ICT Officer (Technology for Development), NO-2, Bucharest, Romania (, 364 days)

Contract

This is a NO-2 contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. More about NO-2 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, deliver.

The war in Ukraine has triggered the fastest growing refugee crisis since World War II. By 23 April 2022, more than 774,000 refugees from Ukraine had arrived in Romania. The overwhelming majority of refugees are women and children, often separated from husbands and fathers who remained in Ukraine; older people; and significant numbers of unaccompanied children, including those from state care facilities.

Local and national authorities have established reception facilities at border crossing points to receive new arrivals and are providing life-saving assistance, including accommodation, food, and other basic needs, as well as onward transport for those moving to urban centers. In the reception centers, information is also provided on the asylum process and temporary protection, as well as on the risks of trafficking. Access to basic rights and services, such as health, has been facilitated. Steps have already been taken to foster protection and inclusion into national systems, such as for health and education. Referral services are being scaled up, focusing especially on case management and protection of unaccompanied children and those evacuated from boarding schools, institutions and other alternative care arrangements, survivors of gender-based violence (GBV), victims of trafficking, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups

UNICEF Romania Country Office is involved in the emergency response by supporting the national government and local partners in delivering assistance and protection services.

How can you make a difference?

In view of emergency refugee crisis and Romania Country Office response efforts, the ICT Officer (T4D) will provide support to the Country Office to identify, develop and oversee the Technology for Development (T4D) activities and solutions, linking to inter-agency and government counterpart’s coordination for an effective implementation of the emergency response programmes. He/she provides technical support to identify solutions across sectors that can amplify impact or simplify implementation for better results for children. The incumbent also provides technical, operational and procedural support/ oversight and end-user services in the implementation, maintenance and improvement of IT systems.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

Coordinate the T4D function and provide technical and programmatic support:

• Liaise with relevant stakeholders to manage Business and Programme Relationship services to define high-level requirements; document and match requirements and guide the design, development and deployment of appropriate T4D solutions.
• 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 programme sections to identify and assess new T4D initiatives, or new phases of on-going initiatives, with immediate potential to improve UNICEF programming.
• 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.
• Assist with implementation strategy of digital technology initiatives. Including technical oversight, troubleshooting and the documentation of challenges and resolutions.
• Support human/user-centred design methods to enable user-acceptance testing, evaluation, documentation and analysis

Policy and Strategic Development for Technology-enabled Programming

• 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 CO priorities.
• Help monitor development and quality assurance during planning and deployment of T4D initiatives; participate in establishing and maintaining standards, documentation and support mechanisms for T4D.
• Participate in CO T4D Governance Committee and support compliance of T4D initiatives with the Principles for Digital Development (http://digitalprinciples.org/) and UNICEF T4D best practices.

Engage and maintain partnerships and networks

• Support the development of partnerships and networks with local solution providers, innovators, NGOs, cultural and other organisations, 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.
• Participate and support Country Office representation in external, inter-agency or partner forums on Digital Development and Technology Innovation.
• Help identify opportunities for resource mobilisation and new partnerships and assist proposal and partnership development efforts.
• 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.
• Work with stakeholders to help develop standards, procedures and partnerships for T4D interventions and their transition to relevant Government and Civil Society Institutions.
• Help maintain partnerships with government counterparts and national stakeholders through active sharing and transfer of knowledge, skills and tools to foster and facilitate technology-enabled programming.
• Contribute updates to a catalogue of country specific T4D partners and their profiles/areas of engagement to promote and enhance UNICEF goals for outcomes for children through the use of Technology for Development.

Knowledge Management

• Help identify, capture, synthesize and share lessons learned from T4D for integration into broader knowledge development planning, advocacy and communication efforts.
• Maintain an inventory of Technology and Innovation interventions, assets, resources and networks.
• Work with PME 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 and share to regional and global digital development and technology innovation networks and activities.

Capacity Building

• Build capacity 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.
• Work directly with programme teams and partners to adapt technology and innovative solutions
• appropriate to the country programme.
• Participate as resource person in capacity building initiatives to enhance the competencies, capacity and
• knowledge within the programmes on digital development; train UNICEF staff, partners, government counterparts and other end users in digital development and technology innovation.
• Assist developing staff capabilities in appropriate use of frontier technology and innovations such as UAVs, wearables, IoTs, mobile money, blockchain etc.
• Provide technical and operational support to end-users.

Enable continuous operation of ICT infrastructure and accessibility to ICT services and solutions:

• Ensure physical and logical security and safety of ICT environment and infrastructure;
• Assist in the management of contracts for ICT for services and products;
• Ensure implementation of corporate solutions, services, and their availability;
• Ensure timely application of system upgrades, security patches
• Ensure the provisions of preventive and corrective maintenance;
• Ensure management of emergency telecommunication operations and equipment;
• Manage ICT disaster recovery plans and provisions of mitigative measures
• Monitor, assess and verify the use of ICT resources to ensure compliance;
• Escalate compliance exceptions (proactive) and deviations (reactive)
• Support the office business continuity plans development and ensure the inclusion of ICT inputs and perspective.
• Monitor risks and threats to ICT environment or infrastructure. Take appropriate action and inform management;
• Confirm the compliance with the host government regulatory requirements vis-à-vis the Basic Cooperation Agreement (BCA), i.e., data collection of sensitive information or personally identifiable information (PII), telecommunications licenses, use of specialized equipment, such as HF/VHF radios, high-gain antennae, satellite phones, VSATs, VOIP, etc…

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

• A university degree in Business Analysis, ICT Management, Computer Science, software engineering, Innovation, Digital Development, International Development or related social science field is required.
• A minimum of two years of professional experience in information technology management and business operations in a large international organization and/or corporation is required.
• Experience in a UN organization is an asset.
• 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
• Fluency in English and Romanian 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).

Core Competencies

• 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)

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:

Eligible UNICEF National Officer (NO) and General Service (GS) Staff Members on fixed-term, continuing or permanent contracts applying to this TA, which is dedicated to L3 Response, may be able to retain a lien on their existing post for the duration of this TA.

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.