ICT Project Support Associate

Contract

This is a UNV National Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as National UN Volunteer. It is normally only for nationals. More about UNV National Specialist contracts.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need. WFP is working with the Government of Ghana to accelerate the attainment of its vision of self-reliance beyond aid, articulated in the Ghana Beyond Aid (GBA).

Through the Country Strategic Plan, WFP is actively contributing to national development with an integrated food systems and nutrition programme. This initiative hinges on the involvement of the private sector in the prevention of malnutrition, transformation of agricultural value chains, strengthening of social protection programmes and strengthening early warning, disaster preparedness and response systems.

In line with the national strategic direction, the World Food Programme's Country Strategic Plan (2G-CSP) spanning from 2024 to 2028 will introduce a range of initiatives primarily focused on empowering Ghanaian youth through digitalization. The overarching aim is to enhance the digital capabilities of Ghanaian youth, augmenting productivity, fostering resilience in food and nutrition security, tackling youth unemployment, facilitating evidence generation and encouraging informed choices in nutrition and well-being through the Loyalty platform.

It seeks to bolster youth economic engagement by leveraging digital solutions for food and nutrition security, such as Agritech and Fintech (enhancing financial literacy and introducing technological innovations in agricultural value chains). Additionally, it aims to elevate the adoption of information, communication, and technology (ICT) tools, creating an enabling environment that strengthens digital capacities, particularly for youth and women, thereby enhancing livelihoods, nutrition, and food security and harnessing ICT tools and digital platforms to improve the social and political participation of youth and women in decision-making processes, propelling the acceleration of the Sustainable Development Goals' 2030 agenda."

Consequently, the WFP seeks to recruit a UN Volunteer who will undertake comprehensive research on how to effectively empower the youth of Ghana through digitalization and subsequently support the conceptualization, design, deployment and monitoring of digital initiatives including a Digital Loyalty Platform.

• Work closely with the Units to conduct thorough research, encompassing both desk-based analysis and community-focused investigations and explore various topics concerning digital technologies and their potential for empowering Ghanaian youth. • Engage with the business and other stakeholders to understand their needs and translate them into clear requirements that can be met through innovative digital solutions. • Conduct research on new technologies and digital solutions, actively contributing to their design, development, and deployment while ensuring alignment with business objectives. • Generate comprehensive functional specifications delineating the specific requirements and functionalities for developing digital solutions. • Identify and investigate various options that may present more effective and efficient solutions to meet specified business requirements. • Conduct rigorous testing and in-depth analysis of digital solutions to ensure their efficacy in addressing business objectives to achieve intended results. • Participate in the development of training materials and conduct sessions to ensure end-users understand and can effectively utilize the implemented digital solutions. • Prepare requisite project reports, including but not limited to progress reports, maintenance of a risk log, and lessons learned log. • Efficiently organize and coordinate meetings, ensuring the timely completion of comprehensive meeting notes and minutes to facilitate effective communication within the project team. • Provide support to the Country Office (CO) in engaging with key stakeholders, including UN agencies, Government, Private Sector, and NGOs, with an interest in leveraging technology for youth empowerment. • Explore further opportunities for collaboration and partnerships in the digital landscape. • Any other duty as assigned.

• Accountability • Adaptability and flexibility • Creativity • Planning and organising • Professionalism

ICT development work
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams and partners to identify and develop digital solutions. • Understanding of technology trends and digital solutions relevant to the implementation of the Loyalty platform • strong analytical skills to evaluate options and plans
• Strong strategic abilities for planning and management of major projects • Strong communication skills with good writing, reporting and presentation skills • Team player with the ability to collaborate with people from diverse backgrounds • Good project management and organization skills • Familiarity with Agile principles and values • Understanding various Agile project management frameworks such as Scrum and Kanban is an added advantage. • Good stakeholder management skills to effectively work with cross-functional stakeholders • Politically and culturally sensitive with qualities of diplomacy and tact.

Powered by the passion, dedication and professionalism of over 23,000 staff worldwide, the World Food Programme (WFP) has a presence in over 120 countries, including Ghana, to bring life-saving food to people displaced by conflict and made destitute by disasters, and help individuals and communities find life-changing solutions to the multiple challenges they face in building better futures. WFP Ghana supports the government to enhance nutrition in women and children, support smallholder farmers in improving productivity and reducing losses and boost human capital. WFP provides an interesting and enriching work environment, but also requires a mature level of cultural awareness, as well as stamina and commitment. Ghana is a middle-income country with a population of 30 million people and a category B duty station. The incumbent will be based in the capital city, Accra, Ghana. The duty station is within commuting distance.