NATIONAL POST: Programme Specialist, Data and Evidence, Monrovia, Liberia, NOC

The Position:

 Programme Specialist, Data and Evidence is located in the Liberia Country Office. The position is responsible for leading UNFPA efforts in the generation, dissemination, and utilization of data and evidence that will accelerate the achievement of the three transformational results in Liberia. The position will oversee programme formulation, and implementation including an evaluation, and joint programming initiatives in strengthening systems for data and evidence for development planning.

The position will support the country's needs for population and development data, addressing needs across the development-humanitarian continuum, including tracking progress on SDGs, Leaving No-One Behind, the ICPD-related indicators and indices demographic analysis, and tracking new developments in Mega Trends (Migration, Climate Change, etc) and their implications on the UNFPA transformative results. 

The position will contribute to population and development capacity strengthening in the country, coordinate censuses and surveys CRVS, population projections, SDGs tracking, gender data, migration, humanitarian data, and needed expertise from a wide network of sources. 

You will lead on data deliverables in the Country Office liaise with the Regional Office Population and Development (PD) Advisers on technical matters and lead  UN inter-agency efforts on Data including the UN Legal Identity Agenda (CRVS), etc.

The position reports to the Deputy Representative and works closely with the Country Office Programme and Operations staff with support from the Senior Management Team. The position might also have the responsibility to manage a team of 1 or 2 individuals/ consultants to support the thematic area.

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.  UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments o accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations, and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains, and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Job Purpose:

As the UN Sexual and Reproductive Health Agency, UNFPA focuses on the delivery of Integrated Sexual and Reproductive and Rights (ISRHR) services with the target of  eliminating  preventable maternal deaths ,unmet need of family planning , Gender Based Violence and Harmful Practices by 2030 .

Working within the Liberia Country Office (CO) environment, you will ensure the effective management of UNFPA activities in the areas of population data and evidence for sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights policies, plans and programmes.

As this position will contribute to advancing the implementation of the ICPD program of action through thought leadership, the position will be responsible for the strengthening and harmonization of statistics across national systems, to inform policy and programmes. 

You will be responsible for developing mega-trends data analytics and work across thematic areas to ensure data is primarily evidence-based and build capacity across Liberia’s cross-sectoral partnerships with the government. 

Employing your programme management experience, you will oversee the work of the programme team as well as consultants, advisors, and experts in the area of population data and evidence. You will establish and maintain collaborative relationships with counterparts in government, multilateral and bilateral donor agencies and civil society to address emerging issues, and effectively influence diverse stakeholders to contribute to achieving UNFPA’s mandate.

Qualifications and Experience: 

Education: 

• Advanced University Degree in quantitative Social Sciences, Public Health, Epidemiology, Statistics, Demography, Economics or related discipline is required. 

Knowledge and Experience: 

• Minimum of five years of  substantiated  experience  in  demographic  or  population  data  collection,  analysis, visualization, dissemination, database management and research within an academic or development institution;
• Experience working with a range of population data sources, including census, registry and surveys. 
• Experience in population estimation and projections; and prior experience in generating and delivering capacity building in  population data, CRVS and registry data, the development and conduct of censuses, and the integrated use of various sources of population data, including in humanitarian settings;
• Knowledge and application of statistical methodologies, including strong competencies in the use of statistical packages such as R, STATA or SPSS. 
• Knowledge in demographic and statistical approaches such as regression analysis, hierarchical linear modeling, survival analysis, Bayesian (probabilistic) estimations, and small area estimation. 
• Knowledge and experience in methods and techniques for data quality assessment, processing and analysis using a variety of health and population sources, including in humanitarian emergencies (DHS, MICS and population censuses);

Skills

• Ability to provide advice   and  guidance  on  the  analysis,  interpretation  and application of data to produce national and sub-national data for profiling and situational analysis;
• Strong interpersonal communication skills;
• Proficiency in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling web-based management systems.
• Excellent report writing, strong data visualization and compelling oral presentation skills; 
• Familiarity with the UN system is desirable.

Languages: 

Fluency in English is required with excellent oral, and written communication skills; Working knowledge of other local languages is desirable.

Required Competencies: 

Compensation and Benefits: 

This position offers an attractive remuneration package including a competitive net salary, health insurance, and other benefits as applicable.

Disclaimer: 

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing, or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Fraudulent notices, letters, or offers may be submitted to the UNFPA fraud hotline http://www.unfpa.org/help/hotline.cfm

In accordance with the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations, persons applying to posts in the international Professional category, who hold permanent resident status in a country other than their country of nationality, may be required to renounce such status upon their appointment.