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 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 start-up thinking, the technology, and the partners that turn this energy into scalable solutions. We're an interdisciplinary team around the world tasked with identifying, prototyping, and scaling new technologies and practices.

How can you make a difference?

In close coordination with and under the guidance of the Office of Innovation Operations management in Stockholm, the proposed consultant will contribute to advancing key operational components that enable programme objectives for both the Learning Innovation Hub and the Innovative Finance Hub in Helsinki. Through a series of defined deliverables, the consultant will provide targeted inputs to improve coordination across planning, budgeting, procurement, and reporting functions, ensuring smoother interfaces between programme leads, central operations teams, and field offices during critical implementation cycles. The consultant’s contributions will be critical to ensuring operational readiness for the LI Hub’s transition under GPD oversight, including the establishment of integrated service structures and revised governance frameworks during this organizational shift.

Through these contributions, the consultant will help reduce administrative bottlenecks, enhance risk mitigation efforts, and enable more focused programme execution, while preserving operational continuity during organizational shifts.

Your main responsibilities will be….

Over the course of the 10-month contract, the consultant will deliver a structured set of outputs aligned with six core workstreams. Each month, the consultant will submit a progress report capturing key deliverables tied to operational priorities of the Helsinki-based hubs. The consultant’s contributions are designed to strengthen coordination, enhance system usage, and improve the visibility and efficiency of operational processes. This includes a dedicated workstream focused on supporting the transition of the Learning Innovation (LI) Hub to Global Programme Division (GPD) oversight. As part of this stream, the consultant will develop and document work processes establishing the LI Hub as the host office for shared services to the Innovative Finance (IF) Hub under PFP, coordinate with GPD-Education to define operational workflows for integration with the new Education structure and Centres of Expertise (COEs), and facilitate the structured transfer of operational responsibilities from OOI to GPD.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: TOR Programme_Delivery and Operational Optimization Consultant.pdf

Description of assignment

1. Programme and Operations Integration

2. Implementing Partner Oversight (HACT)

3. Digital Tools and Monitoring

4. Administrative and Facilities Support .

5. Knowledge Management and Change Facilitation

6. Transition Support and Operational Integration

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

• Bachelor’s degree in business administration, operations, public finance, or related field, or a relevant field.

• A minimum of 2 years of relevant professional experience in operations, finance, programme support, or grant management.

• Experience in operations management and service delivery models, and knowledge management frameworks.

• Experience supporting implementing partners under the HACT framework is a strong asset

• Experience in UNICEF would be considered and asset with an understanding of systems such as eTools, Insight, SharePoint, Power BI.

• Experience supporting implementing partners under the HACT framework is a strong asset.

• Excellent communication, dashboarding, and knowledge-sharing skills.

• Fluency in English required.

Desirables:

Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts

Travel:

• The consultant may be expected to travel to Helsinki to take up assignment and return to their home country at the end of the assignment

• The consultant is responsible for arranging his/her own travel, including visa and travel insurance.

Payment details and further considerations

Monthly payment will be processed upon submission of a short Monthly Progress Report confirming completion of the above recurring deliverables, verified by the supervisor. 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 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 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.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children.

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.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.

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Consultancy: Programme Delivery and Operational Optimization Consultant, Office of Innovation, Helsinki, Finland, 10 months (On-site)