Giga Telecommunications Partnership Consultant, Office of Innovation, Barcelona, Spain, 12 months (remote with travel)

We are seeking a talented Partnership Specialist to lead on Giga’s work to engage with the telecommunications industry. The Partnership Specialist will work with our interdisciplinary team to drive progress against key partnership objectives, including communications, data sharing, and software solutions development. This role will be an important part of our Partnerships team, joining Giga in our ambitious goal to connect every school, and every community, to the internet by 2030.

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, Innovation!

About Giga

Launched in 2019 as a joint initiative between UNICEF and ITU, Giga has set the ambitious goal to connect every school in the world to the internet.

Half of the world’s population has no regular access to the Internet. Millions of children leave school without any digital skills, making it much more difficult for them to thrive and contribute to local and global economies. This has created a digital divide between those who are connected and those who are not, a divide that has become even wider during the Covid-19 pandemic. UNICEF and ITU have therefore joined forces to create Giga, an initiative to connect every school in the world to the Internet and address this new form of inequality.  

About UNICEF

UNICEF has a 75-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.

How can you make a difference? 

We are seeking a strong and committed Partnership Specialist who is:

• Driven to seek partnership opportunities with the telecommunications industry, and who understands the business case for companies to be a part of Giga’s efforts.
• Motivated to create and grow our public-private partnership for technology and innovation with the telecommunications industry
• Interested in exploring the role that Internet Service Providers can play in furthering Giga’s mission to connect every young person to the internet
• Inspired to advance partnership success with the telecommunications sector and improve collaboration in ways that bring value to our work

Your main responsibilities will be, but not limited to the following:

• Developing and managing across teams to deliver on key partnership objectives
• Design and lead the execution of a strategy to engage with the telecommunications sector
• Build relationships with key stakeholders from the telecommunications sector
• Developing powerful communications about the impact made possible by partners’ contributions, and identifying opportunities to bring existing and new partners closer to Giga’s work
• Manage the delivery of a data platform to be developed by Giga with other technology partners that allows internet service providers to report on their efforts in school connectivity.

Please click here to access the full ToR and other related information  Giga_ICT Partnerships Specialist_JAN2023.pdf

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in one of the following fields: public and/or private sector partnerships, communications, social sciences communication, public relations, business administration and management.
• *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 5 years of progressively responsible experience in partnerships/project management, and a track record of organizing and managing partnerships, especially between the technology sector and development/non-profit organizations
• Knowledge of the telecommunications regulatory ecosystem, its actors, interactions between stakeholders, processes and trends.
• Exposure to fundraising and partnerships management in the United Nations is a huge plus
• Demonstrated planning, communication, fundraising and very strong writing and editing skills
• Ability to manage multiple perspectives and sets of priorities, driving toward consensus across several stakeholders
• Experience and strength in customer relationship management
• Capacity to prioritize and manage a diverse range of partners, projects and activities
• Must be a natural project manager - keeping resources and conversations organized a requirement
• Fluency in English. Competence in another UN language preferred.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.

Travel

• The consultant is expected to travel to Giga’s technology center in Barcelona three times. The Barcelona trips will require a stay of 1 week each.
• The consultant is responsible to arrange his/her own travel, including visa.

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.