Digital Transformation and Innovation Specialist

In 2021, UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Africa launched timbuktoo, a multi-pronged initiative aimed to galvanize African youth as entrepreneurs, innovators, and problem solvers. The initiative is focused on supporting and growing innovative, scalable, and impactful entrepreneurship by African young people, while relying on a springboard of partners who together contribute meaningfully to building an African youth innovation and startup ecosystem. The timbuktoo approach is anchored in seeking, nurturing, and building African solutions forwarded by Africa’s youth that directly address one or more of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Timbuktoo is an explosive new entrant into UNDP Africa’s ambition to transform the African continent by harnessing on the African people themselves, particularly its ambitious, vibrant, youth, as the key to its development and path out of poverty. To achieve this bold ambition timbuktoo utilizes a hub and spoke model composed of 10 thematic nodes.

This assignment will support UNDP Rwanda’s Digital Transformation Portfolio, focusing particularly on innovative financing mechanisms, youth-led digital entrepreneurship, and developing innovative technologies that can accelerate Rwanda Digital economy. The specialist will work closely with the UNDP Rwanda Accelerator Lab and contribute to regional initiatives including UNDP’s TIMBUKTOO programme, which aims to catalyse Africa’s startup revolution by supporting innovative digital entrepreneurship across the continent. The Digital Transformation and Innovative Specialist will support in digital entrepreneurship development and innovative financing to support Rwanda’s digital transformation journey while contributing to knowledge exchange between Japan and Rwanda on digital innovation best practices

Under the direct supervision the Head of Solutions Mapping and overall guidance of the Resident Representative, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

Digital Entrepreneurship and Youth Development:
• Provide technical support to youth-led digital startups and entrepreneurs through mentorship, business development services, and market linkages
• Design and implement innovative financing models to support tech entrepre-neurs, including blended finance approaches and impact investment strategies
• Support the development of taxonomy frameworks for sustainable digital in-vestments
• Coordinate capacity building initiatives for young tech entrepreneurs, focus-ing on business development, digital skills, and investment readiness
• Contribute to UNDP's TIMBUKTOO programme activities in Rwanda, connect-ing local innovators to pan-African networks and resources

Innovative Technologies for Development:
• Identify emerging technologies with potential for positive development im-pact in Rwanda
• Support the piloting and scaling of innovative digital solutions addressing local development challenges
• Establish partnerships with financial institutions, venture capital firms, and im-pact investors to mobilize resources for digital innovation
• Document and disseminate lessons learned and best practices in digital inno-vation for development
• Facilitate knowledge exchange between Japanese and Rwandan tech ecosys-tems, including organizing learning events, webinars, and technical exchanges

Strategic Partnerships and Resource Mobilization:
• Build and maintain strategic partnerships with government agencies, private sector, academia, and civil society organizations in the digital innovation eco-system
• Analyse existing financing mechanisms for digital startups and tech SMEs in Rwanda
• Identify opportunities for scaling successful digital initiatives through addi-tional resource mobilization
• Support the development of concept notes, project proposals, and partnership agreements for digital transformation initiatives
• Facilitate South-South and triangular cooperation on digital innovation, with a focus on Japan-Rwanda-Africa knowledge exchange