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 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 (OoI) works to catalyse UNICEF's and all its partners’ expertise and resources against key children-outcomes bottlenecks, with a view to continuously ideate and scale the most effective solutions with transformational potential at scale to achieve the child-related SDGs. The office is doing this by continuously exploring new ways of accelerating results for children, investing across a range of early stage solutions, and harnessing internal and external expertise towards continuously iterating and finetuning the most promising solutions for children through a systematic portfolio management approach, and leveraging all stakeholders’ innovation energy, knowhow and resources from intergovernmental, multilateral, private sector and non-governmental organizations. This takes place across 160 country offices.

Our team
The consultant will be working with the Innovation Manager in the Office of Innovation’s Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL)/Knowledge Management (KM) team. Our goal is to maximize the impact of UNICEF's innovations globally through rigorous, data-driven evidence. In short, we care about what works in innovation, and why. And we care about bringing these insights to UNICEF globally and beyond.

Our work spans across an expansive range of initiatives, from generating direct evidence on our innovation initiatives, to providing thought leadership in innovation scaling and providing corporate guidance on measurement and evidence in innovation.

How can you make a difference? 

Your main responsibilities will be:

Under the supervision of the Innovation Manager and in close collaboration with other Office of Innovation teams and UNICEF Country Offices, the consultant will:

• Support the generation of high-quality evidence across UNICEF’s innovation pipeline by providing technical inputs into research design, ethical reviews, methodology selection, and data collection planning. Ensure approaches are stage-appropriate, user-centered, and aligned with the Innovation MEL Toolbox.
• Develop and test innovative, tech-enabled methods for evidence generation by exploring the application of tools such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, and remote sensing. This includes supporting pilot initiatives with Country Offices to assess their feasibility, added value, and ethical implications in real-world settings.
• Map and engage external partners and firms offering innovation-enabled MEL services and contribute to the design of Long-Term Agreements (LTAs) or partnership models to support scalable, ethical, and efficient evidence generation.
• Promote the use of innovative technologies for evidence generation, such as AI-assisted data collection and analysis, blockchain-based validation, remote monitoring, and predictive analytics. Identify use cases, pilot approaches, and collaborate with technical partners and vendors to implement and assess their value in UNICEF’s context.
• Synthesize pilot results and emerging insights into strategic guidance for the broader organization, including a consolidated summary of innovation-for-evidence pilot activities and their implications for future programming and scale-up.
• Produce practitioner-oriented resources and guidance to support the responsible integration of emerging technologies into MEL practice. This includes authoring a decision-support tool and accompanying guidance notes to support innovation teams in selecting and applying the right tools for their context

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:  Final ToR-Innovative MEL Consultant .pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

• An advanced university degree in Social Sciences or Humanities, Innovation-related field, International Relations, Business Administration, or another related technical 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 eight (8) years of relevant professional experience is required at national and international levels in the areas of applied research, monitoring and evaluation, innovation and/or social and economic development and cooperation.
• Demonstrated experience designing and implementing research or evaluation activities using mixed methods, including qualitative, quantitative, or tech-enabled approaches. Familiarity with innovative frameworks such as Social Impact Assessment, LEAN Impact, or Adaptive Learning models is highly desirable.
• Proven ability to apply strategic thinking to complex problems, including experience in strategic consulting, evidence-informed advising, or high-level synthesis and interpretation of research for decision-making. Strategic consulting experience is highly desirable.
• Experience translating evidence into clear, accessible communication products, and working with diverse stakeholders (e.g., governments, UN agencies, startups, donors) to promote strategic communication and learning uptake.
• Demonstrated expertise in innovation practice, spanning start-up to scaling innovations, especially in the social and/or development sectors.
• 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. 
• Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.

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

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 

How to apply:

• Interested applicants are required to submit a financial proposal with an all-inclusive fee. Please see the financial proposal template here:  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.

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

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.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

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.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:  

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.