ICT Specialist, Union Assembly of Myanmar

Background

Background to Parliament Strengthening Output of the UNDP Myanmar and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

The Parliament Strengthening work started in April 2013. UNDP and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), has engaged with the Union Assembly of Myanmar to identify areas where the capacity of the Union Assembly can be built for it to effectively discharge its constitutional mandate. Based on a series of assessment missions and discussions with senior political leaders in both the Pyithu Hluttaw and the Amyotha Hluttaw, UNDP and the IPU has develop a parliamentary strengthening component which includes a long-term, multi-faceted approach to capacity building. It covers capacity building for the Parliamentarians, the Parliamentary Administration as well as for the Regional/ State Parliaments. This assignment mainly contributes to the capacity building for the parliamentary ICT and Information Management (IM) development.

ICT in Myanmar Hluttaw

Between mid-2013 to date, there has been a comprehensive development in the Myanmar Hluttaw aimed towards increasing the Administration’s capacities to provide better (e-)services in support of parliamentary work through the establishment of the right ICT foundations, and the implementation of efficient and modern Information Management (IM) systems.

The link between ICT and IM and the delivery of services, is that ICT provides the enabling environment, through robust and reliable data storage-, communications-, and system hosting infrastructure, and a related set of operations and management processes. Modern IM makes intensive use of this environment e.g. for creating, storing, and managing specific data and records, which are created during parliamentary work throughout the day. Such data and records can be draft legislation (Bills), committee reports, daily Agenda and other business of the plenary documents, plenary minutes, voting records and much more. Without modern IM, it is a challenge to deliver parliamentary e-services, which allow daily information and documentation to be provided (through internal systems) to Members, Committees and parliamentary staff, for them to become more effective in their work, and the public (through parliamentary web communication tools) for it to become more engaged in parliamentary work.

While there has been a steady build-up of ICT and IM capacities within the Hluttaw, the actual roll out of new IM systems and delivery of e-services into the hands of end users, including providing end user support, is still in its infancy. This is mainly due to the fact that everything had to be built from scratch, starting in 2013. Putting the foundations in place, building systems and capacities to manage processes takes time. The use of technologies on the ‘work floor’ in the Hluttaw is something relatively new. At the same time managers and staff are keenly interested and eager to learn to adopt the new, more efficient and effective ways of conducting parliamentary work and deliver better services and information to assist MPs in their important work.

Objectives:

The ICT Specialist, recruited by UNDP/IPU is a management support role to the Union Assembly, with the overall duties to provide ICT planning, systems development and implementation, including roll out and operational support, and related ICT capacity building and advisory support to the Hluttaw management, through the ICT steering committee, and the Hluttaw ICT teams. The ICT Specialist will on a daily basis provide hands-on assistance and coaching/mentoring to the Hluttaw ICT teams in overseeing all ICT operations, and system development initiatives.

In support of developing the Hluttaw ICT teams and their management capacities, the ICT Specialist will provide strategic inputs and technical guidance to the ICT steering committee, and relevant Hluttaw managers in order for them to decide on the necessary ICT organizational structure, roles, responsibilities, processes, methodologies, standard operating procedures, etc. to a level that allows internal succession to independently manage ICT and IM decision making.

Duties and responsibilities:

In this role, the Parliamentary ICT Specialist will be responsible for supporting the Hluttaw to meet the goals of the Hluttaw Strategic Plan 2019-20122 and the supporting ICT Strategy Plan 2017-2018 goals and objectives through:

• Working (as per delegation of the ICT steering committee) with the Hluttaw ICT leadership, ICT senior officers, managers and staff, in identifying areas of support, leading the parliamentary ICT operations and developing capacity building programmes that respond to identified needs;
• Helping Hluttaw ICT managers, to formulate ICT business cases, project plans and implementation proposals for Hluttaw Departments, including at the more detail level the writing of business requirements, functional and technical specifications, IT project plans, including stage planning, budgets, and resources allocation;
• Conducting desk review to understand ICT infrastructure, ICT-related institutional arrangements in the parliament offices, ICT-related business processes,
• Guiding ICT teams in their IT system development projects, ensuring that work is conducted according to standard system implementation life cycle (from requirements, to system prototypes, to fully tested system units);
• Guiding and assisting ICT teams with preparing system roll out activities (including system release management, preparation of training material and planning), and actual introduction to end users through end user training delivery, and provision of end user help desk support following ‘system go-live’.
• Working with the Hluttaw ICT managers in supporting the daily operation of Hluttaw Data Centre, and connected networks to enable the sustained delivery of intranet and integrated of web services;
• Assisting Hluttaw officials to prepare for, take part and engage in international workshops and conferences related to ICT in Parliament E.g. World e-Parliament Conferences, ICT Study Tours etc., and to learn to report and present findings upon their return to the ICT steering committees, with the aim to validate/discuss inclusion of potential relevant ICT initiatives in the ICT development roadmap;
• Assisting Hluttaw ICT managers to develop business case studies to provide for potential ICT infrastructural linkages / access between the Hluttaw and the state and regional parliaments, based on overall cost-effectiveness and ICT concepts of shared-resources/services;
• Assisting in developing Hluttaw ICT staff  training inputs, learning and career development paths based on overall Hluttaw ICT needs, individual or unit level staff skills and global e-Parliament best practices with UNDP/IPU ICT training programme;
• Identify peer learning opportunities among different departments to share lessons learned, positive changes experienced,
• Provide ICT advice to the Hluttaw, as required, in the current development of its 2019-2022 strategic plan.

Qualifications

Education:

• Higher education in IT or Computer Science or Business Administration

Experience:

• a minimum 5 years of work experience with significant ICT project management skills, including conducting ICT needs assessments, developing ICT business cases, designing ICT implementation projects, stage planning, resource mobilization.
• Proven record of project management responsibility for organisational ICT initiatives and projects and implementing change management programs;
• Excellent knowledge of ICT system implementation stages, including business analysis, requirements documentation management, system and functional testing and quality assurance;
• Relevant work experience in ICT infrastructure management, system design, disaster recovery and business continuity planning;
• Proven ability to work and communicate with groups of technical and non-technical team members and users;
• Work experience with internet/intranet/client-server/database technologies
• Experience with data center management and network administration;
• Previous experience with modern electronic document management systems, enterprise content management and intranet platforms, knowledge management systems, digital archives/institutional repository, and office automation;

Competencies:

• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic direction of the Hluttaw Strategic Plan 2019-2022
• Client orientation, partnering and working in/with government or international organization;
• Excellent Communication skills, including the ability to write in a clear and concise manner;
• Able to prepare strategic information and advice for decision makers;
• People management, especially performance management, team-building and staff IT training & development;
• Impartiality, political neutrality and ability to identify issues and to use sound judgment;
• Ability to work under pressure and achieve results according to schedule;
• Self-Management /Emotional Intelligence;
• Analytical and strategic thinking and results orientation/commitment to excellence; and
• Knowledge sharing /continuous learning.
• Resourceful – knows how to acquire new technical information and understandings.

Technical Expertise:

In-depth knowledge, current expertise and demonstrated experience in the following:

• Enterprise Content Management systems e.g. Microsoft SharePoint (2013 or higher)
• Delivery of corporate application management and end user support, including through helpdesk organization, processes, and services
• Windows based domain control, file system environments, Active directory management,
• Data Centre operations, server virtualization with VMware, backup system, Antivirus server
• Server systems and applications including e-mail, web server, file server, Virtual private network;
• Databases and web-based ICT solutions (e.g. MSSQL, MySQL, Drupal etc);
• Relevant programming software used for portal development and/or CMS platform (e.g. PHP);
• Able to use MS Project and MS Visio.

Other:

Experience of working in parliaments or government environments is considered an advantage;  IT project management certification (or evidence of training) will be highly considered; Microsoft certifications (e.g. SharePoint) highly considered. Knowledge and Commitment to the Common Principles for Support to Parliaments

UNDP & IPU are 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.

Language:

The working languages are Myanmar and English.

Management

The Parliamentary Capacity Development Specialist will work under the operational supervision of the UNDP Chief Technical Adviser (CTA) who is based in Naypyitaw and provides strategic and technical support to the PSP in coordination with the IPU Manager, Technical Cooperation Programme, who is based in Geneva.

The Parliamentary Capacity Development Specialist will report to the IPU Manager, Technical Cooperation Programme and will provide regular progress updates by email and Skype.

Location

The UNDP/IPU Parliamentary Support Program-Project Office, the Office of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, Zabuthiri Building, Naypyitaw, Myanmar.

Duties will be conducted in Naypyitaw.

Period of Work

February to December 2020. Initial contracts will be followed by an extension pending confirmation of funding.

Working Hours

8:30am-5:30pm with one-hour lunch break; or as agreed with line manager (eight hour working day).