FAO recruits 01 MIS Developers/Programmer

Job Description

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST – VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT: 1901290

MIS Developers/Programmer

Closure Date: 14/Jun/2019, 9:59:00 PM

Organizational Unit: FAO Zambia

Job Type: Non-staff opportunities

Type of Requisition: Consultant / PSA (Personal Services Agreement)

Grade Level: N/A

Primary Location: Zambia-Lusaka

Duration: 30 DAYS

Post Number: N/A

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that Closure Date and Time displayed above are based on your personal device date and time settings

FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender and nationality

People with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply

All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality

The incumbent may be re-assigned to different activities and/or duty stations depending on the evolving needs of the Organization

Organizational Setting

As part of the implementation of the 7th National Development Plan (NDP), the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) is making simultaneous investments in various sectors of the economy in an integrated manner that will translate policies into equitable cost-effective interventions. Such investments include implementation of social protection programs through the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services (MCDSS) that are being implemented in close collaboration between GRZ and donor Cooperating Partners (CPs).

Currently, GRZ has deployed Smart Zambia Institute to lead, coordinate and facilitate the co-development of harmonized and integrated backbone information management system that provides checks and balances, transparency and accountability among all participating stakeholders in social protection programs. The integrated information management system is being co-developed with FAO, UNICEF and WFP and will address, among other issues challenges experienced by the social protection programs

• Poor targeting of intended beneficiaries leading to significant inclusion and exclusion errors of beneficiaries

• Inefficiency in delivery timelines, costs and operations to ensure transparent and accountability in the process ranging from beneficiary identification, delivery of entitlements, reporting monitoring of progress

• Fragmented oversight, monitoring, accountability and reporting on the implementation of the support programs

As part of this process, FAO is supporting GRZ with policy and technical expertise in social protection, ICT solution development and MIS management. This support is part of the Technical Cooperation Programs currently running in Zambia between FAO and the Government of the Republic of Zambia.

Reporting Lines

The MIS Developer/Programmers will work under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Zambia, the direct supervision of the Operations Coordinator in Zambia, and in close consultation with the SZI and UNJP cooperating partners.

Technical Focus

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) would like to engage the services of a System Developer/ Programmer to be part of an ICT Solution development team assembled and led by Smart Zambia Institute to support development of a Zambia Integrated Social Protection Information System (ZISPIS). The team comprises IT team from GRZ, Cooperating partners, specifically WFP and UNICEF. The development of the system will be undertaken as part of the Joint UN Program on Social Protection.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Following the ZISPIS Conceptual framework developed by SZI and the United Nations Joint Programme (UNJP) on social protection in Zambia directly responsible for provisioning of GRZ provided servers (database, applications, VPN, training and backup servers) and ensure they are properly configured to the registered domain names

• Be directly responsible for development of Application Programing Interfaces (APIs) with all GRZ contracted service providers for SMS gateway, USSD service providers, Banking and Payment Managers with the ZISPIS

• Be directly responsible for management and administration of the servers to ensure efficient performance and troubleshooting of all issues that may arise in the implementation of the ZISPIS

• Lead the development of technical documentation to the development of the ZISPIS for use of users, technical officers from the service providers of other service providers to GRZ through the ZISPIS

• Participate in training and capacity building of GRZ personnel assigned to the ZISPIS on all IT technical aspects of the system and participate in advanced user training activities

• Be directly responsible for designing, development and coding of all technical applications (ZISPIS user interfaces, field level android and windows applications), the ZISPIS database and all back up codes and encryption

• Participate in refinement of the ZISPIS conceptual design and functional scope by specifically participating in the following activities during the system development phase:

   o Feasibility Investigations

   o Initial investigation/consultation with the SZI and FAO focal persons to the ZISPIS development team on feasibility of ZISPIS conceptual framework

   o Technical improvements of the GRZ Social Protection registration forms and associated process tracking forms

   o Database Schema Creation

   o Development of physical database structure – Database tables and relationships

   o Development and Testing of database System Modules

   o Social Cash transfer process module

   o Food Security Pack process module

   o Development and Testing of all associated android and windows applications integrated with the ZISPIS

   o Development and Testing of Reports

   o Updated beneficiary list

   o Payment disbursement reports

   o Funds receipt reports

   o Input receipt reports

   o Recovery Reports

   o Integration and Overall Testing of the ZISPIS functionalities

   o Systems integration testing, review and fine tuning of functionalities

   o Drafting of a user training and user manual

   o Database System Installation and Training

   o Full installation on GRZ Provisioned servers

   o Complete handover including codes and passwords to Smart Zambia Institute

Expected Outputs

• Develop a fully functional ZISPIS according to the conceptual framework attached as annexes to these TORs

• ZISPIS servers fully provisioned and accessible at national, district and provincial level.

• Develop a Technical Documentation of the ZISPSIS

• Handover the entire database program, including all codes and passwords to the Smart Zambia Institute

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree in Computer Sciences or related field

• 5  years of relevant experience in a related field

• Working knowledge of English, French or Spanish and limited knowledge of one of the other two or Arabic, Chinese, Russian.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus

• Teamwork

• Communication

• Building Effective Relationships

• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience in more than one location or area of work

• Proven ability to develop and implement complex web based system that utilize different technologies and integrations with third parties.

• Proven ability to design complex systems using widely acceptable design methodologies such SSADM.

• Proven understanding of web development programming languages for example PHP.

• Demonstrated ability to work with programming frameworks such as ZEND, YII, SYMPHONY, etc

• Demonstrated ability to develop android based applications

• Demonstrated ability to develop windows based applications

• Demonstrated ability to develop restful apis that can be used to integrate with third party systems

• Proven ability to install, configure and administer Linux based operating systems

• Proven ability to administer database systems, such as Mysql, Oracle, Postgres

• Understanding of data knowledge management needs of the UN and experience of working with the UN.

• Professionalism, promptness and flexibility, as well as ability to stick to deadlines.\

• Good working knowledge of English

Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

FAO does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview, processing)

Please note that FAO will only consider academic credentials or degrees obtained from an educational institution recognized in the IAU/UNESCO list

Only language proficiency certificates from UN accredited external providers and/or FAO language official examinations (LPE, ILE, LRT) will be accepted as proof of the level of knowledge of languages indicated in the online applications

Candidates should upload language certificate/s when submitting their application.

For more information, visit the FAO employment website

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, visit the recruitment website at Jobs at FAO and complete your online profile. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Only applications received through the recruitment portal will be considered.

Vacancies will be removed from the recruitment portal at 23:59 Central European Time (CET) on the deadline for applications date. We encourage applicants to submit the application well before the deadline

If you need help please contact: Careers@fao.org

FAO IS A NON-SMOKING ENVIRONMENT