Consultancy, Strategy Advisor (Giga), Office of Global Innovation, 11.5 months , Remote

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…

UNICEF has a 70-year history of innovating for children. We believe that new approaches, partnerships and technologies that support realizing children’s rights are critical to improving their lives.

The Office of Innovation is a creative, interactive, and agile team in UNICEF. We sit at a unique intersection, where an organization that works on huge global issues meets the startup thinking, the technology, and the partners that turn this energy into scalable solutions.
 
UNICEF’s Office of Innovation creates opportunities for the world’s children by focusing on where new markets can meet their vital needs. We do this by:

• Connecting youth communities (or more broadly — anyone disconnected or under-served) to decision-makers, and to each other, to deliver informed, relevant and sustained programmes that build better, stronger futures for children.
• Provoking change for children through an entrepreneurial approach — in a traditionally risk-averse field — to harness rapidly moving innovations and apply them to serve the needs of all children.
• Creating new models of partnership that leverage core business values across the public, private and academic sectors in order to deliver fast, and lasting results for children.

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF and ITU have launched “Giga”, a new initiative to connect every school to the internet, and every young person to information, opportunity and choice. Giga is anchored in the Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation’s findings 1A and 1B which state, respectively, that by “2030 every adult should have affordable access to digital networks” and calls for “a broad, multi-stakeholder alliance, involving the UN, create a platform for sharing digital public goods.”

Providing connectivity to the world remains a challenge. According to the ITU, nearly 3.7 billion people remain unconnected from the internet, and by extension, unconnected to digital products and services that could dramatically improve their lives. Approximately 29% of 18-24-year-olds, most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa, do not have digital access (~360m people) and thereby lack access to the same information, opportunity and choice as their more-connected peers. Unless things change, a big part of this rapidly growing group of young people is in danger of being left behind, excluded from the modern digital world.

Office of Innovation is looking for a Strategy Adviser for the Giga team. This role will focus on providing team-wide support on strategic partnerships, leading team-wide coordination and strategies for core products and cross-cutting team needs.

Your main responsibilities will be:

• Support Giga Lead to scale and develop strategic partnerships for programmatic growth, support across team functions on an as-needed basis
• Lead on select team-wide coordination activities, including bi-weekly team meetings, tracking of executive-level priorities, and workplanning
• Develop strategies for organizational change, resource management, strategic planning, executive reporting and messaging, etc.
• Advise and guide team leads (particularly on Mapping and Data/Technology) on an as-needed basis to identify needs for and guide development of core products, and report on progress and challenges to Giga Lead
• Identify “team needs” (during regular team meetings, for example) and advise on development of solutions, with support of Programme Coordinator and inputs from leads
• Provide coordination on efforts related to process tracking, issue and external request prioritization and triage, product development, and general upkeep of core products and documents

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in business administration, public administration, communication, design or other relevant field.
  *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience in  project management, strategic planning, stakeholder/network/community management and engagement or communication.
• Demonstrated experience in project management for complex initiatives, including use of innovative tools and systems
• Demonstrated experience with communication tools and channels for distributed projects
• Experience in working with and coordinating diverse groups of stakeholders at senior levels and across sectors
• Experience in data analysis and presentation for a range of audiences
• Experience in partnership development and management
• Some knowledge of open licensing desired
• Some knowledge of technology for development will be considered an advantage
• 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.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

• Relating and Networking 
• Planning and Organising 
• Entrepreneurial Thinking 

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

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 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:

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.

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