Director - Statistics for Development Division

• Senior Noumea-based position
• Attractive expatriate package
• Join the principal development organisation in the region

Description

The Pacific Community is the principal scientific and technical organisation in the Pacific region, proudly supporting development since 1947. We are an international development organisation owned and governed by our 26 country and territory members. In pursuit of sustainable development to benefit Pacific people, our unique organisation works across more than 25 sectors. We are renowned for our knowledge and innovation in such areas as fisheries science, public health surveillance, geoscience, and conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

The Statistics for Development Division (SDD) is based in SPC’s headquarter in Noumea, New Caledonia. The division employs approximately 20 staff all of whom are based in Noumea. SDD’s goal is to strengthen the capacity of Pacific Island and Territories (PICTs) national statistical systems by providing technical support through coordination with technical partners and donors. As part of SDD’s new role and functions, it has adopted a statistics system leadership and coordination role as well as strengthening its work on data analysis and dissemination. This new direction will be implemented as part of the Ten Year Pacific Statistics Strategy (TYPSS) Phase 3 over the next three years and this role is a key position in driving this change.

The role – the Director will lead and manage a multi-disciplinary team, coordinating the delivery of quality statistical advice and support to SPC’s member country’s National Statistics Offices and National Statistical Systems (NSS) across five key areas: population and housing censuses and household surveys; economic and social statistics, administrative collections (CRVS), information management, data analysis and data dissemination.

The director will be supported by the Manager, Data Analysis and Dissemination, responsible for ensuring the statistics being produced are of sound quality, are able to be analysed and disseminated and data is being increasingly used to inform policy in member countries and facilitate quality research.

He/She will provide leadership to the region’s statistical system by collaborating with key donors and development partners, to develop and coordinate an integrated program of support for the ongoing development and production of key statistics. This system leadership role will include SDD’s secretariat responsibilities including PSSC, HOPS, Methods Board including oversight of the ongoing development and reporting of SDGs and monitoring of TYPPS Phase III.

The position encompasses the following major functions:

1. Leadership, management and technical oversight of the Statistics for Development Division:

• Providing vision and leadership to the Statistics for Development Division (SDD), and strategic and policy advice on broader regional statistical development matters;
• Providing policy advice on regional demographic and socio-economic development issues and challenges;

2. Statistical System Leader Role:

• Positioning SDD as the region’s principal coordination agency for the development, production, analysis and dissemination of key core statistics;
• Maintaining regular discussions with relevant financial (DFAT, MFAT, World Bank) and Development partners (PFTAC, UNPA, UNESCO, UNESCAP) on statistical development initiatives and work programs in the region;

3. Manage SDD’s Census and Survey support:

• Managing the operations of the SDD unit responsible for coordinating the delivery of statistical support to NSOs;
• Servicing the work of the Methods Board;

4. Support to SPC Senior Leadership Team:

• Contributing to SPC Senior Leadership Team in development of corporate policy and plans;
• Attending and effectively contributing to regular SLT meetings;

5. Funding and donor liaison:

• Maintaining ongoing advocacy to sustain regional and international awareness and recognition of national data and information needs of PICTs;
• Oversees the development of significant new project initiatives to help achieve tangible results that are in line with TYPSS Phase III, SDD’s Business Plan and Results Framework – (2018-2020);

6. Integrated programming:

• Lead/contribute to the development and implementation of inter-divisional programme and SPC integrated programming approach for the inclusion of data dissemination;
• Leads and actively promotes integrated programming across the division and supports SDD development programming across the organisation;
• Develop and pursue both SPC-wide and/or divisional, multi-sectoral and integrated approach to support the achievement of the SPC Strategic Objectives and divisional objectives;

For a more detailed account of the key responsibilities, please refer to the online job description.

Key selection criteria

1. Qualifications

• Postgraduate degree in statistics, demography, economics (or other academic discipline related to substantive work of the Statistics for Development Division);

2. Technical expertise

• At least 15 years of demonstrated leadership and management experience in a public sector or research environment, including financial management;
• Proven history of successfully building and leading multi-disciplinary teams, including people of different national and cultural backgrounds, and demonstrated ability to manage professional, technical, and program support staff in a team environment, ensuring everyone's role contributes to successful team outputs;
• Proven track record in designing and managing projects pertaining to data collection, analysis and dissemination, and the development of innovative ways of effectively communicating results;
• Sound understanding of key development issues pertaining to the Pacific Island region, and the role that data and analytics, as well as good information management plays in addressing these issues;
• High-level verbal and written communication skills and the capacity to effectively represent SPC at regional and international forums;

3. Language skills

• Excellent communication skills (oral and written) in English, with French being desirable;

4. Interpersonal skills and cultural awareness

• Excellent interpersonal skills;
• A team player, with the ability to network and work effectively in a multicultural setting;
• Cultural sensitivity and a demonstrated understanding of developing country environments;
• Knowledge of Pacific Island countries and territories is an advantage;

Salary, terms and conditions

Required start date – as soon as possible.

Contract Duration – This position is budgeted for three years and is subject to renewal depending on performance and funding.

Remuneration – The Director for Statistics Development Division is a Band 15 position in SPC’s 2019 salary scale, with a starting salary range of 7,024–8,684 SDR (special drawing rights) per month, which currently converts to approximately XPF 1,003,495–1,240,618 (USD 9,975–12,331; EUR 8,409–10,396). An offer of appointment for an initial contract will be made in the lower half of this range, with due consideration being given to experience and qualifications. Progression within the salary scale will be based on annual performance reviews. SPC salaries are not presently subject to income tax in New Caledonia.

Benefits for international staff employees based in New Caledonia – SPC provides subsidised housing in Noumea. Establishment and relocation grant, removal expenses, airfares, home leave, medical and life insurance, and education allowance are available for eligible employees and their recognised dependents. Employees are entitled to 25 days of annual leave and access to SPC’s Provident Fund (contributing 8% of salary, to which SPC adds a matching contribution).

Languages – SPC’s working languages are English and French.

Equal opportunity – SPC is an equal opportunity employer. Recruitment is based entirely on merit; in cases where two short-listed candidates are judged to be of equal rank by the selection committee, preference will be given to Pacific Island nationals.

Child protection – SPC is committed to child protection, irrespective of whether any specific area of work involves direct contact with children. SPC’s Child Protection Policy is written in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Police clearance – Successful candidates will be required to provide a police clearance certificate.

Application procedure

Closing date: 3rd March 2019 - applications must be received before midnight Noumea Time

Job Reference: AL000168

Please use SPC’s online recruitment system to lodge your application:  http://careers.spc.int/

Hard copies of applications will not be accepted.

For your application to be considered, you must provide us with:

• an updated resume with contact details for three professional referees
• a cover letter detailing your skills, experience and interest in this position
• responses to all screening questions

Please ensure your documents are in Microsoft Word or Adobe PDF format.

All international positions at SPC have specific screening questions. If you do not respond to all of the screening questions, your application will be considered incomplete and will not be reviewed at shortlisting stage.

Screening questions

Please briefly describe (500 words or less) your understanding of, and experience and demonstrated ability in:

1. Leadership and management of a large, multidisciplinary team, overseeing the development and implementation of annual work plans and budgets,
2. Resource mobilization including the development of both small and large funding proposals, and establishing partnerships and collaborations for project design and implementation.
3. Project management of large multi-agency projects with a range of partners including undertaking and/or coordinating reporting and acquitting expenditure to donors using different formats.
4. What are your three most significant accomplishments in the area of Statistics in Pacific?
5. One of the main objectives under the Ten Year Pacific Statistics Strategy (TYPSS) Phase 3 is to have in place an enhanced regional statistics governance framework. The Head of Planning and Statistics (HOPS) Meeting in 2017 approved this proposed enhanced governance framework. Can you explain the five main components of this framework and can you outline how Pacific National Statistics Offices (NSOs) benefit from having this framework in place?
6. The demand for quality, timely and disaggregated Pacific statistics has increased substantially in the last few years, and further fuelled by SDGs reporting requirements. As system leader, can you outline how SPC-SDD will address this on-going challenge? What strategy will you put in place to address the increased demand for data collection and data dissemination?
7. The implementation of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development means that SPC-SDD will have to support PICTS to collect data relevant to update and report on the 132 Pacific SDGs indicators agreed to by Pacific Leaders at its meeting in Samoa in 2017. How do you see SDD, as system leader, fulfilling this role given SPC’s own financial constraint? How do you see other partners supporting data collection in the Pacific?