Junior Technical Advisor (Digital Innovation and Cooperation) at GIZ Nigeria

Vacancy No: 30

Background
GIZ. Solutions that work.

• As a service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development and international education work, we are dedicated to shaping a future worth living around the world. GIZ has over 50 years of experience in a wide variety of areas, including economic development and employment promotion, energy and the environment, and peace and security.
• The diverse expertise of our federal enterprise is in demand around the globe – from the German Government, European Union institutions, the United Nations, the private sector, and governments of other countries. We work with businesses, civil society actors and research institutions, fostering successful interaction between development policy and other policy fields and areas of activity. Our main commissioning party is the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
• The registered offices of GIZ are in Bonn and Eschborn. Our approximately 23,500 employees, almost 70 percent of whom are national personnel, work in a round 120 countries (July 2020) GIZ has worked in Nigeria since 1974. From 2004, GIZ has maintained a country office in the capital city Abuja. Currently 361 national and 66 international employees, 19 regional staff, 4 integrated specialists and 3 development workers are working in the country (June 2020).

The Project
Digital Transformation Center (DTC) Programme:

• The Digital Transformation Centre Nigeria (DTC Nigeria) is cofunded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the European Union (EU) and implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
• The project focuses primarily on digitalisation and entrepreneurship. The aim of the project ‘is to improve the capacities of the innovation ecosystem for the growth of the digital economy in the following areas - policy implementation, performance improvement of organisations and networks service providers of the digital economy, scalable digital solutions, and digital skills.

The project will focus on the following outputs:

• Output 1 - Cooperation between political actors and actors in national and international innovation ecosystems is improved: By promoting innovation-friendly framework conditions for the digital economy by improving cooperation between policy actors and actors in the innovation ecosystem from the private sector, science, and research as well as civil society.
• Output 2 - Innovation support organisations are developed and supported to offer a range of services to MSMEs to implement digital innovations leading to digital transformation of MSMEs.
• Output 3 - Validated digital solutions are available to the Nigerian economy: Promoting the production and validation of new and existing innovative digital solutions for use by MSMEs in Nigeria.
• Output 4 - The skills of women and young people to use digital solutions for their economic activities are improved through the harmonization of digital and entrepreneurial skills.

Responsibilities & Tasks

Responsibilities:
The Junior Advisor for Digital Innovation Policy:

• Local Junior Advisor is responsible for supporting the Local Technical Advisor, in implementation of Output 1 of the project.
• The local junior technical advisor will assist and provide backstopping support in the implementation of activities related to improving the innovationfriendly conditions for the digital economy (Output 1), as well as supporting the implementation of related activities in other outputs.

The JA would manage the following areas of responsibility:
Support the activities through research to contextualize, improve and execute existing participatory policy framework and processes at federal and state-level:

• Support NITDA to contextualize and improve existing participatory policy making framework and processes by developing models to bring relevant stakeholders together, building capacities and piloting the framework with at least two states

Support the implementation capacity-building formats to drive the development of the digital innovation ecosystem:

• Build capacities of policy makers, civil servants and bureaucrats in digital innovation and entrepreneurship and other topics relevant to improve digital innovation for economic growth

Support in the setting up of networking and policy dialogues between national and international policy actors and innovation ecosystem actors:

• Bring together national as well as international policy and innovation ecosystem actors by using platforms aimed at fostering peer-to-peer exchange, knowledge transfer, and inclusive and participatory policy making

Support the output, to identify key policy institutions to develop and implement a digital transformation dashboard for monitoring and accelerating result-oriented digital innovation outcomes:

• Support key policy actors (NITDA) in the process to transition from policy framework deign to implementable digital platforms for MSME’s and service providers, through digital transformation metrics (digital literacy policy by NITDA, and the digital transformation mandate)
• Support the team leads of NITDA’s technical working groups for the purpose of reporting and measuring performance against key activities.
• Support the technical team saddled with the responsibility and software development team in building a dashboard that identifies metrics (data analysis, data collection and M&E), validates policy, allows for room of submission of innovative solutions, that serves as a national data pool for data sharing from inter from support agencies into the dashboard, and access to online digital policy skills.

Tasks:
The Junior Technical Advisor performs the following tasks:

• Provides technical input and administer the project implementation in the field:
• Provide advisory support to team members and partners in the development and implementation of workplans and activities.
• Is responsible for supporting the development of technical documents e.g., concept notes and Terms of References in his/her domain.
• Is responsible for supporting quality assurance of programme activities within geographical coverage of assignment.
• Contributes to document creation and use by other team members and in other project domains.
• Provide advisory support to team members and partners in the development and implementation of workplans and activities.
• Support the overseeing of consultant objectives and ensuring that deliverables are submitted and are in accordance with contract timelines and requirements included in the ToR.
• Work with administration and finance team to ensure the smooth implementation of project activities pertaining to the defined area of responsibility.
• Supports quality assurance of programme activities within assigned areas with respect to of GIZ quality standards.

Development and Management of Strategic Stakeholder Relationships:

• Supports cooperation, regular contact and dialogue with partners, local communities, relevant organisations, nongovernmental agencies, other GIZ projects and individuals in
• the project/programme environment; builds up a professional network of relevant actors and maintains good working relationships.
• Supports by facilitating and advising Project Management and Country Office visits, engagements, and communication with partners in the regions.
• Supports the design, preparation and implementation of workshops, seminars and other events on issues connected with the project/programme’s area of activity (identify local events, organize, and hold own events).
• Online and offline communication on project related activities, including showcasing good examples.
• Cooperates closely with tandems of development workers and regional projects in other regions.

Knowledge management, Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Ensures knowledge transfer and sharing with other project/programmes working on similar topics.
• Supports the development of ready-to-use strategies and technical concepts, including guidelines, manuals, and procedures.
• Supports the reviewing of project’s operational plan periodically to ensure that activities in Nigeria are meeting specified outputs in line with the project’s indicators.
• assists with research activities and studies which benefit joint programmes.
• Monitoring and evaluation of implemented measures.

Required qualifications, Competences and Experience
Qualifications:

• University Degree (B.Sc./BA & M.Sc./ MBA) Political Science, Public Policy, Law, Public Relations, Social Sciences, or a similar subject.

Professional Experience:

• Two to three years of general work experience
• Two years of professional experience in policy development and/or implementation or a related field.
• At least two years of professional experience and communication, network management and cooperation with the public and private sector.
• Working experience in the field of digital innovation or skills.
• Extensive knowledge of digital modernization in Nigeria and of the West African digital start-up eco-system.

Desired additional qualifications, competencies, and experiences:

• Documentation skills (policy analysis, policy and/or legal briefs etc).
• Public sector engagement
• Government relations
• Relationship management
• Report writing
• Desktop research, policy review & policy editing
• Seminar/Workshop/ training management
• Project planning
• Power point presentation skills
• Calendar management.

Salary
According to GIZ salary scale for Band 3