New Consultancy: Nutrition and Education – Innovation, Product Innovation Centre UNICEF Supply Division Copenhagen, Remote, 265 Days over 13 months.

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 fulfil 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.

The fundamental 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.

For every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

Organizational context

The Product Innovation Centre (PIC) within 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 develops product profiles to specify the performance a product has to deliver and incentivize R&D, using our procurement and implementation power. 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 to develop new ways of driving scale of products. Key to these ambitions is an aim to ensure most impact for disadvantaged children for the resources available, always pushing for value for money of products.

The Product Innovation Centre operates within public procurement practices to drive research and development (R&D), validation and implementation of new products to address programmatic and/or emergency needs. 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.

How can you make a difference? 

The purpose of the assignment is to project manage Project AIM (Alternative Ingredients for Malnutrition) and provide support to the nutrition and education innovation product portfolio.

Scope of Work

The consultant will provide support to the ‘Emerging Opportunities Unit’ managing Project AIM (Alternative Ingredients for Malnutrition) as well as scoping and developing Product Innovation Projects within Nutrition and Education. The consultant will conduct needs assessments, market landscape analyses, scope innovation projects, develop implementation strategies and liaise with internal and external stakeholders, including private sector and academia, to lead the projects to their completion.

Developing and maintaining partnerships with other UN agencies is central to the role, as is coordination across multiple divisions within UNICEF. The role requires regular presentations on product updates to the Innovation Review Board that oversees product innovation projects.

The consultant will be part of the Emerging Opportunities Unit, with technical oversight provided by the Innovation Specialist (Nutrition) in the Product Innovation Center (PIC) and report directly to the Innovation Manager. The consultant will collaborate closely with UNICEF Supply Division centres, Programme Group and where appropriate, country offices, regional offices, and other UN agencies.

Timeline:

Current consultancy hiring is for the first part of the projects, a 265-day deliverable-based consultancy spanning over 13 months.

Among the concrete activities are:

1. Project management lead on Project Aim and provision of support to the nutrition and education project portfolio including comprehensive needs assessment, demand mapping, landscape analysis, Target Product Profiles, project roadmap and overall project coordination with key stakeholders (50%).

2. Identification and scoping of early childhood development and nutrition product innovation projects with the emerging opportunities team and any further support needed in this matter for education (20%).

3. Support to supplier engagement, procurement, and tender activities including drafting and evaluation of relevant tender documents and products as well as supplier engagement with suppliers and developers to incentivize and guide product Research Development as well as integration of Product Innovation Projects (10%).

4. Communication support, knowledge management and data analysis processes, and launching and managing a Nutrition Innovation Network including quarterly webinars in collaboration with the Innovation Specialist (20%).

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Innovation and product development. Public health, Nutrition, Education, Social Sciences,
• A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum of 2-5 of relevant professional experience in project and/or innovation management in development or humanitarian related to digital education is required.
• Experience in product innovation is an asset.
• A proven ability to run projects, with the ability to create clarity within complex and opposing perspectives.
• Strong work ethic with the ability to get things done.
• Ability to engage different stakeholders, with very different perspectives and opinions.
• Ability to get a deep understanding within a field without prior knowledge.
• Understanding of procurement and programming.
• Understanding of research methodology including study design, qualitative and quantitative methodology.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or the 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 afterward 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. 

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