UNV: Digital Transformation, AI and Data Specialist – Ankara

Organization Mission

The Resident Coordinator Office (RCO) serves as the strategic platform of the United Nations development system at country level. Its mission is to lead, coordinate, and align the UN’s collective expertise and resources in support of Türkiye’s national development priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ensuring coherent, effective, and inclusive implementation. The Resident Coordinator is the designated representative of and reports to the UN Secretary-General.

The RCO’s core objective is to strengthen system-wide coordination, enabling the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) to operate as a unified, results-driven partner to the Government. It ensures that policy advice, programming, and partnerships are aligned with national frameworks while advancing inclusive, sustainable, and rights-based development.

The United Nations Country Team (UNCT) in Türkiye, under the leadership of the Resident Coordinator, supports the Government of the Republic of Türkiye in advancing national development priorities and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the framework of the 2026-2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF): https://turkiye.un.org/sites/default/files/2025-12/UNSDCF_2026-2030_Turkiye_Final_26112025.pdf. The UNSDCF provides the overarching structure for this collaboration, ensuring that the UN system delivers measurable impact in line with national priorities and global commitments.

For the 2026-2030 period, the UNCT focuses on four strategic priorities under the UNSDCF, in line with the twelfth National Development Plan of Türkiye:

Inclusive and equitable social development

Outcome 1.1 By 2030, people benefit more from inclusive quality services, protection, and empowerment promoting equity and resilience.
Outcome 1.2: By 2025, women and girls have improved and equal access to resources, opportunities, and Green, resilient, inclusive economic development
Outcome 2.1: By 2030, Turkiye has an accelerated green, resilient, and inclusive economic transformation that provides skills, decent work, and livelihood opportunities for all, enhancing human development, and welfare in urban and rural settings.

Climate change, Environmental Sustainability and Resilience

Outcome 3.1: By 2030, all people benefit from strengthened policies and collaborative action for climate change mitigation and adaptation, environmental sustainability as well as enhanced disaster preparedness and resilience.
Good governance and quality judiciary services
Outcome 4.1: By 2030, the governance system in Türkiye is more transparent, accountable, inclusive, and rights-based, with active civil society participation, and the quality of judiciary services is improved.
Outcome 4.2: By 2030, the international protection and migration management system is more effective and holistic, upholding rights of People under the Law on Foreigners and International Protection (PLFIP).

Context

The Twelfth Development Plan (2024-2028) sets digital and green transformation as pivotal axes of sustainable development. This national vision focuses on robust AI infrastructure, high-impact R&D ecosystems, and the evolution of digital governance. Aligned with these priorities, the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2026-2030 positions digital connectivity as a key enabler for all development outcomes.

At the global level, the UN Secretary-General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation calls on the UN system to lead by example: championing digital public goods, closing persistent digital divides, ensuring that AI is developed in a trustworthy and human-rights-respecting manner, and strengthening the architecture for inclusive, multi-stakeholder digital governance. Regionally, Türkiye plays a strategic role at the intersection of Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East, positioning it as a key actor in shaping agendas across neighbouring regions including on digital protection.

Within this context, the Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) supports bridging government strategy and national priorities with technical expertise across UN agencies, and support financing and multistakeholder partnerships (IFIs, private sector, academia).

The Digital Transformation, AI and Data Specialist will serve as the RCO’s focal point on digital and emerging technology issues; support the RCO (DMO) in strengthening data-driven coordination across the UN system; and support the UNCT to both practice and promote responsible, inclusive digital transformation throughout the 2026-2030 Cooperation Framework cycle.

Key Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Head of Resident Coordinator, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

1. Support the UNCT, Results Groups, and RCO in leveraging AI, digital transformation, and data innovation in implementing UNSDCF
– Identify and analyse emerging trends in digital technologies, artificial intelligence and innovation, translating insights into actionable recommendations to UNCT aligned with the Cooperation Framework and UNCT priorities.
– Support UNCT, Results Groups and UN entities in integrating digital, AI and data-driven approaches into programme design, implementation and monitoring, including contributions to Common Country Analysis (CCA) and Cooperation Framework (CF)
– Support development of Joint Programme proposals related to digital transformation and innovation
– Provide data analysis and visualization support
– Support the operationalisation of the Roadmap for Digital Cooperation, with particular attention to groups at risk of digital exclusion: women and girls, persons with disabilities, the elderly, and youth not in employment or education or training among others.

2. Support the digitalization of UN operational and programmatic processes
– Identify opportunities for applying AI across programme design and delivery, monitoring and evaluation, data management and reporting, communications and knowledge management, and administrative process automation
– Support the RCO with the design and development of AI-enabled tools and prototypes to drive innovation and efficiency in the UN Türkiye in collaboration with diverse working groups

3. Inclusive and ethical use of AI and data & accessibility
– Support the establishment of an ethical framework for AI use within the RCO and UNCT, ensuring alignment with UN principles on human rights, data privacy, transparency, and accountability
– Promote and ensure universal accessibility standards including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) across all UN-supported digital initiatives and content

4. Knowledge management and internal capacity building
– Assess existing data management systems and digital tools within the UNCT and contribute to strengthened knowledge management and sharing.
– Organize and deliver workshops, training sessions, knowledge sharing sessions, and practical labs on AI fundamentals and use cases, digital tools for development, data analytics, and digital accessibility
– Support the development of training materials, user guides, technical documentation tailored to UN staff and national partners
– Document and disseminate best practices, case studies, and lessons learned
– Support the maintenance, optimization, and secure use of collaboration platforms (e.g., shared workspaces, cloud tools), and data management systems

5. Partnership
– Support the RCO (PDF / UNIC) collaboration with universities, startups, private sector actors, public institutions aligning with the NDP and CF
– Support the development of public–private partnerships (PPPs) in digital transformation
– Collaborate with regional and global UN teams working on AI, data science, and digital innovation

6. Communication
– Support advocacy on digital transformation, AI for development, and inclusive digital ecosystems and contribute to communication products including briefs, articles, visual content, and technical notes

7. Support RCO in other tasks as required.

Required Skills and Experience

Experience in:
– Experience in digital transformation, AI, data science, or related fields
– Experience translating technical concepts, data analysis, or digital trends into policy, programme, or strategic recommendations for non-technical audiences
– Experience working in multi-stakeholder environments, including collaboration across technical and non-technical teams

Skills in:
– Ability to design, prototype, test, and iterate digital solutions is highly desirable
– Ability to conduct structured research and translate complex technical or data-driven insights into clear, concise, and actionable written outputs (e.g., briefs, notes, recommendations) tailored to policy and programme audiences
– Proficiency in data analysis (e.g., Excel, Python, PowerBI, ArcGIS or other) to process and interpret structured and unstructured data, develop visualizations or dashboards, and translate analytical outputs into actionable insights for decision-making
– Knowledge of accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG), assistive technologies, and user-centred design approaches
– Understanding of and ability to apply principles related to ethical AI, data protection, inclusion, and human rights in digital systems
– Ability to rapidly learn and adapt to new tools, frameworks, and technologies

Core Competencies

Accountability
Adaptability and Flexibility
Client Orientation
Commitment to Continuous Learning
Communication
Creativity
Ethics and Values
Knowledge Sharing
Planning and Organizing
Professionalism
Respect for Diversity
Technological Awareness
Working in Teams

Living Conditions

The UN Volunteer (Specialist) will be based in Ankara. Ankara provides a stable and relatively comfortable urban setting. As the administrative center, it has well-developed public services, universities, and healthcare facilities. The office is in Çankaya, without a nearby Metro station, and is reachable by public bus or minibuses (Dolmuş) which costs 35-40 Lira per ride. Taxis are widely available, and hailing apps are widely used. Good standards of accommodation are available widely throughout Ankara ranging from 500-1200 USD/ month.

The UN Volunteer will be responsible for arranging his/her own housing and other living essentials.

The Summary of UN Volunteer Entitlement (International Specialist):
• Current Monthly Living Allowance (MLA) is USD 2,631
• Private insurance: Health, dental, life, and dismemberment coverage by CIGNA
• Entry allowance (one-time): USD 3,500 upon arrival to duty station
• Exit allowance (one-time after end of assignment): USD 225 per month upon the satisfactory completion of assignment
• Dependent allowance and insurance are provided based on eligibility criteria.
• Annual leave: 2.5 days accrued per calendar month
• Free access to different learning platforms and UN & UNV network

Notes:
1) The allowances are in no way to be understood as a compensation, reward or salary in exchange for the volunteer work.
2) It’s important to note that UNV assignments are volunteer assignments, not employment. The purpose of the allowances and entitlements paid to UN Volunteers is to enable UN Volunteers to sustain a secure standard of living at the duty stations in line with United Nations standards without incurring personal costs.
3) You can check full entitlements at the duty station: https://app.unv.org/calculator
4) Please read the complete UN Volunteer Conditions of Service is available at https://explore.unv.org/cos