Technical Advisor, Assistive Technology(Multiple positions / Home Based Retainer) - ATscale, Multiple positions

Based in Geneva, the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECR) supports UNOPS offices throughout the region through: management, financial and programmatic oversight of global and country-specific portfolios, clusters and operations centres, including hosting services; fund and management advisory services; project implementation; procuring goods and services; and managing human resources.

ECR ensures that projects are executed to the highest standards, providing a shared knowledge base and ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are disseminated between business units and projects across the entire region.

 ECR strategy is to:

• Strengthen UNOPS role in operationalizing the Sustainable Development Goals with particular emphasis on health, environment and economic development.
• Position UNOPS in the Balkan sub-region, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
• Strengthen the implementation of ECR global and regional programmes, with revitalized partnerships in infrastructure, procurement and project management.

ECR operates global portfolios from offices in Geneva, Brussels and New York, and country-specific programmes from its operations and project centres located in Eastern Europe and Central Asian countries.

Today, over 2.5 billion people need at least one form of AT, such as wheelchairs, eyeglasses, or hearing aids, but in some country as few as 3% have access to the AT they require. The number of people needing AT is expected to grow to more than 3.5 billion by 2050. 

Access to appropriate AT enables people with loss of function, disabilities, non-communicable diseases, and the aging population to participate in education, work, and family and community life. Lack of access to AT has significant consequences for individuals, their families, and the wider society. Without AT, individuals may experience isolation and exclusion from education, the labor market, and civic life. Lack of access to appropriate AT causes poorer health outcomes, including premature death, deteriorating mental health, and increased risk of chronic health conditions and secondary complications, all leading to a higher burden on health systems. Increasing accessibility and affordability of AT can unlock unrealized economic potential and provides socioeconomic benefits for individuals, families, and countries by increasing productivity and participation in the workforce. 

ATscale, the Global Partnership for Assistive Technology, was developed in response to the need for a new, catalytic approach to overcoming the significant gap in access to appropriate, high-quality, and affordable AT globally. It is a cross-sector partnership for AT that aims to bring greater resources and strategic focus to this significant global challenge to reach 500 million more people with life-changing assistive technology (AT) by 2030, to enable a lifetime of potential. 

The ATscale Secretariat is hosted by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) and is based in Geneva, Switzerland. For more information, please visit https://atscalepartnership.org/ 

ATscale, the Global Partnership for Assistive Technology, will constitute an ATscale Advisory Group for this purpose with members who have a range of experience. The ATscale secretariat will directly manage a roster of persons with technical knowledge, expertise and skills from the broad range of disciplines relevant to assistive technology; geographical representation with an emphasis on low- and middle-income countries; and gender balance which together. To ensure the inclusion of persons with a lived experience of using assistive technology in the overall Advisory Group, we will engage the support of organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs) and potentially organizations representing other main user groups. 

The Advisory Group will provide independent advice on issues and documents pertaining to ATscale’s work, such as for its priority setting, annual workplan, country engagements and global goods interventions with respect to the strategic value and potential impact, programmatic merit (such as technical soundness, viability, value for money), and possibly other aspects.

With this Vacancy Announcement, we seek experts for the roster managed directly by the ATscale secretariat.

The ATscale Secretariat will call on members of the ATscale Advisory Group to provide their advice and recommendations in several ways:

• written input from individual members for consolidation by the Secretariat

• virtual meeting of a group of members for discussion of one or more items

• and potentially in person meeting of a group of members for input to larger undertakings, e.g. strategic discussions

The incumbents will be offered retainer contracts, i.e. a contract issued for a period of time with an upper limit but no expectation of a minimum number of working days. The workload will depend on the needs of ATscale.

• the setting of priorities in alignment with ATscale’s overall goals and strategy, including the selection and prioritisation of possible areas for intervention
• the identification of gaps and possible solutions to address them in activities / efforts in the AT sector
• the development of ‘living’ sector-wide strategies
• the development of ATscale’s annual workplan
• the scoping of possible interventions and the specifications for the scopes of work (Terms Of Refrences(TOR's), calls/requests for proposals or other forms of inviting potential grantees or service providers to submit proposals) both at the global and country level (e.g. country concept notes, global public goods interventions)
• participation in the substantive, systematic, rigorous, detailed and high-quality technical and financial evaluation of proposals received against criteria such as:

• ATscale’s Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning framework and its implementation
• Undertake other related duties as required
• Travel may be required to attend in-person meetings or in-country reviews

A. Education

• Advanced degree, ideally in health or public health, social science, economics, international development, public administration, product design, engineering, disability inclusion, management, or other relevant disciplines.
• A Bachelor's degree, ideally in the fields mentioned above, in combination with an additional 2 years of relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree. 

B. Work Experience 

A minimum of 7 years of combined experience in assistive technology addressing one or more of the functional difficulty domains (mobility, vision, hearing, cognition, and self-care) or cross-cutting experience in one or more of the following:

• assistive technology policy and programme development at global, regional or national level
• assistive technology research, development, innovation and production
• assistive technology or health technology assessment, standards and regulation
• assistive technology service provision
• assistive technology procurement
• assistive technology user experience
• disability inclusion

• Demonstrated experience in providing technical advice for planning, implementation, and monitoring of assistive technology programmes
• Demonstrated knowledge of large-scale health or education or social protection programmes
• Demonstrated knowledge of market shaping interventions
• Familiarity with disability rights and inclusion of disability in projects and programmes, as well as a foundational understanding of the CRPD and other international instruments and relevant frameworks
• Field experience
• Experience in international development and/or humanitarian aid and/or working for a UN organization and/or an NGO

• An excellent knowledge of English is required. 

• Working knowledge of Arabic, Chinese, French, Spanish,  and/or Russian would be an asset

1. Contract type :International Individual Contractor Agreement (IICA)
2. Contract level : ICS 11 / IICA 3 (Home Based Retainer)
3. Contract duration :  Up to 180 working days per year, Contract may be renewable subject to programme requirements, funding availability, and satisfactory performance.

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions 

• 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 (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. Find more information on a retainer contract here.

• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.