Associate Innovation Officer (Digital Inclusion)

  • Contractor
  • Nairobi Kenya
  • TBD USD / Year
  • UN High Commissioner for Refugees profile




  • Job applications may no longer being accepted for this opportunity.


UN High Commissioner for Refugees

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is offering a full time position within the Innovation Service in our Nairobi.

The position sits within UNHCR Innovation Service, and is Nairobi-based, and it oversees the delivery of the Digital Inclusion Programme in the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Region. The Digital Inclusion Programme provides technical and financial support to UNHCR operations to develop and deliver projects covering a wide range of digital inclusion thematics ranging from digital skills, to connectivity, to online safety and digital risk.

UNHCR is a global organisation dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people. Every year, millions of men, women and children are forced to flee their homes to escape conflict and persecution. We are in over 130 countries, using our expertise to protect and care for millions.

Title: Associate Innovation Officer (Digital Inclusion) Duty Station: Nairobi, Kenya Duration: 6-months Contract

Type: Temporary appointment

Start date: 01 September 2022

Organisational context

This position sits within UNHCR Innovation Service. UNHCR Innovation Service, is mandated by UNHCR to help nurture and support a culture of innovation within UNHCR. The service works closely with country operations, regional bureaux and HQ based divisions and services in the pursuit for more efficient, effective, and creative solutions to challenges that refugees and forcibly displaced populations face. The service does this by rethinking the way UNHCR works, the way it involves Refugees and forcibly displaced populations in the design of the programs, and the way it looks at good practices in the humanitarian, development and private sectors.

To achieve its strategy and goals, the Innovation Service implements five multi-year strategic Programmes, namely:

  1. Digital Inclusion
  2. Refugee Led Innovation
  3. Data Innovation
  4. Environment and Resilience Innovation and
  5. Innovation Learning (Fellowship).

The Digital Inclusion programme aims to ensure that refugees and the communities that host them have the right, and the choice, to be included in a connected society, and can have their voices heard in the design and implementation of humanitarian response and development programmes. This programme seeks to break down barriers to digital inclusion spanning the technological, economic, social and cultural. It operates a four pillar strategy for advancing digital inclusion efforts grounded in Research and Advocacy, Partnerships and Coordination, Operational and Field Support, and Guidance and Capacity Building. Through these interventions, the programme seeks to contributes to UNHCR’s broader digital transformation efforts, building an evidence base and putting successful projects on pathways to scale.

The Digital Inclusion Programme provides technical and financial support to UNHCR operations to develop and deliver projects covering a wide range of digital inclusion thematics ranging from digital skills, to connectivity, to online safety and digital risk. Our efforts to advance digital inclusion are closely linked to broader goals around financial inclusion of refugees and leveraging digital as a pathway for developing livelihoods and advancing economic inclusion. To this end, the progrmame is beginning a new stream of work in 2022, supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, that focuses on digital risk and fair work in the digital economy (hereinafter referred to as ‘Digital Economy Project’), with a focus on the gig economy and digital labour platforms. This workstream is grounded in a joint-project between UNHCR and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and is delivered across two regions, including the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes region (covering Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Sudan in the region). For more information on the types of issues covered within the proposal see the UNHCR report “Connecting with Confidence” and ILO report “Towards decent work for young refugees and host communities in the digital platform economy in Africa: Kenya, Uganda, Egypt”.

The position The position is Nairobi-based, and it oversees the delivery of the Digital Inclusion Programme in the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Region, also delivering on the PROSPECTS proposal on “Promotion, Inclusion and Protection of Refugees in the Gig Economy: Realising rights at work and mitigating digital risk”, taking place between January 2022 and June 2023. The role will have an approximate 50/50 split in respect to time between core programme delivery and the digital economy project.

Firstly, as the Digital Inclusion programme provides financial and technical support to country operations, the post holder will be the primary focal point for support across the regions, providing guidance and insight from other projects to the UNHCR country teams embarking on digital inclusion innovation projects. It will also cover programmatic support and strategic guidance to country teams on how to build out digital inclusion programming at country level, beyond the innovation projects. The responsibilities will also extend to supporting other relevant innovation projects and requests, given the demand-driven nature of the role.

Secondly, the Digital Economy dimension will cover supporting country teams in the design and development of innovative country-level projects that cover issues relating to digital risk in the digital economy, as well as establishing regional policy networks and extending global initiatives to country teams in the region as applicable.

Duties and responsibilities:

  • Leading UNHCR Innovation Service’s Digital Inclusion efforts in the East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes region
  • Support with the design and development of country-level innovation / pilot projects in the region, providing support to country teams in monitoring, evaluation and learning
  • Oversee delivery of the PROSPECTS Digital Economy Project in the region
  • Regional coordination with ILO and other partners engaged through the project inc. digital labour platforms
  • Support country teams with community engagement and consultation in the design and delivery of the PROSPECTS projects, including the facilitation of community workshops
  • Coordinate and support Digital Economy Country projects in the region with technical support and guidance
  • Facilitating M&E across the regional initiatives, ensuring adequate documentation is produced including a mapping of projects and activities across the region
  • Support national and regional advocacy platforms as applicable
  • Create capacity building materials and carry out training to country operations in the region
  • Support global level project management and delivery, including liaising with expert consultants on key deliverables
  • Ensure that activities undertaken in the region are carried out with due consideration of data protection policies and frameworks
  • Support on other innovation activities / interventions as required

Essential minimum qualifications and professional experience required

Academic Qualifications

  • Undergraduate degree (essential) or Graduate degree (desired) in a related discipline (Politics, International Development, Human Rights, Telecommunications, Innovation, Technology, Engineering etc.)

Experience (Required / Desired)

  • Minimum of 2 years (with Graduate degree) or 3 years (with Undergraduate degree) of previous job experience in the working in a humanitarian aid or development context with prior experience or interest in issues relating to technology, telecommunications and digital services, a focus on emerging digital risks an advantage
  • Strong experience in coordination and project management required, with experience in the UN system a distinct advantage
  • Experience in delivering projects in the East Africa region with diverse stakeholder networks an advantage
  • Prior experience in playing a supporting function to humanitarian field operations an advantage
  • Prior experience working on issues of digital financial inclusion and livelihoods desired
  • Prior experience working in forced displacement contexts desired

Skills and Competencies

  • Excellent knowledge of English (both written and spoken) and working knowledge of French an advantage
  • Specific knowledge on digital technology and digital inclusion a distinct advantage
  • Knowledge of protection principles and community-based protection a distinct advantage
  • Highly organized and autonomous, able to multitask and prioritize workload when necessary
  • Excellent writing and documentation skills, demonstrating high levels of attention to detail
  • Works well in a multicultural team and has a strong work ethic: strives to deliver high-quality, error-free deliverables potentially targeting different types of users (e.g. senior management, fundraising specialists and advocacy officers)
  • Some knowledge of the ICT telecommunication sector desired

Core competencies

  • Innovation and Creativity – Generates innovative and creative solutions to problems that contribute to Organizational and inter-agency effectiveness. Tries different and novel ways of approaching work to create added value in the services provided.
  • Knowledge sharing – Actively develops and shares knowledge, leverages expertise to improve organizational and inter-agency effectiveness and add value within sphere of influence
  • Collaboration and Influence – Encourages teamwork and cooperates with others to achieve mutually beneficial results. Gains the support of others for own ideas and initiatives, regardless of formal authority and organizational boundaries
  • Critical Thinking and Judgment – Uses data, experience, and good judgment to make sound decisions and devise effective solutions to problems. Assesses and manages risk in own work

Location The successful candidate will be based with the team in Nairobi, Kenya.

Conditions It is a full-time role with working hours starting from 8.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday (40 hours per week).

This is a Temporary appointment for 6-months with a possible extension subject to performance and availability of the funds

How to apply

For a full job description and to apply, interested candidates are requested to visit the UNHCR career page at www.unhcr.org/careers – click on the Vacancies tab and enter job ID 38590.

Please note that the closing date for this TA advertisement is 31 July 2022 (midnight Geneva time).

The UNHCR workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages and opinions. UNHCR seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. Applications are encouraged from all qualified candidates without distinction on grounds of race, colour, sex, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Please note that UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, travelling, processing, training or any other fees).


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