Consultancy 6 months: Giga Conference Specialist, Geneva, Switzerland

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…Innovate

UNICEF has a 70-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.

The Office of Innovation is a creative, interactive, and agile team in UNICEF. We sit at a unique intersection, where an organization that works on huge global issues meets the start-up thinking, the technology, and the partners that turn this energy into scalable solutions.

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. 

Giga focuses on connecting schools so that children and young people have access to information, opportunity, and choice. It also uses schools as anchor points for their surrounding communities: if you connect the school, you can also connect local businesses and services. This creates opportunities for service providers to generate revenue from paying users, making connectivity more sustainable. A 2021 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that a 10% increase in school connectivity can increase effective years of schooling by 0.6% and increase GDP per capita by 1.1%. 

You can read more about Giga’s work at https://giga.global/ and by following us on twitter @Gigaglobal

How can you make a difference? 

As the conference specialist at Giga, you have the opportunity to make an impactful difference on a global scale by spearheading the coordination of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September 2024. Your role is pivotal in ensuring the success of this monumental event, and your contributions will be instrumental in several key areas:

By meticulously planning and coordinating all logistical aspects of the UNGA attendance, you’ll ensure that delegates, dignitaries, and stakeholders experience a seamless and well-organized event. Your ability to streamline processes and manage intricate details will be crucial in maximising efficiency.

Your adept communication skills will facilitate collaboration among diverse stakeholders, including organising committees, government agencies, vendors, and UN representatives, by fostering strong relationships and maintaining open lines of communication. Upholding UN regulations and protocols is paramount in maintaining the integrity of the UNGA. Your expertise in navigating complex regulations and meticulous attention to detail will ensure full compliance with UN guidelines, contributing to the event’s smooth operation.

Key Responsibilities include:

• The conference specialist will lead the comprehensive planning, coordination, and execution of Giga’s participation at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) scheduled for September 2024.
• The conference specialist will work closely with the Giga team and relevant stakeholders to ensure strategic alignment of Giga’s event participation goals.
• Responsibilities include event strategy, logistical planning, stakeholder management, communication coordination, and compliance with UN protocol and guidelines.
• Coordinate VIP participation, including Regulatory and Government Officials, key partners, and other dignitaries, ensuring their schedules align with Giga’s event plans.
• Develop contingency plans and protocols to address potential crises or emergencies during the UNGA, ensuring swift and effective response to unforeseen situations.
• Collaborate with the communications team to manage media relations, coordinate content and briefings, and facilitate media coverage of key events.
• Be the central coordinator for Giga’s UNGA participation, updating the wider Giga team on the plan and other vital updates.
• Participate in Secretariat meetings, identify tracks that Giga can participate in.
• Submit concept notes to support Giga’s participation in identified tracks and propose Sideline events.
• Coordinate invitation and speaker list with necessary stakeholders such as Country Engagement team and wider stakeholders.

In particular you will:

1. Development of implementation plan and partnership management.
2. Partner with country offices to drive competition awareness.
3. Manage the Web development agency to develop and deliver the website and competition entry flow on time and on budget.
4. Tracking of the contest and submission.
5. Coordination of judges and partners to carry out necessary tasks.
6. Management of media relations to drive awareness of competition.
7. Event management throughout the competition.

Please access the full Term of Reference (ToRs) and read a more detailed description of the assignment in this file in order to prepare your financial proposal and know more about the role:  Giga Conference Specialist.pdf

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

• A master’s degree in marketing, Hospitality, Communications, or other relevant fields, a first level university degree in combination with two years additional qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in event management or protocol in the UN system.
• Experience organising events at scale and a proven track record of building and engaging vibrant online communities.
• Ability to work closely with Executive leaders to translate their vision into the planned event.
• Demonstrated strong writing and presentation skills in English and attention to detail.
• Ability to plan and implement projects in coordination with multiple stakeholders.
• Ability to work with a diverse team in a rapidly changing work environment and adapt to unforeseen changes.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish or Russian) is an asset.

Travel:

• The consultant is expected to travel to New York one time (1 trip), for a stay of 4-5 nights.
• The consultant is responsible for arranging his/her own travel, including visa and travel insurance.

Payment details and further considerations:

• Payment of professional fees will be based on the submission of agreed 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.
• Consultant is responsible for his/her own health and travel insurance.
• Consultant is responsible for arranging his/her own travel, including visa.
• This consultancy is based in Geneva.

How to apply:

• Interested applicants are required to submit a financial proposal with an all-inclusive fee.  Please see the financial proposal template here:  Consultancy Financial Offer template.docx
• Financial proposal must include travel costs (economy class) and daily subsistence allowance, if travel is required as per TOR and any other estimated costs: visa, travel/health insurance.
• Applications without a financial proposal will not be considered.

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. For more information on Non-staff members IO based in Geneva, you can visit this link.

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.