ICT Associate - Solution Design (retainer position)

Nordic Support for Progress of North Macedonia

A) The Government of Norway  is funding a sub-regional programme “Nordic Support for Progress in North Macedonia”implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). The project consists of socio-economic development support to the more undeveloped parts of the country and also envisages support to the national authorities responsible for leading the renewed efforts on the EU accession process. The Government of Norway has allocated funding for the implementation of the Project in North Macedonia over three years, starting from September 2018 until December 2022.

The overall objective of the project is to contribute to a more balanced socio-economic development and to contribute to the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement and EU accession negotiations priorities. 

Locally, the project aims to increase employment opportunities, support social cohesion, as well as to enhance local infrastructure in the less developed areas with a focus given to the inclusion of youth, women and vulnerable groups in the labour market. Nationally, the project aims at supporting the government to improve its capacity for EU integration and government reform agenda in the accession process.

B) The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency has decided to fund a project “Support to progress in North Macedonia - Government reform agenda in the EU-accession process” to be implemented by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). The objective of the project supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) is to support the enhancement of the EU integration capacity of the Republic of North Macedonia by providing technical assistance to government institutions during the accession period. 

SIDA has allocated funding for the implementation of the project in North Macedonia during 48 months until December 2022.

The Overall Objective of the SIDA support is to contribute to, and effectively communicate to the public, the implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, accession negotiations and government reform priorities in the Republic of North Macedonia. 

Project interventions are aimed towards communicating the benefits of the EU accession process to the general population, as well as to involve the civil society and media throughout the accession phases. All project activities will be undertaken in partnership with the Government of North Macedonia, in cooperation with the national institutions, with the aim of allowing them to adopt/adapt the legal requirements and, where relevant, EU accession criteria. 

This will ensure national ownership and support the development of national capacities.

Background Information – relevant for the assignment

The purpose of Result 3 “Supporting the government reform agenda in the accession process” is to provide support to relevant national institutions in charge of alignment of national legal acts with the EU acquis and to contribute to further building of capacities of central coordination structures and relevant national structures for successful carrying out of the screening process (explanatory and bilateral screening). The overall process is coordinated by the Secretariat for European Affairs (SEA), as the main coordination body in the accession negotiation process. The activity that is defined by this ToR aims to support SEA - Sector for information and communication technology and archiving (SEA-SICTA) and strengthen its capacity ensuring improved functioning of SEA’s  ITC systems and thus will contribute to implementation of Activity 3.3(1.3) Support SEA in Preparation of NPAA and Law Approximation for the Screening Process. 

Network and hardware infrastructure

The Secretariat for European Affairs (SEA) network infrastructure covers its main headquarters at Presveta Bogorodica square, number 3, on the 5th, 6th and 7th floors. On the site, contains SEA’s server room (hosts SEA’s email server, SEA’s public web sites and all software applications used by the Secretariat, including the ones used during the accession negotiation process with the European Union) and network equipment that provides uninterrupted communication services between the ICT devices (OS Microsoft) used by the SEA employees.

Software applications

The main active software applications that SEA uses are:

• NPAA Portal, as a multidimensional concept, supports the process of planning, monitoring, reporting and managing NPAA;

• Benchmarking - application for monitoring benchmarks and action plans, in specific reform areas;

• NLEX – legislation database and the related EU legal acts;

• TCU – EU law translation register and terminology database, including TRADOS translation software;

• TNA - application for training needs assessment as well as planning and monitoring trainings related to the EU/IPA;

• CDAD - Central Donor Assistance Database;

• E-Archive – application for registration of input and output documents in SEA that works according to the existing laws for archive material and other acts for office and archive work.

***The incumbent will be offered a retainer contract for a period of five months during which the services of the Individual Contractor will be required to work when and as required. The number of working days will depend on the needs of SEA-SICTA that requests the retainer’s services.

Under the supervision of the Project Manager, the ICT Associate - Solution Design will support SEA-SICTA in solution design/web development. More specifically, s/he will undertake the following  activities/responsibilities:

• Support in the identification, preparation and implementation of different software solutions / applications;

• Support in the design and implementation of SEA’s software solutions;

• Support in the installation and configuration of the necessary software infrastructure needed for the development and operation of web applications;

• Modification, writing and maintenance of software code;

• Preparation of various queries and reports from existing software applications databases and export selected data in the required format

• Provide support in data mapping within SEA databases, data analysis, database optimization and data migration;

• Testing applications / software solutions;

• Support the continuous operation of applications;

• Provide the end-user support in using software solutions / applications;

• Support the monitoring of the technical performance of internal systems;

• Support in the implementation of SEA’s ICT Security policies;

• Perform other duties as may be reasonably required and in line with the incumbent’s scope of services above.

Education 

• Secondary school diploma

• University Degree (Bachelor’s degree / first level) preferably in Information Technology or other relevant field may substitute for some years of experience

Work Experience

• At least six years of work experience in design, development and implementation of web based software applications is a requirement 

• At least 2 years experience working with Microsoft .Net, IIS(Internet Information Services), Visual Studio, C#, ADO.NET is a requirement;

• At least 2 years experience working with Microsoft SQL Server 2008 ++ is a requirement 

• Experience with XML, XSLT, HTTP(s), (X)HTML, HTML5, WebDAV, SOAP, REST, WSE is an asset 

• Experience with Transaction SQL is an asset 

• Experience with HTML5 и JavaScript is an asset

• Experience with LAMP Stack (Linux, Apache, Mysql, PhP) is an asset

Language Requirements

• Fluency in Macedonian is required

• Intermediate knowledge of English is required

• Knowledge of Albanian language would be an asset

• Certification in Microsoft .Net and Microsoft SQL will be considered as an asset

This is a local position, it is therefore open to Nationals of the Republic of North Macedonia and to individuals who have a valid residence/work permit.

Contract type: ICA - retainer 
Contract level: Local ICA Support - LICA 6
Contract duration: Up to 85 working days, in period of five months with possibility of extension


For more details about the ICA contractual modality, please follow this link:
https://www.unops.org/english/Opportunities/job-opportunities/what-we-offer/Pages/Individual-Contractor-Agreements.aspx

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (around 4 hours) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.

The UNOPS Republic of Serbia Multi Country Office (RSMCO) is implementing 13 projects in Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Ukraine. 

In Serbia, where UNOPS has been active since 2000, and North Macedonia and Montenegro where UNOPS works since 2017, the organisation provides support in demanding socio-economic reforms and facilitating accession to the European Union. The projects focus on sustainable socio-economic development, good governance, social cohesion, environment and emergency response. The projects are implemented with the funding from the European Union (EU), Kingdom of Norway, Governments of Switzerland, Sweden and North Macedonia.

In Ukraine, UNOPS support to the partners in their reform agenda since 2016 spans the rule of law, social protection, demining, emergency response and security. The projects are funded by the EU, UNHCR, the Governments of Japan and Canada.

All projects have gender equality as a transversal theme, and have been contextualised within the broader Sustainable Development Goals frameworks and objectives.