Background

Tanzania has held four credible general elections since the reintroduction of multi-party politics in 1992. Citizens and the government are eager to maintain this track record and to further strengthen democratic practice in Tanzania. Looking to the 2015 general election, government has undertaken early and comprehensive preparations for the electoral processes. Since receipt of official requests for UN assistance to the election cycle leading to the 2015 general election from the National Election Commission (NEC) and Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC), a UN Needs Assessment Mission recommended the development of a project in support of the national efforts.
 
In addition, in 2014 the United Republic of Tanzania will likely conduct a first national referendum on a new constitution. The EMBs and other stakeholders in preparing for these critical events have requested the assistance of UNDP to provide technical support to the preparation and execution of this referendum.
 
To these ends, the Democratic Empowerment Project is a four year (2013-2016) UNDP, UN One Fund and other donor-funded project with the overall aim of contributing to Tanzania’s UNDAP’s Outcome 7: i.e. “Key institutions of democracy, (i.e. EMBs, etc.) effectively implement their election and political functions”. UN Women and UNESCO are implementing partners in a One UN Country Team context.

Duties and Responsibilities

The incumbents will perform the following duties:
  • Responsible for the development of computer software and IT solutions as required by the EMBs;
  • Analyze existing IT systems and infrastructure of the two EMBs with the view to draw up pragmatic technical specifications for the software solutions to be developed;
  • Provide technical assistance and guidance to DEP and the EMBs on IT-related systems and infrastructure for elections;
  • Advise and assist the EMBs with deployment, implementation and coordination of all IT solutions and component which may come from different sources;
  • Develop training plans and materials for the EMBs and assist with in-house mentoring and coaching of the EMB IT personnel in order to ensure continued use and development of key IT solutions and product in the future;
  • Create user guides and documentation of in-house developed software;
  • Provide technical input into the upgrade of the EMBs existing IT Infrastructure and updating of existing software;
  • Any other task as might be reasonably required for the delivery of the assignment.
 The above mentioned functions and responsibilities may need to be realigned according to the client’s requirements.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  • Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.
Professionalism:
  • Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter;
  • Demonstrated ability to provide innovative technical leadership through the planning, development, and management of the project activities;
  • Demonstrated ability to negotiate and apply good judgment;
  • Skilled in liaising with clients so as to understand their needs and developing design specifications in collaboration with client so as to secure buy-in of planned concept;
  • Deliver expected results under limited supervision, and the resilience to overcome obstacles without becoming discouraged;
  • Shows pride in work and in achievements;
  • Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
  • Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges.
Planning & Organizing: 
  • Organises and accurately completes multiple tasks by establishing priorities while taking into consideration special assignments, frequent interruptions, deadlines, available resources and multiple reporting relationships;
  • Plans, coordinates and organises workload while remaining aware of changing priorities and competing deadlines;
  • Demonstrates ability to quickly shift from one task to another to meet multiple support needs;
  • Establishes, builds and maintains effective working relationships with staff and clients to facilitate the provision of support.
Teamwork:
  • Works collaboratively with project staff and EMB staff to achieve organizational goals;
  • Solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise;
  • Facilitates the development of individual and multi-cultural/team competencies;
  • Ability to integrate quickly into, and work effectively and sensitively in a cross-cultural work setting;
  • Ability to quickly reach agreement with colleagues on division of responsibilities, and obtain consensus on design specifications and secure sign-off;
  • Ability to provide substantive training and mentoring, and manage teams.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Master of Science degree (or higher) in Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Management or related discipline;
  • CISCO certified ICT specialist.

Experience:

  • A proven track record of 5 years or more post-degree software development experience within a Microsoft Windows. NET environment:
  • Applicants with Bachelor degrees (in a relevant discipline, as stated above) and with at least 8 years’ experience will also be considered provided they have demonstrable software development experience, and the professional qualifications as required above;
  • Expert Programmer with demonstrated high level technical skills in C# or VB.NET and ADO.NET. Knowledge of VBA, SQL, Visual Studio.NET and Microsoft.NET 3.0/3.5;
  • Knowledge of web developments tools (HTML, ASP, PHP);
  • Able to write clear, concise, well-commented code;
  • Understanding of internet technologies and development of distributed systems;
  • Knowledge of System Design; Applications Development and Client Server systems;
  • Knowledge of SQL Server and Oracle;
  • Track record of progressively higher responsibility within a software development role;
  • Experience in relevant areas, in particular electoral projects;
  • Knowledge of at least one report generation program (such as Crystal Reports or Microsoft Reporting Services).
  • Some knowledge of cryptographic systems is beneficial. At the very least knowledge of how to use cryptographic modules to secure internet based communications is desired;
  • An understanding of how to create robust, easy-to-use applications with a user-friendly interface is essential
  • Working experience on projects in developing countries with nationwide coverage and limited technological infrastructure is preferred;
  • Experience in an election-related IT environment is a plus. Knowledge of electoral processes is not mandatory.

Language:

  • Fluent in English (written and spoken).
 How to submit proposals:
  • Proposals should be submitted to the following e-mail address not later than 23 June 2014 icprocurement.tz@undp.org;
  • Applicants should download the application documents (presented in compresses file) from UNDP Tanzania website;
  • Applicants should separate technical and financial proposals;
  • Applications with no financial offer or missing P11 form and CV or the required documents for the technical evaluation will not be considered for evaluation;
  • Applications without submitting a financial offer instead of other format will not be considered due to the ease comparison of the received offers;
  • All necessary information for this post (TOR, Deliverables, Target dates, etc. are presented in the ICPN) therefore applicant must download it from the website as mentioned above;
  • Do not send CV only to the Email account mentioned above without Cover Letter and Methodology (if requested) as it will be considered as incomplete application;
  • The documents are available in PDF (the TOR, ICPN and IC guidelines) download them from (http://www.undp.org/content/tanzania), format: this is the only format available and it will not be provided in other formats.
  • Each email should be less than 8MB; emails over this size will not be received to the above mentioned account.