Program Management Consultant for the Alliance of Entrepreneurial Universities in Africa

Programme & Policy

Overview

Support the ECA-led work to advance entrepreneurial universities in Africa.

You have:

• Master’s degree in economics, education, business management, innovation, entrepreneurship, or other relevant fields required.
• Minimum of five years of experience in education, business development, innovation, or technology roles required.
• Fluency in English is required, working knowledge of French is desirable.
• Experience in managing innovations or entrepreneurship initiatives and understanding university culture is required.
• Familiarity with data compilation, organization, and analysis tools is required.

Result of Service Monthly status report detailing activities undertaken and planned, progress and actions needing special attention by members and ECA.

Work Location Ethiopia

Expected duration The assignment will require four months commencing from the date of the signature of the contract and will be executed in accordance with agreed timelines.

Duties and Responsibilities Background

Since 2021, ECA has supported national surveys of selected universities in Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana, and South Africa as well as on-goings surveys in Egypt, Kenya and Rwanda. The aim of the surveys is to gain insights on the extent to which African universities have embraced the entrepreneurial mission (in addition to teaching and research missions) and identify areas of need and policy intervention. The first draft reports were presented at national consultative meetings and were well received. Countries called for increased collaboration (e.g. twinning of universities) and sharing of experiences and practices among their universities to encourage learning. It is against this demand that the Alliance of Entrepreneurial Universities in Africa was launched to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship through higher education.

In brief, the Alliance is a continental platform for learning and identification of opportunities that strengthen interactions and relations among universities to enhance entrepreneurship promotion; foster partnerships between university and industry and government; promote collaboration in entrepreneurship learning, teaching and research; identify and open up funding opportunities and pathways for technology and innovation commercialization; and defend the autonomy and foster globalization of its members. The Alliance promotes innovation and entrepreneurship across disciplines, sectors and fields and drive long term economic prosperity and sustainable development.

This effort seeks to strengthen the Alliance to ensure interest is maintained and growth is achieved smoothly and rapidly.

Purpose and objective of the consultancies

The main purpose of this work is to support the ECA-led work to advance entrepreneurial universities in Africa at the institutional, national and regional levels. The work is NOT designed to manage the administrative aspects but rather the operationalization and promotion of the Alliance as a continental platform for encouraging entrepreneurship, sharing experiences, promoting collaboration and partnerships, and enabling member universities to fully realize their potential as change agents for economic, social and environmental transformation.

For this assignment, a greater part of the focus will be helping member universities and their support national institutions weigh the different approaches for stimulating, supporting and showcase entrepreneurial activities both in its community and in external partners; design, deliver and manage initiatives that promote collaboration and partnerships among members.

Scope of Work

The National Consultant will work closely with ECA and its partners in the design and refinement of the survey tools, especially the questionnaires, to ensure they meet the minimum required research quality. The consultant will develop methodologies for analysing the national datasets, both qualitative and quantitative.

Under the direct supervisor of director of the Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources Management Division (TCND), ECA and working closely with partner national departments and ministries the consultant will assume the following duties and responsibilities

• Provide high level professional and technical support for an effective delivery and satisfactory implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all Alliance related works agreed

• Produce narrative and programmatic reports to ECA and/or partners as required

• Prepare program of work and background documents for key activities of the Alliance

• Establish Alliance project implementation measurement strategies and generate assessment reports

• Draft Letter of Agreements, Concept Notes and Alliance Reports as required

• Regularly share with members of the Alliance updates, knowledge products, case studies, announcement and other pieces of information that may be of interest

• Capture and summarize data from field work, consultancy activities, meetings, conferences and mission reports

• Provide backstopping to preparation and organization of Alliance applications, meetings and events

• Liaise with Alliance partners and ECA for the smooth operationalization of Alliance

• Undertakes any other duties as may be assigned by the Director of TCND

  Qualifications/special skills Competency: The candidate must have the skills and knowledge in;

  1) management of innovation or entrepreneurship; familiar with university operations and culture; experience in both academia and industry or has worked in industry, academia and international institutions;

  2) general office and desktop publishing as well as online platforms and packages for compiling, organizing and analysing data and information and;

3) delivering presentations to teams with strong differences of opinion and beliefs.

Academic Qualifications: Advanced university (Master’s degree) in economics, education, business management, innovation, entrepreneurship and other social sciences or technology related fields is required. A first level university degree in a combination of additional two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the master’s degree. A PhD is an advantage.

Experience: A minimum of five years of experience in working with teaching, research, innovation or technology, business and product development and in managing teams from diverse backgrounds is required. Experience in good understanding of operations of international networks or societies is desirable.

Language: English and French are the working languages of the UN Secretariat. For this consultancy, fluency in English is required. Working language of the other is desirable. Knowledge of another UN language is desirable.

Additional Information The consultancy is estimated at about 60% of full-time-equivalent (FTE) that could be agreed how it is spread in week or month. This is needed to ensure the Consultant and TCND conduct regular consultations with key stakeholders.

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.

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Added 3 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: careers.un.org