Position: Information Communication Technology Officer

Application Deadline: August, 24/2023

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, Technology

Ethiopia is situated in the Horn of Africa and is the second most populous country on the continent with an estimated population of 115 million. It borders six African countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, and covers 1,104,300 square kilometers. Approximately 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Ethiopia represents a melting pot of ancient cultures with Middle Eastern and African cultures evident in the religious, ethnic, and language composition of its people.

Over the past two years, children and their families across Ethiopia faced multiple and complex emergencies, such as the conflict in northern Ethiopia and the drought, which resulted in millions of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. UNICEF has programmes in Child Protection, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Social Policy, and Education and serves over 15 million children in Ethiopia. Join UNICEF Ethiopia to contribute to improving the lives of children and women.

How can you make a difference?

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

• Enable continuous operation of ICT infrastructure and accessibility to ICT services and solutions:

• Ensure physical and logical security and safety of ICT environment and infrastructure.

• Assist in the management of contracts for ICT for services and products.

• Implement corporate solutions, services and keep systems and applications up and running.

• Manage changes and apply upgrades, security updates and patches.

• Conduct or supervise the provision of preventive and corrective maintenance.

• Monitor, assess and verify the use of ICT resources to ensure compliance.

• Escalate compliance exceptions (proactive) and deviations (reactive).

• Provide help, support and assistance with capacity building and knowledge management:

• Provide technical and operational support to end-users.

• Manage escalated ICT incidents or problems to GSSC/ ICTD.

• Offer or coordinate training workshops or clinics to build end-users' capacity or to introduce new solutions and services.

• Share local experience and lessons learned with the regional office, GSSC or ICTD for the collective benefit.

• Support the planning, organization and implementation of capacity-building and knowledge management initiatives to enhance staff competencies.

• Support opportunities to improve productivity, efficiency, and effectiveness, and foster innovation.

• Participate in-person or remotely in country, regional or global events, and discussions setting the future of ICT evolution to achieve UNICEF's mission.

• Stay abreast of ICT trends, developments, and best practices through professional development –journals, training, certification, etc.

Support operational and administrative tasks:

• Manage and supervise ICT Staff.

• Support the office business continuity plans development and ensure the inclusion of ICT inputs and perspectives.

• Confirm compliance with the host government regulatory requirements vis-à-vis the Basic Cooperation Agreement (BCA), i.e., data collection of sensitive information or personally identifiable information (PII).

• Participate in inter-agency events, meetings, or discussions to represent UNICEF ICT interests, priorities, and positions.

• Assist in providing information for reports, reviews, or audits.

• Liaise with regional office, GSSC and ICTD to keep abreast of new initiatives and opportunities to innovate and modernize office operations and to contribute to the collective ICT evolution.

Assist in the delivery of results:

• Spearheaded approved innovation initiatives and work closely with programme staff to facilitate proper implementation.

• Support technical and operational knowledge transfer to programme staff, implementing partners and beneficiaries.

• Study and understand the business requirements, i.e., PPP, RBM, HACT, etc., to improve the delivery of results.

• Advise programme staff to build an expert team to build better relationships with counterparts and implementing partners.

• Support counterparts and implementing partners to build capacity and nurture independence.

• Assist in the selection of training providers and the development of training materials.

• Collaborate with C4D and use their advocacy, outreach and dissemination tools for better utilization of technology to advance the delivery of results.

• Support Supply and programme staff to establish local LTAs for ICT-related programme contracts for services and products.

• Provide oversight of providers and third parties of ICT-related services and products to programme.

• Assist in the facilitation of project management methodologies training and support the application by staff, counterparts and implementing partners.

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

• A first-level (Bachelor’s or equivalent)university degree in computer science, software engineering, information technology management, business administration or a related social science field is required.

• A minimum of two (2) years of relevant professional experience in Information Technology Management and Business Operations in a large international organization and/or corporation is required.

• Certification and/or proven experience in one of these ICT technical competencies: ICT Project Management, Knowledge management, Business Analytics, Information Security, IT Management, and Software Engineering and Programming is an asset.

• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, or Spanish) is an asset.

• Experience in a UN organization is considered an asset.

• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergencies is considered an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values 

• Care

• Respect

• Integrity

• Trust

• Accountability ; and

• Sustainability (CRITAS) underpins everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (1)

• 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)

How to Apply

Register using THIS LINK

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to including everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

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 is committed to promoting the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment to diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable qualified female candidates are encouraged to apply.

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.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.