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 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 report. The report submitted by the consultant must not contain quoted and/or previously published text equaling 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 permission. The content of the generated document shall be the sole property of ESCWA.

Work Location

Remotely

Expected duration

13 weeks

Duties and Responsibilities

Background:

Cloud computing platforms and applications are proliferating across public and private sectors. Forecast estimates reflect promising applications in government, and maturing global market for cloud services, with proven scale, speed and security to support new business models. Government performance in terms of effectiveness and efficiency could be significantly enhanced by deploying cloud solutions . In fact, cloud computing services provide users with a series of functions including emails, storage, backup, and data retrieval, creating and testing apps, analyzing data, Audio and video streaming and delivering software on demand.
The United Nations is involved in enhancing the use of new technologies for sustainable development. In September 2018, the UN Secretary General launched the UN strategy on New Technologies , that included UN commitment to support member states in building capacities and promoting dialogue on normative and cooperation frameworks.
In the world, many countries developed their own national policies and guidelines to coordinate and maximise the benefits of using cloud platforms. In UK, for example, the Government Cloud Strategy was issued in 2011, as a sub-ICT government strategy . It includes a vision, focus areas and delivery mechanisms. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in USA has produced in 2014 the US Government Cloud Computing Technology Roadmap to support a secure and effective adoption of the Cloud Computing Strategy, published in 2011.
Recently. several countries in the Arab region initiated the development of national policies for Cloud computing in public sector. In 2017, Bahrain issued the Cloud First policy, to reduce costs, increase security, productivity and agility for better citizen services . UAE has published the Cloud-first strategy and guidelines in 2018, aiming to turn the country into a regional data hub . Jordan has approved its government cloud policy in 2020 and Syria published its officially adopted policy in 2023.
UN-ESCWA, through its technical cooperation program, is committed to provide technical assistance to its member states to boost national efforts towards the achievement of the 2030 Development Agenda. Recently, the Communications and Media Commission (CMC) in Iraq requested UN-ESCWA’s assistance in developing a national Government Cloud Computing policy in Iraq.
The provision of this advisory service is the subject of these terms of reference.

Duties and Responsibilities:

Based on the above objectives, the consultant shall propose to the designated ESCWA focal point a detailed version of the report, that should cover the following activities:

-Review the existing documents and initiatives in Iraq related to digital transformation, ICT, cloud computing, and other national development plans.
-Review best regional and international practices related to cloud computing policies (at least 3 regional and 3 international cases with justification);
-Identify main stakeholders concerned with cloud computing applications in Iraq;
-Conduct one-to-one meetings with main national stakeholders and specialized hands-on practitioners identified above.
-Suggest a national policy for Government cloud computing in Iraq along with recommendations on best implementation methodologies. This suggestion will be built on the gap analysis, national needs and international and regional practices;

In addition, the consultant would also ensure the following activities:

-Present the draft framework in a national meeting or workshop (if any) and capture the main comments and findings of the discussions.
-Update the draft proposal according to all received feedback and comments during the reviewing process by ESCWA and CMC.

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 and thereby ensure that the narrative language should be gender sensitive.

IBM (2019), Transforming government with cloud technologies
https://www.un.org/en/newtechnologies/images/pdf/SGs-Strategy-on-New-Technologies.pdf
HM (2011), the Government Cloud strategy.
iGA – Bahrain (2017), Cloud First policy.
UAE (2018), Cloud first strategy and guidelines.
https://www.modee.gov.jo/ebv4.0/root_storage/en/eb_list_page/cloudpolicy-2020-english.pdf

Qualifications/special skills

A master’s degree in ICT, technology, engineering, computer science or any other 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.
A minimum of five years of 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.

Languages

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 Arabic is required. Fluency in English is desirable.

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.