Problem Statement Analysis Consultant, Office of Innovation, Sustainable WASH Hub, 6 months (Remote)

Consultant Programme & Policy Medical & Health Innovation

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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.

The Sustainable WASH Innovation Hub, based in Copenhagen, Denmark, aims to source, pilot and scale transformational and frontier climate resilient innovations that respond to key programmatic challenges that, if solved, will unlock faster progress for a water secure future for children and young people. One of the key global challenges that the Hub will address through exploration and scale of innovative solutions will be tackling foreseen climate change impacts on WASH services and delivery access. The Hub will also support research and innovation on the links between climate change and water, sanitation and hygiene.

The Hub will bring together a passionate community of strategic partners including children and young people, academia, private entrepreneurs, public policy makers, social development and humanitarian actors, and our global UNICEF WASH / CEED and innovation colleagues in 150+ countries. Collectively we will co-create, advocate, enable, convene, and motivate for innovative sustainable solutions to long-standing barriers and emerging opportunities for a WASH secure and climate resilient future for every child

What is the challenge?

UNICEF has identified problems that, if solved, will unlock faster progress towards SDG 6. Innovation is key to co-creating new solutions to problems like lack of handwashing stations, leaks in water networks, climate-resilient sanitation services, remote monitoring of water or wastewater systems, remote sensing and other technologies for locating water sources in water scarce environments, fecal sludge management in humanitarian settings, absence of adequate sanitation products and accessible menstrual health information for women and girls.

More specifically, the WASH innovation portfolio aims at addressing the following four problems:

1. Lack of adequate and climate-sensitive groundwater mapping and development leads to poor drinking water quality, challenges in locating sustainable water sources, and impedes progress towards child development and Sustainable Development Goals, especially affecting Small Island Developing States.
2. Insufficient climate-sensitive data and a poor understanding of integrating climate change impacts into WASH programming present challenges to WASH practitioners modeling long-term sustainability of water resources, impacting the resilience of the service.
3. A lack of supportive environments for WASH small and medium enterprises (SMEs), characterized by limited access to finance and unfavorable governmental policies is limiting the capacity of SMEs capacity to expand and flourish, hindering their ability to effectively contribute to WASH governance and services.
4. Complexities in innovative finance options make it difficult to implement, scale, and replicate effective solutions, exacerbated by the increasing challenges to secure finance for WASH projects in a resource-scarce environment

The WASH Hub has undertaken a global exercise to source solutions to the identified problem statements. Potential scalable solutions have been identified for some problems; however, no solutions considered suitable for scaling were identified for problem statement 3 above (relating to SMEs).

Globally it is seen that governments are not enabling SMEs to flourish, they lack the finance instruments tailored to their situation and sometimes cannot access government support due to their informal nature. The WASH Hub wants to identify sustainable, scalable approaches to establishing enabling environments that are favorable to WASH SMEs, with finance instruments that are more suited to informal service providers. Whilst UNICEF does work that addresses individual elements (e.g. some countries have financing mechanisms for SMEs and others support regulation development); however, no holistic solutions have been identified that have potential to scale globally.

Challenges to scaling potential solutions are varied, but typically solutions are either not holistic (typically addressing just some aspects of SME needs), are not sustainable (relying on continuous incentives or financial support) or unscalable, typically reliant on onerous high of support or capacity building that cannot be affordably scaled.

Because of this the WASH Hub is looking to hire a consultant to undertake a deep dive globally across the WASH and other relevant sectors to identify potential solutions. Specifically, they are looking for a consultant to review solutions and identify any potential solutions that may be ready for scaling into UNICEF programme countries and any that are one to two years away from being ready to scale. Should no solutions be identified it is expected the consultant will then make recommendations for addressing the problem statement that will potentially guide the sector to develop a scalable solution.

How can you make a difference?

The Consultant will contribute to the objectives of the WASH Hub by:

1. Reviewing the following WASH Innovation problem statement on SME enabling environments and mapping of the current situation, challenges and gaps:

A lack of supportive environments for WASH Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), characterized by limited access to finance and unfavorable governmental policies is limiting the capacity of SMEs capacity to expand and flourish, hindering their ability to effectively contribute to WASH governance and services.

2. Engaging with key stakeholders (UNICEF Office of Innovation, UNICEF Programme Group, other key players in the WASH and other relevant sectors) to assess the current level of understanding of the problem;
3. Explore potential solutions and assess their scaling potential/pathway and viability through a review of approaches globally, both within and external to the WASH sector;
4. Provide a strategic recommendation on potential adaptation/adaptation of solutions and recommendations on pathways to scale for potentially transformative solutions that address the problem statement.
5. Identify and detail gaps that may remain in providing a holistic solution to WASH SMEs providing being able to deliver sustainable WASH services to the poorest and most remote regions

It is expected that the deep dive will involve reaching out to entrepreneurs, innovation incubators, I/NGOs, donors, foundations, other UN agencies, private sector actors and anyone else working in the WASH sector to understand current solutions and areas of exploration that are ongoing. From this a range of solutions can be identified and assessed for viability. A similar process will need to be undertaken for other sectors where solutions may also be relevant, such as the energy sector, health and finance.

It is important to have a strong scoping as this will inform recommendations, viability and timelines for the rest of the deep dive. It is expected as part of the inception report that a methodology for the scoping method is outlined and agreed along with the process and criteria to assess risk, business case, innovation, scalability and impact – building on the Office of Innovations 5D model for evaluating innovations.

The consultant will be expected to outline the feasibility of scaling identified solutions, key actors, processes, timelines and approaches – for which the WASH Hub can then take forward. Should no solutions be identified then the consultant will outline the reasons for this and what role the WASH Hub can play to develop the enabling environment.

For more details on the deliverable and tasks please refer to the complete ToR: Problem Statements Deep dive ToR.pdf

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in WASH, entrepreneurship, business administration or other relevant 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 8 years of relevant professional experience in innovation or supporting investments in a portfolio approach.
• Experience in systems change research, analysis, and insight generation.
• Experience of landscaping studies and deep dives of technical sectors and an ability to succinctly synthesize complex information into reports and formats that are easy to understand. Ideally links to examples should be provided.
• Demonstrable understanding of SMEs in development contexts.
• Understanding of WASH approaches and systems is an asset.
• Ability to draw parallels from relevant sectors where there is transfer of learnings and approaches.
• Understanding of different contexts and experience working in developing countries.
• Knowledge of international development, technology for development and key challenges affecting children in developing countries desired.
• 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

• No travel is required for this position

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. Consultancy Financial Offer template.docx
• 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: [email protected]

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Added 2 days ago - Updated 8 hours ago - Source: unicef.org