The East African Community is a regional intergovernmental organization comprising the Republic of Burundi, the Republic of Kenya, the Republic of Rwanda, the United Republic of Tanzania,  the Republic of Uganda  and Republic of South Sudan with its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.

The EAC mission is to widen and deepen economic, political, social and cultural integration to improve the quality of life of the people of East Africa through increased competitiveness, value added production, trade and investments.

This is an exciting opportunity for highly motivated and result-driven professionals who are citizens of the Republic of South Sudan to apply for the following position tenable at East African Health Research Commission (EAHRC):

SENIOR ICT OFFICER (1 post)
(REF: EAC/HR/2020-21/38)

Department                 :        EAHRC Department of Knowledge Management

Current Scale/Grade   :         P2

Job reports to              :         Principal Health Officer (Knowledge Management)

Duty Station                :         Bujumbura, Burundi

Position Summary 

The Senior Information and Communication Technology Officer has the functional role of planning and coordinating implementation of Information Communication Technology (ICT) Systems and Strategies of the EAHRC. This role serves to the provision of high quality and measurable ICT services to EAHRC. The key areas of responsibilities include: the web portal for health information in EAC; the East African Health Research Journal; the EAC and EAHRC conferences (e.g. the East African Health and Scientific Conference, etc.); the secretariat ICT services; the ICT services that link EAHRC with EAC Partner States and other stakeholders; and all related matters that are required for EAHRC to realize it vision, and execute its mission.

Duties and Responsibilities

1.  Plan and coordinate implementation of ICT Systems and Strategies.
2.  Recommend innovative Systems that address EAHRC requirements.
3.  Coordinate EAHRC wide information systems networks including coordinating and linking with other EAHRC Stakeholders in the process of designing, updating, and managing the Web Portal.
4. Manage internal ICT systems involving feasibility studies, system analysis, design and development.
5. Coordinate evaluation, configuration and installations of software systems and tools.
6. Manage local, intra and wide area networks, bandwidth, e-security.
7. Maintain and upgrade servers, computers, network hardware and software.
8. Assist in coordinating activities of functional department within the Commission and train end users.
9. Ensure security and backup copies of core systems and data are maintained.
10. Ensure ICT disaster recovery and business continuity plans are maintained.
11. Administer the workflow of the EAHRC journals (e.g. EAHRJ, etc.) from electronic submission, review, to publication. Support the teams of the journals (e.g. the editors-in-chief, editorial teams, editorial boards, authors, reviewers, managing editors, etc.
12. Support conferences organized by EAHRC (e.g. the biennial Health and Scientific Conference, Digital health summit, etc.), and when required, support conferences organized by EAHRC stakeholders (e.g. National Focal Points, development partners, etc.).  The support required spans from pre-conference preparatory phase, the actual conference, and post-conference phase. The responsibilities activities include setting up and managing the conference website, registration of participants (attendees, speakers, exhibitors, etc.), submission of abstracts, live streaming of conference, social media, podcasts, etc.
13. Manage the open science platform for health (big data for health).
14. Oversee the overall day-to-day management, maintenance, and updating of the EAHRC web portal for health information.
15. Embrace the Commission’s vision and values and the ideals of the Commission towards service delivery.
16. Put strategies to ensure accomplishment of the EAHRC objectives.
17. Undertake any other duties and responsibilities as may be assigned by the EAHRC management in order to meet personal, team, and EAHRC objectives.

Qualifications and Experience:

• A Master’s of Science Degree in Computer Science, Information
• Technology or a Master’s degree in ICT administration, or its equivalent.
• Holding a degree/diploma/certificate of ICT applied to health and data management, hospital management systems, health research, will be an added advantage.
• Minimum of 8 years’ experience with at least 3 years in managing health web site at a senior level including; processing health database, managing health-based ICT infrastructure and systems,
• Experience in using geographic information system (GIS) for health will be an important value.

Skills and competencies:

• Knowledge of, and competence in modern web development tools, ICT systems e.g. HTML, PHP, MySQL and ICT systems administration and project management
• Knowledge and competence in using GIS in order to capture, store, manipulate, analyse, manage, and present in the EAHRC web portal health-related spatial or geographic data. – Practical experience/skills in managing database systems (e.g. database designing, database administration), and Web Content Management Systems
• Practical skills working with web hosting platforms
• Knowledge in business re-engineering and strategies, and systems analysis and design
• Familiar with tools in ICT security management
• Knowledge in managing emails
• Technical skills in drafting ICT-related specifications and contracts – Practical skills in management and leadership of ICT-based health or health research projects/programmes – Working experience in Network Administration (LAN, WAN)
• Experience in business continuity/disaster recovery management skills
• Familiar with the regional (EAC) and global health sector
• Experience in ICT applied to health care information management; Health Information Management Systems
• Practical skills to apply big data to health care
• A commitment to quality and the desire to excel.
• Ability to assist in the demonstration and training of staff in the use of ICT systems and programme

Eligibility for applications:

Following the decision of the 41^st Meeting of the Council of Ministers, only applicants from  the Republic of South Sudan are eligible to apply for the above position.

Terms and Conditions of Service

The above position is tenable for a contract of five (5) years renewable once .

Fringe Benefits:

The established posts offer attractive fringe benefits including housing allowance, transport allowance, education allowance, a medical scheme, and insurance cover.

Education Qualifications:

All candidates applying must have qualifications that are recognized by the relevant national accreditation body in the Republic of South Sudan. This condition is applicable for locally and internationally attained qualifications.

All professions that require registration with the specific professional bodies will be expected to do so in compliance with the requirements of the Republic of South Sudan.

Relevant Working Experience:

Internship, training and apprenticeship will not be considered as relevant work experience.

Equal Opportunity:

The EAC is an equal opportunity employer; therefore, female candidates are particularly encouraged to apply. EAC will only respond to those candidates who strictly meet the set requirements.