IT Specialist - ACDI/VOCA

Since 1963, ACDI/VOCA has empowered people in 145 developing and transitional nations to succeed in the global economy. Based in Washington, D.C., ACDI/VOCA is a non-profit international development organization that delivers technical and management assistance in agribusiness, financial services, enterprise development, community development and food security in order to promote broad-based economic growth and vibrant civil society.

Job Description

Overview: 

The USAID-funded Ghana Market Systems and Resilience Activity (MSR) is a five-year, $35.9M follow-on project to USAID/Ghana ADVANCE II. MSR will leverage over a decade of experience linking smallholders to markets, inputs, and services in Ghana. The project will strengthen commercial relationships between market actors, improve the rural entrepreneurship ecosystem to enable greater market participation, particularly for women and youth, expand the availability of agribusiness services, and link targeted policy initiatives to improved local economic governance.

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These activities will result in competitive, stronger, and more resilient markets, thus increasing inclusive agriculture-led economic growth in northern Ghana. 

Pursuant to its mission, ACDI/VOCA is seeking experienced and talented professionals for the Information Technologies (IT) Specialist position based in Tamale, Ghana. The IT Coordinator will be responsible for managing, organizing, and supervising the work of the informational technology (IT) department. The IT Manager will coordinate all managing information systems required for ACDI/VOCA under the USAID Ghana MSR project.

This includes but is not limited to installing and maintaining communications and hardware equipment in the Ghana MSR offices, ensuring they are inadequate working conditions to optimize the work of the project staff to optimize office productivity.  

Responsibilities: 

• Oversee and supervises proper operation and maintenance of the computers and other information technology office equipment such as servers, wifi routers, tablets, and other items for use. Maintains cooperative working relationships with all staff and ability to be flexible in working in a larger geographic region.
• The IT Specialist will know and understands major operating systems, various software applications and hardware for the PC, principles, and theories of network systems and management, server configuration, firewall and switch configuration, Internet technologies and products, autonomous telephone system and basic understanding of electrical safety procedures.  
• This position will provide support and advice in the procurement of all IT-related goods and services.
• Troubleshoot hardware, software and network operating systems as well as configure servers, firewalls, switches, and other networked hardware equipment for small local area networks
• Respond to all staff IT-related emergencies and provide all staff networks with troubleshooting support including but not limited to diagnosis and resolving end-user network or local printer problems, PC hardware problems and e-mail, internet, remote access, and local-area network problems.
• Assist with hardware repairs and services for the office equipment and determine information system requirements & provide recommendations.
• Assist the ACDI VOCA project staff to maximize output from the IT infrastructure by providing information and education to familiarize them with the technology and relevant policy.
• Schedule for preventive maintenance of all IT equipment Liaises with the ISP as required to ensure continued availability of the Internet, network routing, and all other internal and external network communications systems.
• Monitors and reviews logs reporting on network and server operation.
• Trouble-shoots as required.
• Perform, verify, and test data backup and other disaster recovery procedures to minimize loss of data.
• Perform weekly archiving of ACDI/VOCA Ghana MSR documents in the local server. 
• Ensure system integrity, availability, and security by establishing proper controls and resolution procedures such as anti-virus software.
• Maintain the staff’s e-mail accounts using mail server software on local servers.
• Travel to project sites to configure and install project local area network components, provide training to local users, and troubleshoot issues. 

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Required Skills or Experience

Minimum Qualifications: 

• University Degree in information systems/computer sciences, or equivalent knowledge, is required. 
• Minimum five years of professional experience managing an office network. 
• Experience administering an office network, including ISP relations and remote user connectivity. 
• Knowledge of the consulting process directed at client and product delivery. 
• Specialization in TCP/IP protocol is required. 
• Knowledge of PC hardware maintenance, updating and troubleshooting is a must. 
• Must have good communication and training skills. 
• Comprehensive knowledge of PC hardware installation, repair, testing, and troubleshooting. 
• Must be a team player 
• Experience in working with non-profits and /or membership organizations is preferred. 
• Strong project management, organizational and time management skills. 
• Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and evaluative skills.