EmPowerHer Africa Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) Consultant, Programme Group, GenU, NYHQ, remote. Req# 585434

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: EmPowerHer Africa Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) Consultant       

Duty Station: Programme Group, GenU

Duration: 1 November 2025 – 30 October 2026   

Home/ Office Based: Remote

BACKGROUND

Purpose of Activity/ Assignment:

The AU Women and Youth Financial and Economic Inclusion (WYFEI) 2030 initiative, an integral part of the African Women's Decade (2020–2030), aims to dismantle systemic barriers that perpetuate poverty, deprivation, and social injustice among women and youth in Africa. This public-private partnership incrementally strengthens financial and economic inclusion, empowerment, and welfare for women and youth across the continent. WYFEI 2030 is anchored in Agenda 2063, which envisions a prosperous Africa founded on inclusive growth, sustainable development, entrepreneurship, industrialization, and equitable youth employment.

UNICEF Generation Unlimited (GenU), in partnership with the African Union Commission’s Women, Gender and Youth Directorate (WGYD), is the hiring entity for this consultancy. GenU and the AU have joined forces to launch EmPowerHer Africa—a flagship programme aiming to empower 50 million adolescent girls and young women by 2030. The programme seeks to expand access to market-relevant skills, entrepreneurship pathways, financial inclusion mechanisms, and supportive policy environments across Africa. The consultancy will be physically and administratively based within the AU WGYD, emphasizing the Youth Directorate.

To ensure high-impact, evidence-based delivery of EmPowerHer Africa, WGYD and UNICEF/GenU are recruiting a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Consultant to design, implement, and support management of the programme’s results framework, reporting, and learning systems. The MEL Consultant will support adaptive management, strengthen accountability, and provide actionable insights for programme scaling and impact.

PURPOSE OF CONSULTANCY:

To provide technical and operational support to monitoring, evaluation, research and learning (MERL) across the WYFEI Initiative through AU/UNICEF EmPowerHer Africa. This will ensure results-based implementation, rigorous reporting, enhanced accountability, capacity building, and strategic learning for scale-up.

Scope of Work:

1. M&E System Operationalization & Management

2. Monitoring & Reporting

3. Evaluation & Learning

4. Capacity Building & Technical Support

Terms of Reference / Key Deliverables:

Work Assignment Overview/Deliverables and Outputs/Delivery deadline

1.  AU WYFEI 2030 Scorecard fully rolled out and actively used in all pilot Member States, with dashboards updated at least monthly—including specific evidence of use (e.g., dashboards, snapshots)

30 Nov 2025

31 Dec 

2.  Quarterly reports are produced

30 Oct 2026

3.  A consolidated annual M&E report

31 Oct 2026

4. Evaluation/Learning

31 Oct 2026

31 Oct 2026

5. Capacity Building 

31 Aug 2026

31 Aug 2026

6. Risk & Compliance monitoring framework implemented and updated quarterly 

31 Oct 2026

Qualifications

Education:

A Bachelor’s degree from a recognized university in Monitoring & Evaluation, Statistics, Development Studies, Social Policy, Economics, or related discipline

Language Proficiency:

Fluency in English; French/other AU working language(s) highly desirable.

Knowledge/Expertise/Skills required *:

Requirements:

Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and

- Upload copy of academic credentials

- Financial proposal that will include/ reflect :

- Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.

- At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.

- Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory 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.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results. View our competency framework at: Here

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:  

Individuals engaged under a consultancy 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. Consultants 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.