NEW Consultancy: Innovation Strategy Advisor, Office of Innovation, Sweden, 12 months (Remote) Consultancy – Consultant – Contractors Agreement UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund Closing in 7 days Remote | Stockholm | Abuja | New York City | Dhaka

UNICEF - United Nations Children’s Fund

UNICEF’s Office of Innovation seeks a consultant who can provide support the Innovation Strategy and Capacity Portfolio.

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, innovate…

The Office of Innovation (OoI) works to catalyze UNICEF and partners’ expertise and resources to solve key challenges facing children and young people, with a view to sourcing, accelerating and scaling the most effective solutions to accelerate progress towards achieving the SDGs.   To achieve this the Office of Innovation uses an innovation portfolio management approach and leverages support from a range of stakeholders including from intergovernmental, multilateral, private sector, young people and non-governmental fora (think tank, academia). The Office of Innovation is able to evaluate, fund and provide technical support and resources to key transformative innovations. How these decisions are made is critical to the success of the work and therefore the impact on children’s lives. 

 

How can you make a difference? 

Through the development of UNICEF’s Global Innovation Strategy, nine portfolio focus areas were identified: learning, water and sanitation, maternal and newborn health, immunization, climate change, gender equality, humanitarian, youth, and mental health and psychosocial support. Through a problem-driven approach guided by the respective UNICEF Programme Groups (PG), each portfolio is committed to supporting the identification, development and scale-up of country-level innovative solutions, to meet the demands and priorities in line with UNICEF’s Strategic Plan 2022-2025, and ultimately the attainment of related SDGs.  

  

Each portfolio will contain solutions that use new approaches, tools and technology that address key problems UNICEF is trying to solve for and with children and young people, and that have potential to scale and significantly accelerate results. Innovation solutions within the portfolios are selected based on their potential to accelerate results for children across multiple countries and regions. There can be one or more different categories (or types) of innovation in a portfolio, including digital innovation, social innovation, data innovation, physical products, innovative finance and frugal innovation.  

 

This role will support the Innovation Strategy and Capacity Portfolio. The main responsibilities of the consultancy will encompass a range of strategic initiatives aimed at enhancing innovation and product management within the organization. The consultant will lead the product scale-up in the field for COMPASS, developing product roadmaps in collaboration with OOI and relevant divisions, and overseeing the innovation strategy development process with country offices. Additionally, the consultant will facilitate COMPASS incubation workshops in Stockholm and coordinate with ICT, DCOE, and other divisions to ensure product alignment and successful scaling.   

 

Your main responsibilities will be: 

A. Product Management of COMPASS: 

  • Lead COMPASS product scale-up in the field. 

  • Develop product roadmaps with OOI and relevant divisions. 

  • Lead COMPASS incubation workshops in Stockholm. 

  • Oversee innovation strategy development process with country offices. 

  • Coordinate with ICT, DCOE and other division for product alignment and scale-up. 

 

B. Develop Capacity development plan and initiatives for the strategy portfolio for country offices and senior management. 

  • Create a capacity development initiative tailored for country offices and senior management, enhancing strategic innovation capabilities across the organization. 

   

C. FunDoo product Handover  

  • Manage FunDoo product and team until December 2024. 

  • Develop a detailed handover plan for FunDoo. 

  • Work on the roadmap alignment of FunDoo with Generation Unlimited. 

 

D. Supervision on development of guidance note for youth innovation platforms   

  •  Supervise the process of development of guidance note for youth innovation platforms, including management of the process with Programme divisions in HQ and regional offices. 

 

E. Gen U concept development  

  • Work with Gen U counterparts to solidify an office-wide collaboration and business model for providing a pipeline of innovations for Gen U scale up.

For more details, please review the Terms of Reference: Download File ToR Consultant strategy, capacity and youth_final.docx

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

  • An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in in a relevant field such as Social Science, Humanities, Innovation, International Relations, Business Administration, or another related technical discipline. 
  • A first degree combined with a minimum of two additional years of relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a Master’s degree. 
  • A minimum of eight (8) years of professional experience at both national and international levels, specifically in the fields of innovation, social and economic development, and cooperation. 
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    Proven expertise in innovation practices, including experience in both initiating and scaling innovations across pertinent sectors. 

  • Experience in developing innovation strategies with country offices while in a global role is highly desired. 
  • Experience managing innovation projects from concept to scale within UN context is important. 
  • Demonstrated ability in designing and managing innovation portfolios, showcasing a strong understanding of strategic planning and execution. 
  • Strong collaborative skills to coordinate effectively with various stakeholders, including government, non-profit organizations, and private sector partners, to drive impactful change. 
  • Exceptional communication and organizational skills, with the ability to facilitate workshops and training sessions aimed at enhancing innovation capacities among senior management and team members. 
  • Familiarity with capacity development strategies tailored for diverse organizational contexts, highlighting a commitment to continuous improvement and effective implementation. 
  • Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset. 
  • Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset. 

Travel 

  • The consultant is expected to travel to Stockholm, Sweden (3 trips), Nigeria , Mozambique, South Africa, Bangladesh and New York during the period, the length of each trip is expected to be five (5) days.

  • Additional trips may be required based on the 2025 work plan. For these additional trips, the Consultant does not need to include an estimated travel budget as part of the all-inclusive fee. UNICEF will provide the estimated budget when the contract is signed and will reimburse the actual costs incurred upon submission of receipts. The consultant is responsible to arrange his/her own travel, including visa.  

 
  • The consultant is also expected to travel on mission and will be responsible for arranging his/her own travel, including visa. 

Payment details and further considerations 

  • Payment of professional fees will be based on the submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.  

  •  Consultant is responsible for his/her own health and travel insurance. 

 

How to apply: 

  • Financial proposal must include travel costs (economy class) and daily subsistence allowance, if travel is required as per TOR and any other estimated costs: visa, travel/health insurance 

  • Applications without a financial proposal will not be considered. 

 

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. 

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 

 

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

 To view our competency framework, please visit  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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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:  

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts. 

In case of any questions, please contact us at [email protected]

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