National Digital Education Consultant, 6 months, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

UNICEF Mongolia is looking for a National Consultant who will support digital transformation initiatives in the education programme and the education sector in general.

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture., coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, the right to protect.

The Mongolia Country Office Country Programme is committed to protecting children's rights in line with international obligations. The programme priorities were selected based on consultations with national counterparts, United Nations agencies, and development partners to focus on areas that need action to achieve child-related national priorities and reduce equity gaps. The programme priorities, which include Health, Education, WASH and Climate Change, Child Protection, and Social Policy, aims to promote funding, policies, and address geographic disparities across the country. 

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

How can you make a difference? 

The Mongolia Country Office Country Programme is committed to protecting children's rights in line with international obligations. The programme priorities were selected based on consultations with national counterparts, United Nations agencies, and development partners to focus on areas that need action to achieve child-related national priorities and reduce equity gaps. The programme priorities, which include Health, Education, WASH and Climate Change, Child Protection, and Social Policy, aims to promote funding, policies, and address geographic disparities across the country. 

How can you make a difference? 

Under the supervision of an Education Specialist at UNICEF Mongolia country office, the consultant will be in charge of implementation of ongoing digital education initiative as well as acceleration of GIGA initiative implementation in the country.

Content (20%):

• Provide coordination support and technical input for the development of digital interactive learning contents for primary education.
• Provide coordination support and technical input for the improvement of audio content and workbook.
• Ensure all digital content is accessible and inclusive, following universal design for learning principles. This includes adaptation for children with disabilities (e.g., audio narration, sign language options, captioning and color-contrast compliance) and multiple learning modalities suitable for children in low-connectivity and multilingual contexts.

Capacity (20%):

• Provide coordination support for capacity-building training sessions aimed at enhancing teachers' and students’ digital and AI skills, ICT pedagogy, and proficiency in utilizing digital interactive content.
• Include modules on inclusive digital pedagogy and assistive technologies to enable teachers to effectively use and develop accessible learning content for diverse learners, including children with disabilities where relevant.

Connectivity (50%):

1. Account Management (10%)

• Build and maintain trusted relationships with government and non-government in-country stakeholders.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for in-country users and counterparts, chairing regular coordination meetings, supporting onboarding, adoption, and long-term success of Giga tools and platforms.
• Coordinate work planning activities in collaboration with government counterparts, UNICEF Country Office, Giga HQ, and partners—ensuring alignment with national priorities, realistic timelines, and clear roles and responsibilities.

1. Delivery (Project Management) (30%)

• Lead end-to-end project management for all in-country activities, including onboarding, adoption, use, and handover
• Co-design delivery strategies for Giga’s product and services that are context-appropriate, viable, and technically feasible
• Manage and respond to all country-level requests and queries
• Ensure timely progress against deployment milestones and KPIs, identifying and addressing risks or bottlenecks proactively
• Proactively communicate with the relevant Giga HQ teams on the roll-outs progress  ensuring that local insights and learnings inform continuous product discovery, development and improvements
• Coordinate additional implementing partners in the country, if applicable
• Plan and implement monitoring and evaluation activities; document and surface impact of implementation
• Include and explore on advancing simple metrics on inclusiveness and accessibility (e.g., proportion of schools with accessible digital content, number of teachers trained on inclusive pedagogy).

Mapping

• Manage the continuous integration of Mongolia's school data with Giga, facilitating discussions and around the technical integration of the API
• Coordinate with government stakeholders to clarify and update data as needed
• Troubleshoot and resolve mapping-related technical issues with local stakeholders

Giga Meter

• Review GigaMeter dashboard regularly to assess deployment status. Ideate and implement strategies to drive school adoption of the application and government buy-in and adoption of the data
• Identify and follow up on schools not transmitting data or experiencing connectivity issues
• Coordinate with schools and technical teams to resolve Giga Meter installation and maintenance issues
• Follow up on server deployment and technical infrastructure requirements

Monitoring System Development

• Gather necessary requirements for the development of the system, including collecting information on SLAs, performance metrics, and monitoring requirements from government stakeholders
• Review and provide feedback on monitoring system mockups and prototypes, including aggregating feedback from end-users
• Test monitoring features and coordinate user acceptance processes
• Gather and document monitoring system requirements and specifications

Customer Success (10%)

• Provide training and ongoing support to local government and UNICEF CO staff, building local capacity for sustained use and expansion.
• Lead user acquisition and retention efforts, ensuring Giga tools are integrated into existing government workflows and deliver measurable value
• Oversee quality assurance and user monitoring to ensure consistent performance and relevance
• Document lessons learned and contributed to the continuous improvement of Giga’s delivery playbook, templates and support materials

Programme management (10%):

• Build and sustain effective close working partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing of information and knowledge to facilitate programme implementation and build capacity of stakeholders to achieve and sustain results on digital transformation in education programme.
• Monitor the progress of 2025/2026 workplan activities to ensure an effective utilization of financial resource and timely submission of donor reports.
• Contribute to proposal writing and resource mobilization on digital transformation activities.
• Contribute to mid/end-year reporting including RAM and CSI as well as development of workplan, with focus on digital transformation.

Contract duration: 6 months, deliverable based

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here:  ToR Digital education_Consultancy _VA.pdf

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

Minimum requirements:

Qualifications and requirements:  

1. Minimum qualifications required:   A university degree in information technology, business administration, public administration, international development, engineering, or a related field is required. 

1. Relevant working experience:  

• A minimum of five years of progressively responsible professional experience in project management, technology implementation, or digital transformation, preferably within government, the UN system, or international development organizations, is required. 
• Experience managing multi-stakeholder projects, including planning, coordination, and delivery of technology solutions aligned with national priorities, is essential. 
• Experience supporting the deployment and operationalization of digital platforms, data solutions or tools for public sector use, including capacity building and user adoption activities, is highly desirable. 

1. Knowledge/expertise/ skills required:  

• Proven experience in successful management and coordination of project/programme 
• Experience in leading digital initiatives from start to end 
• Working experience and familiarity with digital solutions in education sector  
• Technical fluency in data and software is desirable. 
• Strong understanding of the cultural and political landscape of the country and a track record of effective collaboration with government ministries and local partners 
• Knowledge of the national internet connectivity landscape, including key stakeholders, infrastructure challenges, and opportunities for expanding digital access, is a plus 

Additional skills/competencies:  

• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and deliver excellent results 

• Ability to be flexible and adapt to the changing situation quickly 

• Attention to details and excellent presentation skill  

• Good team work and communication skills 

• Experience in structuring and developing compelling proposals and initiative in area of digital transformation 

• Naturally inquisitive, driven to find optimal solutions and is at ease in a fast-paced, growth-oriented environment 

• Familiar with the UN system and knowledge about cluster mechanism would be asset 

• Fluency in English (both verbal and written) is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or a local language is an asset 

• Strong analytical ability 

• Proactive, creative and pragmatic 

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:  

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.