Innovation Portfolio Continuity Manager - Tenders Global
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Innovation Portfolio Continuity Manager

United Nations Children's Fund

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Job Description

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Description

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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 startup thinking, the technology, and the partners that turn this energy into scalable solutions.
 
UNICEF’s Office of Innovation creates opportunities for the world’s children by focusing on where new markets can meet their vital needs. We do this by:

Connecting children, adolescent and youth communities (or more broadly — anyone disconnected or under-served) to decision-makers, and to each other, to deliver informed, relevant and sustained programmes that build better, stronger futures for children.
Provoking change for children through an entrepreneurial approach — in a traditionally risk-averse field — to harness rapidly moving innovations and apply them to serve the needs of all children.
Creating new models of partnership that leverage core business values across the public, private and academic sectors in order to deliver fast, and lasting results for children.

The Global Innovation Strategy 2.0 strategy and aims to achieve critical shifts in the way UNICEF currently works on innovation, building on what has been successful, while also addressing lessons learned and capitalizing on new opportunities. These critical shifts are:

Setting global priorities based on the needs of children and young people, focusing on those areas with the largest need
Focusing on scaling innovations
Catalysing inventions where no known solution exists
Connecting the organization and convening critical stakeholders to solve the most pressing challenges facing children and young people

These shifts will be enabled by:

  • Establishing a portfolio management approach
  • Innovative funding and financing and the application of financial engineering
  • Ensuring rapid learning and fostering collaboration
  • Building innovation culture and competence across UNICEF.
The Office of Innovation is in the process of conducting a Mid-Term Review (MTR) to assess our strategy’s progress and explore potential staff structure adjustments. As a result, OOI is looking for a temporary position to manage the ongoing Climate Portfolio. This role is available as a six-month TA.

You will work under the general direction of the Senior Adviser Innovation (Portfolio, Culture and Scale). You will follow guidance and supervision by  the Head of Innovation Portfolios and Governance, who leads  on the global strategy, guidance and governance around UNICEF’s innovation portfolios. You will work in close collaboration with other Portfolio Managers and relevant thematic Programme Group.

The Innovation Portfolio Continuity Manager will focus on the following:

  • Sustain the climate change innovation portfolio and initiatives
  • Maintain existing climate change innovation partnerships & relationships
  • Continue climate change innovation advisory & support to regions and countries
  • Converting Innovation30 potential funding partners to contributors.
The post is responsible for:
  • (In partnership with Programme Group and relevant stakeholders), actively manage and develop the Climate Change Innovation portfolios from problem statements to pipeline to scale, supporting the identification and scaling of critical solutions and initiatives that will accelerate outcomes for children.
  • Oversee and facilitate performance management for the portfolios overall, and reporting for specific relevant solutions within the Climate Change innovation portfolios
  • Work with the Partnerships & Comms team to support global initiatives, resource mobilization and communications opportunities for the Climate Change innovation portfolios
  • Work collegially and collaboratively with fellow innovation portfolio managers, project mangers and UNICEF Ventures colleagues to fulfill the potential of much needed cross-thematic/cross-skills approach towards implementation.
  • Supporting the development of a future innovation hub.
  • Strategic support and other tasks for Office of Innovation that support the Portfolio, Culture and Scale team more broadly.
Under the overall direction of the Senior Advisor, Innovation (Portfolio, Culture and Scale) and supervision by Head, Innovation Portfolios & Governance
  • Work in close partnership with relevant thematic team in Programme Group, Divisions, Regions, Countries and any other identified OOI focal points to:
  • Update the problem statements that focus solving and scaling within the portfolios
  • Support the identified solutions in reaching short term goals and objectives.
  • Collaborate, consult and have smooth flow of information sharing on an ongoing basis to support alignment of innovation and results for children in the relevant portfolios
  • In line with the parameters agreed by the Innovation Portfolio Approach and Governance Structure actively maintain the Climate innovation portfolios, focusing time and resource on the innovation projects with greatest transformative potential. Key activities to achieve this include:
  • Implement appropriate sourcing tactics for the portfolios, taking into account factors such as the degree of effective solving for each problem statement i.e. prioritize under-solved problems, and the opportunity to nurture a cohort of solutions that are together solving a problem in distinct ways i.e. manage as a cluster. Sourcing covers both external (non-UNICEF) and internal sources of innovation projects, including internal and external Venture Fund investments.
  • Engage the global innovation governance structure for support moving forward.
  • Manage the Sourcing & Stage Gates for the portfolios in line with agreed global governance processes.
  • Provide, broker and source support for projects within the portfolios, enabling them to accelerate new approaches. This will include generating evidence and insights, developing models for sustainable scale and effectively documenting and disseminating information for scale or replication.  This may include providing direct advice or technical assistance to the project team, brokering support from other stakeholders within OOI / UNICEF / externally or oversight of a resource to undertake this work.
  • Support the Partnerships & Comms team in ongoing resource mobilization priorities for the portfolios in general and for specific projects in the portfolios
  • Support the Comms team to enable them to identify content, plan for and communicate and showcase regularly the portfolios, global initiatives and their projects across a range of opportunities to raise profile, positioning and engagement and support for these and the Office of Innovation, through opportunities such as stories, media, social media, events, briefings etc.
  • Scope and support portfolio metrics, evidence generation, knowledge management and learning opportunities for the portfolios that will (i) generate evidence as to the results being achieved by projects in the portfolios; (ii) accelerate scaling and uptake of new innovations and (iii) support UNICEF’s approach to innovation portfolio management.
  • With guidance and support from the MEELR team, undertake performance management, monitoring and reporting functions for the relevant innovation portfolios. This includes i) UNICEF Strategic Plan overall portfolio KPI (H6.1 and H6.2[1]), ii) collaboratively defining and reporting regularly against OOI-defined internal portfolio management KPIs per OMP and other additional measures; iii) contribute to other regular reporting including but not limited to Monthly updates / quarterly / annual and donor reporting on their own schedules, reports at overall portfolio level and for key projects, with a focus on those receiving OOI-enabled funding and investment.
  • In line with strategic direction, support the development of a strategic and conceptual design of the forthcoming innovation hub for Climate and related global initiatives that addresses problems that UNICEF needs to solve to accelerate outcomes for children in this area. This will be an iterative process under the overall leadership of the Director, OOI, and in partnership with PPD, the relevant member state(s), relevant NatCom / CO, and other key stakeholders.
  • Work collaboratively with the other core roles, fellow portfolio managers and Global Innovation Hub Leads to contribute to continuing vision to improve UNICEF’s overall approach to innovation portfolio management to achieve transformative and accelerated results for children through innovation.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
  • An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in one of the following fields is required: Environmental Science, Sustainability or Climate-related fields, Innovation, International Relations, Business Administration, or another relevant technical field.
  • 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 eight (8) years of relevant professional experience is required at national and international levels in the areas of innovation, climate, environment and/or development.
  • Experience working in UNICEF is preferred.
  • Experience working with UN agencies in the area of innovation is preferred
  • Demonstrated experience in innovation practice, spanning start-up to scaling innovations in relevant sector(s).
  • Experience of designing and managing innovation portfolios is preferred
  • Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

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