Consultancy 12 months: Project Coordinator (Connectivity Credits Marketplace), Office of Innovation (Giga), Geneva, Switzerland

Contract

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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.

About Giga

Launched in 2019 as a joint initiative between UNICEF and ITU, Giga has set the ambitious goal to connect every school in the world to the internet. Half of the world’s population has no regular access to the Internet. Millions of children leave school without any digital skills, making it much more difficult for them to thrive and contribute to local and global economies. This has created a digital divide between those who are connected and those who are not, a divide that has become even wider during the Covid-19 pandemic. UNICEF and ITU have therefore joined forces to create Giga, an initiative to connect every school in the world to the Internet and address this new form of inequality.

Giga focuses on connecting schools so that children and young people have access to information, opportunity, and choice. It also uses schools as anchor points for their surrounding communities: if you connect the school, you can also connect local businesses and services. This creates opportunities for service providers to generate revenue from paying users, making connectivity more sustainable. A 2021 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that a 10% increase in school connectivity can increase effective years of schooling by 0.6% and increase GDP per capita by 1.1%.

You can read more about Giga’s work at https://giga.global/ and by following us on twitter @Gigaglobal

How can you make a difference?

Giga is building a Global Connectivity Marketplace. The marketplace is envisioned to operate at the intersection of a carbon credits market and a universal service/access fund, serving as a catalyst for incentivizing connectivity in individual countries by issuing tokens for companies connecting rural areas, underserved populations, and public facilities. Companies can redeem these credits for varied incentives, including tax reliefs, through respective Ministry of Finance or regulatory bodies, subject to individual country determinants.

The Project Coordinator is an integral part of the Connectivity Credits Marketplace team at Giga, bridging the gap between various technical, legal, and regulatory entities involved in the initiative.

Reporting to the Program Manager, the coordinator will synchronize efforts between the Geneva team, the technical product team in Barcelona, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and Universal Service Funds (USFs) to ensure seamless progression towards the overarching goals of the marketplace. This role demands a balanced blend of adept project management skills, a forward-thinking mindset, and an ability to harmonize diverse teams towards achieving grander objectives.

In particular you will:

Project Coordination and Management:

• Establish a coherent project plan, setting clear milestones, and ensuring timely execution across different teams and stakeholders.
• Coordinate closely with the technical product team in Barcelona and other team members, ensuring alignment and supporting the country implementation in the development and rollout of prototypes.

Regulatory and Legal Liaison:

• Work alongside ITU experts to comprehend and navigate regulatory landscapes that impact the marketplace.
• Collaborate with legal teams to ensure that the project remains compliant with the laws and regulations across different jurisdictions.

Stakeholder Engagement and Communication:

• Foster productive relationships with Universal Service Funds, governmental bodies, and other relevant stakeholders.
• Ensure clear communication and understanding among all parties involved, facilitating a collaborative environment for project advancement.

Results-Oriented Execution:

• Drive a results-oriented culture, focusing on achieving milestones and delivering tangible outcomes.
• Monitor and evaluate project progress, ensuring that objectives are met within specified timelines.

Quantitative Analysis:

• Utilize strong quantitative skills to analyze project data, assess risks, and make informed decisions.
• Translate data insights into actionable strategies to propel the project forward.

Team Synergy:

• Cultivate a conducive and inclusive working environment that encourages open communication, mutual respect, and collective problem-solving.
• Act as a catalyst to amalgamate the strengths of different teams towards achieving broader goals.

Continuous Improvement and Innovation:

• Encourage innovative thinking to overcome project challenges and to enhance the effectiveness of the marketplace.
• Lead reviews and evaluations of completed projects to identify lessons learned and best practices for future endeavors.

Please access the full Term of Reference (ToRs) and read a more detailed description of the assignment in this file in order to prepare your financial proposal and know more about the role: Project Coordinator ToR .pdf

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Project Management, Business Administration or related degree is required.*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 5 of relevant work experience in project management, preferably within a multidisciplinary and multicultural setting.
• Proven ability to manage complex projects with multiple stakeholders, preferably within the Telecom, Media, and Technology (TMT) sectors.
• Strong quantitative and analytical skills, with proficiency in data analysis and performance/operation metrics.
• Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to engage with a diverse range of stakeholders.
• Ability to think strategically, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
• High degree of professionalism, with a focus on delivering quality outcomes while nurturing a positive team dynamic.
• 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 travel to Barcelona from Geneva. Two (2) trips, for a stay of 5-6 nights each.
• 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.
• Consultant is responsible for his/her own health and travel insurance.
• Consultant is responsible for arranging his/her own travel, including visa.

How to apply:

• Interested applicants are required to submit a financial proposal with an all-inclusive fee. Please see the financial proposal template here: 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.