Databases and Information Systems consultant, Greece, 3.5 months, (Home-based) #569475
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Location:
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Salary:negotiable / YEAR
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Job type:CONTRACTOR
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Posted:3 months ago
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Category:Documentation and Information Management, Information and Communication Technology
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Deadline:25/02/2024
JOB DESCRIPTION
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, a future
The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. As part of its efforts to provide all children with an equitable chance in life, UNICEF works to identify, monitor, and effectively address the underlying causes of child poverty and deprivation.
UNICEF became operational in Greece in early 2016 as an outposted team from the Regional Office of Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) to respond to the significant influx of refugee and migrant children and their families at that time. Following several years of engagement with national stakeholders, UNICEF and the Government of Greece made a decision in January 2020 to formalize the agency’s presence in the country as a full-fledged Country Office. The office falls under the auspices of the UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia located in Geneva, which supports the work of 22 Country Offices within its geographical scope, reporting in turn to global headquarters in New York. Within the framework of a mandate for all children in Greece, UNICEF and Greece are now working to address the needs of all vulnerable, marginalized and left-behind children in the country.
How can you make a difference?
Despite the strength of the European economy and a tradition of investment in the welfare of the most vulnerable citizens, nearly one-quarter of Europe’s children remained at risk of poverty or social exclusion as of 2018. Poverty and deprivation in childhood can have lifelong detrimental impacts, undermining an individual’s health, educational attainment, income earning capacity, and social connection, and contributing to an increased risk of exposure to violence, among others. The EU has long recognized the need to address entrenched issues of child poverty and social exclusion, including through a call by the European Parliament for a Child Guarantee to reduce inequalities. As families, societies, and governments around the world struggle to cope with the devastating impacts of COVID-19, which are expected to result in significant economic contraction, employment impacts, and a likely increase in poverty, these efforts have taken on a new urgency.
Under the Council Recommendation, Member States were requested to submit National Action Plans on how they intend to implement the Child Guarantee. Said Action Plans must cover the period until 2030 and take into account national, regional and local circumstances as well as existing policy measures and actions to support children in need. The implementation of the Child Guarantee National Action Plans is also a key deliverable of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, as a concrete answer to Principle 11 of the Pillar (“Childcare and Support to Children”), ensuring the accomplishment of the EU target to reduce by at least 15 million the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by 2030, including at least 5 million children.
During the past few years, Greece has been very active in reviewing its outdated child/family services (e.g. new adoption and fostering system implemented as of July 2020, new deinstitutionalization strategy, currently working on an Early Childhood intervention framework etc.). In its reform agenda, Greece places a pronounced focus on the social inclusion of vulnerable groups and implements specific models of services to address the needs of the most disadvantaged children. Children have already been highlighted as being particularly affected by poverty, according to Eurostat data for 2022, as 28.1% are faced with the risk of poverty or social exclusion.
In view of the above and in line with the Council Recommendation for a European Child Guarantee (CG), the Greek Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family Affairs has submitted to the EC a National Action Plan with specific measures to ensure that children at risk of poverty or social exclusion will have access to healthcare, education, childcare, decent housing and adequate nutrition. The preparatory phase of that plan revealed a series of serious challenges to the implementation of the Child Guarantee, namely:
(i) a lack of data specifically for children in need, as per the definition provided in the Council Recommendation;
(ii) fragmentation of responsibilities given the cross-sectoral nature of the plan and the multitude of stakeholders involved; and
(iii) the lack of comprehensive policies and programmes to fight child obesity and promote healthy nutrition targeting particularly vulnerable children among children in need.
The problem is complex and persistent given that Greece remains one of the three EU Member States with the highest risk for children to live in poverty or social exclusion, as well as with the highest child obesity rates.
In view of the above, through the present project , funded by the European Union via the Technical Instrument, UNICEF supported by the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG REFORM) of the European Commission seeks to ensure that the needs of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion are identified and that access for the latter to healthcare, education, childcare, decent housing and adequate nutrition, as provided in the National Action Plan on the European Child Guarantee is facilitated. The aim of the Project is to support the Greek authorities in tackling all aforementioned challenges in the implementation of the National Action Plan, by means of establishing a sustainable system for monitoring the situation of children in need, governed by a robust mechanism with clear accountabilities, with a view to informing relevant policy and planning, including on particular topics, such as childhood obesity, where children in need seem to be mostly affected.
It is expected that by the end of the Project, the Greek authorities, having been closely involved in the design and implementation of the Project, will have all the inputs needed to take all the necessary reforms and follow-up actions required for ensuring that the needs of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion are identified, closely monitored and addressed by a robust coordinating mechanism.
The purpose of this assignment, under the EU financed action ‘Support for the Implementation of the European Child Guarantee’, is to provide technical support to the Government of Greece in its efforts to implement the National Action Plan (NAP) on the European Child Guarantee (ECG) more effectively.
The consultant will work closely with the TSI UNICEF Focal Point in Greece and the respective team members involved and in close coordination with the Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family Affairs, with the Child Guarantee National Coordinator and DG REFORM of the European Commission.
UNICEF will provide the Greek authorities on the technical specifications for the creation of an integrated system for the monitoring of children in need, in accordance with Ministry’s and EKKA guidance to be used for their solicitation process.
| Work Assignments Overview | Deliverables/Outputs | Delivery Deadline |
| Review of existing information systems across 13 Ministries engaged in the National Action Plan implementation, as well as information by municipalities or other local actors. | Technical report on the information systems across Ministries and local actors engaged in the NAP implementation. | 14th May 2024
(42 days) |
| Meetings with key stakeholders (including the NAP National Coordinator EKKA and Ministry of Social Cohesion and Family Affairs) to understand users’ needs, current tools and the reporting requirements set for the CG NAP National Coordinator and pertaining to the NAP implementation progress. | Report on users’ requirements and needs on the information system to monitor NAP implementation including current tools used. | 11th July 2024
(42 days) |
| System hardware/software requirements and technical specifications, including or considering interoperability with different databases, data types and validation, scalability, data indexing, backup and recovery, generation of dashboards and automatic data visualization, data analysis, reporting, data protection and privacy, accessibility, maintenance, and documentation. Presentation of the report and consolidation of final inputs and information | Final report on the technical specifications for the creation of an integrated system for the monitoring of children in need, in accordance with Ministry’s and EKKA guidance to be used for their solicitation process. | 9th August 2024
(21 days) |
To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…
- A university degree in ICT, Computer Science, Information Management Systems or relevant field is required
- A minimum of 4 years of professional experience in large database designs and development;
- Experience with data exchange processes, protocols and methods in the public sector.
- At least 4 years of experience in data collection applications design and development;
- Proven experience in database server administration;
- Fluency in Greek and English is required.
HOW TO APPLY
Applicants are invited to:
a. Complete their UNICEF profile
b. Attach relevant academic degrees, latest CV and motivation letter
c. Indicate a lump-sum amount quoted in Euro for the whole assignment. The amount should be provided per deliverable by completing the consultancy financial proposal table which can be assessed through this link: Consultancy Financial Offer_.xlsx
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.
UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants 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.
Consultants must have their own equipment, tools and materials needed to perform their services.
They will use their own laptops/computers, any application or system needed to complete the assignment. This applies to facilitators as well, that may need flipcharts, facilitation cards, any printed material, etc. They need to provide the full service without using UNICEF resources.
The access to UNICEF email and system is restricted to UNICEF staff therefore consultants should not be granted access unless it is imperative to complete the assignment.
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