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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.

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For every child, the right to education

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Purpose of Activity/Assignment:

Generation Unlimited (GenU)
Generation Unlimited is UNICEF's global multi-sector partnership platform to connect every young person to employability skilling, employment and entrepreneurship by 2030. By mobilising public, private and youth partners, GenU supports country-level solutions and global offers that strengthen learning-to-earning pathways, with a focus on equity, inclusion and scale.

Youth Livelihoods Strategy Alignment

This assignment is anchored in the UNICEF Youth Livelihoods Strategy (2026-2029). The Strategy positions youth livelihoods as central to breaking intergenerational poverty by ensuring that investments in education, skills, social protection and other services translate into income, resilience and opportunity for young people and their households. It positions UNICEF to act earlier, act systemically and act at scale, with deliberate attention to adolescent girls, young women, young people with disabilities and other marginalised groups.

Strategic Chapeau for the Assignment

The consultancy will help operationalise the Strategy across Asia by translating it into practical country and regional products. The work will align with the Strategy's three pillars: systems, policies and data; skills and pathways; and entrepreneurship, income and economic inclusion. It will also reflect the joint ESP-GenU technical assistance model, in which ESP provides the policy, systems and diagnostics backbone, while GenU mobilises partnerships, private sector engagement, financing, innovation and opportunity creation.

Role Overview: GenU Senior Partnerships and Youth Livelihoods Consultant - Asia

The Consultant will provide senior technical programme, partnership and resource mobilisation support over a 4.5-month period, from 15 September 2026 to 31 January 2027, to consolidate GenU's contribution to the Youth Livelihoods Strategy across priority countries in Asia. Building on existing engagement with country offices, regional colleagues, ESP colleagues and GenU teams, the Consultant will prepare document-based products that can be reviewed and certified within the contract period: a strategy alignment note and pipeline tracker, country investment packages, partnership and financing products, a strategic engagement and capacity support package, and a final handover package with an Asia youth livelihoods roadmap for 2027.

How can you make a difference?

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the Terms of Reference here: ToR GenU Senior Partnerships and Youth Livelihoods Consultant TMS text.pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

Education: Master’s degree in international development, business administration, public policy, international relations, law, social policy, education, economics or a related field.

Work Experience:

• A minimum of 15 years of relevant professional experience in youth programming, youth livelihoods, adolescent and youth development, partnership development, resource mobilisation or related areas, including senior leadership experience with international organisations.

• Demonstrated track record in building or leading multi-stakeholder youth platforms, public-private-youth partnerships, or large-scale youth livelihoods, skills, employability or entrepreneurship initiatives.

• Demonstrated success in developing investment propositions, partnership strategies, donor proposals or financing narratives for multi-stakeholder or youth-focused initiatives at country, regional or global level.

• Proven experience translating strategy into practical country-level products, including country investment packages, roadmaps, governance or platform models, CPD/UNSDCF inputs, partnership pipelines and handover products.

• Proven ability to work across public, private, philanthropic, youth, UN and government partners, including coordination with country offices, regional offices and headquarters teams.

• Substantive experience in Asia, including familiarity with youth skills, employability, entrepreneurship, gender inclusion, green and digital pathways, blended finance or youth livelihoods systems.

• Strong writing, facilitation and senior stakeholder engagement skills, including ability to produce high-quality written products under tight timelines.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English (written and spoken) is necessary
Working knowledge of other UN official languages is an asset.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills:

Youth livelihoods strategy, partnership architecture, proposal and pitch development, CPD/UNSDCF integration, private sector engagement, public-private-youth partnership models, blended finance concepts, pipeline management, project management and remote coordination across multiple time zones.

Desirables:

Prior experience with UNICEF or Generation Unlimited at country and regional level is an added advantage.

For every Child, you demonstrate Care

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

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 reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. 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.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal (Talent Management System):

An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
Cover letter
A separate financial proposal Financial proposal Consultancy GenU Senior Partnerships - TMS.docx

Remarks:

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.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.

Consultancy - GenU Senior Partnerships and Youth Livelihoods Consultant, GenU, NYHQ, 4.5 Months (Remote)