Economic Commission for Africa
The African Centre for Statistics

Objective

The program of work of the African Centre for Statistics (ACS) is aimed at increasing the capability of African statistical systems in development, dissemination, maintenance of database, and use of key demographic, social, economic and environmental statistics, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) indicators, in compliance with internationally agreed standards and good practices, including the 1993 System of National Accounts (1993 SNA) and the Principles and Recommendations for populations and housing censuses (P&R). The ACS is also promoting the implementation of the Reference Regional Strategic Framework (RRSF) for Statistical Capacity-building in Africa. In addition, the ACS organizes conferences on statistical coordination and capacity building for Africa, including the African Statistical Commission (STATCOM-Africa), the Forum on African Statistical Development (FASDEV), the African Symposium on Statistical Development (ASSD), and the Advisory Board on Statistics in Africa (ABSA).

Duties and Responsibilities of Consultant

•  Design, or adapt to African context, appropriate technical manuals on population and housing censuses and indicators;

•  Support the efforts of ECA in the data collection and development for the compilation of African statistical yearbook and the maintenance of the ECA database, including MDGs indicators, demographic and health survey (DHS) and household survey profile;

•  Participate in the organization of technical workshops on population censuses, household survey, labor force, employment, national accounts, trade statistics and environment for African countries;

•  Strengthen ECA capacity in the development, maintenance and populating of statistical database, including the use of mapping and geo-information systems (GIS);

•  Participate in the preparation of the upcoming subsidiary meetings such as STATCOM Africa, FASDEV, ASSD and ABSA;

•  Develop promotional materials support of the celebration of African Statistical Day (ASD);

Qualifications

Education

Advanced University Degree (MA or MSc) in statistics, demographic statistics or database development.

Work Experience

A minimum of 5 years experience at the national level, in the African context, in some of the following expertise: demographic statistics, population censuses, development and maintenance of statistical databases, MDGs indicators, household surveys, informal sectors, labor and employment statistics, economic statistics, national accounts and trade statistics.

Competencies

Professionalism - Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of statistics; sound analytical and problem-solving skills; ability to determine suitability, validity and accuracy of data provided by others; experience in the use of various research methodologies and sources, including electronic sources on the internet and other databases, good planning and organization of own work and meeting commitments conscientiously and efficiently; Technological Awareness - Demonstrates initiative in keeping abreast with technology and actively seeks to apply it to appropriate tasks. Teamwork - Good interpersonal skills; ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds. Communication - Demonstrates openness to sharing information and keeping people informed; strong communications skills, both oral and written, especially ability to draft/edit a variety of written reports and studies in a clear, concise style. Planning and Organizing: Proven ability to priotize, plan and organize own work and ability to integrate work into the work of the unit; ability to monitor and adjust plan and priorities as necessary and to work according to deadlines.

Languages

Fluency in written and oral English or French and knowledge of the other language is an advantage.

Other desirable/required Skills

Demonstrated in-depth technical knowledge of statistical packages (SPSS, SAS or STATA) is required; ability to use special statistical software for data analysis is an asset, for example: EUROTRACE for trade statistics, ERE-TES for national accounting and REDATAM for population censuses; familiarity with GIS and data base management, spreadsheets and statistical packages are required for a database specialist and desirable for other specialists.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested persons who wish to be considered for the roster are requested to complete the Personal History Form (Form P-11) and send it before 31 May 2008 by e-mail to: ecarecruitment@uneca.org . Kindly note that only applications submitted on Form P-11 will be reviewed.

The United Nations shall place no restrictions on the eligibility of men and women to participate in any capacity under conditions of equality in its principal and subsidiary organs (Charter of the United Nations - Chapter 3, article 8).

After the initial screening process, persons found to meet the eligibility requirements indicated in the TORs will be contacted for verification of their academic and professional credentials. On completion of the verification process, those retained for roster will be advised accordingly. They will subsequently be contacted to undertake consultancy assignments whenever the need arises. The duration of such assignments ranges from one to six months.