Consultancy Local Information and Communication Technology

Under the overall guidance of Education Officer and technical guidance of the UNICEF Global Giga project officer, the ICT Specialist Consultant will provide professional, technical and operational support in the implementation of Giga in Fiji. The Consultant will play an integral role in contextualizing and integrating Giga in Fiji. S/he will assist the Education Officer and the MOE focal point in coordinating and facilitating the maping effort, and for strengthening MoE capacity to lead and support Giga related activities, identifying and engaging with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and key line ministries, and maximizing potential for Giga scale-up and roll-out. The role will be based in Suva, Fiji with local travel when necessary.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

• Act as primary focal point for coordination among relevant stakeholders
• Act as liaison between relevant government focal points in Fiji; Government Information Technology Center (ITC), UNICEF, the Giga HQ team, ISPs and key sector ministries.
• Provide technical guidance in the development and quality assurance during planning and deployment of Giga activities; participate in establishing and maintaining standards, documentation and support mechanisms.
• Support the Giga Technical Committee to ensure that progress is made on their respective Giga work plans.
• Support the budgeting of key initiatives and the preparation of relevant, linked communication and materials.
• Facilitate coordination meetings with relevant stakeholders to ensure alignment to local requirements and policies.

Establish relationships with counterparts in relevant institutions and the private sector:

• Develop partnerships and networks with key line ministries (education, ITC, Communication), local solution providers, innovators, NGOs, cultural and religious organisations, the private sector, local media and academia to advance Giga.
• Support the establishment of data sharing agreements with MoE and ISPs and manage these relationships to ensure smooth and continued data sharing.
• Support the generation of partner-oriented communication materials, including clear concept notes and budgets.
• Ensure their support to the project and facilitate timely communications.

Execute and manage Giga activities in Fiji:

• Work with relevant government divisions to collect, clean, classify the required data for Giga mapping, connect and finance modelling work.
• Support the deployment of software tools for real-time monitoring of internet connectivity in schools.
• Work with the Giga team to adapt the developed tools to the needs of Fiji, and coordinate and mediate between all key stakeholders to achieve the results.
• Support the implementation of the Giga Accelerate prototypes for testing connectivity and business models.
• Ensure that there is coordination with any planned ITC-led activities around infrastructure analysis and regulatory assessments.

Knowledge Management activities including progress reporting, project communications, risk management and lessons learned:

• Identify, capture, synthesize and share lessons learned from Giga deployment for integration into broader knowledge development planning and management efforts including from other countries via the global and regional networks.
• Ensure documentation and clear monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for Giga activities in Fiji including baseline data collection, on-going monitoring, as well as first phase data collection and analysis.
• Complete final report including mapping results and recommendations.

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

Education:  

• Bachelors Degree in Information Technology, Information System or a relevant field.

Experience, Skills and Language:  

• A minimum of five (5) years professional experience in ICT technologies.
• Experience with ICT hardware or software tools, mobile phones and web-based technologies, particularly designing or deploying tools appropriate to low-bandwidth environments, or in the phases of adoption and user requirements (user testing, user interaction, etc.)
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and interpersonal skills with the ability to build strong relationships with diverse stakeholders.
• Familiarity working with quantitative and qualitative statistics and government data is desired: census, EMIS, location data, etc.
• Familiarity working with big data is desired: telcos, Twitter, satellite imagery.
• Experience working with or managing relationships with government ministries, development partners and ISPs.
• Experience in supporting and coordinating social development analysis and programming activities across organizations and with other international partner organizations.
• Experience with developing budgets, contracts and procurement, etc.
• Ability to communicate data insights and to translate into programmatic impact.
• Demonstrated ability to work with people of various professional, academic and cultural backgrounds.
• Desired experience with early-stage technical products.
• Development or government experience; familiarity with the UN system and UNICEF.

Source:  https://jobs.unicef.org/cw/en-us/job/570905