EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department (AHHD) Avenue Jean-Paul II, 01 BP 1387 Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire
E-mail: To : a.m.sylla@afdb.org and cc: n.gningue@afdb.org ; r.labelle@afdb.org
RECRUITMENT OF A DIGITAL PLATFORM TECH SPECIALIST FOR THE INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP LAB
- The African Development Bank hereby invites Individual Consultants to indicate their interest in the following Assignment: Digital Platform Tech Specialist in Support of the Human Capital Youth and Skills Development Department ;
- In 2019, the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab (The Lab) started its activities to support Youth Entrepreneurship in Africa. The Lab is a technical assistance vehicle of the Jobs for Youth in Africa strategy (JfYA) that supports innovation and youth entrepreneurship in Africa through the following activities: i) Market studies & networking of entrepreneurs and of enterprise support organizations (ESOs); ii) Capacity Building; iii) A Knowledge Exchange Platform; iv) Financial Support for innovative startups; v) Innovation and incubation to promotes hardware entrepreneurship and startups using 4th Industrial Revolution technologies and other innovative tech, etc. ;
- The services to be provided under the Assignment include being part of the JfYA team and developing an evidence based and data driven understanding of youth entrepreneurship and of innovation in Africa ;
- The Consultant will work closely with the Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy Team under the general guidance of the Director of the Human Capital Youth and Skills Development Department and the direct supervision of the Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy Coordinator ;
- The assignment duration is for a 12-months period, once renewable based on adequate performance, the Bank’s needs and budget availability. The consultant will be offered a lump sum contract ;
- The AfDB invites individual consultants to indicate their interest in providing the described services. Interested individuals must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the services based on: a) a CV; and b) a short motivation letter that refers to the relevant assignments undertaken / positions held that support the candidate’s submission, to be sent by e-mail to the addresses mentioned below and c) Similar projects led by the consultant with references ;
- Eligibility criteria, establishment of the short-list and the selection procedure shall be in accordance with the African Development Bank’s Rules and Procedures for the Use of Corporate Consultants on the following criteria on the basis of the CVs and other documents received. Consultants should be a national of one of the AfDB’s 80 member countries (https://www.afdb.org/en/about-us/corporate-information/members).
| a. | Level of education in general | 20% |
| b. Professional qualifications for the assignment | 20% | |
| c. | Years of work experience in general | 20% |
| d. Number of years of experience relevant to assignment | 40% | |
- The Bank is under no obligation to shortlist any individual who expresses interest ;
- Interested Individual Consultants may obtain further information at the address below during the Bank’s working hours: from 09:00 to 17:00 Abidjan time ;
- The total size of the email file transmitted must not be larger than 5 MB, and all documents must be transmitted in ONE (OR MAXIMUM) TWO FILES ONLY. The PDF format is preferred. Files containing malware will be deleted and the application rejected ;
- Expressions of interest must be received at the email addresses below no later than October 14, 2021 at 23:59 GMT Abidjan time and specifically mentioning Digital Content Manager consultant in Support of the Human Capital Youth and Skills Development Department.
For the attention of :
Ms. Aida Mademe Sylla
Email: a.m.sylla@afdb.org
With copies to :
Absa Gningue
Email : n.gningue@afdb.org
Richard Labelle
Email : r.labelle@afdb.org
TERMS OF REFERENCE
DIGITAL PLATFORM TECH SPECIALIST
- BACKGROUND :
Established in 1964, the African Development Bank (AfDB) is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting the economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries). The Bank delivers financial and technical supports to Regional Member Countries (RMCs) through transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty and bring inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten-Year Strategy (2013 – 2022) and ensure greater developmental impact, five priorities (High 5s) have been identified for scaling up and accelerate the Bank’s delivery, namely: Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, Power Africa, Integrate Africa and improve the quality of life for the people of Africa.
- THE COMPLEX :
The Vice Presidency for Agriculture, Human, and Social Development (AHVP) is a Sector Complex focusing on the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy High 5s priority of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”. The complex objectives are (i) to develop, policy and strategy; (ii) provide deep sector expertise to the Regions by gathering pool of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide sector expertise on complex transactions; develop new financing instruments; (iv) the Vice President will act as the spoke person to represent the Bank with external stakeholders on aspects of “Feed Africa” and “Improve Quality of Life for the People of Africa”.
- THE HIRING DEPARTMENT :
The Human and Social Development Department (AHHD) spearheads the Bank-wide Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy implementation coordination as well as the achievement of the High 5s “Improving the Quality of Life of People in Africa”, while contributing to the other High 5s. The Department supports scaling-up the Bank’s support to strengthening the Jobs for Youth Flagship coordination and education, skills, employment, health systems and nutrition programming for industrialization and economic transformation. The Department leads the Bank’s support to Africa’s economic transformation by: (i) developing and promoting the adoption of relevant policies and strategies; (ii) providing deep multi-sector expertise to the regional hubs by gathering a pool of experienced individuals who can be consulted to provide technical advice on complex transactions (Communities of Practice); (iii) developing new financing instruments; and, (iv) fostering strategic partnerships to leverage resources into the human and social development sectors.
- THE POSITION :
4.1. To improve the quality of life for the people in Africa, the Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy (JfYA) was approved in May 2016 with the objective to create 25 million jobs and equip 50 million young people with skills to enhance their employability and entrepreneurial success by 2025. The JfYA strategy will support countries in their efforts to strengthen youth entrepreneurship to stimulate youth employment and economic development with a focus on young women.
4.2. As part of these activities, the Bank created the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab (IEL) in late 2018 under the Human Capital, Youth and Skills Development Department (AHHD) division. The objective of the Lab is to support youth employment and entrepreneurship in Africa by strengthening the capacity and operational reach of Enterprise Support Organizations (ESOs), i.e. business incubators and accelerators and financial intermediaries including fund managers operating at all stages of the startup investment cycle – from seed / angel to exit, and startups and various other intermediaries supporting entrepreneurship.
4.3. The Lab operates under 5 pillars & one activity: i) Market studies & networking of entrepreneurs and of enterprise support organizations (ESOs); ii) Capacity Building; iii) A Knowledge Exchange Platform; iv) Financial Support for innovative startups; v) Innovation and incubation to promotes hardware entrepreneurship and startups using 4th Industrial Revolution technologies and other innovative tech, etc., and; vi) Communications activities to reach out to, engage and share with actors in support of the above and of entrepreneurship in Africa.
4.4. The Lab Digital Platform Tech Specialist will be part of the Jobs for Youth in Africa Strategy team and will be responsible for ensuring the technical requirements for operating the Lab platform and all of the services available on the platform now and in the future are met and the platform achieves an operational rate >= 99.5% over the year of the contract.
4.5. The Lab has a strong working relationship with the IT department (CHIS) of the Bank. The Lab Digital Platform Tech Specialist will work closely with technical departments of the Bank responsible for planning and managing the use of the Bank’s digital resources and online Web sites and platforms.
- PURPOSE AND DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT :
5.1. The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab collects data and information on youth entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa, with a focus on enterprise support organizations (ESOs) and on young men and women entrepreneurs and related actors. The objective of this research and data collection is to develop a data and evidence driven understanding of youth entrepreneurship and innovation in Africa with the primary goal of creating quality jobs for young people and young women to encourage inclusive economic, human and social development and the achievement of the Bank High Five development priorities.
5.2. The Lab through the Ennova online Platform, also provides online services to share Lab knowledge, data and information and to engage with Lab beneficiaries and others supporting youth entrepreneurship in Africa. The Lab Digital Platform Tech Specialist will provide the required technical expertise to make full and beneficial use of the Lab platform and related digital resources and assets, including databases, apps, APIs, etc. The Lab Tech Specialist will also advise on appropriate technologies and applications, practices to use data from the operation and use of the platform to optimize platform performance.
5.3. The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab (IEL) wishes to hire a Specialist in computer sciences and technologies with proven skills to manage, control, maintain operational and operate the Lab Web based platforms, digital resources and assets. The Tech Specialist will join the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Lab Team of the AfDB.
The assignment :
- The Lab Entrepreneurship Tech Specialist will undertake the following responsibilities, tasks and activities :
- Maintain the Lap Ennova Platform and all related digital services and resources, whether online or offline ;
- Work closely with the Lab Knowledge and Content Manager to ensure all required functions for the accomplishments of required content management tasks, accessing and modifying Lab platform content, assets, applications, and services, etc. ;
- Work closely with the Lab Knowledge and Content Manager to ensure the Lab platform is user friendly ;
- Collaborate with the Bank ICT teams and technicians in various departments who will be responsible for establishing and maintaining the Lab Web and related resources using the Bank digital assets, including cloud services and/or assets, etc. ;
- Respond, when required, to technical queries from Lab platform users within and outside of the Bank and resolving any and all technical issues affecting the full operation of the Lab Platform. This will involve reaching out to and working with the other Lab Depts responsible for managing Bank digital assets and resources ;
- Provide technical help desk assistance to Platform users.
Specific tasks for Tech maintenance and support :
- Installation, Administration, configuration, and support of IEL software and solutions ;
- Ensure a sustainable high quality of service for users by collecting and monitoring key metrics, and proactively planning required changes and improvements to the overall system ;
- Troubleshoot and find resolutions to complex technical problems ;
- Provide and maintain technical documentation ;
- Support & maintenance of the IEL Platform already developed ;
- Conduct timely backup of the entire database to meet the challenge of system recovery, in case of any disaster or missing data ;
- Perform security updates and fixes based on new software releases (i.e. open-source packages that we use or updates on the server side) ;
- Make code updates required by security updates ;
- Perform critical fixes related to new browser releases (i.e. new Chrome release breaks some of the visual components) ;
- Implement improvements to user flows and features based strictly on the user feedback allowing them for better experience and higher platform value over time ;
- Proposing and developing appropriate Lab platform services and data management tools to enhance Lab service delivery as may deemed appropriate from time to time ;
- Working closely with the Lab and Bank technical teams responsible for the management, operation, and maintenance of the Lab Platform to ensure the platform is functional and supports the data curation and data sharing ambitions of the Lab ;
- Contribute to the preparation of reports and proposals that the Lab team will be called upon periodically to produce ;
- Contributing to the Lab and JfYA data management strategy ;
- Other duties as may be assigned by the Jobs for Youth in Africa Coordinator.
- ESSENTIAL SPECIALIZED SKILLS / COMPETENCIES :
The consultant to be recruited will be a national from a member country of the Bank with certifications in computer science or IT.
The consultant will have the following profile :
- At least Master’s degree in Computer Science and/or a related field in Information Technology ;
- Over 10 years of experience in web development ;
- Very good understanding of online platforms ;
- Proficient in agile web project development and management. Certification in this industry is a plus ;
- Experience working on large software projects in a role of a technical leader or a senior technical expert ;
- Experience working with Javascript, HTML and CSS ;
- Experience working with ReactJs, Apollo, GraphQL, Mongo DB, Nodejs ;
- Knowledge of current trends in the design of user interfaces and user experience ;
- Expertise in the use of database management systems and other data management tools ;
- Experience working in international development including with Donor Agencies, International Organizations, Non-Profits, United Nations, Development Banks, NGOs, Academic or research organizations, etc. and/or experience working with international and/or transnational corporations ;
- Strong communication skills, including strong interpersonal communication skills ;
- Ability to work with multiple project stakeholders to understrand and proficiently translate business requirements into technical specification ;
- Results oriented, proactive, self-motivated and able to work both with autonomy and with a team in diverse national and cultural contexts. Excellent interpersonal and presentation skills. Gender sensitive ;
- Ability to develop strong working relationships with colleagues and contribute to the creation of a positive team environment ;
- Excellent communication and writing skills in English or French, with a working knowledge of the other ;
- Understanding information and data management and sharing rules and protocols, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and related regulations affecting privacy, intellectual property, etc.
The candidate will demonstrate appropriate qualifications and skills necessary to meet the requirements of the assignment.