BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW OF THE FUNCTIONS OF THE POST

The
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) is the statistical office of
UNESCO and is the UN depository for global statistics in the fields of
education, science, technology and innovation, culture and
communication.

The UIS is the official source of internationally comparable data used
to monitor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal on
education. With custodianship of SDG 4 Global and Thematic Frameworks,
the UIS hosts and co-chairs the Technical Cooperation Group on the
indicators for SDG 4. 

The
UIS was established to improve UNESCO's statistical programme and to
develop and deliver the timely, accurate and policy-relevant statistics
needed in today’s increasingly complex and rapidly changing social,
political and economic environments. Within this mandate, the UIS has
initiated and supported regions and countries in developing benchmarks
for selected SDG 4 indicators and region-specific education indicators;
and, under the leadership of the African Union, is responsible for
reporting against the CESA framework.  As part of its strategy for
collaboration, brokerage and the generation of public goods the UIS has
worked with UNICEF, World Bank, OECD and the GEMR on the Joint Survey of
national education responses to COVID 19 and is developing resources to
support the monitoring of commitments for Mission: Recovering Education
2021. 

The
UIS is developing a Global Education Observatory (GEO), with the vision
of providing Member States and the international community with a
gateway to education-related data that fulfils the need of national,
regional and global stakeholders for easy access to information for
decision making, which responds flexibly to short, medium and long-term
priorities. 

To achieve this vision, the proposed Observatory has the following objectives: 

• Ensure
  that presentation is in a visually attractive ways of UIS datasets
  pertaining to the monitoring of SDG4 and SDG1 by preparing the database;
• In
  the medium-term, populate the gateway with data on the most important
  education policy priorities and form strategic partnerships with clear
  value added and complementarity, to ensure this gateway fulfils most
  stakeholders’ need with reference to achieving SDG 4.  

The
GEO will compile and integrate information from existing data
collection mechanism including the UIS annual data release and rapid
response data collection mechanisms, providing policy makers with real
time data. It will implement strategic partnerships; crowdsource
existing data as needed; and leverage innovative data collection such as
big data techniques.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS

Main responsibilities and tasks

• Coordinate
  and prepare the databases for the GEO website, ensuring its quality by
  checking the coherence and consistency against established parameters,
  and contribute to its development and gradual improvement.
• Coordinate
  the work on online data resources for the GEO website, including
  multiple online resources owned or co-owned by the UIS and manage the
   evolution of the UIS data browser. 
• Coordinate
  and prepare the databases for the monitoring of the achievement of
  national SDG 4 benchmarks and maintain the Statistics, coordinate the
  work to report annually on progress towards the national SDG 4
  benchmarks in collaboration with the Global Education Monitoring Report.
• Coordinate the preparation of the database to be submitted to UNSD as part of the global commitment. 
• Support
  the UIS in its role of custodian agency for most of the SDG global and
  thematic frameworks as per paragraph 18 of the Education 2030 Framework
  for Action. 
• Provide
  support to the cooperation and coordination mechanisms established to
  develop and implement the SDG 4 monitoring framework.
• Participate in other activities to ensure the success of the UIS work.

COMPETENCIES (Core / Managerial)

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REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Education 

• Advanced
  university degree (master’s degree or equivalent) in statistics,
  economics, demography or a related discipline with strong statistical
  and data management component.

Work experience

• Minimum
  4 years of progressively responsible relevant professional experience
  as a researcher and/or analyst working with administrative, finance,
  survey, and/or assessment data relating to education, especially with
  developing countries, of which at least 2 years acquired at
  international level; 
• Experience
  in designing, managing and implementing project and programme
  activities pertaining to data collection, analysis and dissemination,
  and developing innovative and effective information management systems;
• Experience in identifying, processing, and using data to advance decisions, strategies and execution is required; 
• Experience with relevant coding and database management languages (such as SQL, Python, Stata). 

Skills/competencies

• Familiarity with SDG 4/global, regional and national education monitoring frameworks.
• Demonstrated
  ability to explore innovative options to deliver data and analytical
  products, including understanding how to leverage on emerging
  methodological opportunities.
• Knowledge of data visualisation tools (e.g. Power BI, Tableau) 
• Experience working with and reconciling data from multiple sources.
• Demonstrated
  capability to prepare analytical and dissemination products on complex
  technical issues suitable for a more general policy audience. 
• Demonstrated
  capability to plan and manage projects; to maintain partnerships; to
  work effectively and collaboratively in a multi-cultural team
  environment. 

Language

• Excellent knowledge of English.

DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS

Education 

• A post graduate degree in public policy, technology, data management, or a closely related field or equivalent experience.
• An advanced degree in applied statistics / data science is highly desirable. 

Work experience

• Experience of working in developing countries for National Statistical Offices or Planning Units.

Skills/competencies 

• Knowledge of UIS databases and SDG 4 system of indicators is highly desirable.

Languages

• Working knowledge of French.

BENEFITS AND ENTITLEMENTS

SELECTION AND RECRUITMENT PROCESS

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