Consultancy 12 months: Technology Deployment Coordinator (Giga), Barcelona, Spain

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Technology Deployment Coordinator to work at the intersection of our country engagement and technology areas – this person will work hand in hand with the Giga Country Engagement and Technology teams, UNICEF Country Offices and governments to advertise, tailor, deploy and monitor the roll out of Giga’s open-source technologies.
The ideal candidate will have a robust background in sales or business development for product, in particular in a Business to Government (B2G) context and has a demonstrated ability to engage effectively across different cultural contexts. Proficiency in multiple languages, high intercultural sensitivity, comfort in an interdisciplinary role, and a deep passion for technology are essential. This role involves extensive travel to various countries to work closely with local stakeholders, understand their needs, and develop tailored deployment roadmaps for Giga’s technology products.

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. 

For every child…Innovate

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.

The Office of Innovation is a creative, interactive, and agile team in UNICEF. We sit at a unique intersection, where an organization that works on huge global issues meets the start-up thinking, the technology, and the partners that turn this energy into scalable solutions.

About Giga

Launched in 2019 as a joint initiative between UNICEF and ITU, Giga has set the ambitious goal to connect every school in the world to the internet.  Half of the world’s population has no regular access to the Internet. Millions of children leave school without any digital skills, making it much more difficult for them to thrive and contribute to local and global economies. This has created a digital divide between those who are connected and those who are not, a divide that has become even wider during the Covid-19 pandemic. UNICEF and ITU have therefore joined forces to create Giga, an initiative to connect every school in the world to the Internet and address this new form of inequality. 

Giga focuses on connecting schools so that children and young people have access to information, opportunity, and choice. It also uses schools as anchor points for their surrounding communities: if you connect the school, you can also connect local businesses and services. This creates opportunities for service providers to generate revenue from paying users, making connectivity more sustainable. A 2021 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit found that a 10% increase in school connectivity can increase effective years of schooling by 0.6% and increase GDP per capita by 1.1%. 

You can read more about Giga’s work at https://giga.global/ and by following us on twitter @Gigaglobal

How can you make a difference? 

The Technology Deployment Coordinator will be at the forefront of our efforts to introduce and implement technology solutions in varied environments and countries.

Key responsibilities include:

Market Analysis and Strategy Developments

• Conduct thorough market analyses to identify opportunities for product deployment, and gain a deep understanding of Giga’s trajectory in countries to date, becoming deeply familiar with existing relationships, successes and roadblocks.
• Based on analyses and other information, develop strategies tailored to each country’s specific needs and define, along with product owners and country engagement focal points, product roll out strategies and plans, including marketing efforts, product deployment pipelines, etc.
• Develop user-facing documentation and artifacts – such as pitch decks, demos, installation videos – in close coordination with product owners, the Country Engagement team and Communications team.

Stakeholder Engagement:

• Build and maintain relationships with country counterparts, technical communities, and other stakeholders to ensure buy-in and support for technology deployments, in constant coordination with the Country Engagement team and UNICEF Country Office colleagues.
• Maintain and grow Giga’s list of in-country school connectivity champions.
• Track stakeholder engagement and maintain up-to-date data in project management tools.

Product Deployment:

• Travel to various countries to showcase the capabilities and benefits of our technology products to potential users and stakeholders.
• Collaborate with local counterparts to develop and implement clear, actionable roadmaps for product deployment, ensuring alignment with local needs and global strategic objectives.
• Provide training and support to local stakeholders to ensure sustainable product adoption and utilization.
• Spearhead user acquisition and retention process for key Giga products.

Opportunity Identification:

• Gather feedback from local counterparts and deployment experiences to provide insights and inform continuous product development and improvement and adaptation to local contexts.
• Create and maintain metrics to track progress and success of products in country.
• Act as a communication channel between the Giga technology team and operational realities and constraints in Giga countries to identify and communicate opportunities, challenges and bottle necks.

Please access the full Term of Reference (ToRs) and read a more detailed description of the assignment in this file in order to prepare your financial proposal and know more about the role:  Tech Deployment Coordinator ToR.pdf

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

• A Master’s degree in Business, Marketing, International Relations, Computer Science or a related field is essential for this role. *An undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline combined with an additional 2 years of professional experience may substitute the Master’s degree.
• A minimum of 5 years relevant professional experience in sales, business development, or a related role, preferably with experience in technology products.
• High intercultural IQ and ability to work effectively in diverse environments.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute business development strategies.
• Strong planning and organizational skills.
• Ability to travel extensively to different countries.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

Travel:

• The consultant is expected to travel to Geneva one time (1 trip), for a stay of 4-5 nights.
• The consultant is expected to travel to GIGA countries five times (5 trips, Africa, Latin America, and Asia), for a stay of 4-5 nights.
• The consultant is responsible for arranging his/her own travel, including visa and travel insurance.

Payment details and further considerations:

• Payment of professional fees will be based on the submission of agreed deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.
• Consultant is responsible for his/her own health and travel insurance.
• Consultant is responsible to arrange his/her own travel, including visa.

How to apply:

• Interested applicants are required to submit a financial proposal with an all-inclusive fee.  Please see the financial proposal template here: Consultancy Financial Offer template.docx
• Financial proposal must include travel costs (economy class) and daily subsistence allowance, if travel is required as per TOR and any other estimated costs: visa, travel/health insurance
• Applications without a financial proposal will not be considered.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS). 

To view our competency framework, please visit  here. 

 UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

Remarks:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.