Mission and objectives

Since its inception in 1972, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been the global authority that sets the environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. UNEP’s mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations. Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, UNEP works through its divisions as well as regional, liaison and out-posted offices and a growing network of collaborating centres of excellence.

Context

UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is the United Nations systems designated entity for addressing environmental issues at the global and regional level. Its mandate is to coordinate the development of environmental policy consensus by keeping the global environment under review and bringing emerging issues to the attention of governments and the international community for action. This assignment is located in the UNEP’s Corporate Services Division (CSD), at the Nairobi duty station. The Enterprise Solutions Section in CSD is mandated to enable efficient programme delivery through the use of ICT and emerging technology standards, solution and overall business process automation supporting the organization’s programme of work. It undertakes a wide range of services, activities, and projects. It works closely with clients throughout the project life cycle to tailor the services to their needs ensuring that the solution meets the required objectives from a specification, resource, and time perspective.

Task Description

Under the direct supervision of an Officer in the Section and in close engagement with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP ) business process owners, the volunteer will be part of a team to design, develop, and implement various workflow automation and service request tracking systems. The volunteer will undertake the following duties: • Assisting in the business analysis, development, and deployment of software solutions • Assisting in the establishment, maintenance, and optimization of IT infrastructure • Assisting with the preparation of data sets, responding to queries, and maintaining reports/dashboards • Assisting in monitoring and troubleshooting system issues as they arise • Assisting in performing routine system updates and upgrades as necessary • Assisting in vulnerability identification, remediation, and monitoring of patches • Assisting in implementing and managing continuous delivery systems and methodologies • Assisting in troubleshooting and resolving issues in development, test, and production environments • Documenting all processes, systems, and software updates in a clear and concise manner Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to: • Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant United Nations Volunteers (UNV ) and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day (IVD)). • Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country. • Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities. • Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc. • Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers. • Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible. Results/Expected Output: As an active UNEP team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly, and high-quality support is rendered to UNEP and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of their functions, including the following outputs: • Conducting regular vulnerability scans and reporting risks. • Successful deployment of operating system (OS ) patches and updates with proper documentation. • Timely provisioning and configuration of new infrastructure following internal standards. • Maintaining cloud Identity and Access Management (IAM ) policies, tagging, and resource cost-awareness. • Documentation of incidents and actions taken to resolve them.

Competencies and values

Professionalism Adaptability and Flexibility Creativity Technology Awareness

Living conditions and remarks

The Republic of Kenya is an equatorial nation on the coast of East Africa, neighbouring Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Indian Ocean. Kenya has two levels of Government;National Government and 47 sub-national Governments called Counties. Counties are further di-vided into sub-counties. Kenya is a multi-party state with Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. Kenya’s population of more than 40 million is growing at an annual rate of 2.2%. The country’s GNP per capita estimated at purchasing power parity (PPP) is $975, and the GNP is growing at an average rate of 0.1% annually. More than 26% of Kenya’s people live below the international poverty line of $1 per day. Kenya’s main food crops are “maize, wheat, pulses, roots and tubers.” (FAO). Nairobi is a modern metropolitan city where most basic goods and services, health facilities, pub-lic transport, telecommunication and banking services and educational facilities are readily avail-able. The city is widely connected through its main airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, and the smaller Wilson Airport. Air transport is also available to many up-country destinations. The city is home to some 3,000 UN personnel mainly attributed to the fact that it serves as the headquarters for both the UN HABITAT and UNEP. The socio-economic and cultural background of the immediate society the UNV would be living and working in is diverse and prevailing security conditions at the place of assignment is modest. The topographic and climatic features of the assignment location is highland cool and warm trop-ical climate. The contract lasts for the period indicated above with possibility of extensions subject to availability of funding, operational necessity and satisfactory performance. However, there is no expectation of renewal of the assignment. A UN Volunteer receives a Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA) per month and is paid at the end of each month to cover housing, utilities, transportation, communications and other basic needs. The VLA can be computed by applying the Post-Adjustment Multiplier (PAM) to the VLA base rate of US$1,602. The VLA base rate is a global rate, while the PAM is country-specific and fluctuates on a monthly basis according to the cost of living. This method ensures that international UN Volunteers have comparable purchasing power at all duty stations irrespective of varying costs of living. The PAM is established by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) and is published at the beginning of every month on the ICSC website http://icsc.un.org. For example, kindly enter the link Calculator. In non-family duty stations that belong to hardship categories D or E, as classified by the ICSC, international UN Volunteers receive a Well-Being Differential (WBD) on a monthly basis. Furthermore, UN Volunteers are provided a settling-in-grant (SIG) at the start of the assignment (if the volunteer did not reside in the duty station for at least 6 months prior to taking up the assignment) and also in the event of a permanent reassignment to another duty station. UNV provides life, health, permanent disability insurances as well as assignment travel, annual leave, full integration in the UN security framework (including residential security reimbursements). UN Volunteers are paid Daily Subsistence Allowance at the UN rate for official travels, flight tickets for the final repatriation travel (if applicable). A resettlement allowance is paid for satisfactory service at the end of the assignment. UNV will provide, together with the offer of assignment, a copy of the Conditions of Service, including Code of conduct, to the successful candidate. Disclaimer The United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV) is an equal opportunity programme which welcomes applications from qualified professionals. We are committed to achieving diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and culture.