WASH Innovation Pipeline Review Consultancy, Office of Innovation, Denmark, 3 months (remote)

Overview

This consultancy supports the mapping and identification of different innovation programmes that support WASH innovations from concept to scale for humanitarian and development programmes. The goal is to outline how actors can better unify to support shared goals, ultimately increasing access to sustainable, safe household water and sanitation services.

Tasks Summary

• Map innovation pipelines for different actors that support WASH in humanitarian and development contexts.
• Map and analyse innovation pipelines across key WASH actors to understand how solutions move from concept to scale and where bottlenecks or duplication occur.
• Outline the different processes for sourcing, selection and promotion from different innovation processes and where in the innovation spectrum they offer support to innovators.
• Assess the support provided to innovators by different actors along the innovation journey, identifying the types of technical, financial and organisational support available and where gaps or under served stages exist.
• Outline how selected WASH innovations might move through the pipeline.
• Evaluate the requirements of different innovation programmes, reviewing available evidence and benchmarking against the UNICEF WASH Innovation Hub’s 5D Framework and other relevant readiness approaches to understand how they could be adapted to support investments in innovations.
• Identify gaps, overlaps and opportunities across the WASH innovation ecosystem.
• Develop actionable recommendations on how UNICEF can strengthen coordination, streamline support pathways and accelerate scaling of innovations with high potential, generate positive impacts at scale.
• Include an actionable plan defining the resource needs including, but not limited to, technical expertise, market insights, and advocacy needs to deliver the vision.

Experience Requirements

• Minimum 8–10 years of demonstrable experience in innovation and scaling in low resource, humanitarian or development contexts, including designing, piloting, validating, and scaling technological and service delivery innovations.
• Proven experience delivering innovation ecosystem mapping, readiness assessments, and scaling strategies for UN agencies, international NGOs, donors, or innovation accelerators.
• Demonstrated experience working across the innovation lifecycle—from problem identification and prototyping through piloting, validation, and scale up—with a clear understanding of barriers and enablers in humanitarian and development contexts.
• Proven ability to apply and adapt innovation readiness frameworks (e.g., TRL, market/operational readiness) and assess solutions against the UNICEF WASH Innovation Hub 5D Readiness Framework.
• Experience conducting innovation ecosystem mapping and analysing roles, support mechanisms, and market dynamics ideally across UN agencies, NGOs, private sector actors, donors, and research institutions.

Qualification Requirements

• Advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Innovation Management, Public Health, Environmental Engineering, Business/Operations, Technology and Innovation, or related fields relevant to WASH and scaling.
• A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.

Other Details

Languages Required: • Fluency in English is required.

Languages Preferred: • Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

Contract Duration: 3 months

Work Modality: remote

Remuneration: