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, commitment

How can you make a difference?

Background

The private sector is a key UNICEF partner and a driving force in achieving large-scale results for the realization of children’s rights. UNICEF global business engagement strategy guides our approach to build business sector awareness and capacity to act and use its influence on employees, customers, suppliers, communities and the wider public, to support our mandate for children, through UNICEF programmes as well as the broader Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Leverage on private sector resources and knowledge, aligned with public policies and their initiatives at different government levels, is fundamental to creating the greatest impact for children. As part of this strategy, the Business Engagement and Children’s Rights (BECR) programme comprises of three pillars which include: influencing the enabling environment for business, guiding, and accelerating business action, and bringing business action to address adverse impact and accelerate results for children with UNICEF programming and partnerships.

UNICEF in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has engaged strategically with the business sector to position children’s rights, maximize results for children and contribute to the progress of the SDGs. Country offices (COs) have been collaborating in many ways with the business ecosystem through partnerships and other BECR initiatives, achieving greater impact on the development and well-being of children. UNICEF has also been proactive in fostering responsible business conduct in line with the ChiId Rights and Business Principles (CRBP). Programme agendas have been prioritized to promote and accelerate the adoption of corporate policies and practices that respect and support children’s rights in business operations, not only by companies, but also by other strategic stakeholders in the business sector.

Currently, the Private Fundraising and Partnerships (PFP) team in the LAC Regional Office (LACRO), through the BECR area, supports COs in the development and expansion of the Business Engagement strategy to leverage the main business assets of companies, their advocacy and promote respect for children’s rights (CRB). This contributes to addressing the main challenges affecting children today, creating and strengthening partnerships and collaborations with UNICEF to achieve large-scale, positive change across the region.

In addition, the BECR area collaborates with the management and programme teams in LACRO to develop and promote business engagement initiatives with the most potential of positive impact on children in areas such as nutrition, early child development (ECD), education, protection (end violence against children), emergency (business and community resilience – BCR), WASH, climate change, and social policy.

To position respect and support for children’s rights as a business priority and achieve large-scale transformative results for children in the region, UNICEF requires maximising the power of business influence through knowledge and technical support to LACRO and COs for the implementation and scaling up of the Business Influence strategy.

Purpose of the Assignment

The consultancy is designed to support the development of certain key activities related to advancing UNICEF’s Business Engagement strategy within Country Offices (COs) and the LAC Regional Office (LACRO). This includes enhancing efforts to scale up Child Rights and Business (CRB) priorities across the region. The consultant will provide additional expertise under the general guidance of the Corporate Alliance Specialist (Business Engagement and Child Rights) and in close coordination with Corporate Partnerships, Planning, and Programme teams in LACRO, as well as BECR focal points in COs.

Specific Tasks

Key responsibilities will include:

• Coordinating the development of specific BECR activities: Facilitate and oversee activities related to BECR priorities in the region, part of the BECR annual plan of the LACRO Regional Support Centre.
• Technical Support: Provide expert guidance and support to COs on business engagement and CRB priorities.
• Information Management and Knowledge Sharing: Develop and manage information resources, and share knowledge related to business engagement.
• Reporting: Prepare and deliver reports on business engagement activities and outcomes.

Expected Results

Specific Agendas and Deliverables:

The consultancy will focus on three priority agendas/areas:

1. Promotion of Family-Friendly Policies (FFP): Implement a series of technical meetings (FFP by-monthly regional meetings and one-o-one meetings) to develop and implement strategies for the promotion of family-friendly policies in the business sector. A resource mobilization strategy and a business engagement plan to get support and scale up the impact of this agenda at the COs will be developed and implemented by the consultant.
2. Children’s Rights in Corporate Due Diligence: Support regional and COs advocacy efforts to promote the integration of children’s rights into corporate due diligence (RBC) through the participation in regional forums, development of technical materials and training sessions.
3. Promoting and scaling up CRB priorities and emerging agendas: Contribute to the implementation of activities for scaling up CRB initiatives and ensuring their effective implementation, monitoring and reporting across the region working with and on the business sector to respect and promote children’s rights.

Deliverables

Work Assignments Overview	Deliverables/Outputs	Delivery deadline
CRB – Family Friendly Policies (FFP) outreach strategy Develop a comprehensive plan to mobilize financial resources and build partnerships with both public and private stakeholders to support FFP initiatives at the COs and regional levels. The plan will outline investment opportunities, emphasize the importance of FFP, and provide a strategic framework for engaging with key actors. Lead meetings for the regional Care and FFP LAC group. The consultant will need to review several documents, which are available at  Políticas orientadas a las familias UNICEF and the Corporate Alliance Specialist will also provide additional documents: mapping on private sector potential donors and an investment case of family friendly policies in LAC. In deep interviews can be conducted to UNICEF colleagues to gather all the needed information.	Resource Mobilization and Business Partnership Plan Deliver a detailed plan for resource mobilization and business partnerships, specifying key activities and expected outcomes for the regional office and recommendations for the COs. Ensure the plan effectively supports the Income and Influence objectives of the FFP agenda in LAC.	15/11/2024 20%
Information Management and Reporting Provide technical support to COs to enhance the capacity of BECR focal points in analyzing progress. Develop clear recommendations for scaling up CRB priorities and reporting progress effectively.	Analysis report that includes a quality review of data collection. This report will offer recommendations to COs on reporting BECR progress in LAC for the 2024 period, encompassing CSI, COARs, and RAM.	30/01/2025 20%
Knowledge Management on Business Engagement Elaboration of the 2024 Regional Annual Report on BECR in close coordination with LACRO Corporate Partnerships and BECR focal points in COs, and support for its dissemination internally and externally with partners and business stakeholders in LAC.	Regional Annual Report on BECR, including dissemination of the report internally and externally with partners and business stakeholders in LAC.	15/04/2025 25%
Responsible Business Conduct– Due Diligence Development of advocacy activities with key public and private regional partners and United Nations Key partners to advance with the integration of children’s rights into corporate due diligence and responsible business conduct (RBC). Support the identification of RBC regional engagements and partnerships opportunities in LAC.	Advocacy Report on Integration of Children’s Rights into Corporate Due Diligence. A comprehensive report detailing the main results of the advocacy strategies implemented at the regional level with key partners from the private and public sectors for the integration of children’s rights into corporate due diligence in LAC (RBC). The report will include also: UNICEF Participation in the Regional Business and Human Rights Forum: Activities and engagement with regional forums, including CERALC. Key materials and evidence developed: creation of essential materials such as CRBP training courses and concise CRBP summaries (1-2 pages). Local Support: Description of local advocacy efforts and support activities related to RBC.	15/08/2025 20% 15/07/2025
Promoting and scaling up CRB priorities and emerging agendas   Collaborate closely with COs, as well as LAC Programme and Communications colleagues, to build regional capacity for scaling up CRB priorities and emerging agendas.	Analysis report on the results of key activities, including capacity-building webinars, monthly BECR LAC meetings, and other initiatives that support COs.	15/09/2025 15%

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

Minimum Requirements and Qualifications

Education

• Advanced University degree in Business, Law, Public Administration, International Development, or other relevant field (A first level university degree with relevant combination of academic qualification and additional 2 years of relevant experience will be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree).

Work Experience

• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience in Sustainability, Partnerships Development, BHR/CRB, business consulting and/or CSR management.

Languages

• Fluency in Spanish and English is required. Knowledge of another UN language used in the LAC Region is considered an asset.

Technical knowledge

• Experience in knowledge management and content development (reports, briefs, notes) on BHR/CRB, business engagement and/or sustainability.
• Familiarity with development / UN / UNICEF programming is an asset.
• Experience in, and knowledge of, the LAC is an asset.

Other skills and attributes

• Strong analytical skills and problem-solving mind oriented.
• Experience training and upskilling teams.
• Excellent communication skills, (both written and oral) to translate complicated business requirements into technical-based language, and vice versa.

Administrative details

Supervision

The consultant / individual contractor will work under the direct supervision of the Corporate Alliance Manager.

Duration

This consultancy has a duration of 11.5 months.

Workplace

This is a home-based consultancy

How to Apply

Application should be submitted online and should include: Resume, Cover Letter and Financial proposal. Qualified candidates are requested to submit daily and monthly fees in their financial proposal.

Travel

Travel is foreseen for this consultancy.

A separate all-included travel concept will be incorporated in the contract, and the final travel plan will be included in the work plan delivery.

Travel will be covered by UNICEF as per policy.

• Travel costs will be estimated and added to the contract once they are determined based on UNICEF Financial Rules and Regulations.
• For agreed country visits, the contractor/consultant will be responsible in administering their own travel. UNICEF will reimburse travel related expenses based on actual costs or on the below criteria whichever is lower and upon presentation of receipts.
• Any travel involved should be budgeted according to UN Travel Standards as a ceiling.
• UN Secretariat Administrative Instruction on Official Travel, ST/AI/2013/3: Sect. 4, para. 4.2, numerals (d) and (e)
• For information on Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA), can be found on the International Civil Service Commission website (all countries and destinations can be found by navigating on the map).

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.

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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.