Under the supervision of the UNICEF Education Specialist, and general guidance of the Deputy Representative, the Programme Officer will provide professional, technical, operational and administrative support in the implementation of Giga in Botswana. The Programme Officer will play an integral role in contextualizing and integrating Giga in Botswana. S/he is responsible for coordinating and facilitating the mainstreaming effort, and for strengthening Government of Botswana’s capacity to lead and support Giga related projects, identifying and engaging with key partners and key line ministries, and maximizing potential for Giga scale-up and roll-out.
Key functions/accountabilities:
Act as primary focal point for coordination among relevant stakeholders in Botswana
Act as liaison between relevant government focal points in Botswana, ITU, UNICEF, the Giga HQ team and key sector ministries.
Support the budgeting of key initiatives and the preparation of relevant, linked communication and materials.
Oversee development and quality assurance during planning and deployment of Giga activities; participate in establishing and maintaining standards, documentation and support mechanisms.
Support the Giga Technical Committees in Botswana to ensure that progress is made on the Giga work plan.
Lead and provide critical input in the design for major Giga Botswana events in 2022/23
Develop relationships with counterparts in relevant institutions and the private sector in Botswana
Develop partnerships and networks with key line ministries (education, ICT, finance, etc.), local solution providers, innovators, NGOs, cultural and religious organizations, the private sector, local media and academia to advance Giga.
Support the establishment of data sharing agreements with MNOs and ISPs and manage these relationships to ensure smooth and continued data sharing.
Support the generation of partner-oriented communication materials, including clear concept notes and budgets.
Ensure their support to the project and facilitate timely communications.
Execute and manage all Giga activities in Botswana
Work with relevant government divisions to collect, clean, classify the required data for Giga mapping, connect and finance modelling work
Support the deployment of software tools for real-time monitoring of internet connectivity in schools.
Work with the Giga team to adapt the developed tools to the needs of Botswana and coordinate and mediate between all key stakeholders to achieve the results.
Support the implementation of the Giga Accelerate prototypes for testing connectivity and business models.
Ensure that there is coordination with any planned ITU-led activities around infrastructure analysis and regulatory assessments.
Knowledge Management activities including progress reporting, project communications, risk management and lessons learned.
Identify, capture, synthesize and share lessons learned from Giga deployment for integration into broader knowledge development planning and management efforts including from other countries via the global and regional networks.
Ensure documentation and clear monitoring and evaluation mechanisms for Giga activities in Botswana including baseline data collection, on-going monitoring, as well as first phase data collection and analysis.
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
A university degree in information technology management, business administration, international relations, community development or other related social science field.
A minimum of two (2) years professional experience in ICT technologies;
Experience with ICT hardware or software tools, mobile phones and web-based technologies, particularly designing or deploying tools appropriate to low-bandwidth environments, or in the phases of adoption and user requirements (user testing, user interaction, etc.)
Familiarity working with quantitative and qualitative statistics and government data is desired: census, EMIS, location data, etc.
Familiarity working with big data is desired: telcos, Twitter, satellite imagery
Experience working with or managing relationships with MNOs and ISPs
Experience in supporting and coordinating social development analysis and programming activities across organizations and with other international partner organizations
Experience with developing budgets, contracts and procurement, etc.
Ability to communicate data insights and to translate into programmatic impact.
Demonstrated ability to work with people of various professional, academic and cultural backgrounds.
Desired experience with early-stage technical products.
Development or government experience; familiarity with the UN system and UNICEF
Prior knowledge or experience interacting with the education space on ICT hardware and software tools will be an added advantage.
