Technology for Development Specialist (Innovation) (for Rwandan Nationals Only) at UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund: (Deadline 29 August 2022)
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, Innovation
UNICEF is a leading humanitarian and development agency working globally for the rights of every child. Child rights begin with safe shelter, nutrition, protection from disaster and conflict and traverse the life cycle: pre-natal care for healthy births, clean water and sanitation, health care and education. UNICEF has spent nearly 70 years working to improve the lives of children and their families. Working with and for children through adolescence and into adulthood requires a global presence whose goal is to produce results and monitor their effects. UNICEF also lobbies and partners with leaders, thinkers and policy makers to help all children realize their rights—especially the most disadvantaged.
UNICEF Rwanda is committed to realizing the rights of all children to help them build a strong foundation and have the best chance of fulfilling their potential.
UNICEF Rwanda is currently midway through its Country Programme 2018-2024 and its goal is to improve the health, nutritional status, protection, education, and wellbeing of children, focusing on those who are poor, vulnerable or at risk.
To learn more about UNICEF work in Rwanda, please visit the country website https://unicef.sharepoint.com/sites/RWA/
How can you make a difference?
T4D and Innovation Specialist enhances collaboration and capacity building; improves the delivery of results and knowledge management; builds business relationships and fosters innovation. The incumbent provides professional, technical, operational, and administrative support in the identification, assessment, and integration of ICT and other types of innovation into UNICEF programming. The T4D and Innovation Specialist is responsible for coordinating and facilitating the mainstreaming effort, and for strengthening internal capacity to lead and support Technology for Development (T4D) and Innovation related projects, identifying and engaging with key partners, identifying reusable and replicable technical building blocks and maximizing potential for scale-up and roll-out of T4D and Innovation projects. In addition, based on the established policies, guidelines, and service level agreements (SLAs), the incumbent advises the ICT Associate and the Deputy Representative on connectivity issues.
Summary of key functions/accountabilities:
Support Policy and Strategy Development
- Provide support to the digital development and technology innovation strategy for the country office, including assessment of T4D gaps, opportunities, and scale-up initiatives.
- Support the integration of digital development and technology innovation into the programme planning lifecycle. Align with programme priorities (AWP etc.) and ensure existing strategies are incorporated in all innovation and T4D initiatives prior to approval.
- Oversee development and quality assurance during planning and deployment of T4D initiatives; participate in establishing and maintaining standards, documentation, and support mechanisms for T4D.
- If deemed necessary, establish the Innovation and T4D Governance Committee to formally review and assess local innovation and T4D initiatives and ensure compliance of T4D initiatives with the Principles for Digital Development (http://digitalprinciples.org/) and UNICEF T4D best practices.
Foster Innovation and Provide Technical Support to Programme
- Manage Business and Programme Relationship services to define high-level requirements; document and match requirements and guide the design, development, and deployment of appropriate Innovation and T4D solutions.
- Lead deployment of enterprise technologies prioritized for UNICEF programming (e.g. Global Goods and Accelerators).
- Provide support and technical assistance to the Country Office in the identification, selection, concept design, deployment, and sustainability of T4D interventions to address bottlenecks towards the achievement of programme results.
- Assist all parts of the office to identify and assess new T4D initiatives, or new phases of on-going initiatives, with immediate potential to improve UNICEF programming in service delivery and/or monitoring evaluation.
- Assist the review of technical solutions to ensure UNICEF standards are followed; contribute to project management processes, generation, and review of terms of reference and vendor selection.
- Provide advisory and assistance with implementation strategy of digital technology initiatives including technical oversight, troubleshooting and the documentation of challenges and resolutions.
- Support human/user-centered design methods to enable user-acceptance testing, evaluation, documentation, and analysis.
- Evaluate innovation initiatives potential opportunities and possible risks to improve productivity, efficiency and effectiveness and share with senior management, regional office, ITSS and Innovation Division.
- Support counterparts and implementing partners to implement approved innovation initiatives.
- Where relevant, connect academia to innovation opportunities, i.e., vocational schools, colleges, and universities.
- Engage the private sector to maximize the use of corporate social responsibility (CSR) resources for no-cost innovation initiatives, e.g., bulk telecommunications services at low cost or free during periods of under-utilized resources.
Enhance collaboration, build internal and external relationships and capacity.
- Work directly with section chiefs to co-create strategies on how technology and innovation can support the country programme.
- Develop partnerships and networks with local solution providers, innovators, NGOs, cultural and religious organizations, the private sector, local media, and academia to build and provide a space to nurture and test new and innovative technologies and build local capacity.
- Identify opportunities for resource mobilization and new partnerships and lead proposal and partnership development efforts in close collaboration with Country Offices and the Regional Office.
- Provide technical and operational support to a wide range of stakeholders and partners on UNICEF policies, practices, standards, and norms on technology for development and ICT.
- Work with stakeholders to help develop standards, procedures, and partnerships for Innovation and T4D interventions and their transition to relevant Government and Civil Society Institutions.
- Participate as resource person in capacity building initiatives for UNICEF staff and partners to enhance the competencies, capacity, and knowledge within the programmes on digital development.
- Build capacity of programme staff in analyzing the large amounts of data generated through the use of data visualization techniques and analytics tools.
- Develop capabilities within the Country Office on appropriate use of frontier technology and innovations such as UAVs, wearables, IoTs, mobile money, blockchain etc.
- Participate in operations and programme meetings to have a comprehensive understanding of the Country Office’s work and to identify areas in which T4D and Innovation could improve processes or outcomes.
- Assist in the promotion of creativity and innovative thinking to re-engineer work processes and make the best use of technology within and outside UNICEF.
- Support Supply and programme staff to establish local LTAs for connectivity-related programme contracts for services and products.
- Conduct oversight and assessment of vendors and third parties that provide T4D and connectivity services and products to programme, operations and partners.
Manage Knowledge
- Identify, capture, synthesize and share lessons learned from T4D and Innovation for integration into broader knowledge development planning and management efforts including from other countries via the regional and global networks available within UNICEF.
- Maintain an inventory of Digital Development and Technology Innovation interventions, assets, resources, and networks.
- Ensure documentation and clear monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for innovation and T4D projects including baseline data collection, on-going monitoring, as well as first phase data collection and analysis.
- Contribute and share to regional and global digital development and technology innovation networks and activities.
Advise on connectivity and ICT platform issues:
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- Advise on ICT related plans, budget, set priorities and performance indicators as well as year-end assessments, reviews and reporting.
- Oversee connectivity and ICT platform issues to ensure that UNICEF obtains high quality services and value for money, whether for office operations or for programmatic interventions.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Education: An advanced university degree is required in computer science, software engineering, information technology management, business administration with MIS or another relevant technical field.
*A first-level university degree in a relevant field combined with seven years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
Experience: A minimum of five years of professional experience in information technology management, innovation, and/or business operations is required. Experience with start-ups or other innovative experiences is an asset.
Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language and Kinyarwanda is considered as an asset.
For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability.
The Core competencies required for this post are:
- Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1)
- Works Collaboratively with others (1)
- Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1)
- Innovates and Embraces Change (1)
- Thinks and Acts Strategically (1)
- Drive to achieve impactful results (1)
- Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)
Technical Competencies:
Certification and/or proven experience in one of these several ICT technical competencies:
- ICT Project Management,
- Business Analytics,
- Information Security,
- ICT Audit and Risk Management,
- Telecommunications,
- Networks Information Security and Software Engineering and Programming.
UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable Female Candidates are encouraged to apply.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government 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.
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