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, a future

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

The Innovation Data and Research Consultant will sit within UNICEF’s exciting and dynamic Product Innovation Centre (PIC). This team drives research and development (R&D) and scale of new innovative products to improve the lives of children across the world. This consultancy will support the team with data, research, and knowledge management to scope, validate and drive scale of specified new products as well as to visualize and share the impact of the Centre. The consultant should have a flair for data visualization and dashboards design and a passion for utilizing data to activate decision-making for impact. Please see: Product Innovation at UNICEF | UNICEF Office of Innovation.

Organizational context:

The mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias, or favouritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic, and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education, and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfil their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

UNICEF’s Product Innovation Centre

The Product Innovation Centre within UNICEF’s Supply Division (SD) works closely with internal and external partners to drive R&D and scale of new innovative products to improve the lives of children. This is done by identifying needs not appropriately met by products currently available and then scanning the market to see if there are products that can meet this need. If yes, we procure and scale the products, if no, we drive R&D utilizing developed product profiles to specify the performance a product has to deliver and incentivize R&D, using our procurement and implementation power. In instances where there are no products in a procurable form on the market, a Product Innovation Project (PIP) is initiated with the ultimate goal of enabling procurement of fit-for-purpose and value-for-money supplies across all UNICEF program areas. In addition, PIC is mandated to push the envelope of the organization in terms of coming up with new innovative concepts to influence R&D of products beyond UNICEF’s procurement, evolve the global thinking around product innovation for development/humanitarian contexts as well as develop new ways of driving scale of products. Key to these ambitions is an aim to ensure the most impact for disadvantaged children for the resources available, always pushing for value for money of products.

How can you make a difference?

The purpose of this deliverable-based consultancy is to support the PIC with research, data mining and data visualization activities as well as internal knowledge management and community engagement. The consultant will support the scoping phases of Product Innovation Projects using relevant datasets, landscaping, and research activities. This will be for projects across PICs portfolio including Assistive Technology, Nutrition, Emergency and Newborn Health as well as new emerging areas e.g. mental health. They will also support Project Managers to validate new products e.g. though feedback surveys and use data to understand and drive demand for new products. The consultancy will also support on Centre reporting through designing and managing dashboards and visualising results to share PIC impact. They will then enable impactful sharing through excellent knowledge management for PIC projects and ensuring PIC proactively engage in the internal community to build engagement with PIC projects and products. Working under the guidance and supervision of the Strategic Projects Lead, the Consultant will:

• Conduct research and data mining, from internal and external data/information, to support the exploration phases of new Product Innovation Projects and to scope new emerging areas.
• Maintain and update the Product Innovation Dashboard to meet the dynamic needs of the centre and the monitoring and reporting needs towards the rest of the organization.
• Maintain and update the Financial Management database of the Center.
• Support internal knowledge management and community engagement – strengthen the Center’s knowledge sharing and demand generation mechanisms across projects.
• Provide data and research for procurement activities.

The consultant will be responsible for ensuring the following deliverables are achieved:

1. Data and research for scoping and scaling PIPs and new emerging priorities (40% – 100 days)

• Scope new PIPs (Product Innovation Projects) and advance existing PIPs using internal (e.g. supply data from Vision, Country Office reporting) and external (e.g. publications, online desk research) data sources.
• Support emerging priority areas and Gate Zero submissions to the Innovation Review Board with landscaping research.
• Design and deliver surveys and analyse and present back results to support product feedback and understand likely demand for new products.

2. Product Innovation Dashboard (20% – 50 days)

• Update Product Innovation Dashboard to align with UNICEF strategic results/indicators and utilized to show PIC impact.
• Develop and update PIP specific pages and PIP specific KPIs.
• Update and link Innovation Review Board tracker to Innovation Dashboard.
• Make snapshots and reports available for Project Managers, Leadership Team and for internal and external stakeholder presentations.
• Liaise with Monitoring and Evaluation team to ensure PIC is abreast of relevant data capturing tools, visual representation and dashboards, forecasting tools and mechanisms.

3. Financial Management Dashboard (5% – 12.5 days)

• Develop and publish Financial Management dashboard in Power BI to track grants, expenditures and fundraising needs.
• Deliver financial reports for Leadership Team.

4. Knowledge Management and Community Engagement (25% – 62.5 days)

• Support Project Managers in community engagement and demand generation activities, with opportunities across PIPs identified to support product scaling.
• Build alignment with SD Knowledge Management, so opportunities to share PIC work with relevant audiences are identifiable.
• Update country engagement and demand tracker.
• Develop and implement Centre and PIP SharePoint sites/libraries to enable capture, storage and dissemination of information about PIPs.

5.  Data and research for procurement activities (10% – 25 days)

• Data and research for procurement activities and publishing of tenders and Target Product Profiles in UNGM.

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

• University degree in data science, global health, marketing, research, innovation, social science or related field.
• Two years of professional experience is preferred, minimum of 1 year of experience in data analysis and visualization.
• Proven track record of establishing Power BI Dashboards and excel worksheets.
• Proven ability to analyze different sources of data to come to an actionable analysis and conclusion.
• Experience in survey design and analysis desirable.
  *Consideration will be given to any experience relevant to data mining and visualization, research, and online community management, including internships and student jobs.
• Experience working in UNICEF and/or another UN agency is highly desirable.
• Ability to quickly understand instructions, to proactively seek clarification when needed.
• Ability to take initiative and propose ideas and solutions.
• Proactive team player that is able to work in a multicultural environment and establish harmonious and effective working relationships.
• Language: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

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 committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. AtIn UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF.

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.

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.