GFCE Job Application: Pacific Liaison

News Item | 25 August 2020

The Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) is looking to appoint a GFCE Pacific Liaison. This Liaison will look to scope, analyze, and recommend the design of a future GFCE Pacific Hub.

The deadline for applications is 7 September 2020.

Service Contract

Remuneration

The final fee for this service will be competitive, taking into consideration a contractor’s expertise and experience. The final fee will not exceed NZD $99,000 + travel (transport) expenses in the Pacific region up to NZD $7,000, over the contract’s duration.

Duration

It is expected that the implementation of this contract requires a maximum of 95 days. Indicative start date is 22 September 2020. The absolute end date for the delivery of services is 12 February 2021.

Please kindly see more information about the position below:

GFCE Pacific Liaison

Background

The GFCE

Established in 2015, the GFCE is a multi-stakeholder community of more than 120 members and partners consisting of governments, international organizations, companies, academia, and project implementers from all regions of the world. Its mission is to strengthen cyber capacity and expertise globally by being a pragmatic, action-orientated, and flexible platform for international collaboration. The GFCE delivers its mission through coordination to avoid duplication of efforts and blind spots; knowledge sharing to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of projects; serve as a Clearing House to connect requests for cyber capacity building assistance with offers of support, and identifying and filling knowledge gaps with the development of a global Cyber Capacity Building (CCB) Research Agenda. More information can be found via www.thegfce.org.

The GFCE Pacific Hub

In February 2020, the GFCE hosted its first Pacific conference in Melbourne, to consult the region on its cyber capacity building needs and opportunities. The meeting identified two main priorities in cyber capacity building. The first was to balance investment efforts across the broad spectrum of cyber needs in the region (i.e., lots of repeated activities around introductions to CERT training, and less in cybercrime or standards). The second priority was to improve coordination, knowledge sharing and transparency among Pacific Island nations, and between Pacific Island nations, regional donors, and implementers. A report of this conference can be found here.

Recognizing these two priorities, the GFCE now aims to scope in detail the viability, structure, and role of a future GFCE Pacific Hub. Due in large part to the time difference and limited resources, it’s a challenge to reach the Pacific region from Europe where the GFCE core team is located.

An outline GFCE Pacific Hub proposal has been written, with two clear success factors: (i) ensuring the Hub is about the Pacific and for the Pacific; and (ii) being able to provide tangible, meaningful, and operational cyber capacity-building support for the region. The following initial aims have also been set for a Hub:

• to facilitate national and regional cyber capacity building coordination and information sharing;
• to support national Pacific Island cyber capacity-building efforts;
• to enable refinement, prioritization of and access to cyber capacity building needs;

The key stakeholders for Pacific Hub are the 22 Pacific Island nations; international and regional cyber capacity building ‘donor’ governments, development agencies, NGOs – private industry (including telco’s)- and ‘implementers’ of ICT development projects.

Role

The Pacific Liaison will lead the GFCE’s Secretariat’s scoping, analysis, and design of a GFCE Pacific Hub, evaluating the efficacy, structure, objectives, and resources of a future GFCE Pacific Hub. The Liaison, along with GFCE Secretariat, will provide a clear investment recommendation to the GFCE Foundation Fund and relevant international donors to support a future GFCE Pacific Hub.

To support this recommendation, the Liaison will develop a complete three-year full project and investment proposal, complete with project plan and results framework, to be submitted to the GFCE Foundation Board, while building in enough flexibility to adapt operations to changing circumstances or unexpected opportunities.

The Liaison will need to be permanently based in the Pacific region, leading engagement with a diversity of stakeholders across government, industry, wider society, and academia; in addition to appropriate desk-based research. This engagement will largely be conducted virtually, due to local and regional travel restrictions imposed by COVID 19. The Liaison will need to have access to the following virtual platforms: ‘Microsoft Teams’, ‘Zoom’, and ‘GotoMeeting’. Where physical travel between Pacific Island countries is open, the Liaison (in prior agreement with the GFCE) will be encouraged to travel to engage stakeholders.

Duties and Responsibilities 

– Lead outreach engagement with the following four core stakeholder groups:

• regional Pacific organizations (i.e. PIC, PaCSON and OCSC, others) who are engaged in coordinating, discussing and/or sharing information on ICT and Cyber policy subjects in the region;
• regional and international ‘donors’ delivering cyber capacity investment projects and/or programs in the Pacific region;
• Pacific Island ‘beneficiary’ countries (minimum of 8) to understand their cyber capacity building needs, ambitions and challenges;
• regional and international ‘implementers’ engaged in cyber capacity building activity in the pacific region.

– The purpose of engaging with each of these stakeholder groups will be to:

• gauge views on cyber capacity building needs, challenges, and opportunities in the Pacific region;
• test the aims and objectives of a GFCE Pacific Hub;
• secure ideas for the role, operation, and structure of a GFCE Pacific Hub;
• understand how a GFCE Pacific Hub could be designed to meet the cyber capacity building needs of Pacific Island nations.

– Conduct desk-based research on regional organizations offering cyber capacity building policy, programme and/or investment support in the Pacific region, to map gaps and opportunities for a GFCE Pacific Hub to fill. This desk-based research will further need to take account of completed national cybersecurity capacity assessments and reviews in the region.

– Review options for the proposed delivery model of a GFCE Pacific Hub, ensuring ‘Value for Money’ in design.

– Lead, with support from the GFCE Secretariat, the drafting of a full GFCE Pacific Hub project and investment proposal, complete with project plan and indicative results framework.

– Present the final project and investment proposal for a GFCE pacific Hub to the GFCE Foundation Board and select the international donor community.

– Report and advise on any immediate cyber capacity needs and/or quick wins identified as a result of the scoping phase.

The Pacific Liaison will be provided with a comprehensive stakeholder list of the beneficiary, donor, and implementer actors in the Pacific region.

The Pacific Liaison will report directly to the Senior Adviser in the GFCE, leading outreach in the Pacific. The Liaison will further be responsible for keeping GFCE Advisory Board members, based in the Pacific region, consulted on engagement.

Delivery

The appointed Pacific Liaison will be responsible for delivering the following:

• Brief fortnightly progress/update report. These may be shared with donors interested in funding and/or supporting the future operation of the Hub (i.e the Governments of Japan, New Zealand, Australia, plus international organizations such as the World Bank);
• A methodology for engaging each core stakeholder group;
• An options analysis paper and/or annex to a complete project proposal, on the delivery model for a GFCE Pacific Hub;
• A final three-year GFCE Pacific Hub Project Proposal, complete with project plan and results framework. (A template for the proposal to be provided by GFCE);
• A final three-year investment activity-based budget for a GFCE Pacific Hub;
• A high-level presentation of the final Project Proposal to the GFCE Foundation Board.

Candidate profile: requirements, qualifications, and skills

The successful candidate will have:

• Graduate of Master’s degree in technology, security studies, business administration, public administration, or a related field.
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience in the field of capacity building or technology policy or delivery (including cyber), either at a national or regional pacific level;
• A proven track record of building relationships across government, industry, and academia;
• Experience and knowledge of drafting business cases and/or in-depth project proposals;
• Knowledge of the cyber landscape in the Pacific region;
• A self-starter attitude; being able to work independently, with resilience and ambition;
• An appetite for innovation: the ability to think outside the box in the design and objectives of new business function and objectives of new business function and team;
• Professional, confident, self-motivated, punctual, flexible, proactive, and able to build effective relationships at pace;
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English.

Desirable:

• Verbal and written communication skills in a regional Polynesian language;
• Direct experience of delivering and/or designing cyber capacity building programmes in the Pacific Region;
• Experience of working in cyber affairs in a Pacific Island forum/organization/grouping.

Place of Employment 

Nonresident, but based in the Oceania region.

How to Apply 

Please send a cover letter addressed to a GFCE Secretariat Director, with your motivation in applying for the role, plus your CV (in English) by 07/09/2020 to contact@thegfce.org. Interviews will be conducted between 11/09/2020 and 15/09/2020. Please ensure references are included on your CV as a reference check could be part of the selection procedure. Please note that relocation assistance will not be provided.

For more information on this job opportunity, please contact Thomas Jordan, Senior Adviser to the GFCE, via contact@thegfce.org.

The GFCE is an equal opportunities employer and accepts applications without distinction on the grounds of age, race, political, philosophical or religious conviction, sex or sexual orientation and regardless of disabilities, marital status or family situation.