Consultancy – Learning Innovation Portfolio, Office of Innovation – Remote 6 months

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 the realisation of children’s rights are key to improving children’s lives.

Worldwide, we innovate to tackle the most pressing problems faced by the most vulnerable children. We take a systematic approach to innovation, applying skills and energy across new tools and technologies, products, innovative financing and new ways of working to boost our impact.

The Office of Innovation is a creative, unique and agile team in UNICEF. We sit at a unique intersection, where an organisation that works on huge global issues meets the startup thinking, the technology, the tools, the know-how and the partners that turn ideas and energy into scalable solutions for children.

Within the Office of Innovation, the Portfolio, Culture and Scale Team has a crucial role in ensuring groundbreaking innovations meet children and young people’s most urgent needs. By managing UNICEF’s global innovation portfolios, we help identify priorities for the application of innovations. We also strengthen the capacity of UNICEF offices to scale proven innovations to millions. Through co-design, shared learning, storytelling and exploration, we also aid efforts to build a culture of innovation throughout UNICEF, including on virtual and remote learning and collaboration.

UNICEF is in the process of establishing a Learning Innovation hub, based in Helsinki and in partnership with the Finnish Government.

How can you make a difference?

This role will support the development of the Learning Innovation portfolio, as part of the future Learning Innovation Hub. It will provide advice and guidance to projects / solutions that currently sit within the Learning Innovation Portfolio, supporting the transition for relevant projects into the future Learning Innovation Hub. It will support the existing team to develop the tools and processes that will underpin portfolio management within the future hub and (where relevant) across other hubs and portfolios within the Office of Innovation.

Your main responsibilities will be:

This is a new role which will require engagement and experience of innovation processes, supporting early stage technology solutions and educational technology. You will:

• Review the current projects within the learning innovation portfolio, providing advice and guidance on their potential for accelerating results and rapid scale up within a future learning innovation hub
• Where relevant, provide direct technical assistance (from an innovation for scale perspective) to the existing projects within the learning innovation portfolio
• Oversee regular reporting from existing learning innovation projects
• Support development of the KPIs for the future learning innovation hub, the learning innovation portfolio and individual projects, in line with overall OOI metrics
• Develop the tools and templates to support each stage and stage gate within the learning innovation portfolio, thereby supporting the development of guidance across all OOI portfolios and future hubs
• Support the hub lead in the strategic design of the components of the future learning innovation hub
• Strategic support and other tasks, as agreed for Office of Innovation

Please note that these responsibilities may be varied by mutual agreement.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in one of the following fields: design, innovation education, technology, international development, business administration or other relevant field.
  *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 10 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional experience in innovation, service design, innovation in learning or innovation in international development or related fields
• Proven experience of developing and scaling innovative solutions, ideally within learning innovation within lower resource contexts and ideally within both private and public sector
• Proven experience applying design thinking and UX to develop and improve innovative solutions, from digital products to services or experiences
• Experience of working (and ideally innovating) with and for children in resource poor environments
• Experience of innovation portfolio management or innovation governance
• Proven capacity to communicate effectively across different mediums to engage and influence complex stakeholders (including senior stakeholders) in order to deliver against challenging targets
• Proven capacity to work with collaborative teams across different locations and with different technical skills

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…

• Drive to achieve results for impact (2)
• Innovates and embraces change (3)
• Thinks and acts strategically (2)
• Works collaboratively with others (2)

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.

Payment details and further considerations

• Monthly payment, based on monthly tasks and progress reports, approved upon monthly review with supervisor.
• Consultant is responsible for his/her own health and travel insurance
• Consultant is eligible for standard DSA for all work-related travel

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.