The Position:
The Technical Specialist, Data post is located in the Arab States Regional Office (ASRO). The annual work plan of the Technical Specialist, Data will be guided by the ASRO Deputy Regional Director (DRD) and the Chief of Population and Development (PDB) at HQ, who will oversee regional and global deliverables, respectively. Primary supervision is provided by the ASRO DRD; the PDB Chief is a secondary supervisor reporting performance indicators only on global areas of work. Whenever possible, regional and global areas of work will be mutually reinforcing, targeting regional needs and priorities but contributing to the evaluation and global scale-up of operational guides and tools.
The UNFPA Arab States Regional Office is mandated to support the implementation of the ICPD Program of Action in the Arab Region within the framework of the Global Agenda 2030. The specialist will support regional and global needs for population and development data, addressing needs across the humanitarian-development continuum, including tracking progress on SDGs,
LNOB, the ICPD progress and related indicators and indices. The specialist will take the lead on relevant research and statistical approaches, demographic analysis, and track new developments in migration and refugee statistics, and humanitarian data. As applicable, the specialist will respond to Country Office (CO) requests for technical support, and coordinate within the region and with HQ
including but not limited to census, CRVS, population projections, SDGs, gender data, migration and humanitarian data.
The Technical Specialist, Data will contribute to population and development capacity strengthening in the region, and coordinate needed expertise from a wide network of partners. S/he will lead on global humanitarian data deliverables in the region, supporting COs to generate annual updates on common operational datasets on population statistics (COD-PS), and [contribute to] global expert groups on innovative approaches to data challenges in humanitarian settings, such as population estimates in highly mobile populations, better estimates of GBV in humanitarian settings, or rapid screening for acute vulnerabilities, among others. The Technical Specialist, Data will also support the Country Offices under the purview of the Regional Office in census
In the Regional Office (RO), s/he will work closely with the Regional Population and Development (PD) Adviser, Regional Humanitarian Advisor, and the ASRO Syria Regional Response Hub UNFPA. In HQ, s/he will work closely with PDB staff, and [potentially] with inter-agency technical groups, e.g. on UN Global Compact on Migration Data Sub-group; UN Legal Identity Expert Group; various humanitarian data committees, etc. S/he will excel in team communication and coordination, and bring synergies working with specialists in humanitarian data based in other ROs and in HQ.
You will report directly to the Deputy Regional Director, Secondary Supervisor on global deliverables to Chief, PDB HQ.
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 on 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:
The Population and Humanitarian Data Specialist will support regional needs for data in humanitarian settings and provide technical guidance, generate and execute data capacity development packages for COs and partners in the region with a focus on humanitarian settings. The incumbent will actively participate within the joint UN efforts to improve the scope and precision of data on vulnerable subpopulations of concern (e.g. pregnant women, youth/adolescents, persons with disabilities, age and sex-disaggregated data, etc.) in humanitarian situations – including enhancements to UNFPA’s Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) calculator, advice to country offices on Multi-sectoral Initial Rapid Assessments (MIRA). The specialist will support COs to generate annual common operational datasets on population statistics (COD-PS); and contribute to Humanitarian Needs Overviews (HNOs) and Humanitarian Response Plans (HRPs). The Specialist will provide analysis of migration-related data and research to inform policy discussions with ASRO stakeholders through innovative data support in collaboration with MHub and other fora.
The specialist will coordinate and deliver technical advice to COs on the generation, processing and use of modern census, the conduct of surveys, expansion of CRVS and registry data, geospatial data, and the use of these data for generating demographic intelligence. They will support the generation of UNFPA priority SDG indicators and related indices of the UNFPA mandate, and provide analytic support to periodic estimations of those at risk of key poor reproductive health outcomes and/or human rights violations, e.g. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), child marriage, gender based violence (GBV) in humanitarian settings, and contribute data for the Common Country Analysis (CCA).
Qualifications and Experience:
Advanced University Degree with relevant work experience in quantitative Social Sciences, data management such as Public Health Epidemiology, Statistics, Demography, Sociology, Economics or related discipline. The graduate or post-graduate degree should be directly related to the substantive area identified in the post.
Knowledge and Experience:
Demonstrated experience working with a range of population data sources, including census, registry and survey data; proven expertise in population estimation and projections; and prior experience in generating and delivering capacity building in humanitarian 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;
7 years of substantiated experience in demographic or population data collection, analysis, visualization, dissemination, database management and research within an academic or development institution;
Demonstrable knowledge and application of statistical methodologies, including strong competencies in the use of statistical packages such as R, STATA or SPSS. Expertise in demographic and statistical approaches such as regression analysis, hierarchical linear modeling, survival analysis, Bayesian (probabilistic) estimations, and small area estimation; Mastery of 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 census);
Ability to provide advice and guidance on the analysis, interpretation and application of data to produce regional and individual CO data for profiling and situational analysis;
Strong interpersonal communication skills;
Excellent report writing, strong data visualization and compelling oral presentations; Familiarity with the UN system is desirable.
Language:
Fluency in written and spoken English and Arabic is required. Proficiency in French is an asset.
Required Competencies:
Values:
- Exemplifying integrity,
- Demonstrating commitment to UNFPA and the UN system,
- Embracing cultural diversity,
- Embracing change
Core Competencies:
- Achieving results,
- Being accountable,
- Developing and applying professional expertise/business acumen,
- Thinking analytically and strategically,
- Working in teams/managing ourselves and our relationships,
- Communicating for Impact
Functional Competencies:
Aligning data management in humanitarian settings with the organization’s strategic direction;
We are no longer accepting applications for this position.
