Consultancy: Technology for Development Community Manager- ICTD Digital Centre of Excellence (DCOE) – remote, 9 months

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, a digital future

UNICEF’s role in planning, measuring, tracking, and reporting results for children requires the ability to gather, integrate, and share information between multiple actors. The overarching strategic goal of UNICEF’s Information and Communication Technology Division (ICTD) is to transform and build partnerships with our stakeholders to successfully implement UNICEF programmes globally through innovative technology-enabled solutions.

Over the last few years, there has been increasing recognition of the critical role of digital innovation and technology for development to UNICEF programming and accelerating support to the Sustainable Development Goals. With the global emergence of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020, digital development has become an integral component of UNICEF’s work on national programmes, especially towards the acceleration of achieving the SDG goals.

As part of ICTD’s Transition and Transformation, the Digital Center of Excellence (DCOE) will work with beneficiaries, partners, and stakeholders at global, regional and country levels to tailor, implement, track and provide insights on the success of scale up innovation and programmatic initiatives.

The DCOE provides the interface between the field and the Digital Core and headquarter teams in Valencia and New York, which drives the broader digital transformation/innovation agenda and coordination with headquarters divisions.

UNICEF Supports a number of Real Time Monitoring (RTM) platforms used by dozens of UNICEF country offices to magnify and monitor programmatic impact for children. With the strong uptake of these platforms and related apps, the Digital Centre of Excellence seeks to provide a wealth of content for anyone to learn, explore, share, and contribute to expanded usage and evolution within UNICEF programmatic areas and operational contexts. So, the Digital Centre of Excellence seeks a community support specialist to support user communities by creating, editing, and maintaining written and multimedia content around product specifications, user guides/manuals, and case studies to drive better practices, advanced usage, and more effective use of Real time data collection tools and related Technology For Development (T4D) technologies to achieve results for children.

How can you make a difference? 

We are looking for a technically capable community builder with a passion for working with open-source projects. The successful candidate will be able to read, review and understand an open-source projects to foster, educate and engage a community of end users.

The Community Support Specialist will also liaise with counterparts at external organizations, as necessary, for building relationships, technical documentation for open-source projects and other initiatives related to ICTD DCOE. The Consultant will also support UNICEF ICTD DCOE, country office and regional office teams in leveraging the technical documentation to successfully implement programme objectives as well as in the creation of materials for advocacy and sharing outcomes with a wider audience. The consultant may be required to represent UNICEF and ICTD at meetings, conferences, and other events, as well as attend meetings with colleagues based in the field.

Please note that there is a possibility that this engagement will continue beyond the initial 9 months and due to UNICEF budget cycle an amended contract will be issued in the event that an extension/ amendment is done

Scope of Work:

The consultant will undertake the following activities monthly in support of specific deliverables

• Support T4D scale-up and organizational technology for development mainstreaming activities
• Work with regional Technology for Development (T4D) Business Analysts (BAs), the Health Program Division, and other stakeholders to collect, review, reorganize, and update T4D guidance documents, SOPs, “playbooks,” templates/tools, etc to be used by T4D BAs and/or vendors providing “RapidPro advisory services” to country office (CO) colleagues
• Develop/adapt t4d support materials for use by DCOE T4D (or public goods) helpdesk staff, support materials for use by CO-based ICT staff, and materials Regional and Country office T4D staff trainings
• Author and maintain product resources

Build, manage and grow the T4D community:

• Build relationships and increase engagement with members of the T4D community
• Welcome new members and engage with community user feedback
• liaise with counterparts at UNICEF and external organizations, as necessary, to building relationships with T4D users
• Coordinate discussions with T4D hosting vendors
• Share outputs and outcomes from T4D working group discussions
• Organize knowledge sharing events and showcases for the work of the T4D community
• Create materials for advocacy and sharing outcomes with a wider audience

Maintain and expand web-based and document-based product resources for T4D tools, including:

• Product overview documents for T4D and related technologies

Content to drive better usage and learning, such as feature overviews, tutorials, and tips/tricks

• Content to introduce and promote exploration and analysis of data generated by T4D and other T4D tools
• Technical manuals for setup and configuration of software tools
• Case studies, implementation overviews, and deployment experiences with products by UNICEF and others
• Copywriter’s manual and documentation guidelines for all technical documents
• Update and maintain global content library to streamline T4D knowledge management and capacity building with the UNICEF T4D ecosystem.
• Drive global recognition of T4D capabilities among internal and external stakeholders:
• Web content, key messages, op-eds, fact sheets, blogs, etc.
• Work with ICTD comms team, country and regional offices to develop human interest stories and/or supporting UNICEF programme staff in writing human interest stories, including through assisting with shaping story angles, providing writing tips, and supporting with the finalization of stories.
• Develops donor and fundraising content packages such as fact sheets, beneficiary testimonies, interviews, blogs, etc.
• Works with the team to develop and deliver UNICEF T4D product newsletters in timely manner
• Develop messages for social media platforms.

Month

Tasks

End Product/ Deliverables

Month 1

Advisory services for Real Time Monitoring products

Flows built for RapidPro advisory

Ongoing user support and troubleshooting for user community

Summary of user support issues handled in the last 1-2 months

Grow user community and increase product sustainability by creating case studies for website, proposals and newsletter

Content calendar for newsletters, community updates, viva engage posts and other activities

Ensure the community has access to necessary resources such as tutorials, FAQs

Updated documentation as requested by user communities or support help desk

Month 2

Advisory services for Real Time Monitoring products

Updated flows for advisory project

Ensure the community has access to necessary resources such as tutorials, FAQs

Community support clinic

Draft and release quarterly newsletter for DCOE managed RTM products

Real time monitoring product newsletter

Grow user community and increase product sustainability by creating case studies for website, proposals and newsletter

Product adoption and sustainable growth plan for 2 UNICEF T4D products

Ongoing user support and troubleshooting for user community

Implement a system for collecting community feedback on product and new feature suggestions

Month 3

Monitor and share data on platform use

Quarterly dashboard and community growth and user engagement KPI updates

Ensure the community has access to necessary resources such as tutorials, FAQs

2 template forms & flows for RTM tools

Ongoing user support and troubleshooting for user community

Summary of user support issues handled in the last 1-2 months

Month 4

Advisory services for Real Time Monitoring products

Updated flows for advisory project

Draft and release quarterly newsletter for DCOE managed RTM products

Real time monitoring product newsletter

Ensure the community has access to necessary resources such as tutorials, FAQs

1 template form & flow for RTM tools

Ensure the community has access to necefssary resources such as tutorials, FAQs

Updated documentation as requested by user communities or support help desk

Month 5

Advisory services for Real Time Monitoring products

Updated flows for advisory project

Ensure the community has access to necessary resources such as tutorials, FAQs

Self-guided onboarding package for T4D product

Grow user community and increase product sustainability by creating case studies for website, proposals and newsletter

Report on cross divisional activities for monitoring digital products

Month 6

Monitor and share data on platform use

Quarterly dashboard and community growth and user engagement KPI updates

Ensure the community has access to necessary resources such as tutorials, FAQs

Community support clinic

Draft and release quarterly newsletter for DCOE managed RTM products

Real time monitoring product newsletter

Grow user community and increase product sustainability by creating case studies for website, proposals and newsletter

Report on new countries onboarded to real time monitoring products

Ongoing user support and troubleshooting for user community

Summary of user support issues handled in the last 1-2 months

Month 7

Monitor and share data on platform use

Quarterly dashboard and community growth KPI updates

Ensure the community has access to necessary resources such as tutorials, FAQs

4 multimedia products for user support, training and onboarding

Grow user community and increase product sustainability by creating case studies for website, proposals and newsletter

Report on new countries onboarded to real time monitoring products

Month 8 

Ongoing user support and troubleshooting for user community

Summary of user support issues handled in the last 1-2 months

Ensure the community has access to necessary resources such as tutorials, FAQs

Community support clinic

Draft and release quarterly newsletter for DCOE managed RTM products

Real time monitoring product newsletter

Month 9 

Grow user community and increase product sustainability by creating case studies for website, proposals and newsletter

User engagement survey sent out to T4D users

Ongoing user support and troubleshooting for user community

Summary of user support issues handled in the last 1-2 months

Monitor and share data on platform use

Quarterly dashboard and community growth and user engagement KPI updates

Ensure the community has access to necessary resources such as tutorials, FAQs

Self-guided onboarding package for T4D product

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

• Bachelor’s degree in English, Journalism, Communications, or a related field.
• A minimum of five years of relevant professional experience in communication and writing for an external audience
• Experience producing detailed technical product documentation
• Outstanding writing skills in the English language with demonstrated ability for logical and analytical writing as well as ‘de-jargoning’ technical language for a wider audience
• Digital relationship/community building
• Attention to detail, research skills and the ability to work under strict deadlines is a must.
• Effective interactive communication
• Client service and people-oriented
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

In addition, the following will be considered a strong asset:

• Education/work experience in engineering/technical fields
• Experience working with and building open-source communities
• previous experience working with T4D or other UNICEF T4D products
• Experience using and deploying T4D and other T4D tools.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

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

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 or ethnic background, and persons with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization. To create a more inclusive workplace, UNICEF offers paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks, and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. Click here to learn more about flexible work arrangements, well-being, and benefits.

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments which, in interaction with various barriers, may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. In its Disability Inclusion Policy and Strategy 2022-2030, UNICEF has committed to increase the number of employees with disabilities by 2030. At UNICEF, we provide reasonable accommodation for work-related support requirements of candidates and employees with disabilities. Also, UNICEF has launched a Global Accessibility Helpdesk to strengthen physical and digital accessibility. If you are an applicant with a disability who needs digital accessibility support in completing the online application, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility jobs-near-me.org UNICEF.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). 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 based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote 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, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Remarks: 

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts. 

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