UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund

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, hope

The purpose of this assignment is to provide project management and analytical support to the Audience and Market Insights Manager for the East Asia Pacific region, helping to strengthen data-driven fundraising strategies. This role will contribute to deepening understanding of donors, audiences, and markets by managing the execution and follow-up of research projects and ensuring the quality and usefulness of research deliverables. The consultant will work closely with internal stakeholders and external research partners to ensure that insights are actionable, reliable, and aligned with the organization's mission and fundraising goals.

There are five main areas that have been identified that require support:

1. Project Management and Coordination: planning and coordination of market research projects across East Asia Pacific, ensuring timelines, deliverables, and follow-ups are well managed and aligned with strategic objectives.

2. Stakeholder and Supplier Engagement: liaison between internal teams and external research partners, ensuring clear communication, alignment on project goals, and quality delivery from suppliers.

3. Research Design and Quality Assurance: review and refine research tools, including surveys and sampling plans, and conduct quality checks on data and outputs to ensure methodological accuracy and actionable results.

4. Insight Generation and Communication: assist in analyzing research findings and preparing concise, audience-friendly presentations and reports that support data-driven fundraising and engagement strategies.

5. Knowledge Management and Regional Collaboration: maintain organized records of research outputs and contribute to sharing insights and best practices across teams and markets in the East Asia Pacific region.

How can you make a difference?

Scope of Work:

This role is being established to increase the capacity of the Audience and Market Insights (AMI) unit relating to the actionability of research and insights, specifically supporting the planning, coordination, and quality assurance of market and donor research across East Asia Pacific markets. The work will focus on managing operational aspects of research studies (e.g., donor perception surveys, campaign testing, audience segmentation) while contributing to the generation of meaningful insights to inform fundraising, communications, and engagement strategies.

Key areas of work include:

• Assisting in the ongoing communication between the Audience Market Insights manager and the internal stakeholders across fundraising, communications, advocacy and programmes teams in the EAP region.
• Supporting in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of ongoing and new research projects.
• Coordinating with external agencies to safeguard adherence to timelines, budgets, and high-quality delivery of research outputs.
• Producing and conducting quality checks on surveys, reports, presentations, and data outputs to ensure clarity, accuracy, and relevance.
• Synthesizing insights into concise summaries that inform strategic and tactical decisions.
• Contributing to the ongoing improvement of research processes and knowledge sharing within the organization.
• Maintaining an organized archive of research projects and deliverables.

WORK ASSIGNMENT – DELIVERABLES:

Work Assignment – Deliverables

Deliverable 1. Project Coordination & Stakeholder Engagement: maintain project timelines and ensure progress by actively following up with internal teams and external vendors, facilitating communication between research suppliers and country or regional teams to clarify project goals and deliverables, and tracked project status, budgets, and outputs using internal tools and templates.

KPIs:

• A detailed project tracker regularly updated with timelines, milestones, and status for all active research projects.
• Summary notes and action points from key project meetings and check-ins.
• Timely follow-up communications and coordination across teams to ensure smooth project execution.

Deliverable 2. Supplier Management: support the procurement and onboarding of research partners, ensure supplier adherence to agreed methodologies, timelines, and quality standards, and review outputs to align with the organization’s values and research goals.

KPIs:

• A stakeholder map or contact list for key internal and external partners involved in each project.
• Clear and concise briefing documents or emails outlining project goals, timelines, and expectations for suppliers.
• Supplier evaluation reports or feedback summaries to ensure quality and accountability.

Deliverable 3. Quality Control & Data Review: review research tools—including questionnaires, discussion guides, and sampling plans—for alignment with objectives and best practices, conduct quality control of survey logic, data, and outputs, and ensure all deliverables are accurate, complete, and actionable.

KPIs:

• Review and annotate versions of research tools (e.g., survey questionnaires, discussion guides) with comments and improvements.
• Quality control checklists or review summaries for survey logic, raw data files, and research deliverables.
• Final sign-off or feedback reports verifying that research outputs meet organizational standards and project objectives

Deliverable 4. Insight Development & Reporting: assist in interpreting research findings and developing internal reports and slide decks, contribute insights to optimize donor engagement, campaign design, and fundraising messaging, and tailor findings for audiences such as leadership, fundraising teams, and creative partners.

KPIs:

• Draft and final versions of slide decks or summary reports presenting key insights tailored to fundraising and communications teams.
• A concise “insights brief” or one-pager per project highlighting strategic takeaways and recommended actions.
• Presentation materials (PowerPoint or similar) ready for internal meetings or leadership updates.

Deliverable 5. Knowledge Management & Capacity Building: organize and maintain a research library, contribute to templates and best practice guides to support consistent research practices, and share findings across regional and global teams to strengthen organizational insight capacity.

KPIs:

• An organized and up-to-date digital archive (e.g., SharePoint, Google Drive) of research reports, tools, and presentations.
• Contribution to regional insight-sharing sessions (e.g., one presentation or summary per quarter).
• Documentation of at least one case study or best practice from completed research projects for internal learning.

Final Report: Final summary report with contributions, learnings, and recommendations

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

Education:

• A bachelor’s degree in marketing, Business, Social Sciences, Statistics, Psychology, International Development, or a related field is required.
• A postgraduate degree or certification in Market Research, Data Analysis, or related disciplines is an asset.

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of experience in market research, consumer insights, or monitoring and evaluation, preferably within the nonprofit, development, or fundraising sectors, is required.
• Experience managing end-to-end research projects, including coordination with internal stakeholders and external research agencies, is required.
• Demonstrated experience in reviewing research tools and outputs (e.g., surveys, reports, dashboards) for quality and relevance, is required.
• Familiarity with fundraising, donor engagement, or audience insight research is an asset.
• Experience working in a regional or multicultural context, ideally across East Asia Pacific markets is an asset.

Technical Skills (Required):

• Solid understanding of quantitative and qualitative research methodologies.
• Strong project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects and timelines simultaneously.
• Competence in using research and data tools such as Excel, SPSS, Tableau, Power BI, or survey platforms (e.g., Qualtrics, Forsta, Questionpro).
• Proficiency in preparing and editing reports and presentations in PowerPoint or similar tools.
• Basic data visualization skills and ability to translate data into clear, compelling insights.

Soft Skills & Competencies (Required):

• Excellent organizational and time management skills, with strong attention to detail.
• Effective communication skills, both written and verbal, with the ability to present complex data clearly to non-technical audiences.
• Strong interpersonal skills with a collaborative mindset; experience working with cross-functional and cross-cultural teams.
• Proactive and self-motivated, with the ability to work independently and manage ambiguity.
• Commitment to the mission and values of the organization, and sensitivity to working in humanitarian and development contexts.

Language:

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another East Asia Pacific language (Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Malay, Indonesian or Thai) is an asset

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.

Remarks:

Please indicate your all-inclusive (lump sum) fees against the deliverables listed above, including all associated administrative and travel costs (if applicable), in the cover letter. The office selects the individual based on best value for money.

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

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 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.

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