DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS
14 November 2025-23 : 59-GMT01 : 00 Central European Time (Rome)
WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, colour, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status, or disability.
ABOUT WFP
The World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability, and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters, and the impact of climate change.
At WFP people are at the heart of everything we do and the vision of the future WFP workforce is one of diverse, committed, skilled and high‑performing teams selected on merit, operating in a healthy and inclusive work environment living WFP’s values (Integrity, Collaboration, Commitment, Humanity and Inclusion) and working with partners to save and change the lives of those WFP serves.
To learn more about WFP visit our website: follow us on social media to keep up with our latest news – YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok.
WHY JOIN WFP
WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.
WFP offers a highly inclusive, diverse and multicultural working environment.
WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training, accreditation, coaching, mentorship, and other programs, as well as through internal mobility opportunities.
A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country, regional and global offices around the world and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.
We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
Background
The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is one of the leading global institutions helping to measure and alleviate malnutrition. WFP supports national food and health systems across more than 80 countries as they strive to provide access safely and systematically to healthy, nutritious diets and reduce micronutrient deficiencies in women, children and the population at large. A key part of this work is the generation of data on food and nutrition security and status, dietary diversity and access to nutritious foods and diets, including food costs and expenditure, and using these data to highlight where there are risks of insufficiencies by target group, geography or vulnerability reflected as hunger (insufficient dietary energy and coping strategies), unaffordability of nutrient‑adequate diets, inadequate dietary diversity, risk of inadequate micronutrient intake, and likelihood of micronutrient deficiencies.
When households and specific household members are unable to meet their dietary micronutrient needs due to physical, financial or sociological barriers it becomes necessary to consider additional pathways that can safeguard against micronutrient malnutrition. Large‑Scale Food Fortification (LSFF) is a powerful cost‑effective intervention for improving micronutrient intake that can be adapted to many food vehicles and contexts and delivered through different platforms, including both conventional commercial markets and food assistance, including school meals and social protection programs. WFP has long been involved in efforts to expand the scope and impact of LSFF.
Advocacy and decision making about LSFF and other micronutrient intervention programmes and policy especially about whether, where, what, how and for whom to advocate for and implement such initiatives require evidence. This includes information on micronutrient deficiencies and dietary intake for different populations, the likelihood that current diets are able to meet the recommended requirements for key vitamins and minerals, and current intake of fortifiable foods among specific sub‑groups of the population. They also require information about the extent to which different LSFF programmes, delivery scenarios and other micronutrient interventions could assist in filling nutrient intake gaps for key populations. Such evidence is imperative to inform decisions across the LSFF ecosystem, including policy formulation, setting standards and determining whether LSFF is having an impact in general and with particular emphasis on those who are most vulnerable, with a focus on gender. However, due to cost, time needed and complexity of primary data collection on vitamin and mineral deficiency (VMD) and dietary intake, there are still many gaps in data needed to quantify the problem e.g. magnitude and distribution of micronutrient malnutrition and nutrient inadequacy as well as food consumption patterns within a population required for proper program design and exploration of new cost‑effective vehicles and entry points for fortification. Further existing data or methods of obtaining data are limited in their ability to describe dimensions of intake inadequacy related to vulnerability in terms of gender, age, geography, biological status and illness.
The WFP specializes in uses of innovative data approaches to support governments make informed decisions about the design and effective implementation of food security and nutrition policy and programs, including the integration of nutrition objectives across food systems – to achieve maximum impact. WFP’s HungerMapLive is widely used to inform humanitarian programming and food security situation monitoring. HungerMapLive displays real‑time information on food insecurity, nutrition and various relevant drivers using primary data collected using remote monitoring, estimates generated using machine learning‑based predictive analytics and publicly available secondary data pulled automatically through APIs. The use of innovative methods to use existing data to estimate or predict the risk of dietary vitamin and mineral deficiencies and the potential of different programs, including LSFF, to fill nutrient gaps can support programme and policy decision‑makers from national governments and other stakeholders. This activity brings together the analytical and government technical assistance expertise of the Nutrition and Food Quality Service and data collection and visualisation experience from the HungerMapLive Team.
ABOUT THE TEAM
WFP’s Modelling and Mapping risk of Inadequate Micronutrient Intake (MIMI) approach generates and increases access to modelled data on risk of inadequate micronutrient intake at national and sub‑national levels, which is critical to advocate for and inform the design and roll‑out of large‑scale food fortification as well as other micronutrient interventions and complementary programs.
Specifically, MIMI works with academic and policy partners to develop innovative methods for modelling the risk of inadequate dietary micronutrient intake and the extent to which large‑scale food fortification (LSFF) (of different commodities and fortified according to different specifications) could reduce risk to inform policy decision‑making and advocacy. MIMI’s estimated and predictive analytical models use secondary data on food supply, food consumption and expenditure, socioeconomic status and climate, among others, and allow exploration of nutritional vulnerability by geography, gender and socioeconomic characteristics. To date, methods have been validated against dietary consumption and micronutrient status data in three countries. The outputs have been developed into inputs to display on interactive sub‑national maps with the support of WFP’s Hunger MapLive Team. Importantly, the team is engaging with stakeholders in each of the focus geographies to support and document the application validation and uptake of modelled evidence to inform policy and advocacy and document the process. The initiative overall has benefited from WFP’s in‑country presence and partnerships with the relevant academic and civil society partners, among other stakeholders, to promote transparency, provide a forum for discussion, maximise stakeholder involvement at the global level, incorporate the views of potential end users at the country level and build community acceptance.
Between 2024 and 2026 MIMI will expand evidence generation and stakeholder engagement activities to an additional eight countries and explore the potential of integrating WFP’s real‑time data monitoring into the modelling and analysis. The advertised position reflects work to be undertaken under this new phase.
PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The Nutrition Analyst (Data Scientist) will play a critical role in the MIMI team within the WFP Nutrition and Food Quality Service. Under the supervision of the MIMI Team Lead and working as part of a dynamic multidisciplinary team of nutritionists, data scientists, policy and advocacy specialists this position will contribute to the development and application of analytical methods, data analysis and data visualisation. The Nutrition Analyst will also engage meaningfully and present outputs to diverse stakeholders at the country‑ and global‑level. The Nutrition Analyst will bring knowledge in statistics or data science and technical expertise in the analysis, modelling and visualisation of nutrition and food consumption or expenditure data, especially data from Household Consumption and Expenditure Surveys, to estimate food and nutrient intake and inform LSFF and other nutrition programmes and policy. The Nutrition Analyst will also have a role in building systems to access diverse data across multiple country contexts, maintaining code‑management infrastructure and methods documentation and developing guidance for users of these outputs.
ACCOUNTABILITIES / RESPONSIBILITIES
* Map and explore data and indicators relevant to the estimation of the risk of dietary micronutrient inadequacy.
* Collate clean and process national survey datasets for 2‑3 countries.
* Work collaboratively with team members and analytical partners to refine and test methods to estimate the risk of inadequate micronutrient intake and conduct analysis for 2‑3 countries.
* Contribute to thought leadership on the development and application of analytical models to test the potential contribution of fortification and other micronutrient interventions to reducing risk of inadequate micronutrient intake.
* Develop novel methods for improving the estimation of inadequate micronutrient intake using secondary data.
* Lead maintenance of MIMI’s secure relational database system ensuring streamlined access to multiple diverse data types from several country contexts.
* Lead maintenance of MIMI’s code‑management infrastructure ensuring availability of clearly documented indices and guidance notes for team members and future users.
* Engage with stakeholders and analytical partners from 2‑3 countries to identify priority policy questions, landscape data and plan analytical approaches.
* Engage with present specific analytical methods and findings to and participate in technical‑level discussions with analytical partners and stakeholders at the global‑level and in diverse countries.
* Support the development of evidence outputs and data visualisations based on user feedback, including preparing outputs for the HungerMapLive.
* Prepare and participate in dissemination and policy implementation activities with in‑country stakeholders, led by WFP Country Offices.
* Prepare for and provide training and other capacity‑strengthening activities on the methods developed and use of household consumption data to estimate micronutrient risk as relevant.
* Lead or contribute to research studies with partner academic institutions that improve statistical modelling of inadequate micronutrient intake and intervention scenarios.
* Lead or contribute to drafting of academic manuscripts for submission to peer‑reviewed journals.
* Participate in field missions to focus countries and WFP country offices as required.
* Presentation at academic webinars or conferences as relevant.
DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT
* Analysis of data inputs from 2‑3 countries to estimate risk of inadequate intake of individual micronutrients and micronutrients overall.
* Intervention modelling for 2‑3 countries to estimate the contribution of different micronutrient interventions to reducing the risk of inadequate micronutrient intake.
* Data pre‑processed for visualisation on the HungerMapLive platform for all MIMI countries.
* Relevant analysis synthesis and thematic presentations and publications developed.
* GitHub repository and data infrastructure maintained.
* Analytical pipeline for estimating inadequate micronutrient at finer spatial resolutions in MIMI countries.
* Presentation of methodology and results to diverse stakeholders nationally and internationally.
* Development of peer‑reviewed articles, topic briefs and other external‑facing materials as required to present methodology, analysis and validation of results.
QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED
Education
Master’s degree or higher in Data Science, Epidemiology, Medical Statistics or a related field.
Experience
* 3‑4 years work experience, some of that on informing health or nutrition programmes, a plus.
* Experience supporting research projects or analyses with diverse stakeholders and data inputs including research design, data analysis and write‑up.
* Familiarity cleaning, merging and processing large, complex datasets, ideally Household Consumption and Expenditure Surveys.
* Experience analysing primary and secondary data.
* Experience with version control systems (Git) and relevant collaboration tools (issue trackers, shared repositories, etc.).
* Experience presenting analysis findings to diverse audiences, including government stakeholders, programme staff and academic partners in a digestible and context‑relevant format.
* Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a team environment, especially with colleagues from diverse backgrounds.
Knowledge & Skills
* Proficient in the analysis of large quantitative data sets using R statistical software.
* Analytical and problem‑solving skills with a strong solution and action orientation.
* Flexibility, sound interpersonal skills and cross‑cultural sensitivity.
Languages
* Advanced professional level of written and spoken English.
* Professional knowledge of French an asset.
WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK
WFP Leadership Framework guides to the common standards of behavior that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.
Click here to access WFP Leadership Framework
REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION
WFP is committed to supporting individuals with disabilities by providing reasonable accommodations throughout the recruitment process. If you require a reasonable accommodation please contact :
NO FEE DISCLAIMER
The United Nations does not charge any application processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.
REMINDERS BEFORE YOU SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION
We strongly recommend that your profile is accurate, complete and includes your employment records, academic qualifications, language skills and UN Grade (if applicable).
Once your profile is completed please apply and submit your application.
Please make sure you upload your professional CV in the English language.
Kindly note the only documents you will need to submit at this time are your CV and Cover Letter.
Additional documents such as passport, recommendation letters, academic certificates, etc. may potentially be requested at a future time.
Please contact us at in case you face any challenges with submitting your application.
Only shortlisted candidates will be notified.
All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment and abuse of authority. Therefore all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.
Required Experience :
IC
Key Skills
* Data Analytics, Microsoft Access, SQL, Power BI, R, Data Visualization, Tableau, Data Management, Data Mining, SAS, Data Analysis Skills, Analytics
Employment Type : Full-Time
Experience : years
Vacancy : 1
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