Local Consultancy for the Development of Cloud Computing Policy in Libya

Result of Service

• The report prepared should be in Arabic and in electronic format. • The report submitted should not be less than 30 pages. • A 2 to 4 pages executive summary of the report. The completed parts should be edited and saved in MS-Word (*.docx file) or an alternate compatible format. PDF format will not be accepted. It should include a table of contents to be automatically updated followed by a list of all tables and figures. The various parts should be submitted in electronic form and sent to the email address of the designated focal point. Attention is kindly drawn to the need to ensure that the final draft of the outputs be thoroughly reviewed prior to submission and to indicate the sources of tables and diagrams. References to reports and other substantive material should be clearly indicated within the text and noted at the end. It is also essential to send, with the completed output, photocopies or scans of at least the first page of books, reports and bulletins, used as reference material as well as copies of the pages quoted. The consultant shall keep in mind that UN-ESCWA routinely checks all deliverables for plagiarism, using readily available electronic tools. All previously published content, even if written by the selected consultant, must be clearly referenced where required within the text and end-noted at the end of the report. The report submitted by the consultant must not contain quoted and/or previously published text equalling more than 20 per cent of the total number of pages. The consultant shall not publish or announce or reveal the content of the report, partly or entirely, on social media or any other public channel, without ESCWA and GIA permission. The content of the generated document shall be the sole property of ESCWA.

Work Location

Remote

Expected duration

1.5 months

Duties and Responsibilities

Background Cloud computing platforms and applications are proliferating across public and private sectors. Forecast estimates reflect promising applications in government, and maturing global market for cloud services, with proven scale, speed and security to support new business models. Government performance in terms of effectiveness and efficiency could be significantly enhanced by deploying cloud solutions . In fact, cloud computing services provide users with a series of functions including emails, storage, backup, and data retrieval, creating and testing apps, analyzing data, Audio and video streaming and delivering software on demand. The United Nations is involved in enhancing the use of new technologies for sustainable development. In September 2024 during the Summit of the Future, world leaders adopted the Pact for the Future and its annexes: the Global Digital Compact (GDC) and Declaration on Future Generations. Among its principles , the GDC aims that the “cooperation will advance a responsible, accountable, transparent and human-centric approach to the life cycle of digital and emerging technologies, which includes the pre-design, design, development, evaluation, testing, deployment, use, sale, procurement, operation and decommissioning stages, with effective human oversight”. In the world, many countries developed their own national policies and guidelines to coordinate and maximise the benefits of using cloud platforms. In UK, for example, the Government Cloud Strategy was issued in 2011, as a sub-ICT government strategy . It includes a vision, focus areas and delivery mechanisms. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in USA has produced in 2014 the US Government Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap to support a secure and effective adoption of the Cloud Computing Strategy, published in 2011. In the Arab region, several countries initiated the development of national policies for Cloud computing in public sector. In 2017, Bahrain issued the Cloud First policy, to reduce costs, increase security, productivity and agility for better citizen services . UAE has published the Cloud-first strategy and guidelines in 2018, aiming to turn the country into a regional data hub . Jordan has approved its government cloud policy in 2020 and Syria published its officially adopted policy in 2023. UN-ESCWA, through its technical cooperation program, is committed to provide technical assistance to its member states to boost national efforts towards the achievement of the 2030 Development Agenda. Recently, the General Information Authority (GIA) in Libya requested UN-ESCWA’s assistance in developing a national Cloud Computing policy in Libya. The provision of this advisory service is the subject of these terms of reference. Duties and Responsibilities The consultant shall propose to the designated ESCWA focal point a detailed version of the national AI strategy in Libya. To produce the draft plan, the consultant is requested to conduct, among others, the main following tasks: 1. Review the national digital documents and the existing policies in Libya related to digital transformation, innovation, digital technologies, and other related national development plans; 2. Review best regional and international practices related to Cloud computing policies (at least 2 selected regional and 2 international cases); 3. Identify main national stakeholders, hold, in coordination with GIA, interviews and meetings with the main national stakeholders and drafting a brief summary of each meeting/interview on the discussed points, their remarks, observations and proposals; 4. Contribute to sectoral workshops to discuss needs and priorities, if needed; 5. Prepare the needed cloud computing policy based on international and regional best practices, gap analysis, and national needs (SWOT analysis); In addition, the consultant would also ensure the following activities: (1) Present the draft report in a workshop (physically or remotely) and capture the main comments and discussions; (2) Update the draft proposal according to all received feedback and comments during the reviewing process by ESCWA and GIA teams. ESCWA promotes gender equality and integration of youth through its publications and therefore the consultant should pay attention, with the help of ESCWA staff, to gender considerations and youth dimension throughout the research work and thereby ensure that the narrative language should be gender sensitive.

Qualifications/special skills

A master’s degree in technology or a related field is required; a high-level degree such as Ph.D. is desirable. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. Proven experience in the domain of digital technologies is required. Previous experience in the delivery of research papers or reviewing/drafting policies is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, fluency in Arabic is required. Knowledge of English is desirable. Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

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