Information Communication Specialist at United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO)
Vacancy Announcement “ESARO/ICT/2015-025”
Open to Kenya Nationals Only
Duty Station: Nairobi
Information Communication Specialist (NO-C)
Fixed Term
Date of Issue: 28 May 2015
Closing Date: 10 June 2015
Applications are hereby invited from suitably qualified candidates to fill the above Fixed Term Appointment in UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO), Nairobi, Kenya.
Purpose: Under the supervision of the Regional Chief of ICT, the ICT Specialist will provide guidance and managerial support to Country ICT teams, plan human, technical and financial resources with a view to achieving efficient and effective results.
Major Duties and Responsibilities:
Supports the Regional Chief of ICT in providing effective ICT oversight, focusing on achievement of the following results:
Management:
- Ensure effective knowledge sharing within region and among the ICT Team, recognize and address competency development needs, and ensure that the technical expertise needed for best practice service delivery is continuously maintained;
- Manage, guide and develop staff and consultants, and plan and monitor the deployment of individuals to ensure that they are contributing effectively whilst developing skills and experience.
- Ensure evaluation of ICT systems to ensure the strategic use of information technology and resources, improved performance and wider learning at Country Office level, Audit and peer reviews recommendations on ICT are properly advised and implemented.
Planning, Coordination and Communication:
- Develop work plans and budgets as part of the Regional ICT team, manage expenditures against agreed priorities and ensuring the cost effective use of funds and delivery within timeframe and budget, including integrating knowledge of medium-term technical solutions into business requirements and providing clear, accurate and regular reporting on activities and costs.
- Oversee the planning and management of ICT projects, ensuring the application of sound project management and control methodologies, and coordination with other project resource requirements, collaboration with other UN ICT teams, with particular attention to planning, implementation, validation and further improvement of ICT services collectively, sharing knowledge and experience with counterparts and other UN organizations, with a view to identifying the most cost effective solutions to meet business requirements.
- With guidance and insight from the Regional ICT Chief, support the development of country specific policies and standards and provide advice to ensure that the ICT plan and policies are integrated into UNICEF’s overall ICT strategy and plans.
Technical and Strategic Delivery of ICT services:
- In-depth evaluation of information technology and telecommunications capacity and requirements of country offices in terms of updating hardware and software to acceptable global levels.
- Collaborate in the planning of global IT strategies and policies by representing the region and providing feedback on local IT requirements, technical capacity in terms of web technology, support and skills available.
- Maintain and update regional map of IT information and contacts and contribute to global database of UNICEF IT infrastructure.
- Identify new areas where computerization/automation is advantageous and applicable to COs. Recommendation of applicable software packages to use, understanding user/clients specification, needs and requirements to achieve client satisfaction.
- Support the ongoing proactive evaluation of system performance at CO level, identifying risks and areas of inefficiencies and potential problems; Collaboration with CO ICT for mitigation strategies; and provide technical support in implementation corrective actions to achieve improved and uninterrupted services.
- Ensure security of information technology operations at all times. Development of back-up programmes and ensuring strict implementation.
- Establish of control systems to ensure that all IT and Telecommunications equipment meets standards, is maintained regularly and in proper working condition.
- Interact with HQ and IT staff in other UN agencies, participation in information exchange meetings for systems co-ordination, consistency in direction, policy and standards; also for knowledge sharing on industry expertise
- Support CO emergency preparedness and response including participation as needed in early warning, MOSS compliance, contingency planning, preparedness activities, and response from the initial stage of emergency situations to stabilisation.
Documentation:
- Support the development and implementation of processes, SLAs and operations procedures in COs to ensure effective management and operations of UNICEF ICT Infrastructure, Security and Communications, including monitoring and compliance with such and reports to management on regular basis.
Innovation and Partnerships:
- Provide sound advice to senior management for decision making, technical guidance and support to ICT staff in initiatives related to ICT for Programmes.
- Organise or facilitate Innovation training for Country Office IT staff.
- Provide technical support to Country Offices on matters related to the implementation of Innovation initiatives to programmes.
- Liaise with ICT colleagues in other UN agencies as part of inter-agency and/or Delivering-as-One activities.
In addition, the incumbent will:
- Provide technical support to country offices on Information Management Systems, IT infrastructure, communication linkages and Innovation initiatives,
- Provide IT staff capacity development and backstopping for all Country Offices within the Region so that all UNICEF staff can have access to the right information at the right time.
- Assist the Regional Chief of ICT in regional responsibilities.
Qualification and Competencies ([ ] indicates the level of proficiency required for the job.)
Educational Qualification
- Advanced university degree or equivalent background, in computer science, information systems, or other relevant disciplines, with specialized training or appropriate experience in the fields broadly applicable to the job.
Work Experience
- Professional work experience
- Five years of relevant professional work experience in ICT and Telecommunications area.
- Field work experience an asset.
- Background/familiarity with Emergencies.
Knowledge, Functional Skills and Abilities
- Technical Skills: Demonstrated expertise in all aspects of ICT infrastructure delivery and support, with an extensive knowledge of setup / configuration of components of ICT environments including firewalls, LAN/WAN, phone systems, video, server, virtual environments, storage area networks, backup systems, directory services and other infrastructure services.
- At least 5 years hands-on experience managing a large LAN or WAN connectivity. Within this experience at least 2 years of experience with Active Directory and MS-Exchange, anti-spam systems and anti-virus systems. Relevant experience in TCP/IP and Microsoft Network Operating Systems. Experience with VPN technologies and WLAN equipment and protocols. Experience with VoIP and IP telephony. Experience with direct and support contact with users at junior to senior levels required.
- Management and supervisory skills: Ability to manage staff, providing clear direction and motivation, managing their performance appropriately and fairly, and dealing with possible conflicts.
- Customer relationship skills: Ability and aptitude for proactive and sympathetic engagement with UNICEF staff and other customers and providers of UNICEF computing services.
- Project management skills: Demonstrated ability in handling large projects, including project planning, work assignment and supervision as well as progress review and reporting, using a recognized framework.
- Analytical skills: Ability to analyse complex situations, grasp the critical aspects and make firm decisions based on sound judgment.
- Strong ability to communicate with non-technical staff for establishing business requirements and converting these requirements into technical specifications.
- Strong planning and organizing skills: Ability to set clearly defined objectives, plan activities in a timely way, and monitor performance against deadlines and milestones. Demonstrated expertise with managing service provision through third party service providers.
- Interpersonal skills: Ability to lead and to maintain effective working relationships in a multicultural environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity. Ability to interact effectively with internal and external IT suppliers to ensure that business needs are met
Desirable:
- Some experience in systems analyses and software development.
- Training and presentation skills and experience an asset.
- Experience with open source solutions in a hybrid Microsoft environment an asset.
- Sound knowledge of and extensive experience in best practices of ICT service management and delivery, including project management.
- Knowledge of and practical experience in such frameworks as ITIL and PRINCE 2 desirable.
Language:
- Fluency in English and local working language of the duty station.
- Additional language(s) an asset.
4. Competency Profile
i) Core Values (Required)
- Commitment
- Diversity and Inclusion
- Integrity
ii) Core Competencies (Required)
- Communication [II]
- Drive for Result [II]
- Working With People [II]
iii) Functional Competencies (Required)
- Analyzing [II]
- Applying Technical Expertise [III]
- Formulating Strategies and Concepts [II]
- Leading and Supervising [I]
- Planning and Organizing [II]
iv) Technical Knowledge
a) Specific Technical Knowledge Required (for the job) (Technical knowledge requirements specific to the job can be added here as required.)
Knowledge of office computer and information systems specific to:
- Network management
- Local area networks
- Wide area networks
- Security and emergency telecommunications (fundamental knowledge in non-emergency and advanced in emergency duty stations)
- IT security
- IT operations and service management fundamentals
- Office messaging platforms
- Business process analyses
- Relational Database technology
- Office Telephony technologies
- Power management fundamentals
Interested and suitable candidates should ensure they forward their applications along with their curriculum vitae, P-11 form (CLICK HERE to download) (Internal candidates should attach copies of their last two Performance Evaluation Reports), to:
The Human Resources Manager
UNICEF Kenya Country Office
Email address: kenhrvacanciesC@unicef.org
Please indicate Reference No. “ESARO/ICT/2015-024” in the email subject.
“Qualified female candidates are encouraged to apply”
Zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse
UNICEF is a smoke-free environment
