Under the overall guidance of the Manager, Regional Programme and Global Policy Network, Regional Service Center for Africa (RSCA), as primary supervisor and the substantive overall guidance of the Chief, Strategic Innovation Unit,  and Programme Specialist Innovation at RSCA, the Innovation Specialist will support strategic design and execution of system transformation work, build partnerships and advocacy, support policy advisory services, and provision of training and capacity building in areas related to innovation, system change.

Key functions include: 

• Strategy design and execution 

• Partnership and Advocacy

• Policy Advisory, knowledge creation and innovation community building 

• Provision of Country Office support

Duties and Responsibilities

1.Strategy design and execution

• Support setting strategies for the innovation function of the regional hub in support of regional and global programmatic priorities, and in alignment with the global innovation and digital strategies;

• Suppport the formulation of the Regional team’s service offering vis a vis COs and national/local governments and ensure that it meets clients needs and maximises the existing regional assets (sensemaking and system change guidebook, Accelerator Labs, digital stewardship offer);

• Harness and foster bottom up feedback and implications of the strategy in order to ensure continued fit between the direction and demand and needs from the field;

2.Partnership and Advocacy

• Support partnership engagement with governments, CSOs, academia and the private sector; encourage South-South partnerships;

• Support strategic partnerships with UN Agencies and Funds, IFIs, Multilateral development banks, Impact Investors and the Private Sector; leading innovation agencies, think tanks, experts;

3.Policy Advisory, knowledge creation and innovation community building

• Ensure that UNDP’s innovation efforts in the region result in the creation of new knowledge that maintains UNDP’s offering relevant vis a vis governments when dealing with complex development challenges;

• Identify opportunities to scale practices across geographies, in collaboration with the SIU and CDO;

• Ensure that the regional team ‘works out loud’ by continuously sharing challenges, successes, lessons learnt for knowledge sharing across the clients’ base and for active participation in the regional and global international networks;

• Ensure that the region’s innovation community, including the Accelerator Labs, is kept abreast of latest trends, proactively shares insights and experiences and develops compelling knowledge products

4. Provision office Country Support 

• Support offices in the region in identifying new entry points and value-propositions in line with needs in the country and UNDP’s mandate.

• Provide support to offices in the roll-out of the portfolio policy, design of portfolios of interventions, including though designing the process, supporting consultations with stakeholders and facilitating ideation of interventions.

• Organize training and capacity-building workshops for UNDP offices and partners on topics related to system innovation, portfolio design and management, and other related topics.

5. The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Job Requirements

• Min. Education requirements:

Advanced University Degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Business Administration, Public Administration, International Development, Information and Communications Technology, Social Sciences or related disciplines with deep understanding of innovation and international development, public sector administration and innovative public-private partnerships for social goods.

- PhD in a related field would be added advantage

• Min. years of relevant work experience: Minimum 5 years with Master’s or 7 years of experience (with Bachelor’s degree) in an innovation role in international organizations, civil society or the private sector, with solid experience in project management, public sector administration, private sector partnerships;

• Required skills:

- Experience in the deployment of innovative approaches (such as strategic foresight, systems thinking, synthesis, systems design, iteration and adaptation etc) with different stakeholders and demonstrable experience in applying them in the context of large scale organisations;

- Experience in delivering innovation policy advisory services, project management in international organizations, public sector or the private sector.

- Demonstrated experience in resource mobilization, partnership development and stakeholder engagement

- Experience working on digital transformation initiatives would be an advantage.

- Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section:

- Knowledge and proficient use of Microsoft Office productivity tools; data analytics, online collaboration tools such as Slack, Trello, design tools such as Canva, etc

• Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section: Knowledge and proficient use of Microsoft Office productivity tools; data analytics, online collaboration tools such as Slack, Trello, design tools such as Canva, etc

• Required Language(s): Fluency in English is required. Working knowledge of other UN languages will be desirable. Working knowledge of French is an added advantage

How to Apply

To apply online please use THIS LINK