Deadline: 07-Nov-2025
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund UNICEF is seeking to strengthen nutrition and health services in crisis-affected areas of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, with a particular focus on hard-to-reach northern districts.
This initiative aims to ensure equitable access to lifesaving services for vulnerable populations, particularly children and mothers affected by conflict and displacement.
The program emphasizes emergency nutrition interventions, including the deployment of Integrated Mobile Brigades (IMBs) to deliver health, nutrition, and social behavior change services to remote communities. These brigades work closely with community health workers to provide integrated case management for malnutrition and common childhood illnesses while supporting local health centers in managing severe cases.
Capacity building is a core component of the initiative, with UNICEF providing training and on-the-job mentoring for frontline health staff and community health workers. The focus includes early detection and management of acute malnutrition, community-level wasting treatment, and the use of nutrition rehabilitation frameworks. Digital platforms are used to track children with severe acute malnutrition, enabling targeted humanitarian support and follow-up.
Community-based nutrition programs are also being expanded, including the Management of small and nutritionally at-risk infants (MAMI) program. Mothers and caregivers receive nutrition counseling, educational sessions, and cooking demonstrations to promote optimal infant and young child feeding practices. Efforts include identifying infants with growth faltering, supporting re-lactation, and ensuring proper feeding support for mother-infant pairs.
Social mobilization and demand generation are critical to the program’s success. Community activists promote infant and young child feeding practices, establish safe spaces for nutrition support, and disseminate behavior change messages using local nutrient-rich foods. Mother-to-mother counseling and breastfeeding support groups are also strengthened, alongside monitoring compliance with international standards on breastmilk substitutes in humanitarian settings.
UNICEF is inviting national and international civil society organizations with expertise in emergency health and nutrition programs, and the ability to operate in remote, conflict-affected areas, to express interest in partnership. The aim is to implement six-month programs in one or more of the target districts of Cabo Delgado, including Mueda, Palma, Mocimboa da Praia, Macomia, Metuge, Quissanga, Meluco, Nangade, and Muidumbe. Consortiums with local or national NGOs are encouraged to enhance reach and impact.
Through these coordinated interventions, UNICEF aims to save lives, improve nutrition outcomes, and strengthen health systems in some of Mozambique’s most vulnerable communities, ensuring that critical services reach those who need them most.
For more information, visit UN Partner Portal.