UN Children's Fund Consultancy - For the development of IT tool Jobs in Uganda

UN Children's Fund Consultancy - For the development of IT tool Jobs in Uganda

Closing date: 08 May 2019

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.

And we never give up.

For every child, a fair chance

Uganda is one of the over 190 countries and territories around the world where we work to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease, and discrimination place in a child’s path.

Together with the Government of Uganda and partners we work towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, the objectives of the Uganda National Development Plan, and the planned outcomes of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework.

Visit this link for more information on Uganda Country Office https://www.unicef.org/uganda/

How can you make a difference?

Under the supervision of ICT Manager and, in coordination with the Supply & Logistics Manager as the business owner the consultant will develop a the following key applications feature; Stand alone, ie not integrated with ERP or any other UNICEF or Government system, Maintenance (update of master data, changes to waybill design, troubleshooting) should be feasible with very limited ICT knowledge, No specific restrictions on platform/software to be used, but must be compatible with standard MS Windows operating system and MS Office applications, Must include a simple user interface for Waybill and TOR/CE generation, All reports should allow for export to Excel and All documents to have a unique identifier.

Background

As part of the implementation of the UNICEF programme of cooperation with the Government of Uganda, UNICEF regularly procures supplies required for agreed-upon activities and distributes them to implementing partners.

In all these cases, delivery documentation becomes a critical element to ensure integrity of the supply chain. Availability of proofs of delivery and clear transport instructions are important for accountability and reporting purposes.

UNICEF manages its procurement transactions through its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system (SAP based), which includes also a warehouse management module for inventories controlled by UNICEF.

The subsequent document in UNICEF ERP system is a system waybill, which allows for the consignee to acknowledge (sign for) receipt of the goods.

Over the years, UNICEF Uganda has created and maintained a consignee master list in the ERP system that is sufficient for the regular programme operations (ie when deliveries are made to districts, line ministries, central-level partners or NGOs).

However, when emergency deliveries are required, it is sometimes deemed more appropriate for UNICEF to deliver to the lowest level in the supply chain, such as schools, health facilities or other service delivery points.

The high number of possible service delivery points make it virtually impossible to maintain a complete consignee list of all possible recipients, especially given the unpredictability of emergency scenarios and the dynamic nature of these low-level entities.

Furthermore, many emergency distributions happen directly from a local supplier; in those scenarios, there is no functionality for as system-generated Release Order (ie documentation always needs to be generated outside the system in the form of a manual waybill).

One of the particularities of these emergency/last mile distributions is the large number of delivery points (usually above 100), which hampers the quick issuance of manual documents.

In this context, it is apparent that the standard supply chain documentation generated from UNICEF ERP system to support the release and distribution of supplies is not suitable/sufficient for situations where distribution is required down to the last mile.

As a result, manual documentation must be prepared, typically in emergency situations, which is highly time-consuming and creates a dangerous bottleneck for actual emergency response

With this background, and as endorsed by the Uganda CO Innovations Governance Committee, UNICEF Uganda Office would like to develop a tool which facilitates the immediate and automated generation of all necessary supply chain documentation following a distribution request, irrespective of the number of delivery points, source of supply and whether the consignees are in the ERP system or not.

Key Tasks:

Develop a customized tool that can generate automated waybills

The tool will use the following inputs:

Excel-based distribution plan containing product description,

quantity and recipient (consignee)

Pre-defined rules for unique identification of waybills

Users can access waybills issued historically, for amendment or reprinting of waybills

Users can produce pre-agreed reports

Develop a customized tool that can generate Transport Order Requests (firm) or

Cost Estimates for transport

The tool will include master tables (with relatively stable data) for:

District names and distances to central delivery locations

Truck types

Transport LTA holders

LTA transport rates

For each TOR, user will enter manually (with dropdown menus) other variables, such as: pick up location, truck type, selected transporter, number of trucks, primary district, number of drop-offs, district names for drop off

Maintenance of these master data entries should be easy for the layman

TORs or Cost Estimates to be uniquely identified following pre-agreed logic

TORs and Cost Estimates can be retrieved for amendment or reprinting

Users can produce reports

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

Proficiency in MS Office applications, including building automated solutions in MS

Excel and MS Access

Ability to be a self-starter and to work with minimum supervision

Experience in a multi-cultural and gender sensitive work environment

Excellent communication skills, written and verbal

Strong interpersonal skills

Ability to work with a team as well as independently. Ability to interface, collaborate with technical staff and designers.

Prior background and work experience in UN environment desirable.

Understanding of the differences between multiple delivery platforms, such as mobile vs desktop, and optimizing output to match the specific platform. Familiarity with event-driven programming in Python or similar language.

Capacity in deploying and maintaining software remotely on a Linux or UNIX-like server.

Knowledge of environment and understanding of the constraints of working in a developing-world environment. This should include experience developing low-bandwidth applications in challenging work environments.

Ability to align technical goals with organizational strategic goals – that always will mean prioritizing organization’s mission over any technology.

Experience in developing Web applications using Python, Django, jQuery, Open Source frameworks with either PostgreSQL.

Experience in front end development technologies using HTML5, CSS, JavaScript/JQuery, JavaScript frameworks like Angular.js or React.

Experience in developing and consuming web services (SOAP, REST),

Experience in Setting up and Deploying cloud-based applications using Docker.

Working knowledge and experience Software development lifecycle, and methodologies (Agile).

Integration with diverse applications using integration frameworks, web services and APIs, search engine like Elasticsearch

Experience working in projects having integration with Cloud providers and products (Amazon, Azure, Rackspace etc.). Familiarity with basic system administration functions.

Experience on MongoDB / Redis and Celery a plus.

Experience with open source projects a plus

Experienced in developing software as part of a distributed team using Git or Subversion, especially in an open-source environment.

Experience with Django web application framework or similar web application platform.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The competencies required for this post are….

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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

How to Apply:
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization. To apply, click on the following link

UN Children's Fund Consultancy - For the development of IT tool Jobs in Uganda