Technical Consultant- School Food Environment

The consultant will develop nationally appropriate, evidence-based school food environment standards and operational guidance to promote healthy school food environments and improve nutrition and health outcomes among school-aged children and adolescents in Bangladesh. The role involves comprehensive review, stakeholder consultations, pilot implementation, and finalization of standards in coordination with government and UNICEF.

Responsibilities

• Conduct a comprehensive review of existing evidence on school food and nutrition policies, legislation, standards, guidelines and programmes related to nutrition, food safety, education, and child health services.
• Review international and regional experiences, best practices, standards, and nutrient profiling approaches.
• Review the findings of the national assessment on “Food Environment in and around Schools”.
• Conduct Key Informant/In-depth Interviews (KII) with relevant government ministries and departments, school authorities, teachers, students, parents, food vendors, school management committees, health managers, and local government representatives.
• Design and facilitate key stakeholder consultation workshops with representatives from multiple ministries, government bodies, school authorities, parents, students, youth networks, academia, development partners, UN organizations, NGOs, civil society organizations, and food industry where appropriate.
• Develop a comprehensive school food environment standards framework including nutritional standards, food classification system, school food environment standards, and unhealthy food marketing restrictions.
• Develop implementation/operational guidance including roles and responsibilities of stakeholders, compliance monitoring, enforcement procedures, capacity-building system, communication and awareness strategies.
• Present draft standards to stakeholders, facilitate validation workshops, revise documents based on feedback, and submit final approved documents.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in public health/public health nutrition/food sciences/social sciences/public policy/ Food System, or related field.
• The degree must be obtained from a government-recognized or UGC approved (University Grants Commission) university/institution.
• Minimum 10 years of professional experience in nutrition, public health, food policy, or food systems.
• Proven working relationship with the Ministry of Health and family welfare, GOB high officials, UNICEF or WHO would be an added advantage.
• Bengali and Fluency in English is required.
• Specialized Technical Expertise.
• Demonstrated experience in developing nutrition standards, food regulations, or school health policies.
• Experience working with government institutions in Bangladesh is highly desirable.
• Experience with WHO nutrient profile models, school food standards, and child nutrition policies is an asset.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and facilitation skills.
• Master’s in Food Sciences is desirable.

Skills

• Public Health Nutrition
• Food Policy Development
• Nutrition Standards Development
• Food Regulations
• School Health Policies
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Facilitation Skills
• Government Relations
• WHO Nutrient Profile Models
• School Food Standards
• Child Nutrition Policies
• Evidence-based Policymaking
• Pilot Project Implementation
• Operational Guidance

Languages

Bengali, English