Consultancy: Partnership for a Lead-Free Future , Consultant - Req. #581651

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, HOPE!

Consultancy Title: Consultant, Partnership for a Lead-Free Future  Section/Division/Duty Station: PG-Climate Environment Energy & Disaster, Programme Division, NYHQ Duration: 16 June 2025 to 15 July 2026 Home/ Office Based: NYHQ / Remote About UNICEF  If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For over 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries. BACKGROUND Purpose of Activity/ Assignment: Develop a central knowledge and resource hub for the Partnership for a Lead Free Future. Scope of Work: The UNICEF Strategic Plan has elevated action on climate change and environmental degradation as an organizational priority, to be integrated throughout UNICEF programmes. To concretize this, Programme Group developed the global programme framework on Healthy Environments for Healthy Children (https://www.unicef.org/documents/healthy-environments-healthy-children-global-programme-framework) (HEHC). UNICEF and partners have also founded a Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative (https://ceh.unicef.org/about/global-collaborative) to mobilize international action to protect child health and development from the impact of climate change and environmental degradation. The Collaborative aims to inspire, motivate, equip and mobilize efforts through advocacy, brokering knowledge and catalysing action. Lead exposure is a silent but devastating environmental health issue, with far-reaching consequences for children's health and development. An estimated 1 in 2 children in LMICs have blood lead levels that are of significant concern, contributing to an estimated 1.5 million deaths annually. In response to this crisis, the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future ( https://www.leadfreefuture.org/) was launched in September 2024 by UNICEF, in collaboration with USAID, UNEP, WHO, the World Bank, Open Philanthropy, and other key stakeholders. The Partnership is the first-ever global, public-private coalition focused on ending childhood lead poisoning in LMICs by 2040. This initiative brings together governments, civil society, and the private sector to champion country-led efforts to eliminate lead from consumer products, improve industrial practices, and enforce lead mitigation standards. The Partnership for a Lead-Free Future is an accelerator partnership of UNICEF’s HEHC and is linked to the Children’s Environmental Health Collaborative.  UNICEF serves as the Secretariat of the Partnership by hosting a central knowledge hub, supporting coordinated action, and mobilizing new partners. By leveraging proven strategies to measure, regulate, replace, and enforce lead mitigation efforts, as outlined in the Five Actions to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, the Partnership aims to accelerate progress, empower countries, and foster lasting solutions that ensure a lead-free future for every child.     Under the guidance of the Lead for the Partnership for a Lead-Free Future (PLF) and in collaboration with the PLF Secretariat, UNICEF divisions, and the Health Environments for Healthy Children Team, the Consultant will create and aggregate best practices and technical tools through a central knowledge and resource hub to support country-led efforts. Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables: 1. Technical Resource Development and Aggregation • 1.1: Finalized and updated "Toolkit to End Childhood Lead Poisoning," incorporating new expert videos, aggregated multilateral/technical guidance, and newly developed fact sheets addressing identified technical knowledge gaps. [8 tools] • 1.2: Comprehensive country profiles developed, including global/national blood lead estimates, source analysis, health impacts, and a maintained/updated global mapping database of relevant studies.