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 startup thinking, the technology, and the partners that turn this energy into scalable solutions.

UNICEF's Office of Innovation creates opportunities for the world's children by focusing on where new markets can meet their vital needs.

Our team

UNICEF’s Innovative Finance Hub, based in Helsinki, aims to catalyze global capital in support of children to fill the SDG gap and radically accelerate progress towards the SDGs. It sits at a unique vantage point where an organization working on global issues meets the startup thinking, new ideas, and partners to turn this energy into scalable solutions.

How can you make a difference?

Under the direct supervision of the Senior Impact Analyst, and in coordination with other members of the Hub, the consultant will support the Hub in its work around Child-Lens Investing and the Child-lens Investing Framework (CLIF), a framework to guide investors to incorporate child-related considerations in investment decision-making. The consultant's responsibilities will be organized into two key areas: supporting the development of Child-Lens Investing in the Debt Markets and supporting the development of guidelines for interoperability between CLI and other impact lenses, like Gender-Lens Investing and Climate Finance. Specifically, the consultant will:

• Support the development of guidance around Child-Lens Investing in Debt Markets:
• Act as one of the Hub’s technical expert on CLI in debt markets.
• Provide critical review and inputs on partners’ deliverables, and coordinate the integration of comments from Hub colleagues.
• Serve as the Hub’s operational lead for this work, including managing communication with partners/participants, providing technical support, and developing presentations as needed.
• Liaise directly with partners throughout the project.
• Support the Hub in its partnership on Debt Markets:
• Support the Hub on its existing partnership around Child-Lens Investing in the Debt Market, including with CAF (the Development Bank of Latin America). Responsibilities will include participation in weekly meetings with note takings, development of tools and/or critical review and recommendations on the tools developed for the partner(s), providing support on all associated projects (including presentation).
• Assist the Senior Impact Analyst for any new partnership opportunities around CLI with Bond/loan market players. This includes supporting the potential conversation with background research, presentation and potential partnership development, including up to date stakeholder management of relevant actors.
• Support the team on guidelines on the interoperability between Child-Lens Investing and other Impact Lenses and themes:
• Support the team and its partner(s) on the research paper developed around the interoperability between Child-Lens Investing and Gender-Lens Investing. Responsibilities will include critical reviews, research of additional background information, among other tasks.
• Support the team and its partner(s) on the work developed around the interoperability between Child-Lens Investing and Climate Finance. Responsibilities will include critical reviews, research of additional background information, among other tasks. It will also potentially include supporting in partnerships with climate actors around CLI adoption.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:  Consultant IF Hub Sustainable Finance Debt Markets.pdf

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

• A bachelor’s degree in finance, Business Administration, Public Administration, or a related field is required.

 *A Master’s Degree in a relevant field may be accepted in lieu of the 2 years of relevant professional experience.

• A minimum of 2 years of relevant professional experience in Finance, Impact or ESG Investing, Sustainable finance/innovative finance, or related field is required. A knowledge of the debt market, regulatory environment and impact bonds/loans is required. A knowledge of impact lenses (e.g., child-lens, gender lens, etc.) is an asset.
• Strong analytical and communications skills, verbal and written are required.
• Understanding of child rights is an asset.
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment, across geographies and establish harmonious working relationships, both within and outside the organization.
• Experience in the UN system is an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

Travel:

• Travel will be considered for participation in key stakeholder meetings where the consultant will support the Hub with technical expertise and participate in internal and external-facing relevant events during the duration of the consultancy contract. Travel arrangements for 2026 will be determined at a later stage.

Payment details and further considerations

• Payment of professional fees will be based on the submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant. 

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.

General Terms and Conditions:

Please review UNICEF's General Terms and Conditions for Consultants here for important information regarding contract obligations, including medical insurance, SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) vaccination, and income tax requirements.

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.

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.