Regional Chief of ICT (P5), fixed-term, WCARO Dakar, Senegal

Contract

This is a P-5 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 10 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 159,984 USD and 200,496 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

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, Hope

Children in West and Central Africa have their rights violated on daily basis to an extreme extent. The West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO) is working to renew its efforts to advance children’s rights which have been impeded by economic and public health crises, and natural disasters. Though child mortality decreased and more children are in school, a high number live in poverty.

To learn more about WCARO please visit: https://www.unicef.org/wca/

How can you make a difference?

Under the supervision of the Regional Chief of Operations, the Regional Chief of ICT (RCICT)'s role is to provide ICT leadership, technical support, oversight and quality assurance to the regional office and country offices, with a dotted line alignment reporting to headquarters.

In addition, the RCICT performs as a business relationship manager; facilitating governance, demand prioritization, compliance, partnerships and foster and inspire innovation. Moreover, the RCICT plays a key role in the implementation of the ICT strategy, reinforcement of ICT evolution and boosting ICT business alignment, regional cohesion and alignment.

1. Provide ICT leadership at country offices, regional office and headquarters:

Advise and assist the Regional Director in exercising the ICT accountabilities in the region, to maximize ICT efficiency and effectiveness and promote the use of ICTs to advance UNICEFs mission;

Leverage the RD authority to ensure country offices leadership clear understanding and support of ICT function and staff;

Work closely with regional advisors for better integration of technology and best practices in their fields and advice to country offices;

Assist country offices leadership to enable continuous ICT provision and help resolve any ICT related issues with the host government;

Facilitate the region interactions with ITSS leadership and participate in global gatherings to express the region interests, view points and needs and encourage buy-in;

2. Facilitate the implementation of the ICT strategy through business relationship management and by facilitating good governance, partnerships and proper compliance:

Advise country offices on building good governance, that: follow the rule of law; participatory, responsive; transparent; equitable and inclusive; and effective and efficient;

Assist country offices to enhance or develop strategic country level or regional partnerships to enable or accelerate the delivery of ICT solutions and services

Assist country offices to enhance or develop compliance and adherence to standards, policies,

procedures and guidelines

Help improve or develop guidelines for the evaluation, assessment and oversight of providers and third-parties of ICT-related services and products;

Maintain “scorecards” to evaluate and assess country offices governance and compliance mechanisms as well as the management of exceptions and deviations;

Verify country offices compliance with the host governments regulatory requirements vis-à-vis the Basic Cooperation Agreement (BCA);

3. Reinforce the evolution of ICT and boost ICT business alignment and demand prioritization:

Enable the continuous provision of ICT solutions and services in the region by offering close assessments, oversight and arrange for technical or business support;

Verify country offices adherence to the corporate ICT standards, policies, procedures and guidelines;

Liaise and act as an intermediary between the region and headquarters to keep all informed of lessons learned, new initiatives and opportunities;

Channel the region contributions, and facilitates demand prioritization and cohesion, to advance and modernize UNICEF operations and influence the collective ICT evolution and business alignment;

Create mechanisms to help ICT staff in the region stay abreast of the latest ICT and business trends, developments and best practices.

Maintain the regional portfolio of IT enabled projects, and facilitate demand prioritization

4. Improve the delivery of results:

Represent UNICEF ICT in regional UN groups, events or forums and advise country offices on One UN,

Delivering as One and other initiatives;

Support country offices to build and strengthen relationships with counterparts, i.e., government, sister United Nations agencies, international nonprofit organizations (INGOs) and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs);

Engage with programme advisors and country offices to form “reference groups” to identify, analyze, research and promote innovative and viable solutions to improve the delivery of results and enhance results based management and programming;

Help country offices to promote the use of technology and best business practices for better knowledge management, increased capacity building and to preserve the institutional memory;

Facilitate the implementation and use of collaboration tools, social media as well as UNICEF and/or other UN organizations solutions by implementing partners, counterparts and beneficiaries.

5. Foster innovation:

Advise country offices and regional advisors on ways to promote creativity and innovative thinking and making the best use of technology within and outside UNICEF;

Evaluate the region innovation initiatives and the potential opportunities and possible risks to improve productivity, efficiency and effectiveness and share with the leadership;

Develop guidelines to support country offices to facilitate connecting academia to innovation opportunities, i.e., vocational schools, colleges and universities;

Develop ways and means to assist country offices to engage philanthropists and the private sector to maximize their involvement and contribution in innovation;

Assist country offices and regional office to facilitate TED-like events inviting local and international scholars, CEOs and technology or business gurus.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) is required in computer science, software engineering, information technology management, business administration, or another relevant technical field.
• *A first-level university degree in a relevant field combined with twelve years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree. A minimum of ten 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.
• Fluency in English is required and operational knowledge of French are required.

For every Child, you demonstrate:

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS).

Core Competencies:

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (2)
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
• Works Collaboratively with others (2)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (2)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

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.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.

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.

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 are also 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.

Please note that priority will be given to all the eligible internal candidates participating in the 2022 Mobility Exercise and Staff on Abolished post.

Selected candidate is expected to be based and work in Dakar, Senegal, the duty station.