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For every child, the right to HOPE!
Vacancy Announcement: Consultant
Consultancy Title: Yoma Ecosystem Consultant
Section/Division/Duty Station:
Duration:
Home/ Office Based: NYHQ/ Remote
BACKGROUND
Under the direct supervision of the Innovation Manager (Generation Unlimited), with overall guidance from the Deputy Director, Partnerships and in collaboration with the partnerships team, the consultant provide expertise to support the overall project manager (Innovation Manager) and local country offices for the implementation of Yoma, creating a seamless pipeline from skilling to sustainable livelihoods for youth.
Yoma Overview
Conceived by young people for young people, Yoma (Youth Agency Marketplace) is a global, digitally enabled ecosystem that aggregates learning, micro-work, volunteering, and livelihood opportunities on a single platform, Yoma.world. Its self-sovereign digital identity, YoID, converts every completed course, micro-gig, or social-impact activity into a verifiable credential that travels with the user, giving employers and educators trusted skills signals. A built-in rewards engine keeps engagement high by issuing token-based incentives that can be exchanged for airtime, cash equivalents, or further training. Supported by UNICEF, Generation Unlimited, Reconstructed Living Labs (Rlabs), private-sector leaders such as SAP and Accenture, and other partners, Yoma has reached more than five million youth across Africa and Asia, with over 630,000 registered users already accumulating credentials that bridge the gap between learning and earning.
Programme Objectives & Impact
- Creating integrated youth-development ecosystems
- Localising and deploying Yoma platform components
- Launching a high-engagement pilot that links learning, earning & impact
- Aligning and integrating opportunities (learning, social, impact, livelihoods) across the ecosystem for youth
- Strengthening partner and youth capacity for sustained growth
- Generating data-driven insights to inform policy and scale-up
- Ensuring sustainability with a roadmap for national roll-out
All of the above are expected to be completed for two countries.
Scope of Work:
Over the duration of the contract, consultant will be responsible for the following:
- Stakeholder & Ecosystem Mapping (Youth Development)
- Catalogue government, private-sector, NGO, and educational actors
- Analyse policy, regulatory, and technology landscapes relevant to digital identity and youth employment.
- Human-Centred Design & Co-Creation
- Plan and facilitate a multi-day design workshops with key stakeholders to refine user personas, opportunity flows, and incentive concepts.
- Document insights and convert them into actionable platform requirements.
- Scoping & Requirements Definition
- Produce comprehensive Scoping Documents identifying which Yoma components (YoID, marketplace, rewards engine) require localisation for countries.
- Draft functional, technical, and UX specifications—including data-privacy and SSI compliance checklists.
- Playbook Development
- Create a practical onboarding guide detailing partner roles, data flows, MoU templates, communications packs, and incentive schemas.
- Incorporate step-by-step instructions for integrating GenU’s Green Rising content.
- Governance & Partnership Building
- Compile a list of appropriate stakeholders and develop a Terms of Reference for a multi-stakeholder Steering Committee (e.g., UNICEF/GenU, Ministry of Youth, private sector, CSOs).
- Platform Localisation & Pilot Launch for Youth Livelihoods
- Configure a sandbox instance of Yoma, integrate a locally relevant rewards mechanism, and oversee user-acceptance testing.
- Curate at least three opportunity streams (e.g., digital-skills courses, micro-gigs, Green Rising social-impact projects).
- Performance & Impact Delivery
- Achieve first-year KPIs: 15 partners onboarded, 1,000 YoIDs issued, 1,500 verifiable credentials recorded, ≥40 % female participation.
- Design and deploy an analytics dashboard and M&E framework aligned with national youth-employment indicators.
- Capacity-Building & Knowledge Transfer
- Conduct four partner-training bootcamps; develop SOPs, slide decks, and video tutorials for sustained local ownership.
- Provide coaching to local stakeholders on platform administration and youth outreach techniques.
- Risk Management & Compliance
- Identify data-protection, cybersecurity, and stakeholder-alignment risks; maintain a live risk-mitigation log.
- Scale-Up & Sustainability Roadmap
- Draft a costed three-year expansion plan for phased rollout in the local countries.
- Secure preliminary commitments for at least two future funding or revenue channels (e.g., CSR sponsorships, government budget lines).
- Reporting & Handover
- Submit monthly progress briefs, milestone reports for each deliverable, and a final close-out report with all documentation and assets transferred to UNICEF and programme partners.
Terms of Reference / Deliverables
1. Yoma Landscape & Scoping
Scoping document on applicable Yoma components for 2 country offices (in MS Word format) 25 August 2025
2. Yoma Requirements & Localisation Blueprint
Functional & technical requirements specification (incl. rewards & compliance) Report for 2 country offices
15 September 2025
3. Yoma Adoption Toolkit
Yoma Adoption Playbook (partner onboarding guide, MoUs, comms kit) for 2 country offices
05 October 2025
4. Co-Design & Youth Engagement
Human-centred design workshop report for 2 country offices
25 October 2025
5. Yoma Platform Configuration & Pilot Launch
Pilot results pack (PowerPoint Presentation): 15 partners live, 1,000 YoIDs, 1,500 VCs, Yoma analytics dashboard across 2 country offices.
15 November 2025
6. M&E & Scale-Up Roadmap
M&E framework + 3-year expansion & sustainability plan
01 December 2025
7. Final Handover & Close-out
Final report, SOPs, capacity-transfer records
15 December 2025
(1) Education
Enter Disciplines:
- Business, Design, Technology, or related field
Language Proficiency:
- Fluency in English is required, strong written and verbal competency is necessary
- Working knowledge of another UN language an asset
(2) Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required:
- 7 + years of experience leading cross-sector, youth-focused innovation in NGOs and development agencies.
- Extensive programme management expertise across Africa and the Caribbean, with a focus on digital identity, skilling, and livelihoods
- Proven success designing and launching human-centered technology solutions at scale.
- Deep familiarity with the technologies- particularly digital public goods and digital public infrastructure,, including blockchain, use of tokens and digital identity systems.
Strong track record in ecosystem building, stakeholder alignment, and impact-driven innovation.
Requirements:
Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and
- Upload copy of academic credentials
- Financial proposal that will include/ reflect :
- the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
- travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
- Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
- Indicate your availability
- Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.
- At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.
- Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory 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.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process
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
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 all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, are encourage to apply 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.
The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (if applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract.
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.
