Purpose for the job: Under the guidance of the supervisor and based on established policies, guidelines and procedures, the Technology for Development Officer will oversee and support demand for Technology for Development programmatic needs. UNICEF programmes increasingly leverage digital means for effective programme delivery, systems strengthening and monitoring. The T4D Officer supports programme teams in the identification, assessment and integration of ICT and digital innovation into UNICEF programming; strengthening internal capacity to support T4D related initiatives; identifying and engaging with key partners; building and maintaining business relationships; applying reusable and replicable technical buildings blocks; and maximizing the potential for the scale-up and sustainability of technology and digital innovation for UNICEF programming.
The T4D Officer works closely with Programme staff and in close liaison with the Regional Office ICT and T4D teams, and the central ICT Division where applicable.
III. Key functions, accountabilities and related duties or tasks
Summary of the key functions, accountabilities and related duties or tasks include:
1. Digital/Data Solution Implementation
2. Strategic Oversight and Policy Compliance
3. Resource Mobilisation
4. Portfolio Coordination and Project Management
5. Knowledge Management
6. Digital Capacity Building
7. Digital Innovation
8. Business Analysis
1. Digital/Data Solution Implementation
Support and Design of T4D Interventions
• Provide technical support 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.
Solution Procurement and Evaluation
• Provide inputs into the review of technical solutions to ensure UNICEF standards and Technology Playbook are followed; contribute to project management processes, generation and review of terms of reference and vendor selection.
Deployment Advice and Support
• Assist with implementation strategy of digital technology initiatives, including technical oversight, troubleshooting and the documentation of challenges and resolutions.
2. Strategic Oversight and Policy Compliance
Digital Development and Technology Innovation Strategy
• Support implementation of the technology and digital innovation strategy for the Country Office. Bring visibility to T4D gaps, opportunities and scale-up strategy in support of Country Office priorities.
Quality Assurance
• Monitor development and quality assurance during planning and deployment of T4D initiatives; participate in establishing and maintaining standards, documentation and support mechanisms for T4D.
ICT Emergency Preparedness and Response
• Support the ICT emergency preparedness activities within the Country Office as frequently as required by the office. Support creation of the Country Office level disaster recovery plan and utilise ICT emergency preparedness checklist.
Compliance with T4D Best Practices
• Participate in Country Office T4D Governance Committee and support compliance of T4D initiatives with the Principles for Digital Development (http://digitalprinciples.org/) and UNICEF Technology Playbook.
3. Resource Mobilisation
Proposal and Donor Development
• Identify and explore opportunities for resource mobilisation and new partnerships. Assist proposal and donor development efforts.
Provide Advice and Support to Programme Partners
• Provide inputs to technical and operational support to a wide range of stakeholders and partners on UNICEF policies, practices, standards and norms on technology for development.
Document Localized Partners and Profiles
• Maintain catalogue of country specific T4D partners and their profiles/areas of engagement to promote and enhance UNICEF goals for outcomes for children through Technology for Development.
4. Portfolio Coordination and Project Management
Portfolio Coordination
• Work closely with the Regional Office in deploying a portfolio approach and developing a digital roadmap for adapting common solutions prioritised for UNICEF programming (e.g. Digital Public Goods). Use UNICEF’s INVENT global online portfolio for T4D and innovation to record solutions and their status.
Project Management
• Monitor initiatives to ensure timely delivery throughout the lifecycle from assessment through to implementation and ongoing operations, while ensuring consistent stakeholder engagement.
5. Knowledge Management
Share Lessons Learned
• Identify, capture, and share lessons learned from T4D for integration into broader knowledge development planning, advocacy and communication efforts.
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning
• Work with Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation to 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 to Peer Support Networks
• Contribute and share to regional and global digital development and technology innovation networks and activities.
6. Digital Capacity Building
Utilise Data for Evidence Generation
• Support the identification of data needs of programmes and partners and propose solutions. Support capacity building of programme staff and partners in analysing the large amounts of data generated through T4D initiatives including the use of data visualization techniques and analytics tools.
Guide Stakeholders and End-users
• Participate as resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies, capacity and knowledge within the programmes on digital development. Guide UNICEF staff, partners, government counterparts and other end users in digital development and technology innovation.
7. Digital Innovation
Identify and Assess New Technology and Digital Innovations
• Support programme sections to identify and assess new T4D initiatives, or new phases of on-going initiatives, with immediate potential to improve UNICEF programming. Assist programme sections to identify significant product, organizational and process opportunities.
Build Awareness around Innovation and Frontier Technology
• Support the development of staff capabilities in using frontier technology and innovations such as UAVs, wearables, IoTs, mobile money, blockchain etc. Maintain updated knowledge of the latest trends and developments.
8. Business Analysis
User Centric Design
• Utilise human/user-centric design methods to support user-acceptance testing, evaluation, documentation and analysis (e.g. design thinking)
Landscape Mapping
• Maintain an inventory of Technology and Innovation interventions, assets, resources and networks.
IV. Impact of Results
The scale-up of UNICEF T4D’s strategic integration in programming and digital innovations has allowed UNICEF to effectively support programme partners in closing gaps to meet children’s needs, often under complex environments, and in line with existing national systems.
Any failures not properly addressed or corrected by the T4D Officer will have high operational and damaging impact to UNICEF offices. The absence or lack of a sound management of the T4D Officer’s functions will affect UNICEF’s ability to support local counterparts and implementing partners and potentially affect UNICEF ICT globally and possibly have legal or financial repercussions affecting UNICEF’s brand and reputation.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
Minimum requirements:
- Education:A university degree (Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent) is required in Digital Transformation, Business Analysis, ICT Management, Computer Science, Innovation, Digital Development, International Development or another relevant technical field.
- Work Experience:
A minimum of 2 years of professional experience in information communication technology for development (ICT4D) in a large international organization or corporation is required, including:
• Experience identifying, designing and implementing solutions for large-scale projects with technical components
• Experience coordinating the work of external vendors and software developers and experience supporting business analysis, budgets, contracts, project management and procurement
• Experience with ICT, mobile and web-based technologies, particularly designing or deploying tools appropriate to the region
• Exposure to UNICEF, UN or other INGO programmatic areas, including in health, nutrition, child protection and education
• Experience applying technical solutions to address programmatic issues
Experience in the following areas is desirable:
• Experience in Open Source, mobile and emerging technology applied to UNICEF programme areas
• Experience with RapidPro, Primero, DHIS2, ODK and other digital public good technologies, and deploying, maintaining and scaling these technologies
- Language Requirements: • Fluency in English is required.
• Knowledge of another official UN language (French, Italian, Spanish) or local language of the duty station is considered as an asset.
