Senior Strategy and Partnerships Consultant – EmPowerHer Africa Initiative, Programme Group, Generation Unlimited, NYHQ, remote. Req# 585805

UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited (GenU) seeks to advance the EmPowerHer Africa Initiative, focusing on girls' education, economic empowerment, and leadership. This consultancy will accelerate preparatory work for the initiative’s formal launch at the African Union (AU) Heads of State Summit, ensuring alignment with continental priorities and UNICEF’s strategic goals. The consultant will help GenU to finalize baseline data for the EmPowerHer Africa Initiative implementation; Secure AU collaboration for EmPowerHer’s Africa summit launch; Establish Heads of State Leadership Council and Align UNICEF country offices on initiative rollout.

About UNICEF

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines fordeveloping countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

Consultancy: Senior Strategy and Partnerships Consultant – EmPowerHer Africa Initiative

Duty Station: Programme Group, Generation Unlimited

Duration: 1 December 2025 – 31 May 2026

Home/ Office Based: Remote

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:

UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited (GenU) seeks to advance the EmPowerHer Africa Initiative, focusing on girls' education, economic empowerment, and leadership. This consultancy will accelerate preparatory work for the initiative’s formal launch at the African Union (AU) Heads of State Summit, ensuring alignment with continental priorities and UNICEF’s strategic goals.

The consultant will help GenU to finalize baseline data for the EmPowerHer Africa Initiative implementation; Secure AU collaboration for EmPowerHer’s Africa summit launch; Establish Heads of State Leadership Council and Align UNICEF country offices on initiative rollout.

Scope of Work:

1. Baseline Data Finalization

• Validated baseline report covering 10 AU countries, including gender-disaggregated education/economic participation metrics and policy gap analysis.
• Data validation workshop with AU Women’s Gender Directorate and 5 UNICEF regional offices.

2. AU Summit Launch Preparation

• Signed AU-UNICEF collaboration agreement for summit side-event
• Event concept note endorsed by AU Office of the Chair
• Participation confirmations from 8 heads of state
• Media strategy with AU Communications Directorate

3. Leadership Council Establishment

• Operational Heads of State Leadership Council
• Signed charter from 6 founding member nations
• 12-month work plan and secretariat structure
• Resource mobilization strategy ($15M+ seed funding)

4. UNICEF Coordination

• Consolidated implementation framework adopted by 20 UNICEF country offices
• Standardized monitoring toolkit
• Capacity-building plan for national teams
• Q1 2026 joint advocacy targets

5. Final Reporting

• Final report including partner contact matrices and risk mitigation roadmap for 2026 scaling

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Work Assignment Overview/Deliverables and Outputs/Delivery deadline

1.  Baseline Data Finalization

-  1 Validated baseline report covering 10+ AU countries, including gender-disaggregated education/economic participation metrics and policy gap analysis completed

31 Dec 2025

-  1 Data validation workshop with AU Women’s Gender Directorate and 5 UNICEF regional offices conducted

31 Dec 2025

2.  AU Summit Launch Preparation

-  Collaboration agreement for summit side-event is Signed between AU and UNICEF

28 Feb 2026

-  Event concept note is endorsed by AU Office of the Chair.

28 Feb 2026

-  Participation confirmations from 8 heads of state are received

28 Feb 2026

-  A Media strategy concluded with AU Communications Directorate

28 Feb 2026

3.  Leadership Council Establishment

-  Heads of State Leadership Council is operationalized

31 March 2026

-  Leadership Council Charter is signed by 6 founding member nations

31 March 2026

-  A 12-month work plan and secretariat structure established

31 March 2026

-  A resource mobilization strategy (for $15M seed funding) is completed

31 March 2026 

4.  UNICEF Coordination

-  A Consolidated implementation framework is adopted by 20 UNICEF country offices

30 April 2026

-  A Standardized monitoring toolkit is finalized

30 April 2026 

-  A Capacity-building plan for national teams is prepared

30 April 2026

-  Q1 2026 joint advocacy targets are finalized

30 April 2026 

-  Final Reporting

Final report including partner contact matrices and risk mitigation roadmap for 2026 scaling is produced

30 April 2026

Travel: 3 regional trips (7–10 days each) to Addis Ababa (AU HQ), UNICEF ESARO/WCARO offices, and 2 priority countries

Qualifications

Education:   

Enter Disciplines:

• Master’s degree from a recognized university in international development, gender studies, or public policy or another relevant technical field. 

Language Proficiency:  

• Fluency in English is required, strong written and verbal competency is necessary  

Working knowledge of another UN language an asset  

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required *:

• A minimum of 10 (ten) years of experience in designing continental-scale gender initiatives in Africa required.  
• Proven track record in Successful AU summit-side event coordination, High-level leadership council facilitation and Multi-country UNICEF/UN system collaboration is mandatory

Requirements:

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and

- Upload copy of academic credentials

- Financial proposal that will include/ reflect :

• • the costs per each deliverable and the total lump-sum for the whole assignment (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference.
  • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability

- Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.

- At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.

- Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory 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.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at: Here

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:  

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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. Consultants 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.