Electoral System Developer (Elections)

The Revitalized Agreement for the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) signed in September 2018 and the subsequent formation of a Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-Tono) in February 2020 ended several years of civil war in South Sudan. One of the key benchmarks in the Agreement is the conduct of elections. In August 2022 the Roadmap to the Agreement extended the transitional period and stipulated elections be held in December 2024. These elections will be South Sudan’s first elections as a sovereign state. A United Nations electoral Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) was deployed to the country in May 2021 and a Trilateral team, composed of African Union Mission in South Sudan (AUMISS), Intergovernmental Authority on Development in Eastern Africa (IGAD) and the UN, conducted a needs assessment and evaluation of the electoral and permanent constitution making processes in 2022. In January 2023 the Government of South Sudan formally requested the United Nations to provide electoral assistance recognizing the need to begin planning and preparations for the elections, including establishing the legal framework, reconstitution of the National Elections Commission (NEC), working with political parties, civil society and the media raising public awareness and creating conditions for inclusive participation of citizens. A UN Integrated Electoral Assistance Team (IEAT) has been established led by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and UNDP as part of the IEAT has set up the South Sudan Electoral Support (SSES) project. 
 

The successful candidate will have the following specific responsibilities:

• Review and analyse the voter registration capturing system (VR) and Results Management System (RMS) requirements in line with the Business Requirements.
• Review and analyse the different systems to be identify in cooperation with the NEC in line with the Business Requirements.
• Provide input into the Business, System and Functional Requirements document.
• Provide input into the overall system development and production system requirements.
• Develop the system content and designs in line with the requirements.
• Design the Database delimitations and database tables for the voter registration, candidate nomination and RMS and other ICT systems.
• Follow an Agile approach to system content development under the guidance of the UNDP ICT International Advisors.
• Advise with the design of testing parameters with the assistance of the UNDP ICT International Advisors.
• As Advise in defining the development strategy in line with a fully integrated and interactive training system which is modular based.
• Making use of IT standard practices assist in developing the Agile SDLC with guidance from the UNDP ICT International Advisors.
• Share and participate in JAD sessions and provide sound advice to all relevant stakeholders including BEC.
• Drafts reports as requested by the ICT international advisors.
• Facilitate knowledge and capacity building, knowledge sharing, and advocacy relevant to the assigned thematic areas.
• The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization. 

Institutional Arrangement

The Electoral System Developer, under the overall guidance of Chief Technical Advisor and direct supervision of the Electoral Technology Specialist, is expected to support the development of NEC electoral ICT systems and contribute to the capacity development of the NEC ICT Department staff.  

ICT: Stakeholder Management: Ability to work with incomplete information and balance competing interests to create value for all stakeholders.

ICT : Data Analysis: Ability to extract, analyze and visualize ICT data to form meaningful insights and aid effective business decision making.

Business Development: Knowledge Facilitation:  Ability to animate individuals and communities of contributors to participate and share, particularly externally

Business Management: 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.

Business Management: Customer Satisfaction/Client Management: Ability to respond timely and appropriately with a sense of urgency, provide consistent solutions, and deliver timely and quality results and/or solutions to fulfil and understand the real customers' needs. 

• Provide inputs to the development of customer service strategy. 
• Look for ways to add value beyond clients' immediate requests. 
• Ability to anticipate client's upcoming needs and concerns.

Business Management: Monitoring: Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback on the consistency or discrepancy between planned and actual activities and programme performance and results

Business Direction & Strategy: 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
 

Education:

• Advanced university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in Information System, Software Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, Sustainable Development, Economics, Data Science, Social Sciences, or related area is required. or;
• A first level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with additional 2 years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree. 

Experience:

• Minimum five (5) years (with master’s degree) or seven (7) years (with bachelor’s degree) of progressively responsible experience in managing the development and execution of digital and data analytics projects, innovations; cooperation and collaboration of sectors with development partners, civil society organizations, and/or government agencies.

Required Skills:

• Experience in information and computer technology with knowledge of web application content development;
• Experience and knowledge in content design and architecture and knowledge in understanding System and Business Requirements Documents;
• Experience in working effectively with diverse groups of professionals towards common goals.

Desired Skills:

• Experience and understanding of development languages making use of .Net, Java and Open-Source technologies (PHP, etc);
• Experience and understanding of Database designs and best practices and understanding of database security, understand and demonstrate knowledge in LAMP and MAMP technologies;
• Experience in web-based best practice design methods and knowledge in the understanding of Agile development methodologies, OO and UML design;
• Experience in implementing web-based applications and experience to design, managing development, test, analyze customized applications and large data sets and a basic; knowledge of graphic design tools and applications;
• Experience in ICT Project Management;
• Experience in improving operational efficiency.