UN Personal History Form)

View our competency framework at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. 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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Remarks: Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

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