Nutrition Program Specialist

1. Purpose of the assignment

To support PND/MoPH, with technical support from our client and consultation with relevant stakeholders, to review implementation of the previous National Public Nutrition Strategy and develop a revised, evidence-informed, results-based and costed National Public Nutrition Strategy for the agreed strategy period.

2. Objectives

2.1 Overall objective

To produce a nationally owned public nutrition strategy that sets strategic priorities, outcomes, measurable targets, implementation arrangements, financing requirements and a monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning framework.

2.2 Specific objectives

• Review the National Public Nutrition Strategy (2019–2023), including its relevance, implementation, achievements against targets, effectiveness, equity, sustainability, coordination and lessons learned.
• Analyse the current nutrition situation and its determinants, using the best available national and subnational data and identifying data limitations.
• Assess the coverage, quality, accessibility and continuity of preventive and curative nutrition interventions, including service delivery through health facilities, community platforms and emergency response mechanisms.
• Identify priority evidence-informed interventions across the life course, including maternal nutrition; infant and young child feeding; prevention and management of wasting and nutritional oedema; micronutrient deficiencies; healthy diets; and prevention of overweight, obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases.
• Develop a strategic results framework with baselines, targets, indicators, data sources, reporting frequency and clear institutional responsibilities.
• Prepare a costed implementation plan, financing scenarios and resource-gap analysis, with priorities sequenced according to public-health impact, equity, feasibility and available resources.
• Define governance, coordination, accountability, workforce development, supply-chain, information-system and implementation arrangements, including links with relevant sectors and emergency preparedness and response.

3. Scope of work and key tasks

Task 1: Inception and review design

• Hold an inception meeting with PND/MoPH and our client to confirm the scope, strategy period, key questions, stakeholders, deliverables, review methods and work plan.
• Prepare an inception report including a review matrix, evaluation questions, document inventory, data-collection tools, stakeholder engagement plan, risk mitigation measures and detailed timetable.
• Agree on a transparent approach for assessing the previous strategy and for documenting evidence gaps and limitations.

Task 2: Desk review and nutrition situation analysis

• Review the previous strategy, relevant national policies and plans, health-sector strategies, nutrition protocols, programme reports, annual work plans, evaluations, surveys and assessments.
• Use the most recent reliable sources available, which may include Afghanistan Health Survey data, MICS, SMART surveys, nutrition information systems, IPC Acute Malnutrition analyses, health-facility data and relevant humanitarian assessments. Verify the correct year, coverage, methodology and comparability of each source; do not assume that all datasets are nationally representative.
• Analyse nutrition status and trends by age, sex, geography and other relevant equity dimensions where data permit, including stunting, wasting, underweight, micronutrient deficiencies, maternal nutrition, infant and young child feeding, diet quality and overweight/obesity where evidence is available.
• Examine drivers and risk factors, including food insecurity and affordability, care and feeding practices, morbidity, WASH, gender and social barriers, poverty, climate-related shocks, conflict, displacement and other emergencies.
• Map existing interventions, service delivery platforms, partners, geographic coverage, target groups, duplication, gaps and opportunities for integration.

Task 3: Review of implementation and service delivery

• Assess implementation progress against the previous strategy’s objectives, indicators and targets, explaining shortfalls and documenting successful approaches and lessons learned.
• Review the availability, accessibility, quality and continuity of key nutrition services, including Integrated Management of Acute Malnutrition (IMAM), maternal nutrition, infant and young child feeding (IYCF/MIYCN), micronutrient interventions, nutrition in emergencies and community-based nutrition programming.
• Review nutrition interventions integrated into the Basic Package of Health Services and other relevant service platforms, including referral pathways, workforce capacity, supervision, essential supplies, data quality and service readiness.
• Assess the alignment of existing clinical and public health practices with current our client recommendations and nationally approved protocols; identify where national guidance, training materials or service-delivery arrangements require updating.
• Review the availability and use of nutrition data for planning, quality improvement and accountability, including strengths and limitations of routine information systems and survey data.

Task 4: Stakeholder consultation and field engagement

• Facilitate consultations with PND/MoPH, relevant ministries and directorates, provincial health authorities, our client, UNICEF, WFP, UNFPA, other development and humanitarian partners, NGOs, academia, professional bodies and community representatives as feasible.
• Use key informant interviews, technical working group meetings, focus group discussions and selected field visits to validate findings and understand implementation realities.
• Ensure participation of stakeholders representing different regions and population groups, including women and caregivers where safe and feasible.
• Maintain a consultation log showing stakeholders consulted, issues raised, recommendations and how inputs were addressed.

Task 5: Development of the revised strategy

• Develop a concise situation analysis, strategic vision, goal, guiding principles, theory of change and a manageable set of strategic objectives and priority interventions.
• Use a life-course and equity-oriented approach and address the multiple burden of malnutrition, while clearly distinguishing interventions within the mandate of public nutrition from those requiring multisectoral action.
• Prioritize interventions using transparent criteria, including burden of malnutrition, expected health impact, equity, evidence, feasibility, affordability and sustainability.
• Specify implementation actions, responsible lead and supporting institutions, delivery platforms, sequencing, milestones, risks and mitigation measures.
• Include nutrition emergency preparedness and response, resilience and continuity of essential nutrition services during shocks and funding disruptions.
• Identify policy, regulatory and systems actions relevant to healthy diets, food environments, protection and promotion of breastfeeding, appropriate complementary feeding and prevention of diet-related disease, as relevant to national mandates.

Task 6: Results framework, monitoring and evaluation

• Develop a results chain linking inputs and activities to outputs, outcomes and longer-term impact, with indicators that are clearly defined, measurable and feasible to monitor.
• For each indicator, specify the definition, numerator and denominator where applicable, baseline and baseline year, target and target year, disaggregation, data source, frequency, responsible institution and reporting mechanism.
• Distinguish population-level nutrition outcome indicators from service coverage, quality, readiness, implementation and financing indicators.
• Use internationally recognized indicators and definitions where appropriate, including relevant our client/UNICEF guidance, while ensuring indicators are feasible and suitable for Afghanistan.
• Set out data-quality assurance, routine monitoring, periodic reviews, evaluation questions, learning mechanisms and arrangements for reporting results to government and partners.
• Identify data gaps and propose realistic steps to strengthen nutrition surveillance, routine information systems and use of evidence without creating unnecessary parallel reporting systems.

Task 7: Costing, budgeting and resource mobilization

• Estimate the cost of priority interventions and implementation activities, state the costing methodology and assumptions, and distinguish one-off from recurrent costs.
• Prepare a costed multi-year implementation plan with annual resource requirements, indicative unit costs where available, responsible institutions and potential funding sources.
• Assess available financing where reliable information exists and estimate the resource gap; clearly document data limitations and avoid presenting assumptions as confirmed funding.
• Develop feasible prioritization and financing scenarios, including a minimum essential package and options for scale-up subject to resources.
• Identify opportunities to improve efficiency, coordinate partner support and strengthen sustainable domestic financing, where applicable.

Task 8: Validation, finalization and dissemination

• Present the draft strategy, results framework and costed implementation plan to PND/MoPH, our client and relevant stakeholders for technical review.
• Maintain a comment-response matrix and incorporate agreed feedback, documenting recommendations that are not adopted and the rationale.
• Submit final editable documents and presentation materials and provide a concise briefing or orientation for designated stakeholders if requested by PND/MoPH.

4. Technical principles and our client alignment

The consultant shall use the latest relevant our client normative guidance and tools available during the assignment, alongside applicable national policies and protocols. At minimum, the review should consider:

• Our client guideline on the prevention and management of wasting and nutritional oedema in infants and children under five (2023), together with the our client–UNICEF implementation guidance published in 2026, and any subsequent updates available during the assignment.
• Our client recommendations and guidance on maternal nutrition, breastfeeding, complementary feeding, infant and young child feeding counselling, micronutrient interventions and healthy diets.
• Our client guidance and tools for evidence-informed nutrition policy planning, costing, monitoring and tracking progress against relevant global nutrition targets.
• Relevant global commitments and targets, including the Sustainable Development Goals and applicable World Health Assembly nutrition targets, while confirming their status and relevance for the strategy period.
• Human-rights-based, gender-responsive, disability-inclusive, conflict-sensitive and equity-oriented approaches, with attention to vulnerable and underserved populations.

The consultant shall identify the version and publication date of key guidance used, distinguish normative our client recommendations from operational choices made for the Afghanistan context, and seek technical validation from PND/MoPH and our client. National adoption of clinical recommendations remains subject to the relevant national approval process.

5. Methodology

The consultant is expected to use a mixed-methods approach proportionate to the assignment, combining desk review, quantitative data analysis, stakeholder consultations and selected field engagement. The methodology should include:

• Document review and evidence extraction using a structured matrix.
• Secondary analysis of available routine, survey and assessment data, with transparent documentation of methods, limitations and comparability.
• Key informant interviews and consultative meetings with national and subnational stakeholders.
• Focus group discussions and field visits were feasible, safe and approved by PND/MoPH.
• Participatory development and validation of strategic priorities, indicators, targets, implementation arrangements and costing assumptions.
• Triangulation of findings across data sources and stakeholder perspectives.

The consultant must obtain any required approvals before collecting primary data, protect confidentiality, obtain informed consent where applicable, and avoid collecting personal or sensitive data unless necessary and authorized.

6. Expected deliverables and acceptance criteria

Deliverable

Minimum content

Acceptance criteria / timing

Inception report

Review framework, key questions, methodology, stakeholder map, data and document inventory, consultation plan, risks, deliverables and detailed work plan.

Within 10 working days of commencement; approval by PND and our client.

Strategy review and situation analysis report

Assessment of the 2019–2023 strategy; progress against targets; implementation and service-delivery analysis; nutrition situation and determinants; stakeholder mapping; strengths, gaps and recommendations.

Evidence-based, with sources cited and data limitations documented; validated by PND/our client.

First draft of National Public Nutrition Strategy

Strategic vision and goal, objectives, theory of change, priority interventions, governance and implementation arrangements, risks and mitigation measures.

Structured, coherent, aligned with agreed national priorities and relevant our client guidance.

1. Results framework and monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning plan

Indicator reference sheets with definitions, baselines, targets, disaggregation, data sources, frequency, responsibilities and review arrangements.

Measurable, feasible and linked to strategy objectives; data gaps explicitly identified.

Costed implementation plan

Multi-year and annual activity plan, costing assumptions, resource requirements, financing scenarios, resource-gap analysis and capacity-development priorities.

Transparent methods and assumptions; costs traceable to activities and priorities.

Validation package

Presentation of the draft, consultation/validation record and comment-response matrix.

Stakeholder comments documented and decisions on revisions transparent.

Final strategy package

Final strategy narrative, results framework, cost implementation plan, monitoring and evaluation plan, implementation arrangements, and an executive summary; editable Word and Excel files plus presentation slides.

All agreed comments addressed; technically consistent and formally accepted by PND/MoPH and our client.

7. Indicative work plan (90 working days)

The following allocation is indicative and should be finalized in the inception report. Activities may overlap, but the total level of effort should remain within the approved 90 working days.

Activity

Working days

Inception meeting, work plan and inception report

Desk review and data collection/analysis

Review of previous strategy and situation analysis

Stakeholder consultations, TWG meetings and selected field visits

Draft strategy and strategic implementation framework

Results framework and monitoring/evaluation plan

Costing, budgeting and resource-gap analysis

Validation workshop, revisions and comment-response matrix

Finalization, presentation and handover

Total

8. Qualifications and experience

• Advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in public health, nutrition, epidemiology, health policy, health systems, or a closely related field. A doctoral degree is an advantage.
• At least seven years of progressively responsible professional experience in public health and nutrition programming, policy development, strategic planning or programme evaluation.
• Demonstrated experience in reviewing or developing national strategies, policies, results frameworks or multi-year implementation plans.
• Strong technical knowledge of public nutrition, including maternal nutrition, IYCF/MIYCN, wasting prevention and management, micronutrient interventions, nutrition in emergencies and community-based nutrition.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret nutrition and health data, analyses programme performance and translate evidence into policy and practical recommendations.
• Experience in costing nutrition or public-health interventions, budgeting and monitoring and evaluation is strongly preferred.
• Knowledge of Afghanistan’s nutrition situation, health system, institutions and operating context is essential; experience working with government and UN/NGO partners is an advantage.
• Excellent English writing, facilitation and analytical skills. Knowledge of Dari and/or Pashto is an advantage.

9. Management, reporting and coordination

The consultant will be based at or work closely with the Public Nutrition Directorate, MoPH, and will work under the day-to-day technical supervision of PND, with technical support and coordination from our client. The consultant will report progress against the approved work plan and submit deliverables for review within agreed deadlines.

PND/MoPH, supported by our client, will facilitate access to available documents and relevant stakeholders, coordinate technical working group engagement, consolidate feedback and review deliverables. The consultant is responsible for incorporating feedback, maintaining version control and documenting unresolved issues or assumptions.

The consultant will liaise, as appropriate, with relevant government entities, our client, UNICEF, WFP, UNFPA, implementing partners, civil society, academic institutions and provincial stakeholders.

10. Duration and duty station

The assignment is expected to require up to 90 working days. The schedule and modality of work, including time at PND/MoPH, remote work, consultations and field visits, will be agreed during inception, subject to security, access and budget. The contract period and submission dates will be confirmed by PND/MoPH and our client.

Important administrative point: the source ToR uses both “next five years” and “2027–2032.” These are not equivalent: 2027–2032 spans six calendar years when both years are included. PND/MoPH should confirm the intended period before publication. This revised draft retains 2027–2032 in the title pending that decision.

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