Consultancy support on the AU State of Africa children report, Programme Group, WASH COE, NYHQ, remote. Req# 585301

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: Consultancy support on the AU State of Africa Children Report   

Duty Station: Programme Group, WASH   

Duration: 27 October 2025 – 31 October 2025  

Home/ Office Based: Remote

 

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:

Consultancy support on the AU State of Africa children report on WASH and preparations for the UN 2026 Water Conference & Interactive Dialogue report on Water for People

Scope of Work:

The purpose of this consultancy is to support UNICEF on two high profile WASH outputs and processes happening in 2026. The first is the planned African Union (AU) meeting launch of The State of Africa’s Children 2026 report building on the AU theme for 2026 ‘Assuring sustainable water availability and safe sanitation systems to achieve the goals of Agenda 2063.’ The second is support for the UN 2026 Water conference which will build on the UN 2023 Water conference outcomes.   The 2026 United Nations Water Conference, co-hosted by the United Arab Emirates and Senegal, and convened in UAE 2-4 December 2026, aims to surge investment, innovation, political will and a spirit of solidarity into SDG 6.  At the UN 2026 Water Conference, UNICEF will be a co-lead on the Water and People dialogue which will examine the human rights to water and sanitation, including those in vulnerable situations, for healthy societies and economies

This consultancy will support UNICEF’s role as the global thought leader in WASH via assisting to prepare high-quality written technical content for UNICEF to contribute to the UN 2026 Water Conference and the African Union (AU) State of Children WASH report and associated background papers.  In specifics, the consultant will support UNICEF internal preparatory processes and session content for the AU meeting and the UN 2026 Water Conference through development and review of technical content, session plans, talking points for meeting with Ministers, briefing notes for UNICEF senior management and UNICEF’s policy asks to different stakeholders (governments, private sector, donors, etc.) drawing from recent UNICEF flagship reports and sector documents for both the AU and UN meetings.  They will also support consultations with other interested Stakeholders and parties to inform the thematic dialogue to ensure the process is open and participatory. Where appropriate, the consultant will provide strategic advice and insights for potential political positioning of UNICEF WASH in the UN 2026 Water Conference.

The key deliverables will be:

• draft narrative report and supporting recommendations (~6,000 words required) by January 2026 for the AU/UNICEF State of Africa Children’s report 2026 focusing on WASH including policy recommendations for the WASH sector. 
• For the UN 2026 Water Conference & Interactive Dialogue report on Water for People, development of an outline of the draft concept paper by Nov. 2025.  In 2026 the full narrative paper (~8,000 words required) will be developed with subsequent revisions and a full and final version finalized over the course of 2026 following the timeline and process to be outlined by UN Water

Content for these will draw from relevant, up-to-date data, analysis, and good practices related to advancing the implementation of SDG 6 and its targets, as well as interlinkages with other SDGs and the SDG 6 Global Acceleration Framework (financing, data and information, capacity development, innovation, and governance). An experienced consultant with strong writing and communications skills, preferably with some WASH sector background and knowledge, especially at strategic level, is required to support the WASH team in these high-profile deliverables.

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Work Assignment Overview/Deliverables and Outputs/Delivery deadline

1. Prepare high-quality written techni