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, EDUCATION

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is the Global Fund for Education in Emergencies and Protracted Crises. We support quality education outcomes for refugee, internally displaced and other crisis-affected girls and boys, so no one is left behind. ECW works through the multilateral system to both increase the speed of responses in crises and connect immediate relief and longer-term interventions through multi-year programming. ECW works in close partnership with governments, public and private donors, UN agencies, civil society organizations, and other humanitarian and development aid actors to increase efficiencies and end siloed responses. ECW urgently appeals to public and private sector donors for expanded support to reach even more vulnerable children and youth. ECW is a UNICEF hosted fund, administered under UNICEF’s financial, human resources and administrative rules and regulations; operations are run by the Fund’s own independent governance structure.

You can access to more information on ECW via this link www.educationcannotwait.org.

How can you make a difference?

ECW is seeking an experienced climate and education specialist to lead ECW’s engagement in key climate policy processes in 2024, especially the UNFCCC COP29 in November. The consultant is also expected to support other key climate deliverables and activities to achieve the commitments outlined in the Strategic Plan and Annual Work Plan. In particular, this would focus on climate finance, resource mobilization, advocacy and greening ECW. For further details, please see the description of assignment below.

This work will be overseen by ECW’s Chief of Strategic, Planning and Accountability (or their Deputy as Officer in Charge) and work with other teams. Depending on location, the consultant will be required to show flexibility at times with respect to start/end working hours to accommodate meetings and working patterns in New York (where the supervisor is based) and Geneva (where key ECW staff stakeholders are based) time zones.

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT

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

• Advanced degree in education, climate/environmental studies, social sciences or other related field.
• A minimum of eight years of experience in the field of climate change and education.
• Knowledge of and experience in humanitarian action and global education in emergencies and protracted crises, in particular the specific challenges related to climate.
• Proven experience in climate policy and advocacy, including policy analysis and development, advocacy messaging, communication strategies and stakeholder engagement.
• Experience of engaging in and attending COPs.
• Excellent event organization experience and skills, including developing talking points and presentations.
• Strategic vision, strong analytical capabilities and sound judgement.
• Demonstrated advocacy skillset.
• Proven high-level facilitation, networking, coordination, negotiation, consensus-building and organizational skills.
• Excellent inter-personal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relationships with internal and external parties in a multi-cultural environment.
• Advanced communication (spoken and written) skills, including the ability to convey concepts and recommendations to stakeholder representatives, both orally and in writing, in a clear, concise style.
• Availability to travel to COP29 in Azerbaijan in November (2 weeks)and possibly one trip to either Geneva or New York for five days.)
• Demonstrated ability to draft/edit strategic planning documents, reports, presentations and communication products.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

DESIRED REQUIREMENTS

• Experience in the area of climate finance, especially the global climate funds
• Experience engaging in key partnerships such as GADRRRES or the GEP

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 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.

Interested candidates are required to fully complete their application profile, upload a cover letter and their financial proposal (daily fee rate in USD).

Applications with incomplete profile and without a financial proposal will not be considered.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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. Consultants 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.