Consultancy - Procurement Specialist for School Connectivity Giga, Office of Innovation, 11.5 months (Remote/Work from home)

Contract

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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, innovate...

UNICEF has a 75-year history of innovating for children. We believe that new approaches, partnerships, and technologies that support realizing children’s rights are critical to improving their lives.

UNICEF and ITU have launched “Giga”, a new initiative to connect every school to the internet, and every young person to information, opportunity, and choice. It also serves as a platform to create the infrastructure necessary to provide digital connectivity to an entire country, for every community, and for every citizen.

Providing connectivity to the world remains a challenge. According to the ITU, nearly 2.9 billion people remain unconnected from the internet, and by extension, unconnected to digital products and services that could dramatically improve their lives. Approximately 29% of 18-24-year-olds, most of them in Sub-Saharan Africa, do not have digital access (~360m people) and thereby lack access to the same information, opportunity, and choice as their more-connected peers. Unless things change, a big part of this rapidly growing group of young people is in danger of being left behind, excluded from the modern digital world.

Closing the digital divide requires global cooperation, leadership, and innovation in finance and technology. Giga leverages data, innovative finance, and new technologies to bring the power of meaningful connectivity to fast-track young people’s access to educational resources and opportunities.

Giga aims to expand school connectivity through its focus on three main pillars of work: 1) Map: Identifying the locations and connectivity status of every school and determining connectivity gaps. 2) Connect: Supporting the expansion of safe, secure, reliable, fit-for-purpose infrastructure to support future digital development needs; 3) Finance: Building affordable and sustainable country-specific models for financing school connectivity.

Accelerate is the experimentation area of the Giga initiative to explore the provision of innovative broadband connectivity solutions and operating models. Accelerate implements small-scale connectivity prototypes in UNICEF programme countries to test: 1) the use of high frequency data to monitor quality of connectivity service, 2) specific procurement models, 3) demand aggregation, 4) new and diverse technologies, 5) sustainable business models, and other approaches that will help leapfrog national school connectivity programmes.

Giga is the connectivity pillar of Reimagine Education (ReEd), which is a UNICEF global initiative to connect every child and young person—some 3.5 billion by 2030—to world-class digital solutions that offer personalized learning to leapfrog to a brighter future.

[Include information about the country/specific programme. Ideally include a link to a video]

How can you make a difference?

Under the general guidance of the Senior Contracts Manager, Service Contracting Centre and in close coordination with the Giga - Accelerate Lead, the consultant is expected to lead the development and implementation of supply strategies for transparent and risk-informed market shaping and contracting of critical supplies and services in support of Giga and school connectivity. This includes development of procurement strategies, guides, templates, management of tenders, negotiations and contracts and advise to country level procurement activities for schools’ connectivity contracting and any other equipment or services supporting the Giga initiative.

We seek a strong self-motivated Procurement Specialist who can maintain the quality of their work even under tight time constraints and who can work with a diverse interdisciplinary team of engineers, designers, data scientists, researchers, financiers, and policy specialists to lead the prototyping and development of supply strategies to advise UNICEF country offices and governments on the procurement of school connectivity.

Main duties and responsibilities:

In particular, working closely with the Senior Contracts Manager, Service Contracting Centre, and the Giga - Accelerate Lead, you will:

1. Support market research and intelligence gathering on broadband internet connectivity, available ISPs (including innovative business models from service providers) related demand challenges for school connectivity at country and regional level, to develop standards and information for ISP vetting / qualification and strategies for market influencing.

2. Develop global guidelines, templates, and best practices for contracting processes for sustainable school connectivity integrating the use of Giga’s data on school & infrastructure location to identify the technologies, operating and business models that optimize network performance, capex investment and affordability.

3. Advise and guide country offices on procurement strategy and contractual modality for school connectivity.

4. Develop a strategy for Giga to transition from small-scale procurements of school connectivity for connectivity pilots, to advise and guide national-level procurements of school connectivity leveraging demand aggregation and economies of scale.

5. Leverage the experience gained in developing Giga’s school connectivity supply strategies to provide supply advice and support to other Reimagine Education pillar leads around products standards, demand forecasting, market research and influencing, partner engagement and contracting strategies.

Key end results:

• Build UNICEF capacity to respond to partners and country requests for school connectivity and thereby support Giga and Reimagine Education objectives to enable access to information, opportunity and choice for children and young people.
• Position UNICEF and Giga as a credible partner and advisor for government on large-scale supply and procurement processes of sustainable school connectivity.
• Stronger capacity to support national partners on implementation of Giga, including provision of Procurement Services for school connectivity to country offices or national governments, where feasible.
• Establishment of a supply strategy at global and regional level, including global arrangements for procurement and supply of quality, affordable school connectivity based on standard specifications and functional requirements.
• Enhanced support to RO and COs on procurement of supplies and services in support of Giga.
• Development of a scale-up strategy for UNICEF to develop the capacity to advise country governments on national-level procurement processes for school connectivity as part of the Giga initiative.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in business administration, commerce or law or technical field required. *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.
• A minimum of five years of progressively responsible professional experience including at least two at the international level. Experience in commercial activities, preferably within the telecommunications sector, with the public or private sector in developing and industrialized countries. Experience with worldwide procurement, contract negotiations, combined with broader economic knowledge.
• Knowledge of the telecommunications market structure, dynamics and drivers for product development and pricing for high-speed internet connectivity and related contracting processes.
• Experience leading large-scale procurement processes for technology or telecommunications products in the public or private sectors, or in support of a UN organization.
• Ability to conceptualize ideas and produce clear and comprehensive products to support UNICEF’s capacity to deliver school connectivity for young people and children.
• Ability to work with a multidisciplinary team of designers, engineers, researchers, and policy makers, in a multicultural environment and to work independently.
• Knowledge of project management tools like Jira, Asana, Trello.
• Good verbal and communication skills.
• Computer skills, including internet navigation and various office applications
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA).

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Payment details and further considerations • Monthly payment, based on monthly tasks and progress reports, approved upon monthly review with supervisor. • Consultant is responsible for his/her own health and travel insurance • Consultant is eligible for standard DSA for all work-related travel

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.