Consultancy for Nutrition Programme Costing and Resource Requirements Analysis
Organizational Context
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential. We are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.
Job Purpose
The purpose of this consultancy is to conduct a comprehensive costing analysis of nutrition programmes in Afghanistan and estimate the financial resources required to achieve national nutrition targets over the medium term. This assignment will generate crucial evidence on programme costs, resource needs, financing gaps, investment priorities, and cost-effectiveness to support strategic planning, budgeting, advocacy, and resource mobilization. The consultant will determine unit costs and assess the relative cost-effectiveness of key nutrition interventions, delivery platforms, and service delivery models to identify the most efficient approaches for improving nutrition outcomes at scale. The ultimate goal is to provide actionable data that will inform and strengthen UNICEF's nutrition programming and resource allocation in Afghanistan.
Responsibilities
The consultant will conduct a Nutrition Programme Costing Analysis to estimate recurrent, capital, and total programme costs at national and sub-national levels. This includes calculating costs per beneficiary reached, service delivered, child treated for SAM and HR-MAM, pregnant and lactating woman served, FHH supported, CNDCC supported, and health facility delivering nutrition services. The analysis will assess cost variations across provinces and delivery models, identify key cost drivers and efficiency bottlenecks, and determine the most cost-effective intervention packages. The consultant will also benchmark costs against comparable programmes where feasible. Furthermore, the consultant will develop 3–5-year resource requirement projections for maintaining and scaling up services, including emergency surge scenarios. A financing gap assessment will be conducted to estimate funding needs, identify financing risks, and assess efficiency gains. Based on these findings, the consultant will develop a Nutrition Investment Case demonstrating the burden of malnutrition, the costs and benefits of priority interventions, their cost-effectiveness and return on investment, priority investments required to achieve national targets, and recommendations for sustainable financing and resource mobilization.
Work Experience
At least 8–10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in nutrition, public health, health systems strengthening, health financing, programme costing, or economic analysis. Demonstrated experience in conducting programme costing, resource requirements analysis, budget analysis, financial modelling, or investment case development in the health and nutrition sectors.
Skills
Strong understanding of nutrition programming (maternal nutrition, infant and young child feeding, micronutrient interventions, IMAM, nutrition information systems), In-depth knowledge of health and nutrition financing mechanisms, public financial management, and sector planning, Expertise in costing methodologies (activity-based costing, ingredient-based costing, unit-cost estimation, expenditure analysis), Strong knowledge of economic evaluation methods (cost-effectiveness, cost-benefit, value-for-money analyses), Familiarity with national and international nutrition policies, strategies, and frameworks, Knowledge of nutrition programme implementation in humanitarian and development contexts, Proven track record of leading complex assessments with multiple stakeholders, Experience in developing costing models, financing scenarios, investment cases, and resource mobilization strategies, Experience in fragile, humanitarian, or conflict-affected settings