International Consultancy – Foresight Consultant, Abuja Nigeria, 10 Months.

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 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, commitment.

In Nigeria, UNICEF works in a complex humanitarian and development setting to fulfill and protect children’s rights in partnership with the government, civil society, children, and families. UNICEF Nigeria is one of the largest UNICEF Country Offices globally – click the link to learn more about UNICEF in Nigeria: https://www.unicef.org/nigeria/

Background:

Meeting the challenge of upholding children’s and adolescents’ rights in an increasingly uncertain and resource-constrained environment requires forward-looking approaches that prioritize actions with long-term impact. In line with Nigeria’s commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Declaration on Future Generations, and the Child Rights Act, there is a pressing need to explore how foresight can be leveraged to anticipate risks and opportunities and ensure sustainable, rights-based outcomes for future generations.

In 2025, the Federal Government of Nigeria, under the leadership of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), launched the Anticipatory Governance and Foresight Capacity Programme—a strategic initiative aimed at building national capacity for future literacy, long-term planning, and intergenerational equity.

This initiative seeks to build institutional foresight capabilities and support long-term governance that is inclusive, participatory, and future-oriented. It also creates a unique entry point for embedding child- and adolescent-focused foresight into national policy and planning frameworks, in line with Nigeria’s Child Rights Act, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the Declaration on Future Generations (DFG).

Purpose of the Assignment:

This assignment seeks to contribute to the development and institutionalization of a child- and adolescent-focused foresight within the broader national foresight programme. The purpose of this consultancy is to advance the integration of child- and adolescent-focused foresight within Nigeria’s anticipatory governance ecosystem, ensuring that the needs, perspectives, and rights of young people are systematically considered in long-term national development planning.

How can you make a difference?

Scope of Work

Specifically, the consultancy will:

Define the scope of a foresight analysis, identify key trends and disruptors affecting children’s and adolescents’ futures, and provide insights to guide further analysis and planning

• In consultation with relevant stakeholders, co-create and define the scope of the foresight analysis, narrowing down on the possible areas related to children that need to be further unpacked.
• Use existing data to identify global, regional, and national trends and disruptors relevant to children’s and adolescents’ futures within the scope of the foresight analysis.
• Prepare a summary of findings to share with relevant stakeholders to inform further foresight analysis.

Develop and analyse future scenarios based on identified trends and disruptors, and engage stakeholders in interpreting their implications for children and adolescents

• Facilitate deep-dive workshops with multi-sectoral stakeholders—including government officials, academics, civil society, and youth—using adapted methodologies from UNICEF’s foresight primer to examine emerging signals, set priorities, and co-create plausible future scenarios for children and adolescents across near-, mid-, and long-term time horizons.
• Synthesize findings identifying key trends, risks, opportunities, and implications for policy and planning.
• Document the process to capture lessons learned and recommendations, providing feedback to refine the primer and enhance its adaptation to the local context.

Translate foresight insights into actionable policy options and strategic recommendations using appropriate foresight methodologies

• Facilitate stakeholder consultation sessions to validate insights and discuss potential policy directions and strategic choices
• Use appropriate foresight tools and techniques to assess the feasibility and impact of different policy options.
• Develop a set of evidence-informed, actionable policy options and strategic recommendations aligned with national priorities and children’s and adolescents’ rights.
• Draft and present a brief summarizing the recommended actions, their rationale, and suggested implementation pathways that can be integrated into the OVP-led Anticipatory Governance and Foresight Capacity Framework.
• Engage with decision-makers and partners to refine recommendations based on feedback, produce final knowledge products and build ownership for implementation.

Promote inclusive foresight processes that elevate young people’s voices

• Engage children, adolescents, and youth networks in the foresight process using participatory methods (e.g., storytelling, visioning, youth dialogues).
• Ensure diverse representation, including children and adolescents from marginalized and underserved communities.
• Build capacity among young people and relevant stakeholders to use foresight tools and contribute meaningfully to scenario planning and policy design.

Deliverables/Outputs

1.Defined scope of the foresight analysis — a documented and agreed-upon scope outlining priority areas related to children that require deeper exploration, co-created with stakeholders.

Analysis of trends and disruptors — a synthesis of existing global, regional, and national data identifying key trends and potential disruptors relevant to children’s and adolescents’ futures within the agreed scope.

Summary findings report — a concise, accessible document summarizing the defined scope, identified trends and disruptors, and initial insights, prepared for sharing with stakeholders to inform the next phase of foresight analysis

2.Workshop materials and facilitation outputs — including agendas, presentations, and participatory tools adapted from UNICEF’s foresight primer and tailored to the local context.

Plausible future scenarios — documented scenarios for children and adolescents across near-, mid-, and long-term time horizons, co-created with multi-sectoral stakeholders.

Synthesis report — a comprehensive report summarizing the findings from the deep-dive workshops, including key trends, emerging signals, risks, opportunities, and implications for policy and planning.

Process documentation and lessons learned — a record of the methodology, stakeholder engagement process, and key reflections, with recommendations for refining the foresight primer and improving its adaptation to similar contexts.

3.Stakeholder consultation summary — documented feedback and validation of foresight insights, policy directions, and strategic choices from multi-sectoral consultations.

Feasibility and impact assessment — analysis of different policy options using foresight tools, highlighting their potential effectiveness and risks.

Draft policy options and strategic recommendations — a set of evidence-informed, actionable policy options aligned with national priorities and the rights of children and adolescents.

Policy brief/report —a concise document presenting the recommended actions, their rationale, and proposed implementation pathways, designed for integration into the OVP-led Anticipatory Governance and Foresight Capacity Framework.

Final knowledge products — refined recommendations and supporting materials (e.g., presentations, briefs, reports), incorporating feedback from decision-makers and partners, with documented buy-in for implementation.

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

Minimum requirements:

• An advanced University degree in Futures Studies, Public Policy, International Development, Social Sciences, or a related field.
• Proven experience in applying foresight methodologies (e.g., scenario planning, horizon scanning, Futures Literacy Labs) in development or governance contexts, preferably with a child rights or equity lens.
• Strong understanding of child rights, intergenerational equity, and sustainable development, including familiarity with relevant global frameworks (e.g., UN CRC, SDGs, Declaration on Future Generations
• Experience working with government institutions, think tanks, and multilateral agencies, particularly in policy development, systems thinking, and long-term planning processes.
• Excellent facilitation and participatory research skills, including the ability to engage diverse stakeholders such as children, adolescents, policymakers, academics, and civil society.
• Strong analytical and writing skills, with a track record of producing high-quality reports, policy briefs, and knowledge products.
• Ability to translate complex foresight findings into practical policy recommendations and tools for decision-makers and youth audiences.
• Familiarity with the Nigerian development context and ability to navigate political, institutional, and cultural dynamics is an asset.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and manage multi-stakeholder processes in a dynamic and iterative project environment.
• Prior working experience with UNICEF and understanding of UNICEF programs is an asset.
• Ability to work productively, independently and to handle requests or issues as they arise.
• Computer literacy and the ability to effectively use standard office software tools (Word, Excel, PPT, Teams, SharePoint) and other office technologies including MS Teams and Zoom.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• 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 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.

Applicants must submit their financial and technical proposals along with this application. Applications without these will not be considered. Use this form to provide your financial proposal.

All-Inclusive Financial Proposal Form-Current.docx

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.

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