Duties and Responsibilities

The position is located in the Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology (OSET). Building on the work of the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation and consultations of multi-stakeholder roundtable groups, the United Nations Secretary-General issued a Roadmap for Digital Cooperation (A/74/821) which addresses how the international community can better harness the opportunities presented by digital technologies while addressing their challenges. OSET leads the implementation of the Secretary-General’s vision on digital cooperation by working closely with various UN entities and multi-stakeholder groups, facilitating dialogue to accelerate global digital cooperation. In September 2024, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Global Digital Compact (GDC) as an annex to the Pact for the Future. The GDC includes the first truly universal agreement on the international governance of Artificial Intelligence to give every country a seat at the AI table. It calls for an independent international Scientific Panel on AI and initiating a global dialogue on its governance within the United Nations. The GDC also calls for options for innovative voluntary financing for AI capacity-building, requesting the UN Secretary-General, “in consultation with potential contributors and the UN system, to develop innovative voluntary financing options for artificial intelligence capacity-building that take into account the recommendations of the High-level Advisory Body on Artificial Intelligence on a Global Fund on AI and that are complementary to relevant United Nations funding mechanisms and to submit these for consideration by the General Assembly at the seventy-ninth session.” The delivery of this new report will require fusing subject-matter research and expertise with the results of wide-ranging consultations to develop new options for the financing of AI capacity building for sustainable development. While the process for delivering the report will draw on the UN’s unique convening power as a universal forum on critical challenges, the proposals developed may include options for funding mechanisms administered or otherwise located beyond the United Nations System. The report drafting process will help bridge other existing and emerging initiatives on AI capacity building, and issue preliminary options by early 2025, with final recommendations by summer 2025. The Consultant will report to the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology. His/her duties include: • Structuring the stakeholder engagement and report-writing process. • Researching, consolidating relevant information from various sources and analysing and these developments and data. • Assessing trends in the capacity development funding landscape more broadly beyond AI. • Mapping the emerging financing landscape and identifying new areas for cooperation on financing AI capacity building. • Engaging in consultations (remote and in-person) with potential contributors, UN System interlocutors and other relevant stakeholders to gather information and identify possible opportunities. • Writing report drafts. • Performing other duties, as required.

Qualifications/special skills

At least 15 years of experience advising on the establishment and functioning of international financing facilities or mechanisms and their related legal and governance arrangements is required. At least 7 years of experience working in multilateral or multistakeholder financing initiatives is required. Experience drafting prescriptive, analytical papers regarding financing mechanisms is desirable. Experience in capacity building in developing countries on digital transformation is desirable. Experience in fields related to international cooperation is desirable.

Languages: Not available.