Child Nutrition and Development Specialist
About the role
General Description of assignment title Child Nutrition and Development Specialist Assignment country United Republic of Tanzania Duty stations Zanzibar Work location On UN premises Expected start date 2026-12-01 Expected end date 2027-04-01 Sustainable Development Goal 2. Zero hunger Host entity UNICEF Modality Onsite Type National Volunteer category Specialist Work schedule Full-time Number of Assignments 1 Duration 4 months Advertisement end date 2026-11-12 Details Mission and objectives For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and Governments. Context UNICEF Tanzania supports the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar to advance evidence-based, systems-strengthening and multisectoral approaches to improve nutrition and development outcomes for children, adolescents and women. Through the Child Nutrition and Development Programme, UNICEF works with national and sub-national authorities to strengthen policies, service delivery platforms, community systems, data use, social and behavior change, and partnerships for im-proved maternal, infant, young child and adolescent nutrition and development. In Zanzibar, UNICEF’s Child Nutrition and Development Programme is guided by a systems-strengthening approach that seeks to ensure children, adolescents and women increase utili-zation of equitable quality services, consume quality diets and adopt nurturing care practices that support optimal nutrition, growth and development. The programme promotes convergence across health, education, WASH, food systems, social protection and community platforms, while strengthening government ownership, multisectoral coordination, data systems and community engagement. The National UN Volunteer Nutrition and ECD Specialist will support UNICEF’s Child Nutrition and Development Programme in Zanzibar by providing technical, strategic, coordination, monitoring and documentation support for priority nutrition and early childhood development (ECD) interventions across Unguja and Pemba. The assignment will contribute to the rollout and operationalization of the Zanzibar Multisectoral Nutrition Strategic Action Plan 2024/25, 2028/29 and the Zanzibar Multisectoral Early Childhood Development Programme 2026/27, 2030/31. Key priorities include improving maternal nutrition services through antenatal care (ANC), postnatal care (PNC) and community platforms, including supporting multiple micronutrient supplementation (MMS) scale-up and integration into health information systems; strengthening infant and young child feeding and responsive caregiving counselling; supporting integration of early stimulation and nurturing care through health facility, community and parenting platforms; strengthening adolescent nutrition through school-based and community platforms, including weekly iron and folic acid supplementation (WIFAS); strengthening the prevention, early detection and treatment of wasting; enhancing food environment and fortifi-cation; and strengthening nutrition-sensitive water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and cli-mate-related interventions in priority districts. The assignment will also provide support for technical coordination, programme quality assurance, monitoring, documentation, partner reporting, learning and scale-up of interventions, including community engagement, service delivery support, social and behavior change, school- and community-based nutrition and early childhood development platforms. Overall, the UN Volunteer will support UNICEF and