Child Nutrition & Development Officer

Pakistan was the sixth country in the world to sign and ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child, less than one year after it was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1989. However, children and adolescents living in Pakistan still face acute challenges. UNICEF supports the Government of Pakistan to accelerate progress for children, work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and help children realize their rights under the Convention on the Rights of Children. This will be made through, among others things, strong partnerships with provincial authorities, teachers and health professionals, frontline workers and social mobilisers, communities and families, and of course the children and adolescents themselves. In particular, UNICEF will work so that: Every child survives and thrives -- being in good health, immunised, protected from polio and accessing nutritious food. Every child learns. Every child is protected from violence and exploitation, and registered at birth. Every child lives in a safe and clean environment, with access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.

UNICEF Works in 190 countries and territories to protect the rights of every child. UNICEF has spent 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families. Defending children's rights throughout their lives requires a global presence, aiming to produce results and understand their effects. UNICEF believes all children have a right to survive, thrive, and fulfil their potential – to the benefit of a better world. For every child, Nutrition Working in partnership with the Government of Pakistan at every level from the local to the provincial and federal, alongside committed donors, NGOs, CSOs and private organizations, we celebrate important achievements, while recognizing that there is a long way to go before, we can achieve the dream of a world fit for children. The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic, and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, nutrition, education, and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfil their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. Hence, the focus on equity is so vital, it accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations. The outcome of the Child Nutrition and Development Program is: By the end 2027, Children, adolescents, and women in Pakistan, especially the most vulnerable and deprived, access, and utilize, quality, equitable, gender-responsive and sustainable evidence-based services and adopt appropriate nutritional behaviours and care practices to address all forms of malnutrition, thereby contribute for optimal growth and development. The Child Nutrition and Development Program has three strategic areas. 1) Governance, Functional Multisectoral Coordination and Stronger Systems for Nutrition and ECD: aims to strengthen governance and implementation of policies, programmes and guidelines to address the protracted and triple burden of malnutrition and early childhood developmental challenges. 2) Early Childhood Nutrition: Prioritize age groups 0-5 years with programmes that improve the diet services and practices for survival, optimal growth and development, including in the humanitarian contexts. 3) Middle Childhood, Adolescent and Maternal Nutrition: strengthening nutrition services and practices for middle childhood, adolescents and mothers.

UNICEF is supporting Federal, Provincial and area Governments in development and rollout of Early Childhood Development (ECD) policy framework to institutionalize ECD across ministers/sectors through the development of governance structures, service delivery platforms, costed plans, Monitoring and learning, capacity strengthening, as well as social and behaviour change for the holistic child development. The UNV specialist will support all the above-mentioned activities and liaison with the Government, Donors, UN agencies, and INGOs/NGOs for the support of policy planning, advocacy, implementation, and monitoring, and learning of Multisectoral Nutrition & ECD. Under the supervision of the Scaling up Nutrition Movement Focal Person (SUN secretariat) and UNICEF’s ECD Manager, in close coordination with the Ministry of National Health Services Regulation and Coordination (MoNHSR&C) and other Ministries and programmes/Sectors, the UNV supports the implementation of the Multiyear workplan ECD and other multisectoral nutrition activities in Pakistan. S/he provides technical support and management support to facilitate the achievement of concrete and sustainable results in strengthening functional multisectoral coordination mechanisms for nutrition and, in line with the national and subnational priorities, national strategic plans, standards of performance, and accountability framework. The UNV will also build strong work relationships with other ministries, mainly MoNHSR&C, the Ministry of Poverty Alleviation & Social Safety (MoPA&SS), and the Ministry of Education to accelerate the ECD & Multisectoral Nutrition agenda. The UNV will be responsible for the following to Scaling up Nutrition Movement: 1. Support to programme development, coordination and planning: The UNV is required to support the Scaling up Nutrition Movement Focal Person by supporting and assisting in coordinating the activities of Early Childhood Development and Multisectoral Nutrition. This includes organizing regular ECD technical working group meetings and supporting them with nutrition, with ECD & Multisectoral nutrition-related decision-making processes. 2. Technical and operational support for programme implementation: UNV is required to assist with activities pertinent to ECD & Multisectoral Nutrition for MoPD&SI. This includes preparing regular reports, maintaining records. 3. Programme monitoring support: The UNV would support the government in nutrition and child development programs monitoring for the delivery of results. This includes collecting and analyzing data, information management and KM document preparation, e.g newsletter. 4. Assist in partnership building: The UNV will support the SUN FP in partnership building with alliances, networks, CSOs, Academia & researchers for nutrition and child development at the Islamabad level. 5. Support in knowledge management and capacity building: The UNV would support in building the capacity of local partners and stakeholders on parenting-ECD. This includes providing training and supporting the development of local expertise in child development. He/she will contribute to the learning and innovative agenda on nutrition and child development.