National consultant RapidPro Programmes Manager at UNICEF | August 2024

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 voice

UNICEF is seeking a consultant to develop innovative solutions based on existing SMS powered solutions using Rapid Pro. RapidPro is an open-source software platform that allows you to easily build and scale mobile-based applications from anywhere in the world. RapidPro is designed to let you send personalised messages over SMS, voice, social media, and Internet-based channels with responses analysed in real-time. RapidPro powers the way governments and development partners connect, engage, and collaborate directly with the most important – and often most marginalised – voices in their communities.

The core of RapidPro service is a highly capable platform that allows the creation of sophisticated interactions using an intuitive user interface. It will provide all the functionality required to implement 90% of interventions without any development by software engineers. Instead, it will be configurable for a wide set of use cases. It shall also be flexible enough to further incorporate new and additional features (such as multi-channel or multi-language support, etc.) directly into the system to avoid the branching off different use cases from the core service.

RapidPro allows UNICEF project managers to immediately set-up and customize the communication platform according to the specific needs and requirements of their program. With RapidPro, project managers can build their own SMS-based workflows via an easy-to-use web-based interface. With this same functionality, users can create polls and campaigns on an administrative dashboard and prepare customizable front-end websites for aggregated data reports and mapping of poll results without in-depth programming knowledge.

In addition, RapidPro generates data from the interactions with users but does not contain native data visualization features. This data has proven useful for UNICEF programming informing it of user’s perspectives and opinions on a wide range of topics. As the data visualization features are not available on the platform UNICEF has been working with different options to generate data insights and visualizations.

How can you make a difference? 

Scope of Work:
The individual

1. Provide technical leadership in the deployment and utilization of RapidPro for Tanzania Country Office

• Manage UNICEF Tanzania RapidPro instance, including Regular maintenance of flows, channel metrics, groups and contacts.
• Perform spot-checks to unstructured messages received.
•  Ensure functionality of CasePro and other RapidPro applications.
• Act as focal point for the relationship management with RapidPro’s local hosting vendor, responsible for reporting and following through malfunctioning, downtime, etc
• Manage parent and subaccounts of RapidPro, be focal point for credential and user management (user profiles, permissions management, etc)
• Liaise with UNICEF’s RapidPro Community Manager and respective RapidPro network to understand advances in RapidPro and additional use cases and assess potential for implementation in Tanzania context.
• Provide training and technical support to partners, young people and relevant stakeholders as needed.

2. Provide leadership on RapidPro programming, data analysis activities and data visualization products related to U-Report, Oky, YOMA, Ticha Kidevu / Makini SMS or other relevant initiatives.

• Consult with relevant stakeholders for inputs on data analysis requirements.
• Develop and maintain data dashboards as per implemented activities.
• Create static documentation such as presentations, infographics or others from existing data and dashboards.
• Maintain all relevant programme documentation updated and available at a designated shared online repository.
• Create aggregated results document for information dissemination on a semi-Annual basis.

3. Create and maintain a repository of all relevant documentation on processes, development and products resulting from the implementation of ToR activities.

• Maintain all relevant programme documentation updated and available at a designated shared online repository.
• Create aggregated results document for information dissemination (Yearbook)
• Create and update INVENT entries related to TOR activities

4.  Provide support to Innovation Unit and broader UNICEF Tanzania for additional tech4development, data and communications related products

• Support and provide recommendations regarding new products, namely in high level and detailed product requirements.
• Support and provide recommendations that impact sustainability of current solutions, such as servers, vendors or other required specifications.
• Identify and share promising T4D innovations with the team and broader office as required.
• Contribute to proof-of-concept prototyping.

PAYMENT SCHEDULE: UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory if work/output is incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines.

ASSESSMENT / SELECTION PROCESS AND METHODS: Evaluations: The applicant should submit both technical and financial proposals which stipulate how the work will be conducted. The Financial Proposal should include all costs of this assignment including fees, travel costs, and accommodation as UNICEF will not pay any DSA.
Proposals will be both technically and financially evaluated. The technical part will carry a weight of 75%, in which the consultant will put clear his/her technical approach to ensure the quality attainment of each deliverable and the consultancy in totality. The financial part will take 25% showing the proposed budget breakdown of consultancy cost for each deliverable (fees, travel and accommodation) and eventual total consultancy cost.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Innovation, Innovation Management, Computer Science or Engineering or relevant field. 
• A minimum of three years of relevant professional work experience in software development and working knowledge of RapidPro
• Previous experience in applied data science expertise in data visualization and building dashboards.
• Experience in Linux command line and server management.
• Experience in at least one modern object-oriented programming language, especially Python.
•  Experience with mobile technologies, REST APIs and database management systems, especially PostgreSQL and MySQL.
• Familiarity with JavaScript (ES6+), Typerscript, HTML, CSS
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset. 
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset. 
• Knowledge of Kiswahili necessary. 

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.