Current vacancies

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. 

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, a future

The mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children's rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias, or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic, and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education, and protection of a society's most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

UNICEF’s Product Innovation Centre

The Product Innovation Centre within UNICEF’s Supply Division (SD) works closely with internal and external partners to drive R&D and scale of new innovative products to improve the lives of children. This is achieved by identifying needs that are not currently being met by available products and then scanning the market to determine if there are products that can fulfil this need. If yes, we procure and scale the products; if not, we drive R&D by utilising target product profiles to specify the performance a product must deliver and incentivise R&D, leveraging our procurement and implementation power. In instances where no products are available in a procurable form on the market, a Product Innovation Project (PIP) is initiated with the ultimate goal of enabling the procurement of fit-for-purpose and value-for-money supplies across all UNICEF program areas. In addition, PIC is mandated to push the envelope of the organisation in terms of developing new, innovative concepts to influence the R&D of products beyond UNICEF’s procurement, evolve global thinking around product innovation for development/humanitarian contexts, and develop new ways of driving the scale of products. Key to these ambitions is an aim to ensure the most impact for disadvantaged children for the resources available, always pushing for value for money of products.

Scope of Work:

Under the supervision of the Innovation Manager and working closely with the PIC Health unit, relevant procurement centres in Supply Division, and PG Maternal Newborn and Child Health, the Consultant will support the further development of the Oxygen as a Service (O2aaS) project and the scale-up of the Low Resource Setting (LRS) Oxygen concentrator. The Consultant will collaborate with relevant teams to document all relevant processes, enabling the sharing of knowledge across offices. Using available tools, the consultant will support countries in implementing the new LRS Oxygen concentrator and the broader global health community in revising specifications for oxygen concentrators.

For the duration of the consultancy, working under the guidance and supervision of the Innovation Manager, the Consultant will:
1. Support country-level planning of oxygen systems
2. Support the implementation of oxygen systems
3. Generate evidence and learnings to inform decisions for adoption, scaling and sustainability
4. Generate demand for innovative products and innovative business models
5. Support Sustainability, Government Ownership, and Financing
6. Generate communication and advocacy products

Timeline 
This is a 270-day deliverable-based consultancy spanning over 13 months.

This is a remote-based position, with some travel to the field and to Copenhagen.

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.

How can you make a difference? 

Work Assignment Overview:

Support country level planning

• Assess country readiness for innovative product and model adoption (oxygen concentrators, CPAP, O2aaS).
• Support planning for CPAP implementation in newborn health programs.
• Support planning and implementation of private-sector oxygen supply models in selected countries
• Support development of country-specific monitoring and oversight plans.

Support the implementation of oxygen systems

• Prioritize, plan and coordinate country support visits in collaboration with Regional Offices and Programme Group.
• Conduct country assessments and provide technical support for implementation of innovations, where possible with a focus on primary health care (PHC) level.
• Provide technical support to troubleshoot and resolve implementation challenges experienced by countries..

Evidence Generation and Learning to Inform Decisions for Adoption, Scaling, and Sustainability 

• Plan and coordinate evidence generation activities in the field to evaluate impact and value of innovative LRS concentrators, CPAP, and O2aaS.
• Align with partners on research questions, indicators, methods, and analysis plans.
• Contribute to peer-reviewed publications and evidence synthesis for internal and external audiences.

Global demand generation for innovative products and business models

• Translate lessons learned from early implementation into case studies.
• Develop PHC-specific guidance and toolkits for countries to leverage these innovations to support and drive the PHC oxygen agenda.
• Develop guidance and toolkits that support countries in procurement, implementation planning, and product integration with enabling technologies such as solar power or oxygen storage.
• Work with UNICEF’s Global and Regional Offices to identify and prioritize countries and identify programs for integration of innovations.
• Dissemination and demand generation for oxygen innovations targeting decision makers, buyers, implementers, payers, and funding partners at the national and global levels (eg. GO2AL).
• Support countries to understand and envision how they might localize their use of innovative products and business models for oxygen.
• Aggregate and communicate country demand to technical and commercial teams.

Support Sustainability, Government Ownership, and Financing

• Support transition of innovation initiatives to national ownership through integration into broader oxygen scale-up and sustainability strategies and discussions.
• Work with UNICEF’s Global, Regional, and Country Offices, governments, and funding partners to generate sustainability and financing plans.
• Support engagement with governments to assess cost-effectiveness, identify financing options and modalities, consider optimization of existing available funds, and support allocation and investment decisions for scale and sustainability
• Conduct payer analysis at all health system levels and identify existing funding sources to inform sustainable financing strategies.
• Identify opportunities for innovative financing to sustain and expand oxygen access, and which can catalyze government and donor funding.
• Engage funding partners to advocate for investment in scalable oxygen solutions.

Communication and documentation

• Collaborate with country and global communication teams to publish human interest stories highlighting implementation outcomes and impact of innovations.
• Contribute content for social media, donor reports, and internal communications.
• Document and present project updates, including IRB materials and internal briefings.
• Support ongoing handover and knowledge transfer to HTC, PG, and country/regional teams.

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

• A first university degree in Engineering, Biomedical engineering, or related discipline, and/or public health
• Project management certification is an added advantage.   
• Minimum two years of relevant professional work experience is required
• Hands-on experience in medical device development, public procurement, technical evaluation, regulatory systems, commercialisation, and scaling
• Experience in supporting countries to adopt innovative medical technologies
• Academic technical writing experience required (e.g. the design and coordination of academic studies, pilot projects, implementation or operational research and documentation of their findings)
• Specialist knowledge of medical devices is required
• Knowledge of MS Office Suite and survey software
• High level of analytical skills and attention to detail
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset. 

Desirables:

• Project management experience is preferred

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 committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. At UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF.

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.

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.