Job ID
22906
Job Title
30515 - Head of Exploration NO-B
To work for
UNDP | United Nations Devleopment Programme
Country
Syria
City
Damascus
Field of Work
Humanitarian/Disasters
Job Type
Full time
Military service
Not Specified
Minimum Education Level
Bachelor/ License Degree
Responsibilities
Horizon scanning and intelligence for the Accelerator Lab
Identify, visualize and communicate emerging development trends, data, technologies and issues with a particular focus on the edges and "below the radar screen" events, opportunities and players, and systemically map their impacts on economy, environment, society, and livelihoods of the poorest;
Identify new sources of evidence and insights, analyze and visualize patterns in unstructured sources of data, present new insights in accessible and comprehensive ways to enable sensemaking and analysis;
Proactively explore and identify the new methods/approaches and frontier knowledge to tackle development challenges, collaborate with the Experimentation lead to turn these into learning options for addressing specific policy issues in the country;
Provide technical guidance for horizon scanning, foresight and data analysis for colleagues and partners;
Contribute to the formulation of the Accelerator Lab service lines to the UNDP Country Programme based on findings from horizon scanning, systems’ mapping, and local knowledge;
Tapping into new data sources
Set up partnerships with private sector companies including mobile network operators among others to gain access to anonymized data sets that can be used for sustainable development;
Demonstrate through exploratory tests the utility of new data sources for UNDP’s development work;
Create partnerships for analyses of real time and other data to better inform decisions and policies;
Design and deliver workshops, tools, or platforms that tap into the collective intelligence of communities and mobilize action;
Proactively manage risks with using data and technology, including those related to ethics and privacy;
Transform unstructured data sets into insights for UNDP and partners.
Working out loud
Share findings from the exploration on future trends, new methodologies/approaches, potential partnership, and others within UNDP and with partners;
Proactively use blog posts and social media to share insights, attract partners and help position Accelerator Lab at the forefront of the exploration of new trends;
Liaise with UNDP’s global Accelerator Lab network and share learnings and insights from the country-specific experience;
Jointly with the CO, support lab partners to develop an emerging pipeline of new initiatives, support other activities related to the design and operation of the Lab.
Organizational learning and interface with the core business of UNDP
Set up tools and partnerships to transform information into actionable intelligence;
Design and deliver horizon scanning trainings for partners and UNDP, help embed horizon scanning and attention to the ‘edge’ activities in the CO and with the partners;
Work together with your Accelerator Lab colleagues and experts to codify and advance the Accelerator Lab practice and exploration in particular;
Organize and implement knowledge sharing and network events;
Lead other activities related to the design and operations of the Accelerator Lab;
Design and deliver engaging and meaningful methods for reflection on learning from explorations.
Identify, visualize and communicate emerging development trends, data, technologies and issues with a particular focus on the edges and "below the radar screen" events, opportunities and players, and systemically map their impacts on economy, environment, society, and livelihoods of the poorest;
Identify new sources of evidence and insights, analyze and visualize patterns in unstructured sources of data, present new insights in accessible and comprehensive ways to enable sensemaking and analysis;
Proactively explore and identify the new methods/approaches and frontier knowledge to tackle development challenges, collaborate with the Experimentation lead to turn these into learning options for addressing specific policy issues in the country;
Provide technical guidance for horizon scanning, foresight and data analysis for colleagues and partners;
Contribute to the formulation of the Accelerator Lab service lines to the UNDP Country Programme based on findings from horizon scanning, systems’ mapping, and local knowledge;
Tapping into new data sources
Set up partnerships with private sector companies including mobile network operators among others to gain access to anonymized data sets that can be used for sustainable development;
Demonstrate through exploratory tests the utility of new data sources for UNDP’s development work;
Create partnerships for analyses of real time and other data to better inform decisions and policies;
Design and deliver workshops, tools, or platforms that tap into the collective intelligence of communities and mobilize action;
Proactively manage risks with using data and technology, including those related to ethics and privacy;
Transform unstructured data sets into insights for UNDP and partners.
Working out loud
Share findings from the exploration on future trends, new methodologies/approaches, potential partnership, and others within UNDP and with partners;
Proactively use blog posts and social media to share insights, attract partners and help position Accelerator Lab at the forefront of the exploration of new trends;
Liaise with UNDP’s global Accelerator Lab network and share learnings and insights from the country-specific experience;
Jointly with the CO, support lab partners to develop an emerging pipeline of new initiatives, support other activities related to the design and operation of the Lab.
Organizational learning and interface with the core business of UNDP
Set up tools and partnerships to transform information into actionable intelligence;
Design and deliver horizon scanning trainings for partners and UNDP, help embed horizon scanning and attention to the ‘edge’ activities in the CO and with the partners;
Work together with your Accelerator Lab colleagues and experts to codify and advance the Accelerator Lab practice and exploration in particular;
Organize and implement knowledge sharing and network events;
Lead other activities related to the design and operations of the Accelerator Lab;
Design and deliver engaging and meaningful methods for reflection on learning from explorations.
Qualifications
Education:
Master's degree in Social sciences, Data science, Statistics, Physics, Computer Science, Business Intelligence, or related field and minimum of 2 years of professional experience in development programming or policy; social innovation; partnership building; engagement (public and private sector) and/or resource mobilization.
OR
Bachelor's degree in Social sciences, Data science, Statistics, Physics, Computer Science, Business Intelligence, or related field and minimum of 4 years of professional experience in development programming or policy; social innovation; partnership building; engagement (public and private sector) and/or resource mobilization.
Experience:
Professional experience in development programming or policy and social innovation;
Demonstrated capacity in horizon scanning;
Demonstrated capacity in data analysis and visualization.
Experience in following areas is desirable but not necessary:
Proven professional knowledge and experience in social innovation approaches such as Systems Thinking, Ethnography, Crowdsourcing, Collective Intelligence Design, Citizen Science, Positive Deviance, Social Network Analysis, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning;
Professional experience in partnership building and engagement (public and private sector);
Demonstrated capacity to use open data, mobile data, geospatial data, drone &; satellite data, citizen data for informing policy making, strategic planning, or programme design;
Proven professional knowledge and experience in at least one of the following: Future thinking and Foresight, Design Research, and Systems Mapping;
Key awareness of key global and regional trends;
Demonstrated access to networks of edge innovators.
Language Requirements:
Proficiency in written and spoken Arabic and English.
Other:
The Accelerator Labs will be comprised of a core team with niche capabilities that focus on exploration, experimentation and grassroots innovation. Within the first 6-8 months of the Lab fully functioning, each member of the Core team will take the lead on one of the following functions:
Coordination
Training
Communications
The Core team of the Accelerator lab will have capabilities in:
Experimentation (instituting rapid learning about emerging challenges through design and running of a portfolio of experiments that is coherent with the type of challenges that are part of UNDP’s strategic plan, and
Mapping Solutions: ethnographic methods and immersion in community dynamics, identification of and work with lead users, and implications of bottom up solutions for the policy design;
Exploration: The exploration function focuses on discovery and sensemaking of emerging trends, implications for systemic impacts and risks, and their potential for accelerating progress toward SDGs. Its work feeds into the portfolio of experiments ensuring its coherence with the emerging risks and opportunities and connects local dynamics and solutions into the broader national and international ecosystem of potential funders, partners, and allies thereby increasing the chances for acceleration. While critical for the functioning of the Accelerator Lab, the exploration function will also service the Country Office as determined and agreed with the UNDP senior management.
Master's degree in Social sciences, Data science, Statistics, Physics, Computer Science, Business Intelligence, or related field and minimum of 2 years of professional experience in development programming or policy; social innovation; partnership building; engagement (public and private sector) and/or resource mobilization.
OR
Bachelor's degree in Social sciences, Data science, Statistics, Physics, Computer Science, Business Intelligence, or related field and minimum of 4 years of professional experience in development programming or policy; social innovation; partnership building; engagement (public and private sector) and/or resource mobilization.
Experience:
Professional experience in development programming or policy and social innovation;
Demonstrated capacity in horizon scanning;
Demonstrated capacity in data analysis and visualization.
Experience in following areas is desirable but not necessary:
Proven professional knowledge and experience in social innovation approaches such as Systems Thinking, Ethnography, Crowdsourcing, Collective Intelligence Design, Citizen Science, Positive Deviance, Social Network Analysis, Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning;
Professional experience in partnership building and engagement (public and private sector);
Demonstrated capacity to use open data, mobile data, geospatial data, drone &; satellite data, citizen data for informing policy making, strategic planning, or programme design;
Proven professional knowledge and experience in at least one of the following: Future thinking and Foresight, Design Research, and Systems Mapping;
Key awareness of key global and regional trends;
Demonstrated access to networks of edge innovators.
Language Requirements:
Proficiency in written and spoken Arabic and English.
Other:
The Accelerator Labs will be comprised of a core team with niche capabilities that focus on exploration, experimentation and grassroots innovation. Within the first 6-8 months of the Lab fully functioning, each member of the Core team will take the lead on one of the following functions:
Coordination
Training
Communications
The Core team of the Accelerator lab will have capabilities in:
Experimentation (instituting rapid learning about emerging challenges through design and running of a portfolio of experiments that is coherent with the type of challenges that are part of UNDP’s strategic plan, and
Mapping Solutions: ethnographic methods and immersion in community dynamics, identification of and work with lead users, and implications of bottom up solutions for the policy design;
Exploration: The exploration function focuses on discovery and sensemaking of emerging trends, implications for systemic impacts and risks, and their potential for accelerating progress toward SDGs. Its work feeds into the portfolio of experiments ensuring its coherence with the emerging risks and opportunities and connects local dynamics and solutions into the broader national and international ecosystem of potential funders, partners, and allies thereby increasing the chances for acceleration. While critical for the functioning of the Accelerator Lab, the exploration function will also service the Country Office as determined and agreed with the UNDP senior management.
Specific Vacancy Requirements
All applications must be submitted via UNDP Job Portal ONLY
Vacancy End Date : 03 June 2020 (midnight New York, USA).
Vacancy End Date : 03 June 2020 (midnight New York, USA).
Salary and Benefits
N/A
About us
UNDP has been active in Syria since 1975. UNDP works in about 170 countries and territories, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion. UNDP offers global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.
Since the onset of the crisis in Syria in 2011, UNDP has responded to the huge needs that emerged by implementing a unique resilience programme to support the Syrian people. UNDP goes beyond humanitarian assistance in the sense that it strengthens the resilience of the Syrian people by enhancing positive coping mechanisms, that enable them to rely on themselves and rebuild their livelihoods, rather than remain dependent on humanitarian assistance. Within the UN Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), UNDP’s interventions are focused on the rehabilitation of basic and social infrastructures, providing livelihoods support, enhancing economic recovery and social inclusion, and strengthening social cohesion.
Since the onset of the crisis in Syria in 2011, UNDP has responded to the huge needs that emerged by implementing a unique resilience programme to support the Syrian people. UNDP goes beyond humanitarian assistance in the sense that it strengthens the resilience of the Syrian people by enhancing positive coping mechanisms, that enable them to rely on themselves and rebuild their livelihoods, rather than remain dependent on humanitarian assistance. Within the UN Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), UNDP’s interventions are focused on the rehabilitation of basic and social infrastructures, providing livelihoods support, enhancing economic recovery and social inclusion, and strengthening social cohesion.
Required employees number
1
Posted On
May 07, 2020
Expiry Date
Jun 06, 2020
CV Language
English