Home-based International Consultant: Regional WASHDRR Knowledge Management and Transition Support (88 working days) - Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO)

UNICEF Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO) is looking for a qualified International Consultant to support UNICEF ECARO’s Regional Emergency Section in strengthening knowledge management (KM) for WASH across the Europe and Central Asia Region (ECAR).

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.

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For every child, dedication.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

The consultancy will support UNICEF ECARO’s Regional Emergency Section in strengthening knowledge management (KM) for WASH across the Europe and Central Asia Region (ECAR). Specifically, the consultant will document key results, lessons learned, and knowledge products from the 2022–2025 Regional Office Management Plan (ROMP) cycle to ensure a smooth handover of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) related knowledge, networks, and partnerships during the transition of ECARO programme functions to the Centres of Excellence and the consolidated Regional Office. The consultancy will also enhance regional learning and dissemination mechanisms by consolidating and curating WASH and DRR knowledge products, facilitating cross-country learning, and supporting the uptake of good practices. Through this work, the consultant will contribute to advancing climate-resilient and child-centred WASH programming and strengthening institutional memory across the region.

Rationale

As UNICEF ECARO restructures and transitions programme functions, it is essential to preserve WASH and DRR-related institutional knowledge and ensure continuity of support to Country Offices. Key lessons and results generated across the region risk being lost without systematic documentation and transfer. This consultancy will capture and organize these assets to preserve institutional memory and enable continued learning across the region.

Background

UNICEF is committed to ensuring that all children and communities in the Europe and Central Asia Region have access to safe, sustainable, and climate-resilient WASH services in both development and emergency contexts. The region faces increasing risks from climate change, natural disasters, migration, and fragile settings that exacerbate WASH-related vulnerabilities. Many schools and health-care facilities continue to lack adequate WASH services, undermining children’s health, learning, and well-being, while recurrent emergencies demand scalable and resilient WASH responses. UNICEF also worked with governments and partners across the region to strengthen child-sensitive DRR policies, strategies, and plans, ensuring that the needs of children and women, including those with disabilities, are prioritized in national and local DRR agendas.

To address these challenges, UNICEF ECARO is prioritizing knowledge management (KM) to capture lessons learned, consolidate good practices and innovations from country programmes, and promote cross-country learning that strengthens preparedness and resilience, informs scalable programming, and advances child-centred outcomes.

As the Regional Office undergoes restructuring in 2025–2026 with programme functions, including WASH and DRR, transitioning to dedicated Centres of Excellence and the consolidated Regional Office with MENA, it is critical to ensure continuity of institutional memory and support to country offices. This consultancy will play a key role in organizing and transferring ECARO’s WASH and DRR-related achievements, knowledge assets, and partnerships from the 2022 - 2025 ROMP cycle, establishing an accessible repository, and facilitating the systematic handover of knowledge and relationships in line with the ECARO Knowledge Retention Guide.

Objective

The consultancy aims to strengthen WASH and DRR knowledge management across the Europe and Central Asia Region (ECAR) by consolidating, organizing, and transferring key results, lessons, and innovations from Country Offices (COs) and regional initiatives to sustain institutional learning and inform future programming. Specifically, the consultancy will:

1. Collect, consolidate, and synthesize WASH and DRR-related results, lessons learned, and good practices from COs under the 2022 - 2025 ROMP cycle, including through targeted interviews or short virtual consultations.
2. Curate and organize existing WASH and DRR knowledge assets such as reports, tools, datasets, and case studies, into an accessible, well-structured regional repository in line with the ECARO Knowledge Retention Guide.
3. Prepare and validate a concise regional synthesis report highlighting achievements, innovations, gaps, and cross-cutting lessons that can inform future regional and country-level programming.
4. Facilitate regional knowledge exchange by convening one or two virtual learning sessions to share and validate findings, strengthen peer learning, and promote cross-country collaboration.
5. Develop practical handover materials and recommendations for sustaining WASH and DRR knowledge management within the new Centres of Excellence and the consolidated Regional Office.

Scope of Work

The consultant will work under the supervision of UNICEF ECARO’s Emergency Section, and in close collaboration with relevant colleagues across programmes. The consultant will also liaise with Country Office WASH and Climate, Environment, Energy and DRR (CEED) focal points to ensure the collection, validation, and consolidation of key knowledge and lessons.

Specifically, the consultant will undertake the following tasks:

1. Collect and synthesize WASH and DRR results and lessons from Country Offices

• Engage with COs to collect and review key results, lessons learned, innovations, and good practices from the 2022–2025 ROMP cycle and other relevant WASH and DRR initiatives.
• Review existing reports, evaluations, and data sets at regional and country level to identify achievements, recurring challenges, and cross-cutting themes.
• Synthesize and summarize findings to inform a regional overview of WASH and DRR progress and learning.

2. Compile and organize regional WASH and DRR knowledge assets

• Compile, classify, and index existing WASH and DRR knowledge products, tools, and resources available across ECARO and COs.
• Develop a clear, accessible structure for organizing WASH and DRR materials in line with the ECARO Knowledge Retention Guide.
• Upload all verified WASH and DRR materials and indexed folders to ECARO SharePoint, ensuring proper labelling by theme, country, and year for future use by the Centres of Excellence and the consolidated Regional Office.

3. Prepare a regional WASH and DRR synthesis report

• Develop a concise analytical report summarizing WASH and DRR achievements, lessons, innovations, and gaps across ECAR.
• Validate findings with COs and regional colleagues to ensure completeness and accuracy.
• Highlight key opportunities and recommendations to strengthen regional learning and guide future programming.

4. Facilitate regional knowledge exchange and validation

• Facilitate one internal validation session with WASH and DRR colleagues and partners to confirm accuracy of retained knowledge.
• Capture and document key discussion points, integrating relevant inputs into the synthesis report and final handover materials.

5. Develop handover materials and recommendations

• Prepare a brief handover package summarizing key WASH and DRR knowledge assets, partnerships, and ongoing initiatives for transition to the Centres of Excellence and the consolidated Regional Office.
• Provide concise, practical recommendations to sustain and institutionalize WASH and DRR knowledge management in the region.
• Finalize and upload all deliverables and organized materials to ECARO SharePoint for easy retrieval and transition to the Centres of Excellence.

Work Assignment Overview

Estimated Duration of the Contract

88 working days between November 2025 and February 2026

Consultant's Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be home-based with no travels foreseen.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment will be made on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

Please submit a professional fee (in USD) based on 88 working days to undertake this assignment.

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

Required:

• Master's degree in knowledge management, communication, information management, international development, WASH, or a related field.
• Strong background in knowledge management, documentation, and organizational learning within WASH/DRR or development programmes.
• Proven ability to collect, synthesize, and organize information into accessible knowledge products and repositories (e.g., SharePoint, Teams).
• Excellent analytical, writing, and coordination skills, with attention to clarity and accuracy.
• Proficiency in Microsoft 365 tools and digital collaboration platforms.
• Fluency in English required.

Desired:

• Experience facilitating virtual learning and cross-country knowledge exchange
• Experience working in the Europe and Central Asia region

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS), and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most marginalized children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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:

Please submit a full CV, a Cover Letter, and at least two (2) recent writing samples (URL or as attachments) in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in USD) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. 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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants 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.