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, results

UNICEF Greece Country Office was established in 2020. This confers the full mandate of UNICEF to Greece, which is to provide assistance to member state to fulfil its obligations to children under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), which Greece ratified in 1993. As such, the UNICEF Greece Country Office is expanding its support to all state institutions that have a role in ensuring all two million children in the country can fully enjoy their rights. To date, UNICEF is engaging with counterparts including the Ministries of Labour and Social Affairs, Education, Migration, Justice, Interior, Development and Investments, on issues including foster care and deinstitutionalization, inclusive education, youth skills and employability, as well as exploring options to ensure the availability of increased financing for children in the years ahead.

The Operations section acts as a strategic partner in the areas of Finance, Supply, ICT and Administration and aims for a successful transition of the Greece Country Office by adopting lean and agile business practices while contributing to the effective delivery of programmes and development of partnerships to maximize results for children.

How can you make a difference?

ICT Associate is to provide end-user ICT support and support to all kinds of T4D programme initiatives at the UNICEF country office, ensuring effective/efficient end-user support and innovative solutions to programme initiatives during the stages of innovation/formulation of idea, implementation/ operationalization, scale-up and maintenance. The incumbent is responsible for implementing and maintaining the ICT infrastructure, administration and business support to ICT operations and T4D innovations in close coordination with the CO, RO, HQ, vendors, service-providers and partners from inside and outside the organization. ICT Associate is also responsible for formulating/maintaining ICT/T4D workplan, its implementation, reporting and relevant documentation including ensuring ICT component of the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) is up-to-date and tested.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES and DUTIES & TASKS 

Within the delegated authority and under the given organizational set-up, the incumbent may be assigned the primary, shared, or contributory accountabilities for all or part of the following areas of major duties and key end-results.

1.  Timely and effective support is provided on improvement of ICT systems/services and opportunities for innovative use of technology in programme interventions are effectively harnessed.

• Actively participates in programme discussions to leverage his/her technical skill to identify opportunities for innovative use of technology in programme initiatives.
• Works closely with the Regional Chief of ICT, the Regional T4D specialist, programme colleagues, relevant vendors and partners in formulation of technical opportunity into innovative product for children.
• Provides support to programmes in any ICT related issues, contracts involving ICT or systems and solutions, including review of ToRs and specifications, technical evaluations, applications, offers etc. and advising on any partnerships for ICT-enabled solutions for children.
• Supports project roll outs and implementation of new processes, including testing debugging and implementation of new application and systems.
• Collaborates with program and communication sections to identify and support improvement opportunities in programme delivery through the effective/innovative use of technology, ensuring that the functional requirements are fully met by the proposed solution. Advise on options, risks, costs versus benefits, and impacts on end-user products and services, business processes and systems.
• Assists in formulation of Business Cases and Project Charters for the ICT4D and Innovation projects.2. Timely and proper Info Communication Technology support is provided to users, SMEs and ICT Management for maintaining the organization’s computer systems infrastructure. 
• Provides users with solutions to identified incidents, requests or services interruptions; provides timely feedback, status or progress report as per established policies and procedures; provides the Forward Schedule of Changes for planned and short-term changes of service levels.
• Ensures effective customer support in the area of Information Technology and Telecommunications by providing computer training as well as troubleshooting and ad- hoc technical assistance to the users. This involves development of an office training and support plan based upon the organizational requirements and an assessment of staff competencies and needs.
• Coordinates and assists with the acquisition, integration, installation, upgrade and release of organizational standard computer hardware and applications, communication and office equipment relevant to the office. This includes roll-out of the Operating Systems, Office Productivity tools (e.g. MS Office), Electronic Mail, client access to UNICEF ERP and Performance Management Tools and Unified Communications tools (Video, Audio and Web Conferencing, Instant Messaging IP Telephony). Where possible, ensure user access to these applications is available remotely (mobile users) in a secure manner.
• Works closely with CO, RO and HQ colleagues to resolved technical incidents and problem from their roots, while applying quick workarounds to avoid work disruptions.
• Analyses problems, identifies alternatives, tests, recommends and implement solutions.
• 3.  Under the LIGHT Infrastructural environment, ICT systems and applications are properly administered in compliance to UNICEF’s Security policies, standards and procedures.
• Undertakes the role of Local Systems Administration (LSA) by performing routine maintenance of the ICT Systems (e.g. Security Patches, and Antivirus Updates), User provisioning, de-provisioning and change management to UNICEF Systems and Applications (e.g. Domain, E-Mail, Intranet, VISION) in the office. This includes use of tools like UNICEF Access Management Portal (e.g.   e-SAF, IRC, ViSA) and Service Manager System
• Manages the ICT infrastructure, compliance and security of the office that includes Local Area/Wide Area Network (LAN/WAN) and Network Switching ensuring the Confidentiality, Integrity and Availability of UNICEF information from the Office and Remote location.
• Diagnoses and resolves Global Help Desk calls related to applications or processes redirected from the Global Help Desk first line support and escalates them to Global Help Desk third line, SME support or ICT Operations Management for resolution of escalated issues and/or policy guidance as necessary. Keeps users informed of the status. Proficient user of Service Gate Way.
• Provides accountability for the information technology resources through accurate analysis and evaluation of office’s ICT needs, sound procurement, cost-effective installation and maintenance, ensuring software/hardware standards, and regular accurate inventory and reporting of hardware, peripherals and software.
• Ensures application/compliances of ICT policies and guidelines, established processes and procedures by all team members.  Advice to the management and staff on the correct interpretation and application of ICT policies and guidelines in support of the office’s information management needs.

4.  ICT component of the Business Continuity is well maintained in close collaboration with other UN agencies.

• Formulates and maintains the ICT component of the Business Continuity Plan and ICT Disaster Recovery Plan.
• Conducts periodical test of the ICT DRP (Disaster Recovery Plan) and of the ICT component of BCP, reports and recommends for improvement.
• Actively participates in Inter-Agency ICT Working group to leverage resources from UN sister agencies and non-UN partners in crisis situations.
• Ensures maintenance of the ICT components of the MOSS (Minimum Operating Security Standards) requirements for the office.
• Provides IT and Telecoms training to all staff on regular basis in the use of standard IT and Telecoms equipment and remote connectivity for operations during emergency situations.
• Provides support for communications equipment including but not limited smartphones, Portable Satellite Devices (Phones, BGANs, Modems, etc.), Radio programming PABX, VHF, UHF in cooperation with UN Agencies
• Supports the administration of the common UN premises including through management of contractors for IT and communication services for the common premises (applicable in case of accommodation in the UN premises and SLA)5.  Under the framework of Digital Transformation initiative, all component of the Enterprise Content Management are adequately/efficiently supported.
• Provides Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and knowledge management support (e.g. SharePoint, CO Intranet and Team web sites) through coordination of office contents/records management including systems for the acquisition, storage and retrieval of electronic data
• Manages the local database capacity required using standard ICT database and collaboration tools.
• Provides support to ensure the accuracy and accessibility of data sources.
• Provides technical assistance and guidance to relevant sections (i.e. Communications) in provision of externally facing websites, contents and security.
• Provides assistance in the use of social media outreach.
• 6.  Assignments of additional duties and responsibilities are effectively performed.
• Performs any additional assignments as requested by the supervisor.
• user incidents and problems including priority and escalation, requiring interpretation of relevant guidelines and standards.
• The incumbent is expected to make recommendations on the support of office computerization and connectivity to better productivity, efficiencies and effectiveness of ICT operations and services delivery.
• The incumbent is expected to effectively and efficiently carry out the above duties contributes to the efficient planning, management and oversight of cost effective and secure ICT infrastructure, systems and tools at the country office and directly impact on delivery of operational and programme goals and results. This in turn contributes to maintaining/enhancing the credibility of UNICEF as an effective partner and to furthering UNICEF image as a competent organization for delivering cost effective, efficient and sustainable results.

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

• Completion of Secondary education supplemented with formal training (at university level) in Computer Science, Business Administration, Engineering or computer related certification (e.g., Prince2 Certification, ITIL Foundation Certification or equivalent customer support certification).Computer literacy and ability to effectively use standard office software, tools and technologies.
• Six years practical professional work experience in information technology, as well as systematic methods of troubleshooting and analytical problem solving, providing assistance to users on ICT products and services, and use of applications and diagnostic tools.Practical experience with various computer platforms and applications: operating systems, email and database systems, Microsoft Office product suites, Help Desk software, advanced PC/laptop/printer installation, configuration, troubleshooting and repairs.

  Work experience in providing ICT support to remote field offices in developing countries an asset.

  Work experience in emergencies.

  Experience in Business Continuity Plans is considered an asset

• Fluency in English & Greek is required.

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. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

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.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework 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.
We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.
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 is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be cancelled.

All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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.

Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

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