Innovation Specialist, NO-3, Pretoria, South Africa, #00113840 (Open for South African nationals only) at UNICEF

Summary of key functions/accountabilities

• Provide T4D policy and strategy development support, as well as T4D technical support, to programmes:
• Provide support to the implementation and monitoring of SACO T4D strategy, including assessment of ICT and digital development gaps, opportunities and scale-up strategies that align with Regional and Global guidance;
• support the integration of digital development and technology innovation into the programme planning lifecycle in with programme priorities (AWP, etc.);
• oversee development and quality assurance during planning and deployment of T4D initiatives; participate in establishing and maintaining standards, documentation and support mechanisms for T4D;
• moderate the T4D coordination team and ensure compliance of T4D initiatives with the SACO SOP for T4D management;
• provide support and technical assistance to the Country Office in the identification, selection, concept design, deployment and sustainability of T4D interventions to address bottlenecks towards the achievement of programme results;
• assist programme sections to identify and assess new T4D initiatives, or new phases of ongoing initiatives, with immediate potential to improve UNICEF programming;
• define technical requirements; document and match requirements and guide the design, development and deployment of appropriate T4D solutions;
• assist the review of technical solutions to ensure UNICEF standards are followed; contribute to project management processes, generation and review of terms of reference and vendor selection; and
• Advise and assist with implementation strategy of digital technology initiatives, including technical oversight, troubleshooting and the documentation of challenges and resolutions.
• Support the roll-out of non-tech, social innovations tools and approaches:
• Support human/user-centered design methods to enable user-acceptance testing, evaluation, documentation and analysis; 
• support the coordination for testing and development of social innovation tools and processes that strengthen and improve UNICEF’s programming and results for children;
• ensure cross-sectoral learning and fertilization among social innovation initiatives; and
• building on the existing SACO T4D strategy for 2019-2023, support the development of SACO innovation strategy that covers both T4D and social innovation initiatives;
• Capacity Building:
• Support UNICEF staff and consultants by providing up-to-date tools, knowledge and capacity in Innovation and T4D technology;
• provide government authorities with technical support and guidance to plan and organize training programmes for the purpose of capacity-building and programme sustainability;
• provide capacity-building and training to UNICEF and partner staff and end users in the use of innovation products and processes;
• advise on negotiation with technology service providers and mobile phone providers, in consultation with internal ICT unit, ESARO ICT, and NYHQ Office of Innovation. Work closely with ICT unit including but not limited to requirement analysis, project management and quality assurance of the T4D initiatives; and
• undertake field visits to monitor and assess programme implementation and decide on required corrective action, including in emergencies;
• Partnership, Coordination and Collaboration and Resource Mobilization:
• Foster and develop partner networks with local innovators, civil society, academia and private sector to build and provide a space to nurture and test innovative approaches;
• proactively scout for new and innovative ideas, opportunities and partnerships to deliver better results;
• identify opportunities for resource mobilization and new partnerships;
• support proposal and partnership development efforts in collaboration with programme teams, the donor management officer and RO; and
• identify opportunities for resource mobilization and new partnerships with telecom operators, SMS aggregators, NGOs and UN agencies;
• Knowledge Management:
• Identify, capture, synthesize and share lessons learned on T4D with members of UNICEF SACO T4D coordination team;
• support maintenance of the Innovation Inventory, including on T4D interventions, assets, resources and networks;
• contribute and share to country-wide, regional and global innovation networks and activities; and
• ensure documentation and clear monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for innovation projects including baseline data collection, ongoing monitoring, as well as first phase data collection and analysis.

Minimum requirements:

• Education: An advanced university degree in one of the following fields is required: Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Computer Science, Information Science, Public Health, International Development, Community Development or a related field Social Sciences.

Work Experience: 

• A minimum of five (5) years of professional experience in innovative uses of technology for development, particularly in the areas of mobile-based data collection; training & capacity building experience; programme communication / communication for development; design experience
• Experience identifying, developing and implementing solutions for large-scale technical projects – including liaising with engineers and software developers
• Experience with ICT hardware, mobile phones and web-based technologies, particularly designing or deploying tools appropriate to low-bandwidth environments
• Experience in other technical areas, i.e. network administration, support services management, messaging, database administration and data visualization
• Experience with RapidPro, OpenSRP, DHIS2, ODK and other global public good technologies, and deploying, maintaining and rolling out these technologies is desirable
• Working knowledge of SQL database and ArcGIS is preferred
• Professional certification in ICT project management, programming, software engineering, business analytics, telecommunications and/or information security is an asset
• Knowledge on human-centered design thinking approaches, information systems, requirements analysis and software development is an advantage
• Proven capacity to work with and lead collaborative teams across different sections and with different technical skills
• Proven ability to manage relationships with partners, including government ministries, youth coalitions, universities, intellectual leaders, UN organizations, NGOs and the private sector
• Strong writing and communication skills and the aptitude to handle competing messages and priorities with multiple audiences
• Background experience with the UN, especially UNICEF, is an asset
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language is considered as an asset.