South Sudan: Database and Portal Management Associate

Mar 20, 2022 | UNDP
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The United Nations Development Programme is a United Nations organization tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development.

Background

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

The South Sudan Transitional Constitution prioritizes private sector development as a pathway towards recovery, resilience, and peace. It also stresses that equitable economic development should be based on the agricultural and agro-industrial sectors and the promotion of the private sector within a framework of transparent and accountable governance. UNDP South Sudan’s Stabilization, Recovery, and Resilience (STARR) Unit is implementing the Skills for Youth Employability and Social Inclusion Project (SYESIP) in partnership with the Ministry of Labour, and with support from the African Development Bank (AfDB), in order to nurture market-linked skills and enhance employability and productive engagement in economic activities. The project aims to contribute to increasing the availability of quality demand-driven vocational skills in the labor market by skills training; internships and job placements; promotion of social cohesion and peacebuilding; and strengthening the capacity of national institutions including the Ministry of Labour.

The project supported the development of two portals - Employment Portal and Business Portal. The Employment Portal facilitates easier access to employment opportunities by bringing together employers and job seekers together in one platform. The Business Portal brings together various private sector stakeholders, such as start-ups, MSMEs, investors, mentors, etc. in one platform in order to enhance trade and private sector growth. These web portals are hosted on the servers of the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Trade and Industry respectively and require a dedicated IT specialist to ensure that the portals are running smoothly and user engagement continues to increase. In this regard, UNDP is looking for a qualified individual to support the ministries in managing the portals and the corresponding databases.

Scope of Work 

The Database and Portal Management Associate is responsible for the day-to-day management of the Employment Portal and the Business Portal, including overseeing the functionality of the websites, evaluating and managing website performance, facilitating hosting and server management, and developing, maintaining, and updating the portal content.

In addition, he/she will be responsible to ensures on a daily basis that the computer server that hosts the websites is running efficiently by performing upgrading and maintenance tasks on hardware and software, resolving technical problems, overseeing their activity levels, ensuring server security, and developing new system structures when necessary.

He/she is responsible for collecting, processing, storing, and analyzing data that will serve as the foundation for the databases under the said portals.

Duties and Responsibilities

Portal Management

  • Plan, implement, manage, monitor, and upgrade the portal and websites;
  • Respond to and troubleshoot all issues related to the portal;
  • Identify and respond to all portal security breaches;
  • Ensure that the portals are protected by enabling the appropriate security measures;
  • Update HTML, CSS and JavaScript regularly;
  • Conduct content audits to eliminate redundant and/or duplicate information;
  • Create appropriate website content aligned with the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Trade and Industry’s mission and vision and organizational standards;
  • Ensure website quality and efficiency by conducting regular test plans;
  • Improve the User Experience of the portal regularly;
  • Create strategies to grow subscriber base and web traffic metrics;
  • Ensure full compliance of the portals/websites with all laws and regulations;
  • Keep up-to-date with industry best practices and monitor competitor portals and sites.

Server Administration

  • Installs, configures, and optimizes operating systems;
  • Installs, tests, and documents security patches;
  • Develops, tests, documents, implements and enhances backup and recovery procedures;
  • Develops, documents, implements and enhances applications change-management procedures and activities;
  • Manage and administer all system users;
  • Configure, upgrade and repair network hardware such as routers, and switches;
  • Monitoring patches, permissions, and deployments for local and Azure hosted server;
  • Maintain and document all system users for audit trail as well as systems infrastructure;
  • Ensure replication and backup of Azure hosted and local server;
  • Monitor all software and hardware products and ensure compliance to standards and best practices;
  • Installation and maintenance of all hardware and software;
  • Arranging for the repair of hardware during hardware failures;
  • Install operating system, necessary files, and other related software;
  • Ensuring user activity is in compliance with the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Trade and Industry IT policies and procedures;
  • Administration and maintenance of all servers;
  • Maintain software library and backup media library;
  • Perform other related duties as assigned by the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Database Development and Management

  • Collect, organize, store, and analyze data generated from the portals;
  • Establish and maintain a database management system;
  • In consultation with the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and UNDP, develop a situation report template to review the performance of the portals and websites;
  • Generate a situation report every month.     

Institutional Arrangement

The Database and Portal Management Associate will support the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Trade and Industry under the supervision of the Senior Programme Advisor of UNDP’s Stabilization, Recovery, and Resilience (STARR) Unit and the guidance of UNDP’s ICT Specialist.

Competencies

Core Competencies

  • Achieve Results: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work;
  • Think Innovatively: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking;
  • Learn Continuously: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning;
  • Adapt with Agility: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process;
  • Act with Determination: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously;
  • Engage and Partner: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships;
  • Enable Diversity and Inclusion: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making.

Cross Functional and Technical Competencies 

Business Direction and Strategy

  • Strategic Thinking
    • Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP’s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities; linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions;
    • Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP.
  • System Thinking
    • Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.
  • Effective Decision making
    • Ability to take decisions in a timely and efficient manner in line with one’s authority, area of expertise and resources.

Business Management

  • Partnerships Management
    • Ability to build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies.
  • Communication
    • Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience
    • Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Completion of Secondary Education with specialized certification.Bachelor’s degree in Information and Communication Technology, System Engineering, Database Management, or related field is desirable.

Experience:

  • At least 6 years (with Secondary Education) and 3 years (with Bachelor's degree) of relevant experience in website management, systems administration, and establishment and management of a database management system;
  • Highly proficient in HTML, XHTML, CSS design, cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility, firewalls (functionality and maintenance), Access, mySQL and JavaScript; 
  • Great understanding of Search Engine Optimization (SEO); 
  • Demonstrated experience in the collection, processing, and analysis of data/information, including the production of situation reports, etc; 
  • Hands-on experience and knowledge with a minimum of two operating systems such as LINUX, Solaris, and Windows; 
  • Knowledge of the latest tools and applications on database management; 
  • Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate information collection, and monitor own work plan; 
  • Strong attention to detail with an analytical mind and outstanding problem-solving skills; 
  • Ability to troubleshoot website issues in a fast-paced environment;  
  • Mix of experience in working with the private sector, UN agencies, and national government is a plus.

Required Language

  • Excellent writing and oral communication skills in English;
  • Working knowledge of the local language is an advantage.