UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence. At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling. UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package. For every child, Connectivity The Office of Innovation (OoI) is a critical driver of UNICEF’s mission, leveraging expertise and resources from across the organization and its partners to address key challenges facing children worldwide. By continuously ideating, testing, and scaling the most impactful solutions, the OoI plays a pivotal role in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals related to children. Giga (giga.global), an initiative launched in 2019 as a joint effort between UNICEF and ITU (itu.int), seeks to connect every school in the world to the internet, thereby addressing the growing digital divide. With over 75 years of experience in delivering emergency assistance, technical advice, and building systems in health, education, and child protection, UNICEF, through Giga, aims to provide children with access to information, opportunity, and choice. The Giga team has experience and background in building technology products, finance and investment, design, and infrastructure. It’s a global team, with two “centres of gravity” (in Barcelona, Spain and Geneva, Switzerland) with many team members located around the world. Giga works across three main areas: Mapping, Finance, and Market Influence and Procurement. The Country Engagement Team supports the initiation and implementation of all three areas of Giga’s support in countries. The Mapping team maps schools and their connectivity, creating a real-time display of access and need on Project Connect. The Finance team works to create the financing (grant, loan, and investment) for connectivity. The Market Influence and Procurement team works closely with UNICEF Supply Division to support governments through public procurement processes for contracting sustainable, high quality and affordable school connectivity. The team functions similar to a tech start-up, but within the United Nations. We aim to have agility and flexibility in how we work, and to be driven by real-time data about what we are doing. How can you make a difference? Under the general guidance of the Giga Procurement Section Contract Manager, and in alignment with UNICEF Supply Division’s Service Contracting Center, the Contract Specialist will be responsible for: Support the development and implementation of procurement strategies at scale for connectivity solutions: Assist in the development and execution of global and regional procurement strategies for school connectivity solutions. Support the preparation and review of procurement requests, ensure that all procedural documents are up to date and coordinate with the different stakeholders to ensure timely revision, publication, and dissemination of these documents. Provide assistance and advice on contractual issues as well as procurement policy and procedures-related matters. Assist the implementation of secondary bidding processes: Assist in the planning and execution of secondary bidding processes, ensuring transparency and competitiveness in line with UNICEF’s Financial Rules and Regulations. Support the integration of innovative procurement tools to make secondary bidding processes more dynamic, transparent and competitive. Support the evaluation of proposals and support the contracting process, ensuring the best value for money. Support contract management: Provide support in the negotiation of contract terms and conditions, ensuring they are favorable to UNICEF and Giga’s mission. Support the finalization of contracting processes, ensuring that all contracts include clauses to monitor in real-time the connectivity that schools receive and that KPIs are clearly defined in Service Level Agreements. In collaboration with the Giga procurement team, provide support to ensure that the connectivity solutions are implemented on time, comply with the required technical specifications and quality assurances. In collaboration with the Giga tech team, provide technical guidance to ensure all contracts are managed through Giga’s open-source tools and that Giga receives real-time information of connectivity performance from providers. Reporting and documentation: Support the preparation of detailed reports and presentations for senior management, highlighting procurement achievements and challenges. Maintain accurate and up-to-date records of all procurement and contract management activities. To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… Minimum requirements: Education: An advanced university degree (master’s or higher) in Procurement, Contract / Commercial Law, Business Administration, Economics, Supply Chain Management, or a related field. *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. Work Experience: A minimum of 5 years of professional experience in procurement/contracting, with a focus on high-value, high-risk contracts for services. Previous experience in procuring internet connectivity services and managing contracts with internet service providers in developing (or LMIC/MIC) countries, preferably in Africa, will be considered a strong asset. Demonstrated experience in negotiation, procurement of connectivity services, implementation of competitive bidding processes, and contract management in the public and/or private sectors will be required for this role. The candidate must have a strong understanding of market dynamics and procurement strategies. Familiarity with UN procurement rules and regulations, and experience with UNICEF’s procurement processes, is an asset. Skills: Proven ability to work collaboratively with teams across different locations, within various UNICEF country offices, and across different technical skills sets is essential. Language Requirements: Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset. For every Child, you demonstrate... UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. The UNICEF competencies required for this post are… (1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others (8) Nurtures, leads and manages people. UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children.
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