Consultancy for Youth and Adolescents Development

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children's lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture., coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

How can you make a difference?
Objective
The main objectives of this assignment are to:
Overarching Objective
To provide strategic technical support that enhances the quality, coordination, and impact of the Meshwary Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship component.

Specific Objectives

• Ensure technical support and strategic alignment of programme implementation.
• Strengthen coordination and partnerships to drive effective delivery and results.
• Support the institutional capacity building efforts to sustain quality programming.
• Monitor performance to ensure accountability, progress, and achievement of outcomes.
• Promote knowledge generation, documentation, and sustainability for scale-up.

Methodology
The consultant will apply a systems-focused and coordination-driven methodology to strengthen the delivery and scaling of social innovation and entrepreneurship components under UNICEF's youth and adolescent portfolio. The consultant will operate at an officer level, providing technical support, programme oversight, and coordination support to counterparts, implementing partners, and facilitators responsible for on-the-ground delivery.

The approach will focus on institutionalizing innovation and social entrepreneurship pathways. This will be achieved through stakeholder engagement, quality assurance of training tools and programme models, and facilitation of capacity-building processes, ensuring consistency and fidelity in programme rollout.

An adaptive management approach will be used, enabling continuous improvement based on monitoring data and feedback from youth beneficiaries and partners. The methodology prioritizes knowledge generation and documentation of scalable models, enabling evidence-based decision-making and long-term sustainability. Ultimately, the consultant will function as a programme liaison—strengthening coordination mechanisms, supporting alignment with planned KPIs, and driving coherence across the innovation and entrepreneurship programme to maximize impact at scale.

Activities, Deliverables And Timelines, Plus Budget Per Deliverable

• Provide Technical Support
• Develop a workplan capturing key milestones for the key tasks to be performed throughout consultancy period.
• Deliver high-quality technical support for the implementation of the Meshwary Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship component, along with other youth development initiatives.
• Provide technical inputs on curricula, training materials, SOPs, and referral mechanisms, ensuring alignment with market needs, gender and disability inclusion, and child safeguarding standards.
• Review and advise on implementation plans in line with national strategies, global best practices, and UNICEF's Learning to Earning framework.
• Develop or apply quality assurance measures and standards to support effective and consistent implementation across target locations.
• Conduct regular field visits to monitor activities and provide strategic support and guidance to facilitators and implementing partners.
• Analyse monitoring data and beneficiary feedback to identify implementation bottlenecks and propose evidence-based, practical solutions to improve programme outcomes and scalability.
• Support Coordination and Partnerships
• Participate in regular coordination meetings with the Ministry of Youth and Sports and implementing partners for alignment on programme priorities, timelines, and quality standards.
• Support liaison and coordination with internal UNICEF teams (Education, Social and Behavior Change, Gender, WASH, Child Protection, Social Policy, etc.) to promote integrated programming and ensure coherence across sectors.
• Facilitate collaboration with ecosystem actors, including incubators, private sector partners, civil society, and development partners, to strengthen pathways for youth entrepreneurship, innovation, and access to economic opportunities.
• Strengthen information flow and coordination mechanisms to support joint planning, avoid duplication of efforts, and leverage resources for greater programme impact.
• Support the establishment and documentation of strategic partnerships that contribute to sustainability, scale-up, and market relevance of the innovation and social entrepreneurship components.
• Monitor Implementation and Results
• Track progress against the innovation and social entrepreneurship workplan, ensuring that activities, outputs, and key performance indicators are monitored in line with agreed results frameworks.
• Support data collection, validation, and consolidation to ensure accuracy and reliability of programmatic results and performance indicators.
• Review partner reports to ensure consistency with agreed targets, compliance with reporting formats, and quality of data submitted.
• Contribute inputs to internal and external reports, progress updates, donor briefs, and knowledge products, highlighting key milestones, lessons learned, and youth success stories that demonstrate programme impact.
• Strengthen Institutional Capacity
• Support the organization and facilitation of Training of Trainers (ToTs) and refresher sessions for facilitators, ensuring alignment with programme standards and competency requirements.
• Provide ongoing mentoring and technical backstopping to facilitators on social innovation social entrepreneurship to enhance delivery quality and programme impact.
• Develop and maintain updated guidance tools, job aids, and reference materials to strengthen facilitators' capacity and ensure consistency across implementation sites.
• Integrate youth feedback and user insights into programme design and delivery to enhance relevance, accessibility, and effectiveness for diverse groups of young people.
• Ensure Knowledge Management and Continuity
• Document lessons learned, promising practices, and implementation challenges emerging from innovation and social entrepreneurship interventions to inform continuous improvement and future scaling.
• Prepare handover notes, operational briefs, and implementation templates to ensure sustainability and continuity of programme delivery beyond the duration of the consultancy.
• Contribute to communication and visibility materials, including success stories and impact highlights, in coordination with the Communication Section to promote programme achievements.
• Support the development of knowledge products and provide inputs to strategic reviews, donor proposals, and scale-up plans to position the programme for future expansion and resource mobilization.

Activities
and
deliverables
Estimated duration
Payment

• Provide Technical Oversight
• A workplan capturing key milestones for the 13 months consultancy period is delivered.
• A technical review report is delivered with recommendations to enhance the implementation of the innovation, social entrepreneurship, and youth skilling components.
• Training materials, standard operating procedures, and referral mechanisms are reviewed, finalized and submitted, ensuring they are inclusive, market-relevant, and compliant with standards.
• Field monitoring findings are documented through submitted reports highlighting implementation quality, progress, and technical guidance provided to partners and facilitators.

55

20%

• Support Coordination and Partnerships
• Coordination meeting report with the Ministry of Youth and Sports drafted and submitted for alignment on programme priorities, timelines, and quality standards.
• Internal coordination sessions with UNICEF programme sections (Education, SBC, Gender, WASH, Child Protection, Social Policy) attended to ensure integrated programming and sectoral coherence.
• Partnership engagement meetings with ecosystem actors (incubators, private sector, civil society, development partners) organized and delivered.
• Strategic partnership initiated, documented and submitted to support sustainability, scale-up potential, and market relevance.

60

25%

• Monitor Implementation and Results
• Progress tracking report against the innovation and social entrepreneurship workplan developed and submitted, monitoring activities, outputs, and KPIs in line with agreed results frameworks.
• Data collection, validation, and consolidation activities supported and documented to ensure accuracy and reliability of programme performance indicators.
• Partner reports reviewed and feedback submitted, confirming alignment with targets, compliance with reporting formats, and quality assurance of submitted data.
• Inputs contributed to internal and external reports, donor updates, and knowledge products, highlighting key milestones, lessons learned, and youth success stories that evidence programme impact.

55

20%

• Strengthen Institutional Capacity
• Training of Trainers (ToTs) and refresher sessions organized and delivered, with facilitator participation documented and aligned with programme competency standards.
• Ongoing mentoring and technical backstopping provided to facilitators on social innovation and social entrepreneurship, enhancing delivery quality and programme effectiveness.
• Guidance tools, job aids, and reference materials developed and disseminated, ensuring consistent implementation and strengthened facilitator capacity across all programme sites.
• Youth feedback mechanisms activated and insights integrated into programme design and delivery, improving relevance, accessibility, and effectiveness for diverse youth groups.

55

20%

• Ensure Knowledge Management and Continuity
• Lessons learned, promising practices, and implementation challenges documented and submitted to inform continuous improvement and guide future scale-up of innovation and social entrepreneurship interventions.
• Communication and visibility content developed in coordination with the Communication Section, including success stories and impact highlights that promote programme achievements.
• Knowledge products and strategic inputs contributed to donor proposals, strategic reviews, and scale-up plans, positioning the programme for future expansion and resource mobilization.
• Handover notes, operational briefs, and implementation templates prepared and delivered to ensure sustainability and continuity of programme delivery beyond the consultancy period.

35

15%

Note For Consultants And Individual Contractors
Please submit
a CV and a financial offer
along with your proposal, which contains the following information:

• Fee for services to be provided – based on the deliverables in terms of Reference.
• Wherever possible, indicate the itemized cost of the travel (air tickets, etc.).

Conditions Of Work
The consultant will be fully responsible for their own logistical arrangements, including travel, transportation, accommodation, and any other related expenses. UNICEF will provide office space for consultative meetings when needed
.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Bachelor's degree in political science, economics, social sciences, business, engineering or any other relevant field.
• Over 5 years of progressive experience in youth development, social innovation, entrepreneurship, and skills development, leading inclusive, results-driven programmes.
• Managed/supported programmes fostering youth-led entrepreneurship and social enterprise creation with government and/or CSO or private sector counterparts or youth networks.
• Built and maintained partnerships with incubators, accelerators, donors, and private sector entities to leverage resources and expertise.
• Supported the development of monitoring and evaluation tools to assess programme performance and guide adaptive management.
• Fluent in Arabic and English (written and spoken)

For every Child, you demonstrate...
UNICEF's Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF Competencies Required For This Post Are…

• Builds and maintains partnerships
• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
• Drive to achieve results for impact
• Innovates and embraces change
• Manages ambiguity and complexity
• Thinks and acts strategically
• Works collaboratively with others

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks
As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable
candidates
are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants' bank account information.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF's Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.