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 realizing children’s rights are critical to improving their lives.

The Office of Innovation is a creative, interactive, and agile team in UNICEF. We sit at a unique intersection, where an organization that works on huge global issues meets the start-up thinking, the technology, and the partners that turn this energy into scalable solutions.

UNICEF's Office of Innovation creates opportunities for the world's children by focusing on where new markets can meet their vital needs.

The UNICEF Global Learning Innovation Hub, established in Helsinki, has a mission to radically transform education around the world by making it a wonderful adventure for every child. Working with corporates and non-profit partners, the Learning Innovation Hub supports governments in accelerating access to digital learning; invests from pilot to scale on game-changing edtech innovations and explores how new innovative pedagogies and technologies can create environments where children can learn, unleash their unique talent, and become true entrepreneurs of their life. It is part of Reimagine Education initiative and has the bold ambition to become a global “home for the architects of the future of learning”.

Background

Staying true to our mission of ensuring every child, everywhere, has access to safe, impactful, and inclusive learning opportunities, UNICEF’s Learning Innovation Hub has been working on addressing a critical pain point for education decision-makers in the Global South: how to navigate the rapidly growing and complex EdTech landscape to identify solutions that truly impact learning outcomes. 

To that end, in November 2024 the Hub released beta versions of two innovative assets: the EdTech for Good Framework and the Learning Cabinet. Developed in partnership with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Arm, and the Asian Development Bank, along with input from experts across the EdTech ecosystem, these public good assets are designed to guide education decision-makers, practitioners, and innovators in developing and scaling impactful EdTech solutions for learners and educators, especially in underserved communities. 

The EdTech for Good Framework:  Grounded in five key pillars—Safety First, Impact on Learning, Designed for Children, Ready to Reach All, and Leave No One Behind—it provides a roadmap for developing and evaluating EdTech solutions. By emphasizing evidence, data security, online safety and adaptability, the Framework helps shape an EdTech industry that meets diverse learning needs.   

The Learning Cabinet:  Released in beta mode, this online discovery platform showcases high-potential EdTech tools, rigorously assessed using the EdTech for Good Framework. The Cabinet is envisioned to be the go-to resource for exploring, comparing, and connecting with solutions ready to address critical educational challenges.

To maximize the transformational potential of these public good assets, the Learning Innovation Hub is consolidating these efforts under the EdTech for Good Initiative – a collaborative initiative for advancing safe, inclusive, and impactful EdTech. This initiative offers partners diverse opportunities to contribute, including endorsing the Framework, providing technical expertise to enhance and apply these assets, joining forces in sourcing most impactful EdTech tools, and offering strategic guidance and resources to amplify the impact of these assets.

For more details, please review the Terms of Reference attached TOR ET4G Strategist Feb 2025.docx: 

How can you make a difference? 

To support these efforts, the Learning Innovation Hub seeks a seasoned EdTech strategist to drive the EdTech for Good Initiative forward through designing and implementing models for the key building blocks of the initiative, including positioning, business and governance models, partnership strategies, community engagement, and content management.

Your main responsibilities will be:

1. Positioning (Month 1)
• Advise on and support the positioning of the EdTech for Good Framework and the Learning Cabinet within the ecosystem of EdTech impact and evaluation frameworks and initiatives. Develop easily digestible internal positioning papers and outwards facing materials such as ppt decks, write ups and comms materials

• • Identify key technical and strategic engagements to advance the Edtech for Good Initiative and the Learning Cabinet positioning and enable participation in events to communicate key messages and position the initiative

2. Draft a business model for the Learning Cabinet, enhancing the Cabinet’s financial sustainability (Months 1-2)
3. Evaluator network and strategy (Months 3-6 and ongoing)

• • Establish an evaluation strategy, including evaluator recruitment / partnership approach
  • Design and establish systems for evaluator management
  • Develop a network of evaluators for the Learning Cabinet
  • Ongoing management of the evaluator network
  • Advise the sourcing lead on evaluation process flow

4. Design a governance model for the Learning Cabinet (Month 3)
5. Partnership strategy for the EdTech for Good Initiative and the Learning Cabinet (Month 3-6 and ongoing)
   • In close coordination with the supervisor, team, and the partnerships specialist, develop and implement a partnership strategy for the Learning Cabinet and the overall EdTech for Good Initiative, including financial and in-kind partnership tiers 
   • Based on the strategy, develop a landscape analysis and identify high potential partners and related partner proposals 
   • Support technically in the outreach and negotiations with the prospective partners, from identification to negotiations and closing the partnerships. 
   • Support the partnership specialist in the ongoing partnership management
6. Community: users, stakeholders, promotion (Month 6 onwards)
   • In close coordination with the sourcing lead and team, support the community building for the EdTech for Good Initiative, including the edtech industry.
   • Develop engagement assets for the community, such as newsletters, branding advise, etc.
7. Oversee the content management for the Learning Cabinet (ongoing)

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

• An advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in education, business or technology or other relevant 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 8 years of relevant professional experience in edtech, business development, innovation ecosystems.
• Proven experience of building and managing edtech quality evaluation and assessment systems is required.
• Proven experience in applying digital pedagogies and learning sciences into educational technologies required.
• Proven in-depth knowledge of the key partner networks in the global edtech assessment space required
• Proven experience in building high value partnerships required
• 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.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset. 

Travel:

• The consultant is expected to travel up to 2-3 times during the assignment, this will be planned and agreed with the supervisor. These travels will be into key global or regional EdTech / UN events as defined with the supervisor and could range across Europe / US / Latin America, Africa, or Asia.
• Duty mission travel expenses will be reimbursed upon completion of travel and submission of an invoice, accompanied by supporting documentation, including proof of payment, tickets, boarding passes, and any other reimbursable expenses as outlined in the contract. In accordance with UNICEF’s Travel Policy, a reasonable travel budget will be established and included as a separate line item in the contract. No travel cost estimate is required for duty mission travel.
• The consultant must only include all travel-related expenses, including airfare and accommodation costs, for travel to and from the duty station in Finland, Helsinki.
•  The consultant is responsible for arranging his/her own travel as part of the assignment, including visa and travel insurance.
• Travel costs will be covered by UNICEF as per standard UN travel procedure.

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:

• Interest applicant is required to submit a financial proposal with all-inclusive fee.  Please see the financial proposal template.
• No travel cost estimate is required for duty mission travel.
• The consultant must only include all travel-related expenses, including airfare and accommodation costs, for travel to and from the duty station in Finland, Helsinki.
• Applications without a financial proposal will not be considered.  Consultancy Financial Offer template.docx

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.