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. 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, success

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 fora (think tank, academia).

UPSHIFT is a social innovator accelerator for young people aged 10-24 that rapidly unlocks their generational potential to create real and tangible change in their lives and their communities. By equipping youth with essential skills like problem-solving, creativity, collaboration, leadership, and communication, UPSHIFT prepares them to take charge of their present and future as entrepreneurs, employees, and global citizens. Currently operational in 47 countries, UPSHIFT has reached 4.1 million adolescents and young people through more than 95 million learning hours.

How can you make a difference?

UPSHIFT is currently in the transition-to-scale phase of innovation at UNICEF, which is a critical phase of high importance, with plans to be operational in 50 countries by the end of 2024 and by the next Strategic Plan be a core component of UNICEF programming to enable young people to build entrepreneurial skills that help achieve employment and begin their own socially focused businesses. In-country scaling efforts are progressing well, aiming for integration into national systems in response to increasing government demand. A pipeline of countries is at various stages of incorporating UPSHIFT delivery into their education systems, while others are exploring similar options as well as out of school modalities. Emerging delivery models, utilizing digital technologies to craft blended learning journeys, are showing promising cost-efficiency and will exponentially increase the amount of young people the innovation initiative is accessible towards. The transition to scale phase for UPSHIFT aims to support country offices and local government deliver UPSHIFT to a minimum of 5 million young people annually by 2030. The transition to scale also foresees a progressive transition for the UPSHIFT programme from the Office of Innovation to the Programme Group, which is where key initiatives for young people at UNICEF are mainstreamed. Few innovation initiatives make it to this stage, highlighting the importance of this role in terms of potential global transformative impact for children, if successful in this critical innovation phase.

The UPSHIFT Global lead is accountable for the development of the UPSHIFT global innovation scale strategy working closely with Adolescent Participation and Education counterparts in NYHQ, country office implementing the innovation programme, ensuring an evidence-based approach and for supporting its implementation in close collaboration with counterparts across multiple divisions within UNICEF.  Should the work plan as progressed, the role will transition to UNICEF Programme Group once key evidence, strategic and financial benchmarks are met. Job responsibilities include:

• Developing and leading the oversight of the UPSHIFT global scale strategy.
• Providing UPSHIFT technical support to country offices and partner governments.
• Evidence generation and knowledge management
• Exploring digital scale models working closely with country offices at the forefront
• Leading partnership strategy, fundraising, and working closely with donors.
• Thought leadership in innovative approaches and their application to the project.
• Team building, project and budget management.
• Leading the global community of experts at the country level operationalizing UPSHIFT.
• Building a sustainable transition-to-scale strategy bridging multiple UNICEF divisions.

Under the general direction of the P5 Senior Advisor, Innovation (Portfolio, Culture and Scale) and in close collaboration with PG Counterparts, the UPSHIFT Global lead duties and accountabilities include:

1) UPSHIFT global scale strategy.

• Lead the development of SMART strategies with a clear theory of change.
• Coordinate strategy implementation and promote new ideas.

2) UPSHIFT technical leadership and support

• Provide technical support to strengthen regional and country office capacities.
• Advise country offices on UPSHIFT rollout and scaling.
• Support delivery of regional and global UPSHIFT workshops.

3) Leading global evidence and knowledge management

• Build evidence base and global indicators for UPSHIFT.
• Manage UPSHIFT global network and SharePoint resources.
• Support delivery of regional and global UPSHIFT workshops.

4) Explore digital scale models

• Drive digital transformation for sustainable UPSHIFT models.
• Explore digital delivery options and gaps in existing curriculum.

5) Building donor and private sector partnerships & communications

• Develop global UPSHIFT brand and communication activities.
• Broker partnerships and mobilize resources.
• Provide strategic direction for partnerships and networks.

6) Team building, project and budget management:

• Foster a nurturing team environment and ensure project coherence.
• Manage inclusive teams and resources effectively and transparently.

7) Community management

• Lead creation of UNICEF community for knowledge sharing and training.

8)Transition to scale

• Build roadmap for integration into UNICEF mainstream.
• Develop evidence and financial benchmarks for future success.
• Design value proposition for member-state adoption.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:  Innovation Manager (UPSHIFT Global Lead).pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

• Education:
• An advanced university degree (Masters or higher) in Social Sciences, Humanities, International Relations, Economics, Business or other relevant field.

*A first degree plus an additional 2 years of experience, may be accepted in lieu of a Master’s degree.

• Work Experience:
• Minimum 8 Years of relevant experience.
• Demonstrated professional work experience in international development, innovation, social innovation, or entrepreneurship fields.
• Prior experience working in UNICEF country offices on innovative projects is highly preferred, with experience in a UN country office also considered.
• Experience working on UPSHIFT projects globally or locally is advantageous.
• Direct experience in developing and delivering innovative entrepreneurship programmes within UNICEF, including training of UPSHIFT trainers.
• Experience in project management and coordination of global innovation projects within the UN is highly desirable.
• Proven experience in leading the development of regional or global scale strategies for skills building programmes.
• Demonstrated ability in building and maintaining a network of stakeholders, as well as working effectively within coalitions.
• Experience in deploying digital platforms, tools, and approaches to support skills programmes.
• Track record of working with multiple countries and stakeholders.

• Language Requirements: Fluency in English and French is required. Knowledge of another UN language is highly desirable.

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

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

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.

We offer a wide range of measures to include a more diverse workforce, such as paid parental leave, time off for breastfeeding purposes, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

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. UNICEF is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will 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.

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’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children.

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.

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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.

Contact: For any queries, please contact: swe-ooi-recruitments@unicef.org