UNICEF Pacific National Consultancy: Agriculture Advisor for School Meal Program in Western and Isabel Provinces, Solomon Islands, 250 working days over 12 months. Entry level Individual Consultant Long-term contract National Position

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For every child, the right to sustenance.  

UNICEF Pacific works across 14 Pacific Island countries and territories, home to 2.3 million people, including 1.2 million children—spread across 660 islands and atolls. Five of these countries, including Solomon Islands, are classified as Fragile States. While all have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, only a third are up to date with reporting obligations. Explore the different areas of our work here: UNICEF Pacific Islands.

The Solomon Islands faces a triple burden of malnutrition: undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overnutrition. Among children under five, 32% are stunted, 8% wasted, and 39% anaemic, while overweight and obesity affect 23% of children and 57% of adults. Poor dietary habits, including low consumption of fruits and vegetables and high intake of sugary drinks, contribute to this challenge.

Agriculture remains the primary livelihood for over 80% of the population, yet is increasingly affected by land scarcity, climate change, and environmental degradation. Strengthening agricultural practices, extension services, and community‑based production—especially of climate‑resilient, nutrient‑dense crops offers a pathway to improved food security and reduced vulnerability to price shocks. Schools and surrounding communities hold untapped potential for scaling up local food production, complemented by small‑scale livestock.

With support from the Government of Japan, UNICEF and the Government of Solomon Islands are implementing a three‑year school meal provision project in nine schools across Western and Isabel Provinces. The initiative aims to deliver healthy, sustainable school meals by enhancing agricultural production within schools and neighbouring communities. Initial assessments are complete, and the project is now entering the crucial stage of establishing agricultural activities.

To advance this work, UNICEF and government partners seek a national consultant to provide technical, hands‑on support to schools and communities. The consultant will guide nutrition‑sensitive, climate‑resilient production systems and work closely with provincial agriculture teams to ensure a reliable supply of locally grown nutritious foods for school meals.

How can you make a difference?

Specific objectives:

• Lead assessment of existing agricultural practices and food production systems in the nine schools and quantify required agricultural produce for sustainable daily nutritionally adequate meal provision in each school.
• Lead mapping of existing school farms and gardens, identify potential areas for expansion, and estimate expected yields from schools and surrounding communities (including farming cooperatives which would be set up to complement school-based production).
• In liaison with all the project stakeholders and implementing partners, develop a comprehensive, site-specific master plan/design map (including an agricultural calendar) for each school, integrating ecological design principles (e.g., crop diversity, soil health, water management, and integration of trees, crops, and small livestock.
• Provide technical support and oversight to develop model school gardens and farms for each of the nine schools, in alignment with local resources, climate, soil typology, and capacity of the schools.
• Promote agroforestry systems that enhance biodiversity, soil health, and resilience in school and community food production.
• Strengthen the capacity of provincial agricultural teams, school staff, and community stakeholders in sustainable agricultural practices.
• Provide technical support, guidance and oversight to organize and strengthen community farmer groups/cooperatives and their partnerships with local markets to complement school-based food production.
• Develop technical recommendations to integrate agriculture into school meal planning and implementation.

1. Assessment & Planning

• Provide technical support and guidance for conducting mapping of local agricultural production in target schools and their surrounding communities.
• Support identification of priority climate resilient nutritious perennial crops, trees and small livestock that can be scaled up for school meal provision. Support food systems mapping to identify the barriers to production and access of these crops by the targeted schools.
• Guide development of school-community food supply plans, including the respective yield targets for both community and schools, crop calendars and delivery arrangements.
• Provide technical support and guidance for design a comprehensive site-specific master plan/design map (including agricultural calendar) for each school site, integrating ecological design principles and reflecting site-specific needs, with input from school and community stakeholders.

2. Strengthening School–Community Linkages

• Provide guidance and technical support to re-establish or revamp farmer groups /cooperatives to address the identified food supply gaps from school-based agricultural production.
• Facilitate agreements between schools and local farmer groups/cooperatives for regular food supply.
• Guide and support to establish routine, affordable, and sustainable food supply chains between community and schools.

3. Capacity Building & Extension Services

• In liaison with implementing partners & stakeholders, develop a relevant training module and provide training to farmers, school committees, and agriculture extension officers on:
  • Climate-smart farming techniques
  • Integrated farming system, including multi-layered planting, composting, water harvesting, irrigation and natural pest management
  • Sustainable crop and livestock production
  • Food safety, preservation and post-harvest handling
  
  
• Ensure that the productivity, efficiency and yields of school-farms are enhanced and maximized while promoting practical techniques for creating resilient, low-input food systems suitable for the local context
• Support schools in establishing/strengthening school gardens as demonstration sites for nutrition education.

4. Technical Inputs & Resource Mobilization

• Advice project stakeholders on procurement, deployment and use and maintenance of agricultural equipment/machinery provided under the project.
• Oversee the upgradation of school kitchens, kitchen services, cooking practices for improving quality of food for students
• Recommend climate-resilient practices (e.g., irrigation, composting, organic farming) suitable to local contexts and build capacity of school management and local farmers for their adoption

5. Coordination

• Maintain regular coordination with implementing partner to complete work plans and monitor implementation accordingly
• Support coordination between provincial and national agricultural teams to ensure timely deployment of agricultural inputs and materials
• Strengthen coordination of provincial agricultural teams (including school meal coordination committees) and implementing partners, other sectors as well as schools to ensure that agricultural plans are implemented in consultations with all relevant stakeholders (education, health, agriculture, school meal project team, and NGOs).

6. Quality Assurance, Monitoring, Learning & Reporting

• Develop simple quality assurance and monitoring tools to track agricultural production, adequacy of agricultural produce and planned food supplies into schools for nutritionally enhanced school meal provision.
• Develop and implement context relevant sustainability plans specific for each school on how schools can take up financial costs for the agricultural activities beyond the project timeline
• Identify good practices, challenges and lessons learned and develop recommendations which can offer smooth eventual takeover of the project by government and sustainability including national government funded scale-up of the school meal program.
• Provide monthly progress updates and a final consultancy report.

Please refer to the ToR ( National Consultant ToR – Agricultural Advisor.pdf) for further information on the deliverables and the timelines.

GUIDANCE FOR APPLICANTS:  

Please submit a separate financial offer along with your application and technical proposal on how the assignment will be conducted. The financial proposal should be a lump sum amount for all the deliverables in the Terms of Reference above and should show a breakdown for the following:

• Daily fees – Based on the deliverables indicated in the Terms of Reference.
• Field Mission to Western and Isabel Province, approximately 12 missions to each province
• Miscellaneous – to cover health insurance, communications, and other costs.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Minimum requirements:

Education:

• A university degree (Bachelors) in an agricultural related field is required. An advanced degree (Master’s) in a related discipline is an added advantage. Relevant years of experience may be considered in lieu of a higher degree.

Work Experience:

• Minimum of 3 years of professional experience in agriculture and food systems in the Pacific or similar contexts
• Demonstrated expertise in climate-smart agriculture, permaculture/agroforestry systems and participatory planning, nutrition-sensitive agriculture, and community-based organization of farmers
• Experience in working with / through government ministries, schools, farmer cooperatives

Skills:

• Strong facilitation, training, coordination skills and community engagement skills.
• Proven ability to work independently under difficult conditions while meeting deadlines
• Able to work effectively with multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams
• Excellent pedagogical skills for training
• Communicates clearly and concisely
• Excellent analytical and conceptual skills
• Advanced computer literacy including good working knowledge of data analysis packages/software

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required. Knowledge of Solomon Islands Pidgin is an advantage

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is either a role with direct contact with children, a role that works directly with identifiable children’s data, a safeguarding response role, or an assessed risk role. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) apply.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

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.

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.

Remarks: 

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.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable male and female candidates are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

This position is open to Solomon Islands nationals only. All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.