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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 answers 

The world is grappling with a learning crisis. Seven out of ten children in low and middle-income countries are in ‘learning poverty’ meaning they are unable to read a simple text by the age of ten. When children fail to attain foundational skills early in life, it hinders their capacity for further learning and greatly reduces their prospects for their future employment. Addressing learning poverty at a global level means investing in children’s potential, not only important for increasing every child’s future opportunity, but also critical for creating a more prosperous and peaceful future, reducing inequality, and driving economic growth and innovation to face the challenges of today and the future.

Girls, children with disabilities and other marginalized groups face unique challenges with learning opportunities, so how do we address learning poverty to help every child reach their full potential? There have been several innovations in the way education is delivered that have shown to improve learning and equity, but these have generally been at small scale and/or in specific contexts. Less is known about how to make these innovations and programmes sustainable, how to maintain and improve their effectiveness in different contexts and how to scale them to the system level, including to the communities that need them most.

UNICEF Innocenti is working on embedding implementation research into large scale education programmes to bridge this gap, bringing evidence-generation and programme implementation closer together to improve learning, equity and inclusion for children.

How can you make a difference? 

The consultant will lead in coordination of the implementation research community of practice, working with UNICEF country offices, governments, and external partners who are engaged in implementation research. The main goals of the community of practice are to
1. Share work and approaches in implementation research;
2. Discuss challenges and lessons learned; and
3. Identify synergies and potential areas for collaboration.

The consultant will perform the following activities in collaboration with relevant team members from UNICEF Innocenti, other UNICEF offices, and the What Works Hub for Global Education.

IR community of Practice (60%)
• Finalize the terms of reference for the community of practice, with detailed goals for the community of practice and management in coordination with the WWHGE and in consultation with other partners.
• Lead organization of IR community of practice meetings, including supporting chairs with setting agendas, coordinating with participants, partners, and potential speakers.
• Produce follow up communications based on community of practice meetings and activities, including writing of the minutes, sharing of resources, and determining follow up action points and ensuring regular updates on the same.

Coordination and Knowledge Management for IR activities in the education team at Innocenti (40%)
• Work with the Education Implementation Research team to coordinate activities across research programmes and where possible synthesize methods, processes and findings.
• Develop topic briefs on IR across thematic research areas and methods, synthesizing findings, lessons learned and challenges.
• Support implementation research activities in coordination with Education Manager, and Education Implementation Research team.

Supervision
The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Education Manager (Research)

Methodologies and Tools
• Methodologies to be used: Desk research, secondary analysis, qualitative research (key informant interviews)
• Software to be used for data analysis: Microsoft Office
• Subscriptions that will be required: Microsoft Office

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:  IR COP Research Consultant ToR EXT.pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

• Education: Advanced University degree (Master's or higher) in education, social sciences, political sciences, international development, or related field.
• Work Experience: At least 5 years of relevant work experience in at national or international levels, with developing country level experience being an asset.
  Experience in the global education sector across one or more thematic areas, including foundational learning, education in emergencies, equity and inclusion, education financing, gender, and/or digital learning.
  Experience in coordination of multi-stakeholder groups, including high level officials from partner organizations and governments. Experience in qualitative research methodologies, including key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and/or participatory methods, and analysis of primary qualitative data.
• Skills: Skills in secondary data analysis, including desk review of policy documents, programme documents, etc.                  Excellent written and oral communication skills, including in translating research for diverse audiences, including donors.         Ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment.

Language Requirements: English

Desirables:

Experience working in the UN, specifically UNICEF, or other international development organizations on in the education sector is an asset.                                                                                                                                                                                      Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.                               Fluency in another UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is an asset.

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

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. 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

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.