UNICEF China Office is seeking a skilled and motivated Nutrition Intern to join our team for a short-term assignment focused on managing a small-scale food and environment campaign. The intern will play a crucial role in promoting nutritional awareness and sustainable practices within our community.

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, Nutrition

Children globally, including in China, are facing a significant food crisis, which is not only harming their health with malnutrition and NCDs, but also damaging the planet.

In China, rapid economic growth and urbanization are making this crisis worse, making it hard for people to get nutritious food. Changes in eating habits, like more processed foods, are causing more diet-related problems among children. Additionally, the effects of this food crisis extend beyond human health concerns alone. The environmental impact of unsustainable food production and consumption practices exacerbates the challenge. From deforestation and habitat destruction to greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution, the food system exacts a heavy toll on the planet’s ecosystems.

In responding these issues, we are seeking a skilled and motivated Nutrition Intern to join our team for a short-term assignment focused on managing a small-scale food and environment campaign. The intern will play a crucial role in promoting nutritional awareness and sustainable practices within our community.

How can you make a difference? 

The primary objective of this internship is to develop and execute a campaign aimed at raising awareness about the intersection of nutrition and the environment. The intern will support the programme officer in designing creative initiatives to encourage healthy eating habits while minimizing environmental impact.

The following are key tasks that the intern will assist with under the supervision of the nutrition team.

• Research current trends and best practices in nutrition and environmental sustainability.
• Develop a campaign plan outlining objectives, target audience, key messages, and tactics.
• Working with technical nutrition experts to create engaging content for social media platforms, including graphics, videos, and blog posts.
• Collaborate with local counterparts to promote campaign initiatives, taking the existing nutrition programme as a vehicle.
• Collect and analyze data to evaluate the effectiveness of campaign efforts.
• Provide team assistance to contribute to various nutrition projects and initiatives.

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

• Be enrolled in a degree programme in an undergraduate (above 18 years old) or postgraduate study, majored in nutrition, public health, environmental studies, or a related field.
• Have strong academic performance as demonstrated by recent university or institution records, or, if not available, a reference letter from an academic supervisor;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Creative thinker with the ability to generate innovative campaign ideas.
• Have no immediate relatives working in any UNICEF offices;
• Fluency in English and Mandarin is required.
• Experience with social media management and content creation is a plus.
• Familiarity with data analysis tools and techniques preferred.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

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

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.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.
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. 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.

Remarks:  

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, all eligible and suitable candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, are encouraged to apply.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government 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.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.