National Consultancy – Private Sector Engagement Expert – Consultant, Islamabad, Pakistan (6 months)

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For every child, an education!

Public-private partnerships are essential to accelerate service delivery, strengthen systems, and create integrated, cross-sectoral opportunities. In this context, UNICEF Pakistan is advancing two key approaches, Generation Unlimited and Child Friendly Communities/Cities (CFC), both of which rely on strong collaboration with government, private sector actors, and civil society. UNICEF is expanding its engagement with businesses and private sector partners to co-invest, co-create, and scale sustainable innovations. Their expertise, innovation capacity, and market reach are critical for achieving long-term, systemic impact for children and young people across Pakistan.  

How can you make a difference? 

1. Generation Unlimited (GenU) is a global multistakeholder partnership that brings together governments, development partners, young people, the private sector, and civil society to accelerate progress in secondary age education, skills development, employment, and entrepreneurship for young people. At the country level, GenU develops Country Investment Agendas (CIAs) portfolios of bankable, scalable initiatives designed to attract financing through public–private and youth partnerships and blended investment. GenU reinforces the lifecycle approach, promoting integrative education and skilling, and a more pronounced focus on entrepreneurship and self-employment as opposed to employment based on economic conditions and constraints of the country. Following are the three priority areas for GenU Pakistan;

• Education: Contribute to achieving universal and quality education by expanding access to out-of-school adolescents (OOSA) and older youth, especially girls and other marginalized groups.

• Skills and Training: Providing integrative training (included in the mainstream academic / vocational curriculum) focused on market-desirable skills for large and emerging sectors in the domestic and international economy, with enhanced focus on Future of Work readiness for young people.

• Employability and Entrepreneurship: Strengthen the employment opportunities and entrepreneurial ecosystem through contextual education and training, improved market linkages, innovative models for financing and capital to increase adoption of self-employment in working age adolescents and youth.

2. The Child Friendly Communities (CFC) approach is a Pakistan localized, area-based model for building inclusive and resilient communities where children and adolescents survive, grow, participate, and thrive. Adapted from global Child Friendly Community / City frameworks, it supports the translation of child and youth centered priorities into integrated action at provincial, district, and community levels. The approach addresses barriers in inclusion, participation, accountability, and quality services access. It also creates clear entry points for private sector investment and innovation aligned with shared value objectives. Grounded in the global Child Friendly Community / City frameworks and adapted to Pakistan’s governance and development context, CFC adopts a lifecycle approach, supporting children’s survival from pregnancy and early childhood through adolescence, enabling them to grow, participate, and thrive. The initiative focuses on translating child and youth centered priorities into integrated action at provincial, district, and community levels, strengthening local systems for health, nutrition, water and sanitation, protection, learning, and adolescent development. By addressing structural barriers related to access to quality services, participation, and accountability, CFC strengthens local systems and creates an enabling environment for sustained improvements in child survival, development, and wellbeing. Importantly, CFC also provides a platform for private sector engagement, enabling businesses to co-invest, co-create, and scale solutions through sponsorship or direct investment, aligned with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) priorities, resilience, and shared value objectives.

Purpose of the Assignment: To engage the private sector for the two approaches; UNICEF Pakistan is seeking the services of a consultant who could help with the following.  

Part I: Mobilizing businesses and the private sector for GenU Investment Agenda  

Part-II: Mobilizing Businesses and Public Sectors for the Child-Friendly Communities (CFC) Initiative.

Scope of work:  

Part-I: Support for mobilize businesses and private sector for GenU Investment Agenda: Designing, mobilizing, and delivering a high-impact engagement event titled; “Partnering for Pakistan’s Youth: Mobilizing Businesses and Public Sector for GenU Investment Agenda”, that secures concrete private sector and government commitments to invest in and partner on Generation Unlimited’ s Country Investment Agendas across education, skills, entrepreneurship, digital transformation, and learning to earning pathways and to establish a post-event pipeline for sustained collaboration and resource mobilization. The event seeks to strengthen meaningful engagement between GenU and the public and private sector by highlighting opportunities for participation in GenU’s priority areas, including secondary age education, skills development, digital transformation, entrepreneurship ecosystems, and school to work pathways.  

Objectives: 

• Catalyze Private Sector Commitment to GenU’s Country Investment Agenda
• Position of Young People as Equal Partners in SolutionBuilding
• Mobilize Investment for Scalable Impact Ready Youth Initiatives
• Build Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships to Drive System-Level Change
• Establish a National Momentum for Resource Mobilization & Alignment

Expected Outcomes:  

• Increased awareness among public and private sector actors about the potential and impact of investing in GenU initiatives.
• Strengthened public–private collaboration to support youth development pathways.
• Identified areas for partnership across secondary age education, technical and vocational skills, entrepreneurship, and employment.
• Youth voices meaningfully integrated into programme design and scaling efforts.
• Partnership commitments between GenU, government, and private sector entities.

Target Participants 

• Private sector leaders (technology, telecom, finance, manufacturing, services, and SMEs)
• Representatives from chambers of commerce and industry associations
• Government partners (education, youth, NAVTTC and TEVT, digital development)
• Development partners and donors
• Youth innovators, entrepreneurs, and youth-led organizations
• UN agencies and civil society organizations involved in GenU related thematic areas

Strategies and Deliverables:

1. Inception Report: Inception report with the following details including methodology for the assignment:

• Stakeholder Mapping & Targeting
• Identify and segment 50 priority private sector entities (technology, telecom, finance, manufacturing, services, SMEs), industry associations (e.g., chambers) along with their priority areas.
• Map alignment to GenU CIAs, CSR/ESG priorities/existing projects/initiatives around youth-skilling mandates, and potential value-exchange (funding, in-kind, policy support)
• Meet with GenU partners- public sector entities to learn about expectations and potential areas of collaboration with private sector

2. Event Design & Narrative

• Organize meetings with private sector in coordination with UNICEF
• Develop positioning: “Private Sector as Co-Investors and Co-Creators with Youth.”
• Create a run-of-show aligned to proposed agenda, incl. moderation guides, timekeeping, and transitions.
• Define commitment framework: contribution types (financial, in-kind, policy, infrastructure, data), minimum thresholds, recognition tiers.

3. Content & Materials

• Prepare curated pitch deck(s): slides covering the Pakistan context (NEET population), GenU proposition, bankable initiatives, and partnership models.
• Create commitment instruments: Pledge card, LOI skeleton, Expression of Interest (EOI) form, and post-event follow-up templates.

4. Production & Facilitation

• Finalize run-of-show, speaker briefs, and talk tracks.
• Facilitate panel, Partnership Pitch Session, and Breakout Sessions (skills, entrepreneurship, digital transformation, employment).
• Operate a Commitment Desk to formalize pledges (real-time capture: value, type, timeline, focal person).
• Collect signed pledge cards/LOIs; photograph key moments.

5. Post-Event Follow-Up and Knowledge Products

• Draft LOIs/Workplans with at least 10 entities; schedule co-design workshops.
• Establish a 12-month pipeline with milestones and responsibilities.
• Event Report: outcomes, commitments, case snapshots, policy signals, media mentions.
• Partner Prospectus: CIA-aligned offer menu; pathways for onboarding; GenU governance structure (steering, technical groups, youth advisory).as Friends of GenU
• Monitoring Dashboard for commitments and delivery.

Part-II: Mobilizing Businesses and Public sector for the Child Friendly Communities (CFC) Initiative: Supporting private sector engagement in the Child-Friendly Communities/Cities (CFC) initiative by strengthening the stakeholder mapping and analysis, identifying and prioritizing suitable private sector actors, and initiating engagement with agreed priority partners both for collaboration as well as for establishing a community sponsorship model to enable scale to support implementation in UNICEF’s selected 16 districts and 213 villages. 

Strategies and Deliverables:

1. Strengthen private sector stakeholder mapping and analysis, with at least 2–3 identified private sector entities per district
2. Initiate and formalize engagement with prioritized private sector stakeholders

• Propose a prioritized list of private sector stakeholders to UNICEF for validation.
• Initiate structured engagement with the prioritized list of private sector stakeholders (minimum 32) across the selected districts to build buy-in, shared understanding, and commitment to the CFC initiative.
• Support the design and initiation of a community sponsorship model in at least five villages to enable sustained private sector support for implementation and CFC outcomes.
• Write up: of engagement with a minimum of 32 agreed private sector stakeholders.
• Write up: an outcome-linked sponsorship model for private sector stakeholders.
• Formalize: private sector sponsorship model with at least five private sector entities/villages.

Please review the complete Terms of Reference here:  Work Assignment – ToRs.docx

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

Minimum requirements:

Education: 

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or above) in Business administration or management, economics, development studies, public policy, international relations, social sciences, or any other applicable/related field.

  Work Experience: 

• Minimum of 8 years relevant professional experience.
• Experience of mobilizing partnerships with private and public sector on development issues in Pakistan, including but not limited to education, youth, skills, labour (if possible, in engaging businesses as co-investors and cocreators for scalable, investment-ready initiatives)
• Demonstrated experience designing and delivering multi‑stakeholder engagement platforms that mobilize commitments from private sector and government.
• Experience in stakeholder mapping, segmentation, and prioritization across multiple industries (e.g. technology, telecom, finance, manufacturing, services, SMEs)

Skills:

• Strong analytical, writing, data-visualization, reporting, and presentation skills for non-technical audiences
• Excellent facilitation, negotiation, and relationship management skills
• Previous experience of organizing high-level impact events with the private and public sectors
• Availability to take up the assignment at short notice and ability to manage multiple workstreams and deliver high-quality outputs against stipulated deadlines.
• Availability and ability to travel for assignment to other cities.

Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. 

Desirables:

• Specialized training or demonstrated professional exposure in public–private partnerships (PPPs), impact investing, CSR/ESG, youth employment, education, or skills development is a strong asset.
• Previous work on a similar assignment with UN agencies is of added value
• Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts.
• Knowledge of a local language is an asset.

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 jobs-near-me.org 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.  

Remarks: 

• Duration of the assignment is 06 months
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
• Applicants must submit a financial quotation indicating consultant fee against monthly deliverables as part of the application. Please see Terms of Reference.
• Consultant will be required to travel within country.
• Consultant needs to produce a copy of their health insurance coverage at the time the contract is awarded.

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. For this position, eligible and suitable Female candidates are encouraged to apply.

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.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.