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UNICEF, guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, works together with partners in 190 countries and territories to promote and advocate for the protection of the rights of every child.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. 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 personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

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

For every child, answers 

UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight (UNICEF Innocenti) is in its final year of implementation of the Office Management Plan 2022-25, where children and youth are identified as key partners rather than mere beneficiaries. The OMP also recognises the current generation of children and youth activists and leaders as the most valuable opportunity to better deliver its mandate. To this end, UNICEF Innocenti has committed to building genuine, equal partnerships with these children and young people and, where possible, follow the priorities they outline. In supporting the realization of this vision, the youth engagement team of UNICEF Innocenti is ensuring the office’s focus and efforts are not tokenistic and to advocate for the children and youth living in the most challenging contexts. The team also aims to become a thought leader in youth foresight, building a global network of young foresight practitioners who through fellowship and volunteering programs are engaged to identify future challenges and opportunities that could greatly impact UNICEF and the lives of children and youth. This results in the publication of youth-led and youth-focused research, advocacy campaigns, skills building trainings, products and tools that empower organizations, foresight practitioners, government officials, UNICEF staff and partners, and UNICEF’s utmost priority target audience: children and young people around the world.

In May 2024, UNICEF Innocenti convened the Leading Minds Conference on Climate Action, bringing together 12 youth fellows and over 50 global experts to reimagine climate education. The conference called for a shift from narrow technical training to holistic, values-driven learning—rooted in eco-literacy, indigenous knowledge, intergenerational wisdom, and experiential practices. In response, the Climate Education Initiative is being launched, grounded in child rights and youth foresight, with the Leading Minds Fellowship on Climate Education at its core. The initiative supports youth-led projects that model inclusive, actionable climate learning.

Two complementary workstreams are also underway: Youth x Corporate Sustainability, pioneering youth advisory models in business governance; and Horizons of Climate Financing, addressing the less than 1% of climate finance reaching youth-led efforts by generating policy recommendations for COP30 and beyond. Together, these efforts aim to equip young people with the knowledge, tools, and influence to lead a just, intergenerational climate transition.

How can you make a difference? 

The consultancy is strategically aimed at enhancing UNICEF's Youth Engagement and Strategy Team by providing communications and advocacy support, developing communications plans for UNICEF Innocenti and country office communications channels. This role is designed to support the development and dissemination of communications and advocacy campaigns that promote meaningful child and youth participation in decision-making processes at global and national levels, as well as foresight and long-term thinking for a more anticipatory UNICEF. The consultant will play a pivotal role in creating communications assets, plans, presentations, and other materials that enhance the visibility and impact of youth foresight initiatives.

Furthermore, the consultant will work closely with the YES team and youth networks in the conceptualization and execution of communications campaigns that place children and youth at the centre, that model meaningful youth participation in their design and execution, resulting in high visibility and high impact communications that can be used not only online but in in-person events and workshops.

The consultancy will also support the creation and dissemination of communications materials aimed at promoting results from research activities implemented by the Digital team, sharing insights from a range of youth-led and Innocenti-led youth foresight initiatives, including on climate education, youth-led climate finance, and youth x corporate sustainability, surfacing emerging issues, alternative future scenarios, and policy recommendations for key stakeholders working on the child rights agenda. The consultant will play a key role in communicating the global significance of the Climate Education Fellowship, ensuring compelling storytelling around youth-led research, case studies and bright spots/pilots, their influence on education policy and climate justice and their contributions to global policy platforms including COP30 and Leading Minds 2026.

Major areas of work and responsibility
1. Under the supervision of the Youth Engagement Manager, the incumbent will lead and coordinate the design and implementation of the Advocacy and Communications Strategy for the Youth Foresight Fellowship as well as a range of youth foresight research initiatives taking place at the global level in collaboration with the YES team, Fellows, and UNICEF country offices.
2. Develop and keep up to date a list of UYFF outputs as well as a calendar for publication and promotion of communications assets.
3. Develop and support the implementation of Youth Foresight communication plans in collaboration with the YES team.
4. Coordinate communications and outreach related to research initiatives, national youth foresight workshops, project and report launches.
5. Support with the creation and dissemination of communications materials aimed at promoting results from research activities implemented by the Youth Engagement and Strategy team.
6. Develop and support the implementation of Climate Education Fellowship communication plans, highlighting youth-led research, case studies/pilot projects.
7. Coordinate climate education storytelling outputs for high-visibility moments such as COP30, Leading Minds 2026
8. Support the development of communications materials and multimedia assets emerging from the Horizons of Climate Financing and Youth x Corporate Sustainability workstreams.
9. Liaise with youth fellows and country offices to gather testimonials and visual content that demonstrates how youth are shaping more inclusive and transformative models of climate education.

Supervision
The Consultant will work under the supervision and report to the Youth Engagement Manager, based at UNICEF New York Office. Further engagement will come in the form of communication with other respective teams of Innocenti. Additional relevant UNICEF staff from headquarter and regional/country offices may be consulted throughout the process.

If you would like to know more about this opportunity, please review the complete Terms of Reference here:  ToR Youth Engagement and Strategy Communications Consultant EXT.pdf

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) from an accredited institution in Social Sciences, Communications, Journalism, Public Relations, or a related field is required.
• A minimum of seven years of practical professional work experience at national or international levels in communication, social media management, print and broadcast media, or interactive digital media.
• Experience with terminology and communications around digital technology, violence against children, or child rights.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills and excellent attention to detail.
• Experience in graphic design is considered an asset.
• Strong interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to work well as part of a geographically dispersed team and across sectors, and of managing partnerships.
• Commitment to UNICEF’s core values of care, respect, integrity, transparency, and accountability.
• Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment; experience working in the UN or other international development organization 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 (such as Arabic, French, or Spanish) is an asset. 

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about children’s rights and making a lasting difference on children’s lives, one of the global leading entities on children’s rights would like to hear from you.

For every Child, you demonstrate:

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, Sustainability (CRITAS), and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

UNICEF is also proud of a diverse workforce who are profoundly committed to supporting the full realization of children’s rights, and in uplifting a rights-based approach in all that we do.

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 

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

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.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

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 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. 

Please note that the Office reserves the right to close the vacancy in advance.