Innovation Specialist - Mental Health & Psychosocial Wellbeing Consultant, Office of Innovation, 12 months (remote)

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.

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 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 Office of Innovation specifically looks to form partnerships around frontier technologies (like drones and UAVs, blockchain, 21st century skills, urban technologies, new banking tools, wearables and sensors, or 3D-Printing) that exist at the intersection of $100 billion business markets and 1 billion person needs – and to identify how they can grow and scale profitably and inclusively.

Our team

We're an interdisciplinary team around the world tasked with identifying, validating, and scaling new technologies and practices. With our partners, we focus on convening and collaborating on new and different solutions, low- and high-tech, by:

• Looking at the 2–5-year horizon to evaluate emerging and trending technologies and to see how UNICEF can work with the private sector on doing better business while improving essential services for children.
• Investing in early-stage solutions that show great potential to positively impact children in the 02-year future including the Venture Fund that invests in open-source technology solutions from start-ups based in UNICEF’s programme countries.
• Identifying proven solutions that can be implemented at national scale in multiple countries – taking the ideas that help thousands in one country, bringing them to dozens of countries across multiple sectors, and impacting the lives of millions of children.

How can you make a difference?

Your foremost responsibility will be to support the Innovation Manager (Mental Health) in advancing our mental health initiatives. Your project management expertise will be invaluable, as you will guide selected portfolio solutions. Your role will include offering insights on scalability, overseeing fund governance, and ensuring meticulous project monitoring and reporting.

Equally significant, your adeptness at building relationships will create strong bonds with a diverse range of UNICEF stakeholders. This includes specialized teams within the UNICEF Programme Group and extends to our country and regional offices. Through these relationships, you'll ensure that our mental health initiatives are not only well-aligned with broader organizational goals but also positioned for effective scalability.

Additionally, you'll conduct Needs Assessments to provide our teams within the office of global innovation the crucial data necessary for making informed, optimized decisions on resource allocation and service delivery. Tapping into our extensive mental health innovation landscaping and horizon scanning, you will perform Problem-Fit Assessments. This targeted analysis enables us to allocate resources toward the most impactful and scalable solutions. Furthermore, you'll offer support in decision-making to the UNICEF Venture Fund call for frontier technology applications, steering us toward the most promising and innovative investments. Utilizing Systems Innovation methodologies, you'll advise on what roles UNICEF can play to support and enable visions elaborated by youth for the future of their mental health & what role do local innovation ecosystems play in improving youth-centered mental health.

To round out your multi-faceted role, you'll collaborate with our accomplished communications team to identify compelling stories that amplify our mission and attract invaluable partnerships and funding. Through your comprehensive efforts, you'll markedly enhance the quality and reach of mental health services, especially in underserved communities, making a lasting and measurable impact on the lives of young people.

Your main responsibilities will be:

1. Provide specialized project management for scaling global mental health innovation solutions, focusing on insights related to Business Model, fund governance, Impact, Risk and consistent monitoring and reporting.
2. Provide specialized project management for scaling a global mental health innovation solution focused on promoting social and emotional competence of young people.
3. Offer technical assistance and coordination for effective implementation and scalability of selected portfolio solutions, complying with the Office of Innovation Performance & Evidence approach.
4. Ensure effective coordination with internal and external stakeholders, including specialized teams within UNICEF’s Programme Group, country and regional offices, and other relevant partners to align and scale mental health initiatives.
5. Conduct Needs Assessments and Problem-Fit Assessments that are data-driven, leveraging our dynamic mental health innovation landscaping and horizon scanning, to inform resource allocation and solution effectiveness.
6. Participate in the selection process of the UNICEF Venture Fund, with a special focus on promising and innovative technologies in mental health.
7. Engage youth directly in the development and scaling of mental health solutions, leveraging Systems Innovation methodologies to explore roles that UNICEF and local innovation ecosystems can play.
8. Contribute to the documentation of the mental health innovation management body of knowledge, in alignment with the overall Office of Innovation (OOI) management approach.
9. Collaborate with the communications team to identify and highlight compelling stories that promote the mission and attract essential partnerships and funding.
10. Execute other strategic tasks and responsibilities as mutually agreed upon by the Office of Innovation.

By fulfilling these responsibilities, you will significantly contribute to the scalability and impact of global mental health innovations, effectively coordinate with key stakeholders, and engage youth in a meaningful way.

Please find attached the full ToR with related information. Innovation Specialist for mental health psychosocial wellbeing equity.pdf

Additional Notes:

The ideal candidate for this role should not only have exceptional project management skills but also deep connections within the UNICEF network and the innovation ecosystem. With a unique blend of mental health training and an innovation background, the candidate will work closely with various stakeholders and contribute to youth engagement. This is not just a coordination role; it is an opportunity to orchestrate and elevate UNICEF's current portfolio of mental health innovations, playing a pivotal role in shaping a more equitable mental health landscape, particularly for youth.

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

• An advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in psychology, Public Health with a focus on Mental Health, psychiatry, or a related field. *A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 5 additional years of experience in public mental health services, including field experience in crisis settings may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.

• A minimum of five years' professional experience in managing complex projects; with demonstrated ability for creative thinking and innovative approaches, preferably with experience in design thinking, prototype development and implementation of innovation.

• Established connections within UNICEF and wider United Nations innovation ecosystems.
• Experience or demonstrated capability in engaging with youth or youth-centric programs.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency context 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:

• During the period of the consultancy, the consultant is expected to travel to Stockholm for 10 nights, & New York for 5 nights - 15 nights in total.
• 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 see the financial proposal template.
• 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.

Please find attached the financial proposal template Consultancy Financial Offer template.docx

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.