Consultancy - Senior Software Developer (NewTech4MHPSS), LACRO, Panama City (7 months) ***Extended***

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UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund

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Application deadline 1 year ago: Thursday 5 May 2022 at 03:55 UTC

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Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

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, health

How can you make a difference?

Background

There is a fundamental imbalance in the supply and demand of quality mental health care for children and adolescents across the Latin America and Caribbean Region1. The mental health treatment gap remains a public health concern as a high proportion of children, including from indigenous communities with serious mental illness remain untreated.2 Furthermore, investments in mental health prevention and promotion among this population group also remain low. At the same time, a rapid increase in internet access and smartphone penetration across this region makes digital solutions an important opportunity to expand the delivery of mental health and psychosocial support interventions for children, adolescents, and their caregivers3. Digital solutions can increase access to a range of mental health information and services and help mitigate patient barriers such as stigma and costs4.

Furthermore, while the LAC Region has recently seen a sharp increase in the number of digital mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) technologies and interventions, many of these are in their infancy with limited information about effectiveness and clear pathways to scale. Information to guide the implementation of digital MHPSS interventions specifically for children and adolescents is even more limited. Making digital MHPSS innovation a realistic and quality solution to the service access constraints among young people in the region will require a standardized way of measuring effectiveness to guide MHPSS policy and investment for children and adolescents in LAC. UNICEF LACRO proposes a multi-country effort to advance MHPSS services through digital platforms in the region. A "learning by doing" approach will be applied - expanding reach to children, adolescents and their caregivers while using local knowledge and on-the-ground implementation experience across LACRO to develop packages of MHPSS digital public goods and standardized measurement tools to strengthen responses to the mental health needs of children and adolescents in the region.

A consultant is sought to help create and promote a thematic library of open access MHPSS digital public goods for children and adolescents. This will include packages of content, software, and technical guidance developed by and for the LACR context. There will be two main products:

  • A unified content management system for managing and adapting MHPSS content to various communication tools (Rapid Pro, Moodle, IoGT)
  • A linked digital thematic content library to document and disseminate MHPSS interventions in the region

1 Caqueo-Urízar, A., Flores, J., Escobar, C. et al. Psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents in a middle-income Latin American country. BMC Psychiatry 20, 104 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-02512-4 2 Kohn R, Ali A, Puac-Polanco V, Figueroa C, López-Soto V, Morgan K, et al. Mental health in the Americas: an overview of the treatment gap. Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2018;42:e165. https://doi. Org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.165 3 https://www.centreforglobalmentalhealth.org/latin-mh-latin-america-treatment-innovation-network-in-mental-health 4 Aschbrenner KA, Naslund JA, Tomlinson EF, Kinney A, Pratt SI, Brunette MF. Adolescents' Use of Digital Technologies and Preferences for Mobile Health Coaching in Public Mental Health Settings. Front Public Health. 2019;7:178. Published 2019 Jul 2. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2019.00178

Purpose of the Assignment

Under the direct supervision of the T4D Business Analyst and in coordination with the Health Specialist, MHPSS focal point, the consultant will develop the prototypes, testing, rollout, deployment and training of the content management system and supporting the creation of the digital thematic library.

Specific Tasks

The consultant will work closely with the LACRO T4D team, and Survive & Thrive sector to:

  • Lead the development of the Content Management System
  • Develop and implement the logic and API of the system
  • Integrate the external APIs leveraged by the applications for communication, translation and visualization
  • Lead the unit testing and integration testing including data exports, and user acceptance testing of the solution
  • Support the deployment of the solution including the selection, configuration and operation of the cloud platform
  • Lead and perform the documentation of the solution including the source code, API, user and configurations guides
  • Realize specific adaptations and development on top of the LACRO SharePoint platform to implement and link the thematic content library
  • Any other tasks relevant to the deliverables as per evolving requirements

    Expected Results [measurable]

  • The MHPSS Digital content Management System is operational in LACR by the end of 2022

  • A Thematic Library of MHPSS content is operational and allows the consultation of interventions, and sharing of best practices by the end of 2022
  • The solutions are documented including the code sources, User Interface and guides
  • LACR offices MHPSS focal points are trained in the use of the solution

Deliverables

Description

Duration [in days]

Expected Deadline

The logic (Code) of the solution based on User Interface Design, sitemaps and user workflows defined with the FrontEnd Designer and the data model defined with the backend developer

43

June 15th, 2022

Solution tested and finalized including unit, integration and user acceptance testing with the associated reports

44

August 15th, 2022

Hosting of the Content Management System including cloud provisioner choice, domain name, maintenance scripts and SSL certificates

22

August 15th, 2022

Documentation of the source code, users, and configuration guides finalized

23

September 15th, 2022

Training of UNICEF Country Office staff in regional (virtual) training sessions

22

October 4th, 2022

Final report

TBC

TBC

Total number of days

154

December 01st , 2022

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

Minimum Requirements and Qualifications

Education

  • A Master’s degree in Computer science, Mathematics, Data Sciences or related fields. A Bachelor’s degree in one of the above fields and at least three additional years of practical experience in deploying information and or data collection systems and use of technology for development work may be substituted for the advanced university degree. Professional certificates in software development delivered by recognized names in the field are a bonus.

    Work Experience

  • Minimum of three years of relevant work experience in Web and Software development.

  • Proven track records of software products, web application development on content management systems
  • Good command of Web programming languages and tools including but not limited to PHP, Javascript, CSS and HTML, including frameworks based on those languages
  • Exposure to UNICEF, UN, or other INGO programmatic areas, including (but not limited to) health, nutrition, child protection and/or education, and experience in applying technical solutions to address programmatic issues is an asset.
  • Experience developing on Drupal content management system is an asset
  • Experience designing and developing content/messages for media channels is an asset.

Languages

  • Fluency in English and good working knowledge of Spanish.

    Technical knowledge (if applicable)

  • Prior technical experience implementing solutions using Drupal.

  • Web technologies and APIs
  • Cloud hosting deployments. Knowledge of Microsoft Azure is an asset
  • Version control systems based on Git

Other skills and attributes (optional)

  • Good communication skills in English.
  • Ability to work efficiently under tight deadlines.
  • Must be detail oriented.
  • Demonstrated experience on UNICEF will be an asset.

Supervision

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the T4D Business Analyst and in close collaboration with the MHPSS Specialist in LACRO.

Workplace

This is a home-based consultancy

Duration

The duration of this consultancy is for 7 months (154 days).

How to Apply

Application should be submitted online and should include: Resume, Cover Letter, Development portfolio, GitHub links and Financial proposal. Qualified candidates are requested to submit daily and monthly fees in their financial proposal.

Travel

This consultancy involves travel.

Travel will be covered by UNICEF as per policy.

  • Travel costs will be estimated and added to the contract once they are determined based on UNICEF Financial Rules and Regulations.
  • Selected candidate is expected to travel to Panama for one working week at the beginning of his/her consultancy for briefing and for induction/orientation. Cost shall be covered by LACRO.
  • For agreed country visits, the contractor/consultant will be responsible in administering their own travel. UNICEF will reimburse travel related expenses based on actual costs or on the below criteria whichever is lower and upon presentation of receipts.
  • Any travel involved should be budgeted according to UN Travel Standards as a ceiling.
  • UN Secretariat Administrative Instruction on Official Travel, ST/AI/2013/3: Sect. 4, para. 4.2, numerals (d) and (e)
  • For information on Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA), can be found on the International Civil Service Commission website (all countries and destinations can be found by navigating on the map).

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA). To view our competency framework, please visit here.

*****

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:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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.

Added 1 year ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: unicef.org