Description

Background

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP: we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Office/Unit/Project Description

The mission of the Human Development Report Office (HDRO)/UNDP is to advance human development. HDRO works towards this goal by promoting innovative ideas, constructively challenging policies and approaches that constrain human development, and advocating practical policy changes, through its research, data analysis, outreach, and advocacy work.

The first Human Development Report (HDR) in 1990 introduced the Human Development Index (HDI) as an alternative to GDP as a measure of human progress. Over time, HDRO has been working on incorporating additional dimensions of development challenges to human progress measurement for policy debate.
Duties and Responsibilities

The Statistic Consultant will contribute to the statistical work in the office and report to the Chief of Statistics. She/he will work closely with the entire HDR team in the production of the HDR, establish working relationships with international data agencies and other specialized agencies and research institutes in the process of data collection and measurement development, interact with UNDPRegional Bureaus and country offices to provide corporate support as well as with country governments and other external users of the Report for information outreach.

Contribute to the production of HDR’s Statistical Annex tables

Research sources of relevant statistics and conduct independent evaluation of data quality and reliability.
Apply statistical modelling and other quantitative techniques to obtain estimates as required.
Help produce the HDR’s Statistical Annex tables.
Take part in the editing and quality control of the HDR’s Statistical Annex tables to ensure accuracy, consistency, and clear presentation.

Contribute to statistical information outreach

Design and prepare materials for the launch of HDR and other HDRO activities, including presentation materials related to statistics and analysis.
Contribute to the overall understanding among the HDR team of the conceptual and methodological issues related to specific statistical indicators in fields related to human development.
Work with national and international statistical agencies and UNDP Regional Bureau and country offices to enhance the general understanding of the use of statistics in the report and to improve the international data availability and reliability of basic human development indicators.

Respond to media, government, UN, UNDP Regional Bureaus and country offices, and other external requests and queries on HDRO statistics both at the time of the launch of HDR and on an on-going basis.

Promote the innovative use and elaboration of human development statistics and measures for policy analysis and advocacy

Follow the current debates on key human development indicators in a broad range of thematic areas.
Work on human development measures, exploring new data and measures that reflect HDRO’s current work.
Provide feedback and inputs to development of innovative measures and indices for each year’s global HDR.
Contribute to the conceptual and methodological development of composite indices for measuring human development both for improving existing indices and for designing new ones.

Contribute to the thematic analysis of the HDR and support other HDRO activities and publications

As part of the Report team, participate in the brainstorming and team discussions on various aspects of the Report production, and contribute to the preparation and finalization of the structure and content of the Report.
Research sources of relevant statistics, collecting and assessing data from these sources; work with the chapter authors on the application of these statistics.
Apply statistical modeling and other quantitative techniques to obtain estimates as required by the analyses.
Produces tables, graphs and other statistical information for the chapters of the Report.
Draft texts to assist in the interpretation of statistical analyses in the chapters of HDR when necessary.
Provide statistical inputs for other HDRO activities and publications.

Cooperation with other units of HDRO

Liaise with the research team to ensure consistency between the report’s key objectives and the statistics used in the analysis.
Liaise with the outreach team on the conceptualization of components for HDRO knowledge management that extend and support outreach efforts and increase access to and dissemination of HDRO materials.
Contribute to the review and substantive assessment of national and regional HDR and the organization of discussions throughout the human development network

Institutional Arrangement

Statistics Consultant will be part of the Statistics team. Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Chief Statistician of HDRO, the Consultant will assist with the tasks outlined above.
Competencies

Core
Achieve Results: LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline
Think Innovatively: LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements
Learn Continuously: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback
Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible
Act with Determination: LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident
Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships
Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Required Skills and Experience

Min. years of relevant

Work experience

Minimum of 1 year’s relevant work experience with international data and statistics is required. Familiarity with the production of internationally comparable statistics is desirable.
A good grasp of statistical software for analyzing data (particularly STATA), and other standard office software such as Excel and Word are required.
Knowledge and experience of using household survey data for estimation and analysis of models, distributions and population parameters is desirable.

Required skills andcompetencies

Strong analytical skills.
Excellent writing skills in English; good writing skills in French will be an asset.
Excellent organizational and self-management skills.
Effective team player demonstrating commitment to UNDP values and displays sensitivity and adaptability.
Good communication and inter-personal skills.
Good understanding of the human development paradigm and its policyimplications.

Desired additional skills

and competencies

Analysis of models, distributions and population parameters is desirable.

Required Language(s) (at

working level)

Proficiency in English (oral and written) is required.
Working knowledge of another UN official language is desirable.

Professional Certificates N/A