TEMPORARY APPOINTMENT
Duration: 364 days
Duty Station: Suva, Fiji
Closing date: 28 May 2021 (5 pm New York time)
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The Position:
The Census and Survey Specialist will support the UNFPA Pacific Sub-Regional Office (PSRO) with the efficient and timely delivery of technical support on Population and Housing Census (PHC) and Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) with Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) add-ons. S/he will be a part of a dynamic inter-disciplinary team that provides integrated program, technical and operational support within a system strengthening approach that is fundamental to UNFPA’s overall strategy.
S/he will report directly to the UNFPA PSRO Population and Development Adviser.
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 new strategic plan (2018-2021), focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices.
In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody the international human rights norms and standards, and who will work to respect, promote and defend them boldly, visibly and vocally.
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 program results.
Job Purpose:
The Pacific Sub-Regional Program 2018-2022 commits UNFPA to support countries to strengthen the availability and utilization of data, specifically those related to monitoring the progress made on the Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and towards achieving the SDGs.
In 2020, UNFPA received financial commitment from the Government of New Zealand through the NZ-UNPS Initiative to support its work on availability and utilization of data for evidence based decision making. The support specifically targets Population and Housing Census and the Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey with DHS add-ons. This initiative will help to ensure methodological alignment with international standards so that high quality,
disaggregated population data is available to monitor regionally and nationally prioritized SDGs, as well as to provide baselines for effective humanitarian response.
The Census and Survey Specialist will manage the delivery of the technical components of PSRO’s support to census and surveys in prioritized countries. S/he will liaise closely with PSRO in-country teams as well as with national and regional partners to ensure the delivery of relevant support to the National Statistical Offices and other national stakeholders. S/he is expected to collaborate closely with the technical teams of PSRO, the Asia Pacific Regional Office (APRO) and the Population and Development Branch (PDB). The priority focus of his/her work will be the Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) that are rolling out their Population and Housing Census or MICS with DHS add-ons in 2021-2022.
All technical work will necessarily be aligned with National Plans, Policies and Strategies and UNFPA’s Sixth Sub-Regional Program for the Pacific, and should contribute to creating an environment conducive to empowering women and men, particularly young women and marginalized groups, to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive health and protect their sexual and reproductive rights.
The primary role of the Census and Survey Specialist is to:
• Support the implementation of the overall sub-regional plan for census and MICS/DHS to enable countries to implement high quality modern PHC and MICS with DHS add-ons which will contribute to monitoring prioritized national ICPD and SDG commitments.
Requirements:
Qualifications and Experience
Education:
Advanced university degree in Statistics, Demography, Population and Development, Social Sciences, Economics, Geography, or related discipline, with specialization in demographic studies being desirable.
Knowledge and Experience:
• At least 7 years of increasingly responsible professional experience in the field of population data collection and utilization, with a focus on population and housing census and DHS;
• Experience working in the UN or other international development organization is desirable;
• Excellent oral and written skills with accuracy and professionalism in document production and editing;
• Extensive experience in project formulation and management, and reporting;
• Excellent interpersonal skills and cultural and social sensitivity;
• Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging environment and to
work with minimum supervision with tight deadlines.
• Solid overall computer literacy, including proficiency in various MS Office applications (Excel, Word, etc.), familiarity with database management, ARCGIS or Q-GIS, CSPRO or SURVEY SOLUTIONS and statistical analysis packages such as SPSS, Stata or R.
• Familiarity with the Pacific context is an asset.
Languages:
Proficiency in both spoken and written English. Working knowledge of Pacific languages is an asset.