Tony Blair Institute (TBI)
Job Introduction
Are you excited by the prospect of transforming developing and emerging nations in Africa through the application of technology and innovations across public services? Do you have experience of consulting or working in the tech field and delivering projects that drive systemic and transformative change in an emerging or developing country?
The Tomorrow Partnership is the Tony Blair Institute’s work with political leaders and governments to bring tech and digital solutions to their biggest challenges, because we believe tomorrow will belong to those who responsibly harness the power of technology for the good of all people, and to leave no one behind.
Through The Tomorrow Partnership, we broker strategic partnerships between governments and leading tech organisations and innovators to help foster environments that enable tech to deliver practical change in people’s lives.
As part of TBI’s the Tomorrow Partnership in Malawi, an exciting opportunity exists to work with relevant ministries to support the government’s ambitious plans in its use of technology to deliver transformative outcomes for its citizens. Reporting to the Head of Tech, Malawi, the post holder will collaborate with TBI’s tech team in Malawi to assess the current public service data landscape, identifying key stakeholders and supporting efforts to build interoperability across the Government of Malawi.
With an initial focus on the health sector, the postholder will assess data requirements, identify strategic opportunities, and develop an executable data architecture blueprint for relevant ministries, as well as supporting broader interoperability work for the Government of Malawi. The postholder will stay on top of the latest trends and technologies and identify potential software, services or hardware solutions that could support improved service delivery.
This is a year-long role, requiring an exceptional candidate with relevant expertise and deep subject matter knowledge. Opportunities for extension may exist in or outside Malawi.
Key outcomes of the role
- Develop data architecture and infrastructure plans in consideration of existing platforms and systems, with regards Malawi’s health and agriculture strategy, in order to design and plan for the migration to a unified platform
- Deliver an analysis of the systems architecture for wider digital government services, supporting efforts to increase interoperability across government
- Develop an Interoperability framework, facilitating an all-of-government approach to integration, building on ongoing work led by the Government of Malawi in the healthcare, agriculture and education ecosystem
- In line with proposed architecture and system changes, support the delivery of a change management framework, including for the migration of existing data sets onto government cloud infrastructure, as well as principles for application migration planning (to support government engagement with independent software vendors)
- Contribute to the development of a framework for data exchange between government and the private sector, addressing current impediments and facilitating improved data transfer
Responsibilities
- Strategy and Planning: (i) Design Data Architecture plans; (ii) integrate plans with the overall relevant client strategy; and (iii) integrate the blueprints with existing solution sets to create a harmonious data guided view of the client’s place within the government framework and (iv) define data governance structure
- Implementation: Oversee implementations, prepare training plans, coordinate across Ministries data architecture needs
- Government Relations: Establish effective and trusted relationships with key stakeholders across the government of Malawi, including the Presidential Delivery Unit, Ministry of Health and other relevant ministries and agencies in the tech sector
- Execution and Monitoring: Establish, review and maintain project goals and plans. Serve as the focal point for data architecture development. Report and engage with the Head of Tech, the Country Head, and technology transformation specialist to drive delivery, ideate, troubleshoot and manage initiatives
- One TBI: The post holder will formally report into the Head of Tech, Malawi and form part of the wider team and country programme, working with colleagues in Malawi and across the organisation to realise the stated objectives in keeping with the Government’s vision
We are looking for an experienced candidate:
- With experience in business operations, technology, consulting or advisory functions
- With demonstrable experience and expertise in cloud computing, analytics, security, web services, open-source software technology stacks, strategy development and enterprise solutions, preferably with public sector experience. Experience with solution design for low resource environments is valuable
- With demonstrable expertise in data architecture frameworks, interoperability standards, digital governance interoperability frameworks and enterprise application integration
- Who is an effective communicator and influencer, from board level through to technical level and is adept at managing up and beyond hierarchy
- Who is strategic and can challenge the status-quo and develop plans for successful delivery of challenging objectives
- Who has worked or consulted in developing and emerging economies and is sensitive to a diverse range of cultural and regional norms, and will foster a positive spirit of collaboration between our countries and our tech transformation offer
- With a certification in Enterprise Architecture
- Experienced in IT design
- Experience with SQL, data sourcing, enterprise data management, modelling, auditing and compliance would be advantageous, as would experience with public sector implementations
- With a bachelor’s or postgraduate degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience
The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) is a mission-driven not for profit organisation. We exist to equip political leaders and governments to build open, inclusive and prosperous societies. We work hard, every day, to make a difference. When governments work well they are able to create economic and social change in a way that promotes fairness, social justice and opportunity. We work relentlessly to support leader and governments with the challenges they face. Giving them practical solutions and actionable insights, that once implemented, can be transformative for their people
We do this within two connected divisions:
Government Advisory
Our Government Advisory teams work directly with political leaders and governments around the world to implement reforms that improve the lives of their citizens. It works with a variety of partners and its outputs cover a range of disciplines and projects across countries in Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and South Asia.
Policy Futures
Our Policy Futures work encompasses three broad areas:
- Renewing the Centre: developing a bold and innovative domestic policy programme to help renew the centre ground of British politics;
- Tech and Public Policy: exploring the policy challenges and opportunities presented by the technological revolution; and
- Extremism Policy Unit: creating solutions designed to tackle the threat of extremist ideologies in the UK and around the world.
As an organisation, the core beliefs we all embrace are:
- Open and Progressive: you’ll believe in the value of teamwork
- Bold and Pragmatic: you’ll approach everything you do with integrity and authenticity
- Optimistic Changemaker: you’ll be focused on results
TBI believes embracing diversity and inclusion make us a better place to work. It’s our goal to reflect everyone in society and we actively welcome applications from individuals and groups who are under-represented in the workplace. We celebrate difference be it ethnicity, religion, age, gender or gender identity, sexual orientation or disability. We will only ever assess you on your abilities and fit for a role. We’re happy to discuss any adjustments you need to ensure a level playing field during recruitment and, if you\’re successful, discuss any adjustments you might need to thrive in your role.