Research Analyst

Position description

 

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.

The Independent Evaluation Office of UNDP supports the oversight and accountability functions of the Executive Board and the management of UNDP, UNCDF and UNV. The structural independence of the Office underpins and guarantees its freedom to conduct evaluations and report evaluation results to the Executive Board. The IEO conducts independent evaluations and other activities according to its programme of work approved by the Executive Board. The work of the IEO includes:

• Conducting thematic programmatic and other independent evaluations, ensuring strategic and representative coverage of UNDP programmes and results against national, regional and global scales;
• Developing evaluation standards, procedures, criteria and methodological guidance for UNDP evaluations, and contributing to innovation in evaluation methodology and dissemination of good practices;
• Providing UNDP and its development partners with timely knowledge and lessons drawn from evaluations that can feed into development programming at global, regional and country levels;
• Assessing the quality of decentralized evaluations of UNDP, UNCDF and UNV, and monitoring compliance with best international evaluation and data collection standards, including the UNEG norms and standards, code of conduct and ethical guidelines;
• Communicating its evaluation findings, conclusions and recommendations through multiple channels and maintaining a searchable, publicly accessible repository of all UNDP, UNCDF and UNV evaluations, and respective management responses and resulting actions;
• Supporting the development of communities of practice, and partnering with professional evaluation networks to improve evaluation utility and credibility;
• Supporting the harmonization of the evaluation function in the United Nations system, including contributing to the annual work programme of UNEG, participating in systemwide evaluations, and prioritizing joint evaluations with United Nations organizations; and
• Promoting national ownership and leadership in evaluation through country-led and joint evaluations.
  

Duties and Responsibilities

The Research Analyst will play a crucial role in supporting the execution of IEO’s evaluations and syntheses products scheduled for 2024-2025. He/she will be instrumental in conducting preliminary research, data collection, and analysis, in collaboration with IEO evaluation managers. This position is aligned with IEO’s knowledge and data management strategy, and involves adhering to methodologies outlined in the country programme, thematic evaluation, and evaluation syntheses research and process manuals.

In addition to general responsibilities, the Research Analyst will leverage project management and data analytics expertise to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of evaluation activities. The role demands a proactive approach to managing project timelines, resources, and stakeholder communications, ensuring that evaluation projects are delivered on schedule and within scope.

Key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Conducting surveys and gathering UNDP corporate programme documents, results reports, country and financial data, and any other relevant information for the countries and programmes under review, as well as externally available background materials;
• Utilizing quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to analyze data, discern trends, patterns, and key insights, and formulate evidence-based conclusions;
• Conducting comprehensive research, gathering pertinent data, and sourcing both primary and secondary data to bolster evaluation studies and assessments;
• Compiling data and uploading background materials to IEO’s common document portals and systems, such as ERC and Teams/SharePoint intranet;
• Performing initial desk reviews of materials, preparing analytical content, including infographics for evaluation reports and other IEO knowledge products;
• Assisting lead evaluators in examining country programme outcomes;
• Translating and assessing the quality of documents, as necessary;
• Coordinating the work of the Research Analysts team as necessary;
• Designing PowerBI dashboards, coding and automating processes as required; and,
• Providing additional general research support as required by the IEO.
• The Research Analyst will be a vital member of the knowledge and data management section, contributing to a robust and dependable research foundation at the IEO. This role is key to supporting the successful and high-quality completion of evaluation activities, with a strong emphasis on project management and data analytics skills to enhance overall productivity and outcomes.
• The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangement

The Research Analyst will be supervised by the Chief of Section, Knowledge and Data Management section, and will work in close collaboration with other units of IEO.

Competencies
 

Core Competencies

• 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: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Cross-Functional & Competencies

• Business Direction & Strategy – Strategic Thinking:
  • Ability to develop effective strategies and prioritized plans in line with UNDP’s objectives, based on the systemic analysis of challenges, potential risks and opportunities, linking the vision to reality on the ground, and creating tangible solutions.
  • Ability to leverage learning from a variety of sources to anticipate and respond to future trends; to demonstrate foresight in order to model what future developments and possible ways forward look like for UNDP.
• Business Management – Project Management:
  • Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals.
• Business Management – Communication:
  • Ability to communicate in a clear, concise and unambiguous manner both through written and verbal communication; to tailor messages and choose communication methods depending on the audience.
  • Ability to manage communications internally and externally, through media, social media and other appropriate channels.
• Business Management    Working with Evidence and Data:
  • Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making. Data analytics for evaluation.
• Information Management & Technology – Data Management & Analytics:
  • Knowledge in data management, data sciences, ability to structure data, develop dashboard and visualization. Design data warehouses, data lakes or data platforms concepts. Familiarity with Machine leaning, natural language processing or generation and the use of artificial intelligence to support predictive analytics.
• Digital & Innovation – Tech literacy:
  • Ability to apply new digital tools or adapting their original use to create new insights, fresh perspectives or develop solutions.
  • Understand the potential as well as the limitations of certain technological developments; being able to identify how technology can add value when it’s used as a “”means to an end””.
• Evaluation – Technical Evaluation Skills:
  • Experience in developing and communicating methodological guidance across complex evaluative approaches.
    • Proven understanding of theories of change and logic models and able to use a systems approach in order to identify, recreate and facilitate the development of theories of change and logic models for complex programmes, policies and initiatives; in order to facilitate evaluative thinking among stakeholders
  • Ability to develop high-quality terms of references for complex evaluations, demonstrating a strong ability to prioritize and focus evaluation questions
  • Demonstrated ability to design complex evaluations, drawing on existing best practices as well as developing innovative approaches
  • Excellent evaluation methods knowledge, including the ability to apply and interpret a range of evaluation methods and approaches, both quantitative and qualitative, ensuring that appropriate evaluation data collection and analysis methods are used. Understands and ensures the appropriate use of multiple and mixed methods.
  • Capable of analyzing data from diverse sources, identifying trends and gaps in information, being able to ensure that data and information used in evaluations are appropriate, accurate, of high quality and collected and analyzed from an ethical perspective.
  • Possess strong analytical skills, with an ability to elaborate credible findings, with evidence traced through the analysis into findings, which are then placed within their context. Uses analytical skills to synthesize data where relevant, and identifies unintended results.
  • Has excellent reporting skills, with highly credible conclusions substantiated by evidence; and generating clear, realistic and feasible recommendations.

Required Skills and Experience

 

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Social Sciences, Economics, Public Administration, Political Science, International Relations, or other relevant areas is required. OR
• A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas stated listed above, in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum of 2 years (with Master’s degree) or 4 years (with bachelor’s degree) of relevant work experience in conducting research in the international development context with expertise in the use of machine learning applied to development.

Required Skills:

• Experience in using computer and office software packages, web-based data management systems; Microsoft Office Word, Advanced Excel, PowerPoint, TEAMS, SharePoint, MS Project, NVivo.

Language:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Working knowledge of French or Spanish is highly desired.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

1. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.
2. A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.
3. Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as  reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.

 

 

Application instructions

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