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 legacy of innovation for children. From its base in Copenhagen, the Sustainable WASH Innovation Hub (the Hub) identifies, demonstrates and scales climate‑resilient water and sanitation solutions that can accelerate progress toward a water‑secure future for children and young people. Working with partners and UNICEF country and regional teams, the Hub selects high‑impact, cutting‑edge innovations, adapts them to context, and expands proven solutions from helping thousands in one country to reaching millions across multiple regions through an annually reviewed WASH portfolio focused on the greatest challenges and opportunities for impact.

How can you make a difference? 

This role contributes to the work of the Hub by reviewing and adapting the portfolio structure to improve identification of promising solutions and ensure effective support for high‑impact innovations, while also designing a second tier of support for high value solutions that may have lower impact, but are of demonstrable value to for women and children, and would support addressing sustainable WASH services targets in UNICEF country offices.

Building on learnings to date, the Hub seeks to strengthen collaboration and knowledge management and introduce a more differentiated innovation portfolio architecture (“Portfolio 2.0”) to accelerate impact toward SDG6. This approach seems to leverage UNICEFs unique position to support scaling a range of innovations into a two-tiered approach.

The WASH Hub identifies and accelerates innovations that address priority WASH challenges to advance SDG 6. Building on the current portfolio (“High Impact Solutions”), the Hub aims to evolve to Portfolio 2.0—a refined, tiered model that increases clarity of pathways to scale, improves governance and decision rights, and identifies and strengthens coordination of solutions not yet impactful enough for the current portfolio.

Portfolio 2.0 will organize solutions into groups; these are suggested to be:

• High Impact Solutions (current portfolio):
  Carefully curated solutions addressing defined problem statements that, if scaled, can deliver significant contributions to SDG 6.
• Potential Transformative Solutions:Innovations with strong transformative potential across multiple contexts but not yet ready for scale or for inclusion in the main portfolio.
• Added Value Solutions: Innovations with added value but lower impact potential, supported through a standardized support package to reach deployable status where appropriate.

As part of the consultancy, it is expected that these categories will be more clearly defined and detailed should this be identified as the best way for the Hub to cultivate WASH innovations in the sector as part of Portfolio 2.0.

If you would like to know more about this position and the responsibilities, please review the complete Job Description here:  ToR_portfolio 2.0.pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

Education: Advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Innovation, International Development, Public Policy, Business Administration, Engineering, Social Sciences, or a related technical field;

*a first degree with two additional years of experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree.

Work Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of professional experience in innovation management, portfolio design, or strategic programme management in development or humanitarian settings.
• Demonstrated experience designing innovation portfolios, including multitiered architectures, operating models, taxonomies, and stage-gate systems.
• Proven ability to translate strategy into operational governance, decision-making structures, and process frameworks. making structures, and process frameworks.
• Experience developing or revising governance frameworks, policies, and terms & conditions for innovation, research, or programme management.
• Strong understanding of intellectual property, data-sharing, safeguarding, partnership agreements, and risk management as they relate to innovation.
• Experience designing and operationalizing sourcing and triage systems, pipelines, or coordination mechanisms for innovations.
• Demonstrated experience working with a range of actors (government, NGOs, private sector, academia, UN agencies) in sourcing or managing innovations.
• Ability to design intake workflows, classification systems and coordination mechanisms portfolio items.
• Proven expertise in operating model design, including end-to-end processes, workflow mapping, templates, guidance materials and SOPs. design workshops, stakeholder consultations, and system prototyping exercises.
• Experience conducting organizational capacity assessments, mapping competencies, and designing staffing or resourcing models.
• Commitment to UNICEF values including equity, safeguarding, ethical innovation, and child-centred design.

Skills:

• Strong facilitation skills, with experience running codesign workshops, stakeholder consultations, and system prototyping exercises. design workshops, stakeholder consultations, and system prototyping exercises.
• Strong analytical and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to synthesize complex systems into practical, actionable models.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with a track record of producing high quality reports, frameworks, and presentations. quality reports, frameworks, and presentations.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver high quality outputs under tight deadlines. quality outputs under tight deadlines.

Language Requirements: Fluency in English required. 

Desirables:

• Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.
• Familiarity with tools such as Airtable, CRM systems, workflow tools, Power BI, or Miro is an asset.
• Knowledge of the WASH sector or climate-resilient development is highly desirable. resilient development is highly desirable. Understanding of the humanitarian–development nexus, especially in relation to innovation adoption and scaling.
• Experience with innovation evidence standards, scaling readiness assessments, or MEL frameworks for innovation (experience with UNICEF, UN, or donor standards is an asset).
• Knowledge of another UN language is an asset.

Travel:

In the financial proposal include travel costs and DSA rate for:

• 1 trip from your home to Copenhagen for five working days.

All travel (in case of any) will be by most economical fare and reimbursement will be as per UNICEF policy, “As per UNICEF DFAM policy, payment is made against approved deliverables. No advance payment is allowed unless in exceptional circumstances against bank guarantee, subject to a maximum of 30 per cent of the total contract value in cases where advance purchases, for example for supplies or travel, may be necessary”.

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:

• Interested applicants are required to submit a technical and 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 e.g. visa, travel/health insurance.
• Technical proposals should be no more than 10 pages (not including Annexes) and should outline how the consultant intends to approach the assignment.
• Applications without a technical and financial proposal will not be considered.

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 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. 

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.