Programme Officer – Innovation, Digital Transformation & Knowledge Economy

Volunteering Programme & Policy Innovation

Overview

Support innovation and digital transformation programming in Nigeria.

You have:

• Experience supporting innovation programming, entrepreneurship support, digital skills initiatives, or hub/innovation space operations.
• Strong analytical and programme support skills: drafting, coordination, work planning, reporting and stakeholder engagement.
• Experience working with government, universities, private sector, hubs/accelerators, CSOs or development partners.
• Familiarity with Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem, Startup Act context, digital inclusion, or tech-enabled service delivery is an asset.
• Demonstrated ability to work across multiple stakeholders and locations with delivery discipline.

Contract

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Nigeria’s demographic dividend, growing startup ecosystem, and expanding digital economy offer a major opportunity for inclusive transformation — if matched with innovation infra-structure, digital skills, entrepreneurship support, accessible technology, data systems, and investment pipelines.

Across ISSP States, investments in Youth-Friendly Centres, University Innovation Pods (UniPods), Community Innovation and Entrepreneurship Hubs, and digital transformation initiatives are central to strengthening service delivery, enterprise growth, productivity, and job creation.

However, the ecosystem remains constrained by weak operationalisation of innovation spaces (low utilisation and programme throughput), limited structured pipelines from ideas to prototypes to ventures to investment, fragmented partnerships, limited bankable pro-gramme design, uneven digital readiness at sub-national level, and insufficient inclusion of women, youth, and PWDs in innovation pathways. The UNV Programme Officer – iDIKE/ISSP will support UNDP and State Governments to accelerate delivery of innovation and digital transformation components within ISSP, ensur-ing these platforms become productive, inclusive, investment-ready, and integrated into broader state development portfolios.

Under the technical supervision of the iDIKE technical team lead (Innovation/Digital Trans-formation leads), and with matrix collaboration with the Team Leader, Inclusive Growth with the and day-to-day coordination with the ISSP State Portfolio Analyst, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following responsibilities:

1) Innovation & Digital Transformation Portfolio Planning and Delivery (ISSP/iDIKE) • Support planning, sequencing and implementation of iDIKE-related interventions across ISSP States, including innovation infrastructure, digital transformation, digital inclusion, digital entrepreneurship, and innovation ecosystem strengthening. • Support translation of State priorities into integrated workplans, delivery roadmaps, and bankable programme pipelines aligned with UNDP CPD and ISSP Joint Action Plans. • Contribute to preparation of concept notes, programme descriptions, TORs, implementation plans, partnership briefs, and investment cases for innova-tion/digital initiatives. • Support integration of innovation and digital transformation across other ISSP com-ponents (inclusive growth, governance, energy/climate, social services), ensuring cross-sector synergy (e.g., AgriTech, HealthTech, EdTech, GovTech, ClimateTech, FinTech).

2) Operationalisation of Innovation Infrastructure and Platforms (UniPods, Hubs, Cen-tres) • Support accelerated operationalisation and utilisation of UniPods, Youth-Friendly Centres and Community Innovation Hubs as integrated platforms for skills, prototyping, incubation, and entrepreneurship — ensuring each facility has: o a programme calendar and delivery cadence, o utilisation KPIs, o partnerships and mentorship rosters, o inclusive access mechanisms (women, youth, PWDs), o and clear pathways from training to venture building to market. • Support design and rollout of structured incubation/acceleration cycles, innovation challenges, bootcamps, demo days and venture readiness programmes — including documentation of SOPs and playbooks to support replication. • Support linkage of UniPods and hubs to private sector demand, local value chains, and real-world problem statements, including through sector tracks (e.g., agriculture, energy, creative economy, digital public services, tourism, mining where relevant).

3) Digital Skills, Talent Pipelines and Inclusion (Youth, Women, PWDs / LNOB) • Support development of digital and innovation talent pipelines linked to national and state initiatives (e.g., NJFP, 3MTT, Startup ecosystems, digital skilling pro-grammes). • Support mainstreaming of gender equality, disability inclusion, safeguarding, and youth participation across innovation programming — including safe and enabling participation mechanisms in Youth-Friendly Centres. • Support definition and tracking of equity targets (participation, completion, venture creation, access to finance/markets) disaggregated by sex, age and disability. • Support adoption of practical measures for inclusion (accessible spaces, inclusive communications, targeted outreach, assistive-tech linkages, safeguarding path-ways).

4) Knowledge Economy: Data, Foresight, Open R&D and Development Intelligence • Support knowledge economy components including: o data-driven programming at state level, o innovation measurement and learning, o open R&D partnerships with universities and hubs, o and applied research-to-market linkages (commercialisation pathways where feasible). • Contribute to development of briefs and support activities related to: o innovation and digital readiness diagnostics, o sub-national innovation and digital performance tracking, o and practical “what works” learning for scaling. • Support documentation of lessons learned, case studies, and knowledge products for internal learning and external positioning.

5) Partnerships, Resource Mobilisation and Ecosystem Coordination • Support mapping and coordination of state-level stakeholders: MDAs, universities, hubs, private sector, telecoms/tech firms, regulators, CSOs, youth-led organisations, women networks, PWD organisations, and development partners. • Provide analytical inputs to partnership building and resource mobilisation for bankable programmes that power innovation spaces (co-financing, sponsorships, endowments, corporate partnerships). • Support organisation of ecosystem convenings such as: o innovation roundtables, o investor/partner engagement sessions, o demo days and deal rooms, o and multi-stakeholder delivery labs to unblock constraints.

6) Monitoring, Reporting, Quality Assurance and Adaptive Delivery • Support results tracking for innovation and digital transformation outputs across ISSP States, including contributions to: o dashboards, o quarterly reports, o management briefs, o and donor updates. • Support RBM compliance, documentation of risks and mitigation actions, and adaptive delivery problem-solving. • Support quality assurance for programme outputs to meet UNDP standards on inclusivity, safeguarding, integrity and results orientation.

☒ Accountability ☒ Adaptability and Flexibility ☒ Commitment to Continuous Learning ☒ Creativity ☒ Integrity ☒ Professionalism ☒ Working in Teams

• Experience supporting innovation programming, entrepreneurship support, digital skills initiatives, or hub/innovation space operations. • Strong analytical and programme support skills: drafting, coordination, workplanning, reporting and stakeholder engagement. • Experience working with government, universities, private sector, hubs/accelerators, CSOs or development partners. • Familiarity with Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem, Startup Act context, digital inclusion, or tech-enabled service delivery is an asset. • Demonstrated ability to work across multiple stakeholders and locations with delivery discipline.

The assignment will take place in the Abia – Umuahia, Akwa Ibom – Uyo, Anambra – Awka, Plateau – Jos, Nasarawa - Lafia and other key states implementing the ISSP programme in Nigeria.

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Potential interview questions

Added 4 months ago - Updated 3 months ago - Source: unv.org