Result of Service

The report prepared should be in Arabic and in electronic format.

The report submitted should not be less than 30 pages.
A 2 to 4 pages executive summary of the report. The completed parts should be edited and saved in MS-Word (*.docx file) or an alternate compatible format. PDF format will not be accepted. It should include a table of contents to be automatically updated followed by a list of all tables and figures. The various parts should be submitted in electronic form and sent to the email address of the designated focal point. Attention is kindly drawn to the need to ensure that the final draft of the outputs be thoroughly reviewed prior to submission and to indicate the sources of tables and diagrams. References to reports and other substantive material should be clearly indicated within the text and noted at the end. It is also essential to send, with the completed output, photocopies or scans of at least the first page of books, reports and bulletins, used as reference material as well as copies of the pages quoted. The content of the generated document shall be the sole property of ESCWA. The consultant shall keep in mind that UN-ESCWA routinely checks all deliverables for plagiarism, using readily available electronic tools. All previously published content, even if written by the selected consultant, must be clearly referenced where required within the text and end-noted at the end of the study. The report submitted by the consultant must not contain quoted and/or previously published text equalling more than 20 per cent of the total number of pages. The consultant shall not publish or announce or reveal the content of the report, partly or entirely, on social media or any other public channel, without ESCWA and EQA permission. The content of the generated document shall be the sole property of ESCWA.

Work Location

Remote

Expected duration

16 weeks

Duties and Responsibilities

GENERAL SCOPE From an automated government through e-Government to a smart and open government, technology and innovation have become vital tools for managing and conducting government business, serving its citizens, and achieving its development targets. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development states that good governance at all levels as well as transparent, effective and accountable institutions are necessary to build peaceful societies and achieve sustainable development. In this Agenda, specific measures are given to achieve such societies especially in Goal 16 “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels”. Under this goal, the development of effective, accountable and transparent institutions (16.6), responsive, inclusive participatory and representative decision-making (16.7) and public access to information (16.10) are promoted as targets. To implement these targets, a partnership, between the Government, the private sector, civil society, other stakeholders (such as the public, and regional, sub-regional and international institutions) and citizens, is envisioned. Better governance and better public institutions are essential elements in achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Technology and innovation provide governments with options to achieve the individual targets set out in Goal 16. Innovation in the public sector provides new processes, products and services that can either be new technologies or be supported by technologies that promotes access to information, inclusiveness, citizen participation, accountability, transparency and responsiveness. When the government adopts news technologies and openness as part of its paradigm, the possibility of collaboration, shared responsibility and co-decision-making, strengthens the government and empowers its citizens. The United Nations is involved in enhancing the use of emerging technologies for sustainable development. In September 2024 during the Summit of the Future, world leaders adopted the Pact for the Future and its annexes: the Global Digital Compact (GDC) and Declaration on Future Generations. The GDC mandates UN Regional Commissions to provide support to Member States to advance digital transformation. Recently, many Arab countries started developing/updating their national plans and strategies to reflect the aspects of digital government transformation. The Environment Quality Authority (EQA) in Palestine requested the technical assistance of ESCWA to develop their digital transformation strategy. The objective of this consultancy is to provide an advisory service to assist ESCWA team in suggesting the digital strategy to the Authority. DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES The consultant shall propose to the designated ESCWA focal point a detailed version of the digital transformation strategy. To produce the draft strategy, the consultant is requested to conduct, among others, the main following tasks: 1. Review the national digital documents and the existing policies and strategies in Palestine related to digital transformation, innovation, digital technologies, and other related national development plans; 2. Review best regional and international best practices related to Digital Transformation Strategies and policies (at least 2 selected regional and 2 international cases); 3. Identify main national stakeholders, hold, in coordination with EQA, interviews and meetings with the main national stakeholders and realising minutes of each meeting/interview summarizing the discussed points, their remarks, observations and proposals; 4. Contribute to sectoral workshops to discuss needs and priorities, if needed; 5. Assessment of EQA available capabilities, including current IT infrastructure, equipment, services and platforms; 6. Hold meetings with EQA departments to better understand EQA current digital status. This may include existing work procedures, process workflows, forms and interconnections between procedures, key business processes across departments and EQA offices in governorates and the HQ in Ramallah, Data centre project, EQA website, the need for AI systems if any. 7. Prepare the needed digital transformation strategy based on international and regional best practices, gap analysis, national needs (SWOT analysis) and technical analysis; 8. Present the draft report in a national workshop or meeting (physically or remotely) and capture the main comments and findings of the discussions; 9. Update the draft proposal according to all received feedback and comments during the reviewing process by ESCWA and EQA. The final draft report includes the above-mentioned assessment, SWOT, the suggested strategy with timeframe of implementation of identified initiatives. ESCWA promotes gender equality and integration of youth through its publications and therefore the consultant should pay attention, with the help of ESCWA staff, to gender considerations and youth dimension throughout the research work to ensure that the report gives equal attention to the needs of both men and women, as well as girls and boys. Writing should use gender-sensitive language

Qualifications/special skills

A Master's degree in ICT, technology, engineering, computer science or a related field is required. A Ph.D. degree is desirable. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. At least 7 years of professional experience and research in the domain of digital technologies is required. Previous experience in management and planning is required. Previous experience in the delivery of research papers is desirable. Previous experience in the development of digital plans is desirable. Knowledge of the environmental issues in Palestine is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, fluency in written and spoken Arabic and English is required. Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.

Development of Digital Transformation Strategy for the Environment Quality Authority in Palestine