Deadline for Applications
December 16, 2025
Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)
H (no hardship
Family Type (not applicable for home-based)
Family
Staff Member / Affiliate Type
UNOPS IICA
Target Start Date
Terms of Reference
The Innovation Section's mission is to drive meaningful change by designing, testing, and scaling innovative solutions to address challenges faced by displaced communities. UNHCR Innovation applies a three-stage model: incubation, acceleration, and scale.
•Incubation: Managed through four funds — Refugee-Led Innovation, Digital Inclusion, Data Innovation, Environment & Resilience Innovation — providing seed financing and technical support for early-stage ideas.
•Acceleration: The Accelerator advances validated prototypes toward scale through tailored mentorship, networks, and visibility opportunities.
•Scale: Partnering with internal and external stakeholders to expand proven innovations across UNHCR operations and refugee-led networks.
This model supports over 200 active innovation projects worldwide, requiring strong outreach, stakeholder engagement, and visual storytelling to foster cross-entity coherence and maximize impact uptake.
Currently, the Innovation Section includes six programmes:
•Data Innovation (Incubation)
•Environment and Climate Action Innovation (Incubation)
•Digital Innovation (Incubation)
•Refugee-Led Innovation (Incubation)
•The Accelerator (Acceleration)
•Innovation Learning Programme (Fellowship)
The Environment and Climate Action Innovation programme aims to ensure that UNHCR teams and partners work closely with forcibly displaced and stateless persons in designing and developing innovative solutions to addressing environmental sustainability and resilience related challenges in displacement settings. It will further strengthen forcibly displaced people's ability to mitigate, withstand and recover from events and conditions caused by environmental factors, including impacts of the climate crisis, prior to or during their displacement. The Environment and Climate Action Innovation programme helps realise UNHCR's commitments to contributing to more sustainable, ecological humanitarian responses. The incumbent will be responsible for the management of the Environment and Climate Action Innovation programme and its flagship fund.
The incumbent (home-based in London, UK) will regularly and frequently engage with country operations and other UNHCR stakeholders to develop the strategic direction of the programme and effective delivery of its initiatives, including pilots supported through the Environment and Climate Action Innovation Fund. They will apply best practices in innovation programming as well as out-of-the-box-thinking, and connecting operations and teams with non-traditional actors, including the private sector, academia, and other relevant thematic actors as relevant. The design and implementation of innovative projects in collaboration with communities is a core principle of the programme. Supporting operations to ensure user centered design and enabling meaningful participation of forcibly displaced people as key part of pilot design and delivery will be a priority.
The incumbent will further leverage their experience in working with various internal and external stakeholders including humanitarian, development and environmental orgorganizationstities to support evolution and strategic direction of the Environment and Climate Action Innovation Programme. They will be responsible for fundraising, donor reporting, external communications, knowledge management, M&E, internal coordination and external engagement in relation to the programme in close collaboration with other relevant teams within the Service and UNHCR more broadly. The incumbent will work closely with all teams in the Innovation Service to ensure coordination of innovation programming, deliver collaborative initiatives, and support the wider work of the Innovation Service.
Desired Candidate profile
The Innovation Officer responsible for the Environment and Climate Action Innovation Programme is expected to have a proactive and strategic approach with demonstrated experience in innovation programming and commitment to work on environment and climate related matters, preferably in the context of forced displacement. They should have experience in programme management and innovation programming with strong writing and communication skills and a proven track record of coordination with stakeholders, preferably for the UN or international organizations. It is recommended to have experience in community-based programming, user centred design and supporting community participation and accountability to affected people.
In addition, the desired candidate will have strong interpersonal skills to establish and maintain collaborative relationships internally across the organization and commitment to deliver results. Previous experience with UN or international organization will be desirable. Knowledge of the intersection between environment, climate change and displacement is an advantage.
Experience working on innovation solutions in the areas of climate adaptation, community resilience building and environmental sustainability, particularly in displacement settings.
Experience developing materials for a diversity of audiences and stakeholders including donor reporting, project pitches, concept notes, blogs, case studies, briefs, among others, and contributing to broader reports and advocacy.
Specifically the post holder will:
-the Environment and Climate Action Innovation Programme and its associated Innovation Fund, overseeing its effective implementation, budgeting, strategic planning and alignment to wider organisational priorities
-Supervise colleagues in the Environment and Climate Action Innovation programme team, providing guidance and overall team direction
-Support with the design, development and implementation of Environment and Climate Action related pilot projects in UNHCR operations, providing technical support and guidance to teams on both environment and climate related technical areas and innovation methodologies
-Facilitate knowledge management for the programme, ensuring that relevant and promising lessons learned are captured and shared, while collaborating with stakeholders to incorporate the latest approaches and promising practices into UNHCR's work
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-Ensure effective MEAL across the programme in collaboration with relevant teams to ensure accountability to affected people, showcase programme results, generate evidence for decision making and support lessons sharing
-In collaboration with relevant teams, proactively fundraise for the programme and ensure accurate and timely reporting to donors and stakeholders
-Coordinate with relevant internal stakeholders for management of the programme, strategic initiatives and contribute Relevant wider initiatives led by other teams.
-Contribute to UNHCR's wider climate action and environmental sustainability work, strategies and priorities, including reporting, advocacy pieces and engagement with wider stakeholders.
-Engage with external actors to enable partnerships, collaboration and contribute to relevant inter-agency and humanitarian initiatives in this space
-Ensure the programme's approach champions refugee-led climate action and meaningful participation of forcibly displaced and stateless people in innovation pilots and initiatives.
-Support on other innovation activities / interventions as required
Standard Job Description
Innovation Officer
Organizational Setting and Work Relationships
UNHCR's Innovation Service aims to create an enabling environment for innovation to flourish in UNHCR by equipping staff with the knowledge, resources, and skills they need to use innovation as a tool to solve challenges.
The Innovation Service facilitates creative problem-solving alongside colleagues, partners, and refugees, generating new and needed, multi-disciplinary approaches that benefit displaced communities and the Organization.
All team members are expected to be able to work on a range of projects in a collaborative manner regardless of subject area and geographic location (HQ, Multi-Country or Country Office). At times this means working directly with the High Commissioner's team, at other times with the Division of Human Resources, with a remote field operation in an emergency, or in a CRRF operation. As such, the incumbent is experienced in using innovation processes and methodologies through which to innovate, on a wide-range of challenges faced by refugees, UNHCR staff, and partner staff, agnostic of subject area.
All UNHCR staff members are accountable to perform their duties as reflected in their job description. They do so within their delegated authorities, in line with the regulatory framework of UNHCR which includes the UN Charter, UN Staff Regulations and Rules, UNHCR Policies and Administrative Instructions as well as relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, staff members are required to discharge their responsibilities in a manner consistent with the core, functional, cross-functional and managerial competencies and UNHCR's core values of professionalism, integrity and respect for diversity.
Duties
- Lead and contribute to innovation projects and programmes (both within the service and at organizational level), including research, design, planning, coordination, implementation and monitoring functions as and when requested/appropriate.
- Support UNHCR colleagues in identifying pressing challenges in their context and co-develop novel and creative solutions by drawing on a broad range of innovation approaches, frameworks and methods.
- Cultivate and manage diverse strategic relationships with both UNHCR and external partners, including consultants, donors and subject matter experts, academia, civil society and private sector organisations.
- Proactively solicit and exchange views and methods, ensuring that relevant and promising lessons learned are incorporated from broader ecosystems into UNHCR's work.
- Support fundraising opportunities for project partners or UNHCR field operations, either through the application and management of a fund or supporting projects managed by innovation fund opportunities.
- Work with strategic communications, designers and writers to develop and produce compelling written and visual material to advance the goals of the Innovation Service.
- Promote and support a culture of innovation, learning, risk-taking, diversity and inclusion within operations, teams and across portfolios.
- Remain up-to-date on new innovations, approaches and technologies, particularly those that could be potentially applied to the humanitarian sector and/or forced displacement settings.
- Document and share insights on innovation in UNHCR as a way of strengthening the Innovation Service's work and building internal credibility for innovation as a respected source of good ideas and tested approaches.
- Facilitate dialogues and workshops to make innovation accessible to UNHCR peers by guiding them through problem exploration, solution design and experimentation.
- Ensure that Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) sensitive analyses, rights and community-based approaches inform human-centred design processes.
- Apply relevant research, evidence and data-driven decision making to support UNHCR and Partners in the improvement of services and programmes, as well as innovative approaches through assisting in documenting, codifying and disseminating key programme processes and lessons learned.
- Support the identification and management of risks and seek to seize opportunities impacting objectives in the area of responsibility. Ensure decision making in risk based in the functional area of work. Raise risks, issues and concerns to a supervisor or to relevant functional colleague(s).
- Perform other related duties as required.
Minimum Qualifications
Education & Professional Work Experience
Years of Experience / Degree Level
For P3/NOC - 6 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 5 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 4 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree
Field(s) of Education
Social Sciences, Science, Technology, Engineering,
Humanities, Administration, Management, or other relevant field.
Certificates and/or Licenses
Not specified.
Relevant Job Experience
Essential
Experience of forging and/or maintaining partnerships and collaborative working methods, simultaneously with a range of stakeholders, including private sector entities, donor governments, civil society, communities of concern, INGO, NNGO, and other UN entities. Experience applying innovation and/or innovative methodologies in forced displacement contexts. Significant experience of providing support to a range of operations through capacity building around scale, evidence building and provision of guidance and creation of tools. Experience managing budgets for innovation activities, including experimentation. Experience delivering training, and knowledge transfer to partners and UNHCR staff. Experience working in organisations with multi-year planning processes, such as development agencies, whether governmental, UN, or other.
Desirable
A strong understanding of theory, principles, established approaches and evidence concerning effective innovation and programme design. Experience working for research and development organisations, producing data and evidence for key decisions to be made. Experience supervising people in international organisations.
Functional Skills
HR-Inclusion, Diversity and Gender strategy design and implementation
MG-Team building (development/facilitation)
PR-Coordination in Forced Displacement situations
(Functional Skills marked with an asterisk* are essential)
Language Requirements
For International Professional and Field Service jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English.
For National Professional jobs: Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language.
For General Service jobs: Knowledge of English and/or UN working language of the duty station if not English.
All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination and abuse of power.
As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.
This is a Standard Job Description for all UNHCR jobs with this job title and grade level. The Operational Context may contain additional essential and/or desirable qualifications relating to the specific operation and/or position. Any such requirements are incorporated by reference in this Job Description and will be considered for the screening, shortlisting and selection of candidates.
Required Languages
,
,
Desired Languages
,
,
Additional Qualifications
Skills
HR-Inclusion, Diversity and Gender strategy design and implementation, MG-Team building (development/facilitation), PR-Coordination in Forced Displacement situations
Education
Bachelor of Arts: Administration, Bachelor of Arts: Engineering, Bachelor of Arts: Humanities, Bachelor of Arts: Management, Bachelor of Arts: Science, Bachelor of Arts: Social Science, Bachelor of Arts: Technology
Certifications
Work Experience
Other information
This position is covered through earmarked funds to the Innovation in 2026. There is a waiver memo for a specific individual.This position doesn't require a functional clearance
Remote
Yes