Consultancy to draft the National Digital Development Agenda in Libya

Contract

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Result of Service

The report prepared should be in Arabic and in electronic format. The report submitted should not be less than 30 pages. A 2 to 4 pages executive summary of the report. The completed parts should be edited and saved in MS-Word (*.docx file) or an alternate compatible format. PDF format will not be accepted. It should include a table of contents to be automatically updated followed by a list of all tables and figures. The various parts should be submitted in electronic form and sent to the email address of the designated focal point. Attention is kindly drawn to the need to ensure that the final draft of the outputs be thoroughly reviewed prior to submission and to indicate the sources of tables and diagrams. References to reports and other substantive material should be clearly indicated within the text and noted at the end. It is also essential to send, with the completed output, photocopies or scans of at least the first page of books, reports and bulletins, used as reference material as well as copies of the pages quoted. The content of the generated document shall be the sole property of ESCWA. The content cannot and must not be presented, discussed or published by the consultant without the express authorization of ESCWA. The consultant shall keep in mind that UN-ESCWA routinely checks all deliverables for plagiarism, using readily available electronic tools. All previously published content, even if written by the selected consultant, must be clearly referenced where required within the text and end-noted at the end of the study. The report submitted by the consultant must not contain quoted and/or previously published text equalling more than 20 per cent of the total number of pages. The consultant shall not publish or announce or reveal the content of the report, partly or entirely, on social media or any other public channel, without ESCWA permission.

Work Location

Remotely

Expected duration

15 weeks

Duties and Responsibilities

At the beginning of 2020, ESCWA launched a project to enhance digital cooperation and digital development in the Arab region, based on the urgent need to strengthen the links between ICTs and the sustainable development goals (SDGs), to identify existing gaps and develop a set of measures aimed at achieving these goals. This project culminated in ESCWA’s work, which began at the end of 2018, to prepare the Arab Digital Development Report 2019 - Towards Empowering People and Ensuring Inclusiveness (ADDR). In addition to providing a baseline for future reviews of progress in the comprehensive digital development process that includes the digital strategic frameworks, governance and legal environment, the digital transformation of governments, societies and economies, within the framework of the overall concept of the 2030 Agenda and based on consultations with member countries and partner organizations. Through this report and similar future reports, ESCWA assesses, the status of digital technologies in the Arab region and how to harness them to accelerate the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The process leading to the issuance of the ADDR involved member countries to cooperate by preparing National Digital Development Reviews (NDDRs) for individual Arab countries. ESCWA has designed a Guiding Template to support national focal points, and experts in preparing national reviews and collecting data and information related to digital development. ESCWA has reviewed the process during 2020 and developed a new edition of this Guiding template in consultation with national focal points to meet better the challenges faced during the preparation of the first national reviews. This model has been organized into five clusters linking the WSIS action lines with the 2030 Agenda goals. These clusters are:

1. Digital strategic frameworks.
2. Infrastructure, governance and legal environment.
3. The digital economy, digital employment and digital trade.
4. Digital transformation and social inclusion.
5. Culture and Information.

The General Information Authority (GIA) requested UN-ESCWA’s assistance regarding the development of national digital development agenda. To respond to this request, ESCWA has developed a situational analysis report, based on a survey prepared in collaboration with GIA team. In addition to a SWOT analysis of the current situation of digital development in Libya, the report suggests initial tracks for the national digital development agenda (NDDA) that need to be elaborated and drafted in the upcoming phase of the project.

The consultant shall propose to the designated ESCWA focal point a detailed version of the report outline. To produce the agenda, the consultant is requested to conduct, among others, the main following tasks:

1. Review best regional and international practices of digital development agendas.
2. Conduct interviews with the various national stakeholders and summarize their remarks and observations.
3. Suggest the needed digital development agenda based on best practices, gap analysis and national needs. In addition, the consultant would also ensure the following activities:
4. Present the draft report in a national workshop (physically or remotely) and capture the main comments and findings of the discussions.
5. Update the draft proposal according to all received feedback and comments during the reviewing process by ESCWA and GIA.

ESCWA promotes gender equality and integration of youth through its publications and therefore the consultant should pay attention, with the help of ESCWA staff, to gender considerations and youth dimension throughout the research work and thereby ensure that the narrative language should be gender sensitive.

Qualifications/special skills

A master's degree in technology or any other related field is required. A high-level degree such as Ph.D. is desirable. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. A minimum of five years of experience and research in Technology related issues is required. Previous experience in contributing to/drafting/reviewing national policies is required. Previous experience in the delivery of research papers is desirable. A concrete knowledge in the domain of planning and strategies is desirable.

Languages

Languages English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA.

For this position, Fluency in Arabic is required. Fluency in English is desirable.

Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.