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.
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. The research team of the HDRO works with the Director who is the “lead author” to develop the annual Human Development Report (HDR) which is presented to and globally launched with the UNDP Administrator.
The work of the research team includes developing proposals for the annual theme, in-house and commissioning / review of externally conducted research, innovative approaches to measurements of human development, networking and consultations with leading scholars and other stakeholders around the world, and finally writing the report.
The work of the statistics team includes production of leading human development indices and standard indicator tables, development of effective statistical outreach strategies and activities with leading statistical organizations, representation of UNDP and HDRO in international statistical community and build partnerships with key data agencies and experts and ensure good relations with members states on statistical issues.
Duties and Responsibilities
The Statistic Analyst will contribute to the overall work in the office and report to the Chief of Statistics. She/he will work closely with the entire HDR team in supporting the production of the human development indices, maintain working relationships with international data agencies and other specialized agencies and research institutes in the process of data collection and measurement development, contribute to providing UNDP Regional Bureaus and country offices with substantive data support as well as interacting with country governments and other external users of the human development indices and Report for information outreach.
UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.
Under the guidance and direct supervision of the Chief of Statistics, with specific duties and responsibilities as follows:
Contributes and supervises background research for the Human Development Reports and its Statistical Annex tables.
- Contribute to an agenda of research topics related to the HDR and/or other knowledge products.
- Research sources of relevant statistics and interact with UN, other international and national agencies in the effort of data collection.
- Conduct independent evaluation of data quality and reliability.
- Apply statistical modeling and other quantitative techniques to obtain estimates as required.
- 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.
- Undertakes literature review and research on conceptual and empirical aspects of human development, with strong demonstrated focus on policy.
- Make presentations at conferences on the results of analyses conducted.
- Reviews contributions by consultants and interns and suggests ways adapting them into the report.
Contribute to statistical information outreach.
- 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.
- Contribute to responding 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.
- Conduct independent research and propose new approaches on measurement and data issues related to the specific theme of each year’s global HDR.
- Provide feedback and input 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.
Cooperation with other units of HDRO
- Contribute to supporting 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.
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: Staff will oversee the work and deliverables of IPSAs and interns, as required by the organizational structure.
Expected Demonstration of Competencies
Core
- Achieve Results:
LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work. - Think Innovatively:
LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking. - Learn Continuously
LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning. - Adapt with Agility
LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process. - Act with Determination
LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously. - Engage and Partner
LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships. - Enable Diversity and Inclusion
LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making.
Cross-Functional & Technical
- Business Development
Knowledge Generation: Ability to research and turn information into useful knowledge, relevant for content, or responsive to a stated need. - 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. - Digital & Innovation
Data analysis: Ability to extract, analyze and visualize data (including Real-Time Data) to form meaningful insights and aid effective decision making. - 2030 Agenda: Prosperity
Inclusive Growth: Multidimensional Poverty and Human Development - Communication
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 Direction & Strategy
System Thinking: Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system - Business Management
Portfolio Management: Ability to select, prioritise and control the organization´s programmes and projects, in line with its strategic objectives and capacity; ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives and the maintenance of business-as-usual, while optimising return on investment
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) from an internationally accredited university in statistics, demography, economics, economic development, public policy or relevant social science is required, or a first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.
- PhD degree in above fields, desirable.
Experience:
- Minimum 2 years (with Master´s degree) or 4 years (with Bachelor´s degree) of relevant work experience with international data and statistics is required.
- Strong training in applied statistics/quantitative analysis is required.
- A good grasp of statistical software for analyzing data (particularly STATA), and other standard office software such as Excel and Word are required.
- Familiarity with the production of internationally comparable statistics is strongly desirable.
- In-depth knowledge and experience of using household survey data for estimation and analysis of models, distributions and population parameters is desirable.
- Language requirements: Proficiency in English is required.
Disclaimer
Under US immigration law, acceptance of a staff position with UNDP, an international organization, may have significant implications for US Permanent Residents. UNDP advises applicants for all professional level posts that they must relinquish their US Permanent Resident status and accept a G-4 visa, or have submitted a valid application for US citizenship prior to commencement of employment.
UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications.
Applicant information about UNDP rosters
Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.
Non-discrimination
UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.
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