Background
Challenge: The Ebola epidemic exposed substantial weaknesses in West Africa’s digital infrastructure, which significantly impedes the prevention, detection and response to public health crises, particularly in rural and remote communities. As the Ebola outbreak erupted across West Africa, healthcare workers’ ability to respond to the crisis was severely hampered by a lack of reliable digital infrastructure and services. Communities were unable to call for life-saving medical support. Healthcare providers were unable to access valuable outside expertise. Health care workers were not paid. Disease-control and response operations data was limited, costing valuable time in fighting this deadly disease.
The baseline digital infrastructure of Ebola-affected countries was already unreliable –and the outbreak further degraded what exists. More specifically, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs), witnessed substantial losses in revenue because economies slowed considerably, high-value accounts scaled back, and operating costs related to fuel and technical personnel increased. Rural communities, often living in sparsely populated and remote areas, are particularly disadvantaged with regard to access to digital services.
Opportunity: The benefits of investing in digital infrastructure are unparalleled. For many developing countries, the digital economy is proving to be one of the largest and fastest growth sectors with respect to GDP and employment.[1] Scaling Internet access in Africa could produce $318 billion in productivity gains across all sectors of the economy by 2025. These include up to $70 billion in gains in education, up to $188 billion in gains in health, $25 billion in government, and $3 billion in agriculture [2]. Fully functioning internet and cellular connectivity as well as mobile money and data systems for critical health information are essential for enabling an effective early response to an outbreak, natural disaster or other critical emergency. Growing West Africa’s digital capacity can help mitigate the next crisis, while having a demonstrable impact improving resilience and economic growth by creating new opportunities and markets.
The ending of the Ebola epidemic in the region provides an opportunity to take stock and consider how the substantial resources flowing into the region can be used not only to address ongoing emergency needs but to strengthen the broader digital infrastructure – with the objective to dramatically strengthen e-government (including health information systems), social protection systems, digital financial systems and crisis preparedness monitoring systems to respond to future public health threats. In addition to improving response in the health system, these innovation and information communication technologies (ICT) will contribute to bolstering citizen confidence in government, improved integration of rural citizens into the national economies, jumpstarting of urban and rural economies, and improved preparedness to handle future crises.
This will require an integrated national strategy across donors, government agencies, MNOs, ISPs, to align investments in the broadband backbone, mobile money payment systems, e-governance platforms, and human and institutional capacity in order to expand connectivity and provide a diverse range of high-quality services.
For the affected countries to recover from Ebola-related economic contraction through participation in this growth, critical investment in the digital infrastructure is needed.
USAID’s Global Development Lab supports Mission, host country, and implementing partners to leverage the capabilities of emerging digital ecosystems to achieve our shared development goals. The Lab advocates the expanded use of ICT for development (ICT4D) tools and resources within the Agency’s operations and program activities by focusing on three key areas:
Digital Inclusion (DI) - Identify and address existing barriers to connectivity and mobile adoption that underpin the Agency’s (and beneficiaries’) ability to maximize mobile technologies to meet development needs.
Digital Financial Services (DFS) – Promote DFS platforms as a way to drive financial inclusion, increase transparency and accountability, and enhance the efficiency of development activities
Real-Time Data Systems (RTD) – Accelerate the use of mobile devices and other data systems to collect information about the USAID-funded projects and sectors and to establish two-way, direct communication between citizens, governments, and aid organizations to facilitate accountability, with a particular focus on Health Information Systems in the wake of the Ebola epidemic
ICT4D Technical Advisor, Liberia Mission
As part of the U.S. Government’s Ebola Recovery effort, the Lab is currently managing and supporting a portfolio of ICT4D activities that directly support spanning the above three focus areas (DI, DFS and RTD) plus GIS mapping in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. USAID/Liberia and the Lab seek an in-country specialist and primary liaison between the Mission, the USAID/Washington Lab team, the government, and other development partners. This Advisor will: 1) lead project/partnership development, coordination, and technical support with the Liberia Mission, Lab, and respective partners (60%); 2) engage on technical and policy issues with the government’s telecommunications-related Ministry and agencies, the private sector, donors, and implementing partners (20%); and 3) provide strategic planning, policy development, and oversight of ICT integration into Mission Programming and of Lab-supported Ebola response and recovery activities in Liberia(20%).
The Monrovia-based Advisor will carry out his/her duties and responsibilities under the direct guidance of the Mission Program Officer and the Lab Ebola Senior Coordinator. The Advisor will support the Lab’s technical teams in the areas of Connectivity/Inclusion, Digital Financial Services and RTD, as well as the Mission portfolio priorities such as e-government, Food for Peace, etc., helping to build stronger linkages between Mission and partners in the region and the U.S. Global Development Lab team in Washington, D.C. The Advisor will work closely with the Lab’s DC-based Ebola Response Digital Payments Advisor and Ebola Connectivity Advisor, as well as the RTD team and Liberia lead for Health Information Systems activities to manage both country and regional portfolios as related to ongoing Lab programming in the region.
Responsibilities
Project/Program Management, Partnership Development, and Technical Support/Coordination (60%)
- Manage existing activities and develop new opportunities with Mission Teams and partners across the three main program areas of connectivity/digital inclusion, electronic payments and health information systems, including partnerships with private sector, civil society, donor and government actors.
- Engage a wide set of stakeholders from intra-governmental USG partners, private sector, multilateral agencies, and foreign organizations with respect to coordinating on integration of ICT4D approaches and best practices. Formalize partnership agreements to ensure roles and responsibilities are clearly defined across a broad array of actors collaborating with USAID.
- Convene and participate in technical meetings, consultations, and working groups with key stakeholders to address issues with data, mobile payments, and digital inclusion both internally and within the wider international development community.
- Collaborate with related Mission projects to ensure they are reaping the benefits of digitization. [Deliverable: Mission coordination map -- Shows digital integration opportunities and needs across Mission programing]
- Identify and facilitate the use of appropriate implementing mechanisms that best meet program needs, facilitating expert guidance during the design of activities employing ICT tools.
- Serve as the Lab point of contact (in coordination with the Mission) to coordinate and support Lab team activities in Liberia (including related TDYs and travel to the region from Lab staff and implementing partners), monitor ongoing performance of implementers with regards to stated objectives, support M&E activities in-country.
- In conjunction with LAB/Ebola Communications staff and the Africa Bureau Ebola Unit, prepare and disseminate communications resources targeted to both internal and external audiences. Manage and disseminate related financial, personnel, communication, support, and program documentation.
- Develop working relationships and processes which enable long-term sustainability of the Lab’s collaboration with the Liberia Mission team, including building and strengthening relationships between Lab Washington-based team members and Mission staff. Participate in weekly Lab staff meetings via video conference and Mission staff meetings as appropriate.
Technical Advisory Services, Communications, and Knowledge Generation (20%)
- Provide technical and organizational advisory support to representatives from the Government of Liberia, as well as other donors and civil society organizations, to assist these entities in integrating technology tools and approaches to better meet their objectives.
- Organize and coordinate dissemination and knowledge sharing events to capture partner learning, engage public-private dialogue on connectivity and payments, in particular. This will include developing follow-on public-private fora on connectivity policy and technical collaboration, along with payment system development and alignment between public (G2P) payment streams and private sector value chain opportunities.
- Participate in conferences, trainings, and other means of promoting, creating knowledge, and building skills related to the use of Digital Development in Agency development activities.
- Consult with other federal agencies (including but not limited to U.S. Treasury, Federal Communications Commission, DOD, Millennium Challenge Corporation, CDC and Department of State), and foreign organizations with respect to coordinating the use of digital tools for Ebola recovery and accelerating development.
- Contribute to the Lab’s learning environment with insights from the Ebola recovery programming and engagement in the region as a whole.
- Coordinate with Mission on all Lab activities in the region and monitor ongoing performance of implementers, with regards to stated objectives. Track and report on performance with bi-weekly status updates and deliverable reviews at stated milestones.
- Prepare and disseminate Lab resources targeted to both internal and external audiences, in conjunction with LAB/Ebola Communications staff and Legislative and Public Affairs (LPA) where appropriate. Material development will focus largely on the Lab’s Ebola recovery efforts in Liberia, include materials for communications (including social media), training, support, and reporting. Share knowledge garnered from TDYs, research, meetings, and other sources.
Strategic Planning, Policy Development, and Oversight (20%)
- Participate in bilateral Mission program design and planning activities as appropriate including CDCS, portfolio reviews, program design, TECs, etc.
- Develop budget requests and activity scopes of work for consideration and approval
Qualifications
● Proficiency in English (comprehension, verbal communication) is necessary
● Strong experience in ICT4D with particular emphasis placed on connectivity and digital inclusion
● Technical level expertise should be sufficient to ensure the ICT lead is aware of and current on technology solution sets that would be appropriate for meeting the challenges in rural and developing country settings. Experience in Liberia is preferred.
● Engineering experience and work experience in a developing world context, preferably on telecommunications design and installation, is encouraged.
● Ideally the candidate would have a technical telecommunications degree, preferably at least at a Masters level, and with at least 5-10 years of experience in the public sector, private sector, or both.
● Comfortable forming, leading or being part of teams, working with other stakeholders to achieve common goals.
● Excellent analytical, communications, and project management skills
● Strong general IT skills, including ability to work regularly with MS Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint
● Candidates for this position may be local country citizens of Liberia, American citizens or third country nationals. This position will require regular travel in the West Africa region and to the U.S. The candidate will be based primarily in Monrovia, Liberia.
● This position will be a one-year term with potential for extension to a second year.
[1] See Booz & Company's Digitization in Emerging Economies Report as well as World Economic Forum’s Global Information Technology Report 2013 (NRI – Readiness and Impact)
[2] Manyka, James, et al. "Lions go digital: The Internet’s transformative potential in Africa (McKinsey)." New York (2013).
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