Country: Maldives
Closing date: 18 Oct 2017
Advert for National Consultant
Terms of Reference for National Consultancy to develop Nutrition Policy for Schools, Package of Nutrition Intervention and School Food guidelines.
Maldives
TOR Reference Number: TOR/2017/19
Programme Information
School health is a fundamental element of a quality learning environment. Poor health and malnutrition prevents students from attending school, and affects their learning while in school.Â
The School health programme was established in the education sector of the Maldives in the 1986 to address the health issues affecting school children. The overall purpose is to promote healthy lifestyles among students, by providing them with knowledge and skills that will enable them to take responsible decisions to protect their own health and well-being. Currently, the school health programme includes basic medical screening of children, health education and awareness on various health issues through core curricular and co-curricular activities, and provision of health information to students, teachers and parents. In addition, a school health policy was drafted in 2010, which provides directions for implementation of programmes and activities with a focus a whole school approach that fosters a healthy environment. In 2016, a School health strategy has been developed to provide strategic directions -Â the strategy also identifies concrete actions for implementing the school health programme.
More recently, the Ministry of Education has been conducting health screening of students in early primary to assess the growth and key health indicators. This has enabled the capturing of baseline data on the health of children who has entered primary schools since 2014. The screening of primary one students have been done consequently in 2015, 2016 and 2017. The assessment provides annual data on health status of children entering primary schools each year, and has helped identify common issues affecting their health and well-being. Findings reveal that nutrition issues and oral health problems appears to be the two most common issues. According to the health screening 2015 data, of all the children screened in the atolls, 40% have some level of malnutrition, and while the total body mass index (BMI) show that only 36% of students have a healthy weight. Further, 16% of students were found to be are either obese or overweight. Overall, findings across the three years identifies nutrition as an area of major concern, with both under nutrition and over nutrition highlighted as issue affecting children.
Nutrition improves child well-being, and enhances the learning ability, leading to better academic performance. Evidence shows positive links between a child's level of nourishment and his/her level of learning achievement. The level of nourishment is also correlated with increased attendance, positive behaviour and consequently, improved child-teacher relationships. Adequate nutrition fosters mental, social and physical well-being, contributing to increased self-esteem and positive body image. Nonetheless, despite the evidence, the recognition of the benefits of good nutrition have not been adequately applied in by individuals, families, schools and larger community. An enabling policy environment is a key step towards addressing these within the school environment. Programmes or nutrition intervention package, resources and guidelines are also required to facilitate the roll-out.
In this regard, UNICEF Maldives Country Office is seeking a national consultant to develop a school nutrition policy and intervention programme for the Ministry of Education.
The objective of this consultancy is to strengthen the institutional capacity of the school health program by developing a school nutrition policy, and food guidance for schools.
The specific objectives of the national consultant are to:
The incumbent is expected to work closely with the School Health Unit, UNICEF and other stakeholders as suggested by the School Health Unit and UNICEF.
NA - Male, Maldives (based in the Ministry of Education), and home-based.
UNICEF, Programme Specialist and from the Government, the Focal Point from School Health Unit, Male, Maldives will provide support and supervision.
The main role of the consultant is to provide technical expertise and carry out the following:
Conduct a comprehensive training for selected School Health staff (aprox 3-5 days). Develop a training outline, resources to present and content of the trainings. The training outline and other materials needs to be commented and approved by technical group, MoE and UNICEF.
It is estimated that the work will take approximately 60 -70 calendar days between October 2017 – February 2018
Short field visits to to select islands for consultation for consultation, training and Âbefore the finalization of the policy documents
Deadline for application is 18th Oct 2017
Application with (i) updated CV, (ii) Updated P11 Form and separately (iii) a proposed (daily) fee in MVR and a (iii) expression of interest to be submitted as attachments with the online application. UNICEF may also ask for submission of relevant work.
Application Link:https://goo.gl/ghGXrH
ONLY SHORT-LISTED APPLICANTS WILL BE CONTACTED
ANNEX 1: SELECTION PROCESS
Interested candidates should submit an application along with the following documents and a price (daily fee) proposal quoted in MVR.
Accompanying documents and testimonial
Applicants are requested to back up their submissions by providingP11 Form
Application must be submitted through the UNICEF application web portal, by the given deadline (18 OCT 2017). Email applications will not be considered.
How to apply:
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=507830
