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Giga Connectivity Solutions Specialist

Location: Remote

Duration: 11.5 months

Application Deadline: 5 August 2022, Eastern Daylight Time

Link to Apply via UNICEF Portal

Summary

We are seeking a Connectivity Solutions Specialist to join Giga, an initiative to connect every school in the world to the Internet and every young person to information, opportunity and choice. The Specialist will support UNICEF Country Offices to experiment and prototype new solutions to connect schools to meaningful and sustainable internet and track progress of the implementation in active Giga countries.

Your main responsibilities will be…

Supporting UNICEF Country Offices in their requests for Giga’s advice in the design and implementation of innovative solutions and sustainable operating models to connect schools

  • Based on Giga’s school and infrastructure mapping data, as well as the country’s regulatory and policy context, develop materials (overview decks, analysis of different technologies and operating models) to advise Country Offices on innovative solutions and operating arrangements for school connectivity that could be tested in the country.
  • Ensure proper collaboration with UNICEF Country Offices, ITU regional and area offices, government counterparts, and the Giga teams to define connectivity prototypes’ objectives, goals, hypothesis, duration, selection criteria, budget, procurement processes to implement, and key performance indicators.
  • Support Country Offices in developing workplans to implement school connectivity prototypes in their respective countries
  • Recommend strategies to identify and engage key stakeholders in the public and private sectors for the implementation of innovative school connectivity solutions.
  • Support in-country implementation of school connectivity prototypes across Giga countries, by providing UNICEF Country Offices with all materials and guidance required.
  • Provide expert ICT advise to UNICEF Country Offices to technically assess proposals from bidders in competitive tender processes.
  • Respond to inquiries and requests for support from UNICEF Country Offices and governments.
  • Maintain a clean and updated repository of all documents and guidance materials.

Tracking progress of the implementation of school connectivity prototypes and sustainable operating models in each country/region and maintain up-to-date data in a project management tool.

  • Maintain constant communication with UNICEF Country Office teams to support the implementation of school connectivity prototypes.
  • Ensure the prototypes run smoothly and progress according to planning, identify challenges to implementation and work with UNICEF Country Office teams on the solutions.
  • Maintain up-to-date data in project management tool and coordinate inputs from all teams.
  • Support in managing Giga Accelerate team meeting agendas and ensure notes and follow up actions are well documented.

Documenting and sharing lessons learned with the Giga Global team and across different UNICEF Country Offices.

  • Keep updated statistics about schools, young people and children connected through the connectivity prototypes.
  • Consolidate reports on the connectivity prototypes’ key performance indicators: CapEx and OpEx costs, quality of the connectivity service delivered to schools, effects of extending school connectivity to the surrounding community.
  • Conduct unstructured interviews with UNICEF Country Office teams and other stakeholders to learn what has worked well and what has not in the implementation of connectivity prototypes.
  • Provide the Giga Communications team with the inputs to produce human-centered stories about the impact of school connectivity for children, young people, and marginalized communities.

Liaising with all Giga teams to support UNICEF Country Offices with the materials, guidance and feedback required to complete the activities under the Giga Connect pillar.

  • Track requests to ensure they are responded to and follow up with Country Offices to get responses.
  • Recommend strategies for scaling-up the Giga Accelerate connectivity prototypes into national-scale school connectivity initiatives.

Note: Giga reserves the right to engage more than one Specialist, based on the pool of applications and budget availability.

To qualify for this position, you will have…
  • An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in computer science, information technology and information systems, systems and network administration, or a related technical discipline.
  • A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree. 
  • A minimum of 2 years of experience in the field of development, ideally within the United Nations system, or at an International Non-Governmental Organization, foundations, governments, or academic institutions is required.
  • A minimum of 3 years of experience in communications infrastructure systems, or experience working with technical management teams to develop and deploy systems and solutions, or network/systems engineering, or technical product/program management experience is required.
  • Experience in facilitating engagements with an array of partners at the national/regional level, i.e., government entities, telecommunication regulators, international development organizations, or civil society, etc.
  • Experience providing hands-on program management support.
  • Organizational, coordination, and multi-tasking experience. Capacity to work independently with minimal supervision.
  • Analytical and problem-solving experience.
  • Experience establishing work relationships across multi-disciplinary teams with different technical skills and multiple partners in different time zones is highly desirable.
  • Proven experience in translating complex ideas from various fields into unified, clear guidance.
  • Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is considered an asset.
About Our Team

We are a fast-paced, multi-disciplinary team of software engineers, finance specialists, data scientists, policy experts, and much more. Our team is a distributed workforce and plans to remain distributed into the foreseeable future. We are growing fast. Our team has grown by over 400% in the last 6 months as we rapidly scale to meet our stated mission.

About Giga

Giga is a joint initiative of UNICEF’s Office of Innovation and ITU’s Telecommunications Development Bureau. It aims to connect every school in the world to the Internet by 2030. Working with 14 corporate and non-profit partners, Giga maps schools’ Internet access in real time, creates models for innovative financing, and supports governments contracting for connectivity. It is part of ITU’s Partner2 Connect Coalition, UNICEF’s Reimagine Education initiative, and the UN Secretary General’s Common Agenda and Roadmap for Digital Cooperation 

Follow Giga on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn 

About UNICEF

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. 

UNICEF has a 70-year history of innovating for children. We believe that new approaches, partnerships and technologies that support realizing children’s rights are critical to improving their lives. 

Payment details and further considerations

  • Consultants are paid monthly 
  • Consultants are responsible for their own health and travel insurance 
  • Consultant is eligible for standard budget allowances for all work-related travel