Consultancy - Ericsson Account Manager (Partnerships), Office of Innovation, remote, 11.5 months

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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

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 recent 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 cannot fix a problem unless you can see it, so the first step is to map schools and their connectivity levels. Giga uses machine learning to scan satellite images and identify schools. These are then marked by coloured dots on an open-source map: green where there is good connectivity (over 5mb/s); amber where it is limited; and red where there is no connectivity at all. The project has already mapped over 920,000 schools in 40 countries, including several which were previously unknown to governments.

Connecting every school in the world could cost US$428 billion or more. Much of the funding already exists but it is not always well aligned. Giga therefore works with governments to unlock public funds for use in delivering connectivity and to attract private investors by reducing the risks in harder-to-reach areas. We are also proposing a $5 billion Bond to finance last-mile connectivity and catalyze large-scale investment. The bond would be backed by donor governments and private foundations, much like the one issued by Gavi / IFFIm to deliver vaccines around the world.

Once school connectivity has been mapped and financing secured, Giga works with a range of partners to bring the Internet to schools. We support governments in designing competitive procurement processes. We are also developing real-time payment mechanisms, meaning that if a dot on the connectivity map is only green for three hours a day, the provider only gets paid for three hours of access. Giga is already connecting schools in 19 countries and is prototyping several test solutions, including in refugee camps and remote, mountainous regions.

Just as building railroads allowed previously isolated towns to flourish, providing good quality Internet access will allow communities to participate in the digital economy for the first time. But Giga’s work in laying the tracks for connectivity is only one part of a wider effort to bridge the digital divide. UNICEF’s Reimagine Education initiative brings all of this work together and has set the goal of connecting every child and young person – some 3.5 billion - to world-class digital learning solutions by 2030. In addition to Giga, it includes components focusing on the affordability of data and content, access to devices, teacher certification and the engagement of young people. Along with ITU’s digital skills programme and other initiatives, Reimagine Education aims to ensure that, once connected, young people are empowered with the tools they need to shape their own futures.

Our partners are a huge part of our work, supporting us with both financial resources and in-kind support. We currently have a portfolio of a small group of major financial partners, and a larger group of others who provide technical assistance on important projects, including data sharing, cost model development, and more.

You can read more about Giga’s work at https://gigaconnect.org/ and by following us on twitter @Gigaconnect

About Giga's Partnership with Ericsson

In July 2020, Ericsson entered into a global three-year partnership with UNICEF to help map school connectivity in 35 countries. Ericsson is the first private sector partner to make a multi-million dollar commitment to the initiative and is the first to become a Global UNICEF Partner for School Connectivity Mapping. The partnership with Ericsson aims to accelerate UNICEF’s efforts to give every child and young person access to digital learning opportunities.

In addition to funding, Ericsson is committing resources for communication, data engineering and data science capacity to accelerate school connectivity mapping. Specifically, Ericsson assists with the collection, validation, analysis, monitoring and visual representation of real-time school connectivity data. The data generated through the mapping will enable governments and the private sector to design and deploy digital solutions that enable learning for children and young people. Ericsson will also engage its extensive customer base to further advance the goals of the Giga Initiative.

About Our Team

We are a fast-paced, multi-disciplinary team of software engineers, finance specialists, data scientists, policy experts, and much more. Our team is a distributed workforce and plans to remain distributed into the foreseeable future.

We are growing fast. Our team has grown by over 400% in the last 6 months are we rapidly scale to meet our stated mission. Much, if not all, of this growth is supported by our partners and the work of our Partnerships Team. To-date, Giga has brought on more than a dozen partners and raised over $20M in funding. But many of our partners contribute more than just funding. To us, partners are collaborators, working shoulder to shoulder with our team to develop software, analyze data, conduct groundbreaking research, and much more!

The Ericsson Account Manager will report to the Partnerships Lead and work closely with the Communications team, Mapping team, and Data & Product team to coordinate their contributions to the Ericsson partnership.

Outside of the Giga team, this individual will work with several key counterparts on the Ericsson team, as well as the UNICEF Private Fundraising and Partnerships Division, and the Swedish National Committee for UNICEF.

How can you make a difference?

We are seeking a strong and committed Account Manager who is:

• Motivated to create and grow our public-private partnership for technology and innovation with Ericsson
• Interested in exploring the role that Ericsson can play in furthering Giga’s mission to connect every young person to the internet
• Inspired to advance partnership success and improve collaboration in ways that bring value to our work

Your main responsibilities will be:

The consultancy is to support and drive the coordination and management of the Ericsson partnership with Giga. In collaboration with the broader Giga team, the Swedish National Committee, and the Private Fundraising and Partnerships Division of UNICEF, the consultant will be responsible for:

• Developing and managing across teams to deliver on key partnership objectives
• Leading on developing and owning relationships with counterparts at Ericsson
• Developing powerful communications about the impact made possible by Ericsson’s contributions, and identifying opportunities to bring Ericsson closer to Giga’s work
• Identifying options for collaboration or in-kind contributions that align with Giga’s strategic vision and team priorities
• Tracking and responding to possible thematic, operational or communications related requests from Ericsson
• Coordinating and communications within the Giga team and wider UNICEF environment
• Creating regular reports and progress updates, according to reporting schedule

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: public and/or private sector partnerships, communications, social sciences communication, public relations, business administration and management. *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 years of progressively responsible experience in partnerships/project management, and a track record of organizing and managing partnerships, especially between the technology sector and development/non-profit organizations
• Exposure to fundraising and partnerships management in the United Nations is a huge plus
• Demonstrated planning, communication, fundraising and very strong writing and editing skills
• Ability to manage multiple perspectives and sets of priorities, driving toward consensus across several stakeholders
• Experience and strength in customer relationship management
• Capacity to prioritize and manage a diverse range of partners, projects and activities
• Must be a natural project manager - keeping resources and conversations organized a requirement.
• Fluency in English. Competence in another UN language preferred.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are

• Builds and maintains partnerships - Lv 2
• Manages ambiguity and complexity - Lv 2
• Thinks and acts strategically – Lv 2
• Works collaboratively with others – Lv 2

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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.

Payment details and further considerations

• Monthly payment, based on monthly tasks and progress reports, approved upon monthly review with supervisor.
• Consultant is responsible for his/her own health and travel insurance
• Consultant is eligible for standard DSA for all work-related travel

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.

UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/