Consultant Advisor Global Youth Innovation Initiatives - IFRC Innovation Team IFRC Solferino Academy

Organizational Context

The IFRC Solferino Academy aims to challenge and inspire the way people work, think, act and connect. It supports the IFRC network in transforming to be more fit for future and capable of thriving through the complex and dynamic changes occurring throughout the world in order to more effectively meet humanitarian and development challenges.

We do this in alignment with the transformation priorities of the IFRC Strategy 2030 and the IFRC Agenda for Renewal. The Academy is composed of three pillars: Leadership, a Think Tank and Innovation. While each of these areas is presented as distinct components, in reality all Solferino Academy initiatives address each of these three areas and are deeply interconnected. Our three areas of focus are;

We help leaders transform for the future

We support leadership in all its forms to develop the capabilities and insights needed to lead transformation, adaptation and to build systems and cultures for change.

We are a Think Tank for the IFRC Network

We provide platforms for new thinking and approaches where National Societies can learn from others and strengthen their own strategies and transformation processes.

We catalyse and promote Innovation

We develop initiatives that help promote innovation and the enabling environments necessary for it to thrive in our network.

The Global Innovation and Foresight Advisor will work within the Solferino Academy initiative and is remote-based, with some travel anticipated for the role.

Job Purpose

In 2025 the IFRC Solferino Academy is continuing to support National Societies to develop approaches to innovation and strategic foresight that will lead to greater anticipation, agility and capacity for transformation. This role will work with National Societies, particularly their leadership, strategy and policy experts as well as middle management responsible for youth and volunteers, through a variety of forums and initiatives.

The role will provide training, coaching and advisory services through the Innovation Support Systems initiative to help NSs develop their tools, methodologies and organisational culture that will enable greater innovation particularly in youth and volunteers. The program particularly targets middle management and some senior management alongside volunteer and youth leaders.

The role also provides advisory and capability building support for a small number of National Societies to adopt and utilise strategic foresight approaches to strategy, planning and policy formulation to ensure their approaches are more resilient to volatile and uncertain environments. The role will provide training, coaching and support identifying and using tools.

The role will also provide specialist advisory support for Leadership think tanks, which target Presidents, Governing Boards, Secretaries General and their direct reports of National Societies. The role will deliver training (building on the Solferino Academy training packages) on innovation management and strategic foresight as well as sourcing external experts who can contribute to the agenda.

Finally, the role will also support the IFRC Limitless program in its closing stages, overseeing the support mechanisms for the final 10 participants and ensuring the evaluation framework is implemented and final reports are prepared and delivered to the donors.

Job Duties And Responsibilities

The key tasks for the role are;

Limitless and the Innovation Support System

• With project partners and IFRC Solferino Academy staff finalise the implementation of the Limitless program incorporating priorities and initiatives of the donors into the program where appropriate.
• Alongside the wider Solferino Academy team, mobilise technical and content partners to assist in the last stages of the delivery of Limitless, ensuring diversity of content and partners and high-quality inputs to the program delivery.
• Following established processes and utilising the pool of talent already recruited ensure effective mentoring and coaching support for young people within the program, that is tailored to each of their individual needs and supports them in delivery of their projects.
• Support the communications team in the Solferino Academy to promote the limitless projects and the young people implementing them, ensuring appropriate recognition of donors, but also strong engagement within the IFRC network of the videos produced by youth.
• Along with colleagues in the Solferino Academy and following established procedures, ensure that monitoring processes are effectively implemented to enable effective evaluation and reporting.
• Provide coaching and expert guidance to a small number (1-3) of National Societies in establishing youth and volunteer innovation programs, drawing on the experiences of Limitless and other youth innovation initiatives. Ensure these NSs have access to the tools they need to test and implement new approaches including developing existing solferino academy tools.
• Source and engage external experts who can provide specialised innovation support to the NSs.
  
  
  

• Drawing on the materials, design and tools established by the Solferino Academy, further develop the Innovation Leadership training program for Presidents and Secretaries General for the Leadership Bootcamp series. Ensure the program is developed with inputs and guidance that includes senior leaders feedback from previous iterations, and the inputs of Solferino Academy and IFRC staff and is pretested on small groups of Solferino Academy senior leader advisors.
• Develop pre-learning materials and activities to be conducted in advance of the in-person think tank in Panama.
• Lead implementation of Innovation elements of the program including the pre-engagement activities and a full day training for up to 20 senior leaders.
• Ensure robust evaluation of the initiative that draws insights and areas for improvement for subsequent initiatives and provide a report advising the solferino academy of these recommendations.
• Provide specialist innovation and foresight advice to solferino academy team members developing and leading additional think tank initiatives, particularly the Head of Leadership Development
  
  
  

• Develop and implement a plan of support that will assist NSs to embed strategic foresight approaches in their strategy development and planning approaches, and where possible in their policy formulation.
• Ensure the support is tailored to the specific context of the NSs, taking into account their contexts, aims, objectives and current capacities and strengths.
• Advise and provide ongoing coaching for the NS during the design and implementation stages of their strategy or planning processes, assisting them to effectively explore foresight scenarios, source data and insights on potential futures and to robustly explore implications for the organisations strategies and the communities they support.
  
  
  

• Provide all tools and training in the use of those tools to help key NS stakeholders to utilise them in their strategy processes.
• Source and engage external experts who have specialist expertise as required to support the NS on this journey.
  
  
  

• Substantial expertise and experience in humanitarian innovation programs that support youth/volunteer ideas, particularly through grant and peer-based support mechanisms.
• Experience working at global scale and familiarity with the complexity of supporting highly diverse youth and program managers working with youth across multiple languages and regions.
• Experience with futures and foresight methodologies, particularly workshops and training programs to help leaders consider strategic foresight approaches in their own organisations.
• Experience advising organisations on utilising and embedding strategic foresight approaches for strategy development, operational planning and policy formulation.
• Experience with learning, insights and experimentation with innovation accelerators, incubators and social entrepreneurship approaches.
  
  
  

• Deep understanding of and ability to connect well into the RCRC network across all regions, in particular with senior leaders such as Secretaries General and Presidents.
• Very strong capacity to liaise with multiple stakeholders and manage relationships effectively.
• Strong external innovation/social entrepreneurship/youth/Foresight networks.
• Ability to communicate effectively in English and at least one other language of the IFRC.
• Able to start immediately and work according to tight timelines on multiple projects.
• Excellent written and oral communication, organizational and presentation skills.
• Strong marketing, communications and community engagement skills.
• Proactive attitude to problem solving. “Can do attitude” required.
• Highly creative, dynamic and flexible.
• Knowledge of and ability to keep up with trends and practices in innovation and all technical aspects related to this.
• Ability to work as a part of a team and with multiple stakeholders and partners.
• Excellent cross cultural knowledge and understanding.