Private Sector for Programme Delivery, Office of the Director, Programme Group, NYHQ, 26 weeks (Remote)

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 fulfil 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, hope…

UNICEF’s Programme Group leads the organization’s efforts to achieve results for the most disadvantaged and excluded children everywhere, following the UNICEF Strategic Plan 2022–2025. Work is done in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the international commitments related to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Programme Group provides global thought leadership, influences global policies and partnerships in support of child rights, and contributes technical support to UNICEF’s Regional and Country Offices to maximize the difference our programmes make in children’s lives. The division shapes internal policy and practice in priority areas, supports UNICEF’s engagement in key programme partnerships and collaborates with other divisions for fundraising, advocacy and influencing. It also plays a vital role in managing technical talent and promotes a management approach that strengthens connections with Regional and Country Offices and enhances collaboration across sectors and divisions. The Director, Programme Group, guides UNICEF programmes and can commit the organization to programme strategies and approaches aligning with the goals and targets of the Strategic Plan, SDGs and universal Child Rights.

UNICEF is exploring ways of delivering programmes more at scale and with greater efficiency. In recent discussions, the role of the private sector has increasingly emerged as a possible avenue for growth. To advance this area of work, UNICEF has proposed some promising initiatives and themes it would like to unpack further and create a roadmap for testing different business models.

Through this internship, you will have the chance to contribute to a new and emerging strategy and help the organization think through new business models to fund, finance or deliver our programmes.

How can you make a difference? 

As part of our team, you will be a key contributor to developing a strategy and roadmap engaging private sector for programme delivery, as well as an investigation of innovative approaches to programme delivery at scale and greater efficiency.

This work is part of a forward-thinking initiative designed to explore innovative approaches to partnerships for programme delivery. It aims to reexamine and potentially redefine how UNICEF collaborates with various partners to achieve greater scale, efficiency, and impact. This initiative involves a thorough investigation of new partnership models, addressing key areas of interest, and proposing experimental trials. Through these efforts, the initiative seeks to uncover and implement strategies that can significantly advance UNICEF's mission to support and protect the world's most vulnerable children.

A list of topics and regions already exists; this will be discussed at the start of the internship to narrow it down.

The expected scope of work includes:

Further flesh out the concept note into something actionable:

• Deeply understand the vision of the concept including its purpose, strategic goals, and the content of its 5 different pillars.
• Support the development and refinement of concept notes for two of the five pillars and develop any necessary Terms of Reference (TOR. For example, the pillar on venture building, mission aligned organizations and partner hacking, impact and investment models, and private providers of public services.
• Analyse case studies or precedents to determine the effectiveness of different models and examine successful and unsuccessful applications in similar or different contexts to draw lessons.
• Develop a detailed plan that outlines the steps for testing the selected business model. This includes defining milestones, timelines, resources required, and the process for scaling up if the test is successful.
• Propose a methodology that can be used for developing new business models and new mission driven projects and ventures.
• Identify potential risks and challenges that could arise during the implementation of the business model and suggest strategies to mitigate these risks.
• Communicate results to colleagues and stakeholders through written reports, slides and other means