Consultant - Engagement, Innovation Engagement and Advocacy

Purpose of consultancy

To provide technical expertise to the WHO Innovation Hub on innovation engagement and related community engagement activities in the context of specific initiatives and projects of the WHO Innovation Hub across its strategic work areas concerning Support to Scaling innovations, Capacity Building, and Normative Guidance.

Background

Innovation is a central enabler of WHO’s mission to achieve Health for All and will help WHO and member states to accelerate its impact at the country level and their progress towards the SDGs.

In 2018, WHO launched the ‘WHO Innovation Hub’, which is part of the department for Digital Health & Innovation within the Science Division, led by the Chief Scientist. The WHO Innovation Hub works to unblocks barriers to scaling of impact of evidence-based interventions via 3 work areas which contribute to a well-functioning ecosystem: (1) provision of support for scaling up innovations, (2) capacity building for WHO's workforce and the public sector to adopt, implement and sustain innovations, and (3) normative guidance that enable local adoption of context-specific innovations.

The WHO Innovation Hub runs several key projects and initiatives, related to these three areas of work, including further development and deployment of the Eureka innovation lab and its service offer (in HQ with possible replication in countries); the LEAD Innovation Challenge Programme (Capacity building) and its continued development; support to innovation scaling in countries, and development of technical products and normative guidance related to innovation.

Deliverables

• Deliverable 1 (Community/ Engagement Management): Design and deliver an engagement plan around work areas and manage a stakeholder community of select projects at the global, regional, and country levels.
  • Output 1.1: Develop and implement a content management strategy for increasing stakeholder engagement through (i) the curation of our internal body of work and (ii) the curation of repurposed and original compelling stories of innovation impact, shared in various channels, including the Eureka Innovation Lab. Themes and approaches to be coordinated with WHO Innovation Hub team and can be suited to various mediums and target audiences.
  • Output 1.2: Identify and engage the relevant stakeholders (e.g., among WHO, member states, partners) across global, regional, and country level, and mobilize them to be part of the relevant project community to co-create a joint vision and implementation plan around specific initiatives (e.g., a specific project re innovation scaling, and/or capacity building, and/or normative guidance development).
  • Output 1.3: Identify ways to leverage the Eureka Innovation Space for the project communities to learn, grow and deliver results together.
  • Output 1.4: Facilitate the dissemination of information to ensure timely and accurate access for community members and stakeholders and foster ongoing collaboration and knowledge exchange.
• Deliverable 2 (Event management): Develop projects convenings between key stakeholders (e.g., public sector audiences, external collaborators, WHO staff, leadership, Representatives, etc.) and prepare relevant advocacy and communications documents for key stakeholders.
  • Output 2.1: Organize creative, inclusive in-person, virtual and/or hybrid innovation focused workshops or other events, using a variety of creative, innovative facilitation methods and practices, such as human-centred design, and liberating structures, to engage and empower community members, as well as WHO staff and member states.
  • Output 2.2: Develop targeted presentations or other advocacy assets for Countries’ public sector entities (together with WHO Country and Regional Offices) that will demonstrate the impact of proven innovations and how they address countries’ health needs.
  • Output 2.3: Capture and share the learnings from these workshops between stakeholders to the Measurement, Evaluation and Learning work undertaken by the WHO Innovation Hub.

Qualifications, experience, skills and languages

Educational Qualifications:

Essential:

• First-level university degree in communications, journalism, international development, social sciences, public health, public policy, business administration, arts or in any other relevant field.

Desirable:

• Advanced university degree in communications, journalism, international development, social sciences, public health, or another relevant field.

Experience

Essential:

• At least 5 years relevant experience related to development, coordination and implementation of advocacy and/or engagement strategies across a variety of different stakeholders.

Desirable:

• Experience in event planning, capacity building and project management, focusing on innovation in health and development, organisational transformation change management, strategy development and execution, multistakeholder engagement, and process facilitation.
• Experience in communication strategy development for multilateral partnerships, change management through communications and innovation engagement, running Innovation Challenges, agile project management and setting up Innovation Hubs / Centers, delivering project outcomes using innovative techniques and approaches.
• Experience in managing health innovation, in particular digital and social innovations, and working at the national level.
• Experience in delivering outcomes using innovative techniques and approaches i.e., design thinking such as human-centered design, futures, systems thinking, behavioral insights, data.
• Experience in cultivating communities of practice, networks and relationships across sectors and disciplines.
• Some experience in the UN system or other international organizations, including one year of relevant international exposure.

Skills/Knowledge:

• Knowledge of social media and digital content creation.
• Graphics design (Canva/Adobe suite) and video-editing skills.
• Understanding of social media channels and internal and external communications tactics.
• Knowledge of Inclusive and engaging workshop facilitation (in-person, digital and hybrid).
• Knowledge of digital facilitation tools such as Miro, Mural, Sli.do, Mentimeter.
• Expertise in advocacy, communications and planning.
• Excellent writing skills.
• Proven ability to work and produce results in a fast-paced, complex and politically sensitive environment.
• Good knowledge of international global health and development issues.
• Computer literacy in MS Office standard, and tele-working applications, and conferencing and digital workshop equipment.
• Ability to work in close collaboration with team members and external partners.
• Knowledge of project and people planning, coordination and communicating with influence across a variety of stakeholders, including senior management.

Languages required:

Essential:

• Expert knowledge of English.

Desirable:

• Basic knowledge of French.
• Expert knowledge of other UN languages.

Location

Off site: Home-based.

Travel

The consultant is expected to travel.

Remuneration and budget (travel costs are excluded):

Remuneration:

Band level B - USD 7,000 - 9,980 per month.

Living expenses (A living expense is payable to on-site consultants who are internationally recruited):

N/A

Expected duration of contract:

11 months.

Additional Information

• This vacancy notice may be used to identify candidates for other similar consultancies at the same level.
• Only candidates under serious consideration will be contacted.
• A written test may be used as a form of screening.
• If your candidature is retained for interview, you will be required to provide, in advance, a scanned copy of the degree(s)/diploma(s)/certificate(s) required for this position. WHO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed through the link: http://www.whed.net/. Some professional certificates may not appear in the WHED and will require individual review.
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