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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.

Our Team

UNICEF`s Office of Innovation is a dynamic, collaborative, and agile team operating at the crossroads of global development and emerging technology. We partner with innovators, private sector actors, and UNICEF programmes to test and scale solutions that can transform the lives of children. The Office brings together expertise in venture building, data science, digital innovation, and strategic partnerships. Working across regions and functions, we are committed to fostering a culture of experimentation, collaboration, and continuous learning, combining technical excellence with adaptive soft skills and effective management practices.

How can you make a difference?

As the Learning Design & Strategy Consultant, you will help strengthen the learning culture of the Office of Innovation during a critical transition period.

You will design a comprehensive learning strategy that reflects the full spectrum of staff needs:

• Technical upskilling in areas such as AI, digital innovation, and emerging tools.
• Soft skills in the innovation realm including adaptive leadership, collaboration, design thinking, creativity, and resilience.
• Management and middle-management development to support supervisors and teams lead in managing people, navigating complexity, and building an inclusive feedback culture.

A key element will be to facilitate rounds of conversation (e.g., brown bag lunches), where staff can discuss topics of collective interest, share experiences, and co-create ideas in an open and safe space. These sessions, combined with structured workshops and curated pathways, will help build a balanced capability framework for the office.

Key outputs:

1. Learning & Development Strategy and Framework - covering technical, soft skills, and management learning priorities; including roadmap, governance model, and KPIs.
2. Consolidated Needs Assessment and Learning Plan - Integrate staff surveys, intern work, and AI learning survey results into a balanced plan with three tracks (technical, soft skills, management); review and integrate key findings from the forthcoming Innovation Evaluation Report (early 2026) to ensure that learning priorities align with strategic recommendations; validate with Learning Committee.
3. Learning Pathways and Resources - modular learning pathways (e.g., AI Foundations, Soft Skills for Innovators, Middle-Management Essentials) plus a curated repository of internal and external resources.
4. Learning Activities Delivered - at least four activities, including rounds of conversation (e.g. Brown bag lunches), skill-focused workshops, and peer-learning groups, with documented participation and feedback.
5. Governance and Knowledge Management Tools - strengthening the Learning Committee, survey templates, and simple dashboards to monitor progress.
6. Final Report and Recommendations - evidence of impact, lessons learned, and guidance for sustaining a balanced L&D culture beyond the consultancy period.

Your main responsibilities will be:

• Design and implement the Office of Innovation’s learning strategy, addressing technical innovation skills, soft skills, and management/middle-management development.
• Consolidate previous assessments (including the 2025 AI Learning Survey, the 2024 Global Staff Survey and the Innovation Evaluation Report) into a balanced, demand-driven learning roadmap.
• Develop inclusive learning pathways that combine technical knowledge with cross-cutting soft skills and leadership competencies.
• Design and facilitate “rounds of conversation” sessions on topics of interest to staff, providing informal spaces (e.g., brown bag lunches) for open dialogue, peer exchange, and reflective learning.
• Coordinate and facilitate additional activities such as structured workshops and peer-learning groups.
• Curate, organize, and maintain a repository of resources spanning technical, soft skills, and management development.
• Establish simple mechanisms for feedback and evaluation (surveys, dashboards, reports) to monitor learning impact across all three domains.
• Support and strengthen the Learning Committee, ensuring balanced coverage of technical and non-technical learning priorities.
• Provide regular progress updates and a final report with sustainability recommendations.

To learn more about this role, please access the full ToR here:  VA ToR_Organizational Learning Strategy and Design Consultant.pdf

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

• A university degree (bachelor’s or higher) in Human Resources, Organizational Development, Education, Learning Sciences, Psychology, or a related field.
• Minimum of 7 years of relevant professional experience in learning & development, adult learning, organizational development, or capability building, preferably in international or multi-cultural environments.
• Proven track record in designing, implementing, and evaluating learning strategies that cover technical, soft skills, and management development.
• Experience facilitating both structured learning activities (workshops, pathways) and informal formats such as rounds of conversation or brown bag sessions.
• Knowledge of digital learning platforms and AI/digital upskilling is a strong asset.
• Prior UN/INGO experience is desirable; UNICEF experience is an asset.
• Fluency in English required; another UN language is an advantage.

Travel:

• The consultancy is primarily home-based. Travel may be required to Stockholm or other OOI hubs for workshops or staff learning events, depending on the approved work plan. There is no need to include estimated travel costs to Stockholm in the financial proposal. UNICEF will allocate a separate travel budget in the contract, and the consultant will be reimbursed upon completion of travel and submission of valid receipts and relevant supporting documents. 
• The consultant is responsible for arranging his/her own travel, including visa and travel insurance. UNICEF will reimburse authorized travel according to UN rules and standards (economy class only).

Payment details and further considerations:

• Payments are deliverables-based upon UNICEF’s acceptance of each output. UNICEF may withhold payment if outputs do not meet quality standards or are delayed.

Supervision & Collaboration:

The consultant will report to the HR Specialist (OOI) and work under the guidance of the Learning Committee Chair. Close collaboration with the Learning Committee, HR, and relevant technical teams is expected.

How to apply:

• Interest applicant is required to submit a financial proposal with all-inclusive fee.  Please see the financial proposal template.  Consultancy Financial Offer template.docx
• Financial proposal must include travel costs (economy class) and daily subsistence allowance, if travel is required as per TOR and any other estimated costs: visa, travel/health insurance
• Applications without a financial proposal will not be considered.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

Core Competencies:

• Innovates and embraces change 
• Maintains and builds partnerships 
• Thinks and acts strategically 
• Drive to achieve results for impact 

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

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.

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.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.