Consultant: IT Support Specialist

Duration: 6 months, with scope for extension

Background and purpose of the assignment

African Risk Capacity (ARC) is a Specialised Agency of the African Union. The ARC Agency leads the ARC Group, a development finance institution that provides financial tools and infrastructure to help countries manage natural disaster risk and adapt to climate change. It counts 32 AU countries as members and is supervised by a ministerial level governing board elected by its Conference of the Parties. The ARC design and establishment phase was managed by WFP, under a MoU with the African Union, and WFP continues to provide administrative services support to the ARC Agency through an administrative services agreement.

In 2014, ARC launched its initial risk insurance product for member states through its financial affiliate the ARC Insurance Company Limited (ARC Ltd). ARC Ltd is a specialist hybrid mutual insurance company and Africa’s first ever disaster insurance pool, aggregating risk by issuing insurance policies to participating governments and transferring it to the international market. ARC Ltd uses the satellite weather surveillance software Africa RiskView, developed by WFP, to estimate the impact of drought on vulnerable populations – and the response costs required to assist them – before a season begins, and as it progresses, so that index-based insurance payouts, based on Africa RiskView, are triggered at or before harvest time if the rains are poor. With a USD 200 million initial capital commitment provided by the governments of Germany (through KfW on behalf of BMZ) and the United Kingdom (DFID), ARC Ltd issued drought insurance policies totalling USD 129 million for a total premium cost of USD 17 million to a first group of African governments – Kenya, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal – in May 2014, marking the launch of the inaugural ARC pool. ARC aims to reach up to 30 countries with drought, flood and cyclone coverage totalling up to USD 1.5 billion in sum insured by 2020.

Accountabilities and responsibilities

Africa RiskView (ARV) is the core technical engine of the ARC programme used to underpin ARC Ltd insurance contracts and is the basis for expansion of the ARC insurance programme to more country clients and more perils, in particular flood and cyclone risk. As the ARC initiative has now entered its operational phase, with ARV becoming the go-to natural disaster financial risk management tool for many African countries and partners underwriting significant volumes of risk, ensuring the tool and its related applications can continue to grow and meet user demands smoothly is a critical operating issue for both ARC Agency and ARC Ltd.

To meet the increasing ARV support demands for existing and new products, and to broaden ARC’s technical base in Africa, ARC is seeking an experienced IT Support Specialist to join the ARV Development Team. One of the objectives outlined in ARC’s Strategic Framework is to incorporate and involve ARC Member States and African institutions in every aspect of ARC Agency’s work.

The IT Support specialist will be based in ARC headquarters in Johannesburg and by working closely with other ARC staff will ensure that ARC’s resources are engaged for greater knowledge of ARV including how it works from a software perspective, on the continent.

Working in close coordination with the other members of the ARV Development Team and the ARC Technical and R&D Teams in Johannesburg, the IT Support Specialist will report to the ARC Lead Software Architect under the overall supervision of the Director of R&D, with the following responsibilities:

• Take the lead in defining the functionality of ARV-Lite, a newly development of a publicly available version of ARV aiming at knowledge transfer to the continent.
• Supporting ARC course and training material development, which will also leverage and involve African universities and partners in course deployment, to include ARV software and ARV-Lite modules, and assist in deployment as needed.
• Maintenance of the RV Datastore and its content. Maintain, monitor and extend content, add new datasets when required, including conversion and necessary adaptation.
• With feedback from ARC staff and Member State users, contributing to the further design and development of ARV software products, including new interfaces and functionalities, leading to an enhanced user experience by improving the look and feel of ARV products.
• Testing and cross-checking new releases to ensure accuracy and consistency.
• Responding to queries and questions on ARV from ARC staff and ARV platform users and providing technical support as required.
• Providing support, input and guidance to collaborations with technical partners on ARV and participating in team meetings, conferences and missions to Member States and partners as required. • Monitor the technical infrastructure for possible improvements and necessary changes, in order to keep the infrastructure aligned with the requirements.
• Monitor that the agreed third party services are in accordance with the SLA. Control and assist service providers with issues where needed.
• Performing other tasks as directed by the Lead Software Architect, senior ARC staff and working closely with the ARC Secretariat Technical Team and ARV users, as required.

In addition, particularly initially, the IT Support Specialist will be required to travel and spend significant time with the rest of the ARV Development Team in Heino, The Netherlands, to ensure alignment with the existing team.

Deliverables at the end of the contract

In addition to timely and high-quality technical input and assistance to the ARC Development Team and R&D Department, to ensure quality assurance, quality control and business continuity for its software products as ARC expands the insurance products offered by ARC Ltd to include flood, tropical cyclone and outbreak and epidemic risk, the output of this work will be fully documented and archived satisfying the requirements outlined in “Responsibilities” above.

The IT Support Specialist will also produce ARV software and ARV-Lite module training material as required for ARC’s training courses.

Qualifications and experience required

Education:

Advanced university degree in Computer Science, Mathematics, Engineering, Natural Sciences, or other relevant quantitative discipline.

Experience:

Minimum of 8 years of experience working on software support and the design and development of systems and applications needed to fulfill business requirements. Experience in Africa, working with African governments, a strong asset.

Knowledge & Skills:

Deep knowledge of what IT can deliver to business, including latest innovations. Strong experience in support and maintenance roles. Knowledge of Operating Systems, Database management, Network infrastructure, Remote support products and scripting languages. Programming skills is a strong asset. Strong problem solving capabilities. Experience in identifying problems and reviewing related information to develop, evaluate and propose software improvements. Demonstrated ability to take a strategic view across a large complex programme with the ability to follow, develop and lead a given scope of work.

Languages:

International Professional: Fluency (level C) in English and French is a strong asset.