Consultancy: Innovation Portfolio Consultant: Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), Office of Innovation, Stockholm, Sweden, 7 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 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, 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.

UNICEF’s Office of Innovation creates opportunities for the world’s children by focusing on where new markets, ideas and solutions 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 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:

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

These shifts will be enabled by:

1. Establishing a portfolio management approach
2. Innovative funding and financing and the application of financial engineering
3. Ensuring rapid learning and fostering collaboration
4. Building innovation culture and competence across UNICEF.

Our team

The Portfolio, Culture & Scale team is an interdisciplinary team tasked with driving the programme-based, problem-led portfolio approach and discipline to drive the innovation culture and scale in countries.  With our partners, we focus on convening and collaborating with stakeholders, Programme Group, Regional and Country offices, we identify, validate and scale solution including global initiatives.

About the Role:

Join UNICEF’s dedicated team in a pivotal role that combines mental health expertise and innovative skills. As an Innovation Portfolio Consultant, you will drive and elevate our current portfolio of mental health solutions, focusing primarily on children, adolescent, and youth well-being playing a role of continuity, ensuring flagship innovation efforts progress through an office mid-term review period. This role taps into deep innovation experience with focus on identifying, validating, and scaling innovative solutions in collaboration with stakeholders. You will be instrumental in driving a problem led portfolio discipline and fostering strategic relationships and providing clear direction to ensure smooth implementation of innovative solution and related global initiatives.

What We Seek:

Are you an adept innovation manager passionate about shifting systems to create an equitable mental health landscape for the younger generation? If you resonate with these qualifications and the mission, we urge you to apply. Transform, innovate, and make a difference with UNICEF.

How can you make a difference? 

MHPSW innovation portfolio is supporting a pipeline of innovations, with an increasing number of innovations in the portfolio impacting over 1 million children (in line with UNICEF Strategic Plan Goal H6.1).

 Key outputs

1. MHPSS innovation portfolio management: updated problem statement, programme-based innovation priorities, portfolio review and related evidence/KM work, MH solution sourcing and pipeline management related to Venture Fund engagement.
2. MHPSS innovation partnerships & collaboration: fundraising and comms plans, hub design and representation in relevant MHPSS platforms and engagements
3. MHPSS innovation standards, frameworks & thought leadership: Systems Innovation Handbook/Toolkit and AI Standards, global multisectoral operational framework and ecosystem development especially regions and countries.
4. MHPSS innovation advisory & support to regions and countries: Targeted support to UNICEF RO & CO on their innovation scaling journey including implementation, reach and integration.

 Your main responsibilities will be:

You will work under the general direction of the P5 Senior Advisor, Innovation (Portfolio, Culture and Scale) and supervision of the P4 Head, Innovation Portfolios & Governance
You will work in close collaboration with other Portfolio Managers, Partners, thematic Programme Group relevant divisions, Regional and Country Offices. The MHPSS Innovation Portfolio Consultant will:

• Act as global focal point for MHPSS innovations continuing existing worked identified as a priority and ensure close engagement with Programme Group counterparts, regions, and countries.
• Carry out Portfolio Review Process as part of the portfolio evidence process to ensure corporate alignment of updated portfolio, problem statements, and solutions, while working closely with UNICEF Programme Division, MEELR, and relevant stakeholders
• Oversee and facilitate performance and solution management for the portfolio overall and reporting for specific relevant solutions within the MHPSS Innovation Portfolio.
• Provide strategic direction, support the development of a strategic and conceptual design of an innovation hub and related global initiatives for MHPSW that addresses problems that UNICEF needs to solve to accelerate outcomes for children in this area.
• Work with the Partnerships & Comms team to support resource mobilization and communications opportunities for the MHPSS portfolio.
• Engage with Country & Regional Offices to adopt and adapt innovations in the MHPSS space – including reach, business modelling and prototype of solutions.
• Establish frameworks to identify MHPSS innovations ready for scale.
• Strategic support and other tasks for Office of Innovation around MHPSS Innovation.

Please find attached full ToR with related information  Consultancy_ToR_MH Innovation Portfolio Consultant.pdf

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: Mental Health, Public Health, Health Administration, Innovation and health-related 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 and/or social and economic development and cooperation.
• Proven portfolio innovation experience in MHPSS
• Demonstrated experience in innovation practice working for a UN agency.
• Experience working in UNICEF Innovation is a strong asset.
• Involvement with any of the ongoing MHPSS innovation work a plus.
• Experience of designing and managing innovation portfolios, partnerships and country scale is desirable
• 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.

Travel:

• The consultant is expected to make Aukland (1), London (1), and Nigeria (1) one trip per month (3 in total) of the consultancy duration   for a stay of five (5) nights each.  Note that this is dependent on work demands as less/additional trips and days may apply.
• The consultant is responsible for arranging his/her own travel, including visa and travel insurance.

Payment details and further considerations

• Payment of professional fees will be based on the submission of agreed deliverables. 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:

• Interest applicant is required to submit a financial proposal with all-inclusive fee.  Please find attached 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.

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. 

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. 

Contact: For any queries, please contact: swe-ooi-recruitments@unicef.org