UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.
At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.
UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture., coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.
Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.
For every child, the right to 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).
Our team
We're an interdisciplinary team around the world tasked with identifying, prototyping, and scaling new technologies and practices. With our partners, we focus on convening and collaborating on new and different solutions, low- and high-tech, by:
- Looking at the 2-5 year horizon to evaluate emerging and trending technologies and to see how UNICEF can work with the private sector on doing better business while improving essential services for children;
- Investing in early stage solutions that show great potential to positively impact children in the 02 year future including the Venture Fund that invests in open source technology solutions from start-ups based in UNICEF’s programme countries;
- Identifying proven solutions that can be implemented at national scale in multiple countries – taking the ideas that help thousands in one country, bringing them to dozens of countries across multiple sectors, and impacting the lives of millions of children.
The consultant will be working under the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist in the Office of Innovation’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL)/Knowledge Management (KM) team. Our goal is to maximize the impact of UNICEF's innovations globally through rigorous, data-driven evidence. In short, we care about what works in innovation, and why. And we care about bringing these insights to UNICEF globally and beyond.
Our work spans across an expansive range of initiatives, from generating direct evidence on our innovation initiatives, to providing thought leadership in innovation scaling and providing corporate guidance on measurement and evidence in innovation.
How can you make a difference?
OOI is seeking a dynamic and experienced consultant to supports various evidence-related tasks under the guidance and direction of the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, and in close collaboration with relevant colleagues in the Office of Innovation.
Your main responsibilities will be:
1. SPARK accelerator Country Office Support
- Develop a monitoring and evaluation mentorship strategy for solutions that are being incubated through the SPARK accelerator.
- Provide structured mentorship to innovation teams through regular consultation sessions focusing on theory of change development, indicator selection, and setting up data collection and analysis systems.
- Help teams identify appropriate evidence generation methodologies derived from OOI’s UNICEF’s Innovation MEL Toolbox that align with their solution's learning questions and available resources.
- Guide teams in managing evidence collection through technical assistance.
- Support solutions in translating evidence findings into actionable product improvements and scaling strategies with clear documentation.
2. Technical Assistance to Country Offices
- Working with selected country offices to define their learning needs
- Decision support to offices to identify the appropriate methodologies to address learning needs, developing/leveraging LTAs or rosters of practitioners, TORs, technical assistance to office to support evidence generation.
- Provide hands-on guidance throughout the evidence generation process, ensuring methodological rigor while building internal capacity and ownership within country office
- Systematic documentation of support results.
3. Support to Innovation Portfolios
- Commission and manage independent evidence generation exercises for portfolio solutions.
4. Building MEL capacity for innovation
- Develop capacity building materials on how to generate evidence for innovation solutions based on the Innovation MEL Toolbox
- Facilitate capacity building workshops and sessions to strengthen MEL capacity for innovation
For more detail information regarding the responsibilities, assignment and how to apply, please review the complete Job Description here: 
Final_ Evidence Consultant TOR_SS.pdf
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Minimum requirements:
- An advanced university degree in Social Sciences or Humanities, Innovation-related field, International Relations, Business Administration, or another related technical 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 eight (8) years of relevant professional experience is required at national and international levels in the areas of performance management, monitoring and evaluation, innovation and/or social and economic development and cooperation
- Demonstrated experience with performance management, KPI development, results-based management, logic model, theories of change, review/evaluation management is critical
- Demonstrated experience employing diverse research methodologies for qualitative and quantitative data collection, including structured surveys, in-depth interviews, ethnographic observations, and case studies.
- Professional work experience in monitoring and evaluation activities, especially with a focus on measurement of innovations/innovation programmes, expertise in approaches such as Social Impact Assessment, LEAN impact, Adaptive learning models, Social blueprint/model canvas, is an asset.
- Expertise in innovation practice, spanning start-up to scaling innovations, especially in the social and/or development sectors is an asset.
- 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.
Modality and Travel:
- No work-related travel is required for the role.
- The role is a remote-based consultancy, with no expectation of in-person or office presence. No specific preference is given to the candidate’s location, as long as the candidate is willing and able to attend several regular meetings in Central European time zone.
- The consultant will report to the Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist as part of the Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL)/Knowledge Management (KM) team.
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.
How to apply:
- Interested applicants are required to submit a financial proposal with an all-inclusive fee.
- Please see the financial proposal template
Consultancy Financial Offer template.docx
- Applications without a financial proposal will not be considered.
For every Child, you demonstrate...
UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values
The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…
(1) Builds and maintains partnerships
(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
(3) Drive to achieve results for impact
(4) Innovates and embraces change
(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity
(6) Thinks and acts strategically
(7) Works collaboratively with others
Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.
UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.
UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.
UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.
UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.
Remarks:
As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.
UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates are encouraged to apply.
Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.
UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.
Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.
All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.
Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.
