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.
Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.
And we never give up.
For every child, HOPE!
Consultancy Title: Lead Exposure Mitigation, Consultant
Section/Division/Duty Station: PG-Climate Environment Energy & Disaster, Programme Division, NYHQ
Duration: July 1, 2025 to 31 July 2026
Home/ Office Based: REMOTE
About UNICEF
If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For over 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. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.
BACKGROUND
Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:
The purpose of the consultancy is to support regional and country offices in the UNICEF regions (Eastern and Southern Africa, West and Central Africa, Middle East and North Africa) in developing national programs to end child lead poisoning.
Scope of Work:
The UNICEF Strategic Plan has elevated action on climate change and environmental degradation as an organizational priority, to be integrated throughout UNICEF programmes. To concretize this, UNICEF HQ is implementing its global Healthy Environments for Healthy Children (HEHC) programme framework in over 20 countries. To mobilize collection action, UNICEF and partners have founded a Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative to protect child health and development from the impact of climate change and environmental degradation.
Lead exposure is a silent but devastating environmental health issue, with far-reaching consequences for children's health and development. An estimated 1 in 2 children in LMICs have blood lead levels that are of significant concern, contributing to an estimated 1.5 million deaths annually. In response to this crisis, the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future was launched in September 2024 by UNICEF, in collaboration with USAID, UNEP, WHO, the World Bank, Open Philanthropy, and other key stakeholders. The Partnership is the first-ever global, public-private coalition focused on ending childhood lead poisoning in LMICs by 2040. This initiative brings together governments, civil society, and the private sector to champion country-led efforts to eliminate lead from consumer products, improve industrial practices, and enforce lead mitigation standards. The Partnership for a Lead-Free Future is an accelerator partnership of UNICEF’s HEHC and is linked to the Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative.
UNICEF is currently starting activities in an additional 20 low- and middle-income countries to support the prioritization of the issue in the national agenda. This investment is critical because of the lack of understanding of the issue. The resources will be used for a local children’s environmental health assessment (e.g., with an academic institution), building local awareness and institutional leadership on the issue and positioning UNICEF as a credible actor in this new space by rolling out global assets on lead and children’s environmental health.
This 14-month consultancy will provide support and technical assistance to low-and-middle income countries on lead poisoning and the roll out of the Healthy Environments for Healthy Children (HEHC) programme. The consultancy will be managed by the Senior Adviser, Environment. The consultant will work in close collaboration with the HEHC team at HQ, and other offices working on the issue of lead poisoning.
The consultant will:
1) Evidence for action: Improve the evidence base for prioritizing children’s environmental health in the region by supporting the completion of country-level Children’s Environmental Health assessments and further consolidating the data into a regional database and report, complete with materials for advocacy and dissemination. This holistic approach will prioritize existing information on blood lead levels, sources of lead poisoning, institutional capacity assessment, laboratory capacity and the status of environmental regulations and standards.
2) Technical assistance: Provide technical assistance to country offices to deepen programmes on children’s environmental health. This includes programmes that address childhood lead poisoning and other priority children’s environmental health issues. The consultant will develop a workplan detailing the support to country offices, to include in-country missions as relevant, remote support, knowledge management and capacity building. The consultant will ensure the dissemination of the WHO-UNICEF e-learning course on CEH; communications and awareness on environmental health issues affecting children, in collaboration with UNICEF Communications.
3) Regional partnerships: Build regional partnerships such as with regional WHO, regional UNEP, Inter-ministerial Forum on Health and Environment, civil society and others to address childhood lead poisoning and other priority children’s environmental health issues. Also support extending these regional partnerships to country level, and further support mapping of stakeholders and other non-traditional partners that have influence in environmental health. This will be supported by a regional advocacy plan to position UNICEF as a credible actor in this new space, complete with dissemination materials and channels.
Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:
- Evidence for action: Improve the evidence base for prioritizing children’s environmental health in the region by supporting the completion of country-level Children’s Environmental Health assessments and further consolidating the data into a regional database and report, complete with materials for advocacy and dissemination. This holistic approach will prioritize existing information on blood lead levels, sources of lead poisoning, institutional capacity assessment, laboratory capacity and the status of environmental regulations and standards.
- Up to ten High quality Children’s Environmental Health Assessments:
- One regional assessment for Africa on blood lead levels, sources of lead poisoning, regional institutional capacities on the issue, laboratory capacity and the status of environmental regulations and standards completed
31 March 2026
- Technical assistance: Provide technical assistance and oversight to country offices to deepen programmes on children’s environmental health. This includes programmes that address childhood lead poisoning and other priority children’s environmental health issues. The consultant will develop a workplan detailing the support to country offices, to include in-country missions as relevant, remote support, knowledge management and capacity building. The consultant will ensure the dissemination of the WHO-UNICEF e-learning course on CEH; communications and awareness on environmental health issues affecting children, in collaboration with UNICEF Communications.
- An on-site and off-site 4 quarterly technical assistance plans showing periodic check-in with countries in collaboration with HQ is available
- Support government engagement by addressing queries over calls with up to twenty countries (up to 10 calls weekly) to join the Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative and the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future.
- Twenty rollouts the WHO/UNICEF course on children’s environmental health completed.
31 July 2026
- Regional partnerships: Build regional partnerships such as with regional WHO, regional UNEP, Inter-ministerial Forum on Health and Environment, civil society and others to address childhood lead poisoning and other priority children’s environmental health issues. Also support extending these regional partnerships to country level, and further support mapping of stakeholders and other non-traditional partners that have influence in environmental health. This will be supported by a regional advocacy plan to position UNICEF as a credible actor in this new space, complete with dissemination materials and channels.
- Agreements / joint workplans with up to two regional partners.
- An advocacy plan with regional partners on children’s environmental health and ending childhood lead poisoning is available.
31 July 2026
Qualifications
Education:
Masters degree or equivalent in Environmental Health, Public Health, Medical Sciences, Epidemiology, Health research or any other related disciplines
Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:
Experience:
- Technical expertise on lead, toxic chemicals and environmental health.
- Experience in capacity building, government relationship building, training and/or facilitation an asset
- Demonstrated past experience in design of studies and assessments, and conducting research related to the environment, environmental health, climate x health, child’s health, pollutants and/or toxic metals
- Minimum 8 years of progressively responsible and relevant work experience in lead programming in low- and middle-income countries.
- Previous experience of working with UNICEF and the UN is desirable.
Knowledge and Skills
- Knowledge of research, monitoring, and evaluation methods, both quantitative and qualitative, and statistical methods and software
- Understanding of public health systems and policies related to environment and health
- Excellent communication and presentation skills
Requirements:
Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and
- Upload copy of academic credentials
- Financial proposal that will include/ reflect :
- the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
- travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
- Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
- Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.
- Indicate your availability
- Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.
- At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.
- Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.
U.S. Visa information:
With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).
To view our competency framework, please visit here.
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.
According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. At UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF.
UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.
Remarks:
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.
The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.
