Statistician – Technical Assistance and Training

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FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender and nationality

People with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply

All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality

The incumbent may be re-assigned to different activities and/or duty stations depending on the evolving needs of the Organization

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In September 2015, the General Assembly adopted the Sustainable Development Agenda, with 17 global goals at its core. To monitor the Sustainable development goals and its 169 targets, the UN statistical commission has adopted a global monitoring framework of 232 SDG indicators.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is the custodian UN agency for 21 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators and thus responsible for providing capacity development support for almost 10 percent of the entire Global SDG monitoring framework. Amongst others, the Statistics division (ESS) of FAO is responsible for five Tier II indicators; 2.3.1, 2.3.2, 2.4.1, 5.a.1 and 12.3.1 for which data can be collected using farm surveys in addition to other data sources (Tier II indicators are those for which established methodology exist but regular data is not collected and reported by the countries so far). The ESS division has devised comprehensive capacity development and data collection strategies for each of these indicators to enable countries start producing and reporting data in the short to medium run. To upgrade these indicators as Tier I overtime, several concrete/practical steps needs to be undertaken (where Tier 1 means that indicator is conceptually clear, has an internationally established methodology and standards are available, and that data are regularly produced by countries for at least 50 percent of countries and of the population in every region where the indicator is relevant). The steps that will be undertaken by ESS include\:

• Providing training on the indicators’ methodologies;

• Assessing countries data and capacity gaps in producing these indicators;

• Supporting countries to upgrade and/or customize existing data collection tools to produce these indicators;

• Supporting the implementation of new cost-effective data collection tools (e.g. AGRISurvey, 50x2030 initiative and use of EO data) to collect farm-based data and produce these indicators;

• Improving data dissemination, analysis and use of FAO-SDG indicators for decision and policymaking.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the ESS Director, direct supervision and technical guidance of the focal points of the respective SDG indicator, in collaboration with the Office of Chief Statistician (OCS), the AGRISurey programme/50x2030 initiative and other FAO divisions and teams at the headquarter, regional and country offices, the consultant will be responsible for the below mentioned tasks.

The consultant will act as the key resource person for capacity development, alignment of actions with work plan, supervision and monitor and coordinate the technical assistance and capacity development activities for the five indicators at the global, regional and country level.

In particular, during the duration of his/her contract, the consultant will undertake official missions on regular basis to perform the following tasks\:

• Provide leadership and coordination for the design and development of a comprehensive capacity development programme i.e. technical assistance; training strategy and action plan, while taking into account the findings of the SDG gap assessment.
• Ensure finalization of the training modules of the five farm survey based SDG indicators in close collaboration with SDG focal points at the FAO Headquarter (HQ) level, keeping in view as a target audiences the technical officials at the country level who are responsible for collecting and reporting data;
• Establish and hold technical discussions with relevant stakeholders, and participate in consultation meetings with the FAO HQ and regional teams, government institutions and stakeholders;
• Develop strategies and plans for joint training events on the farm based SDG indicators for the target populations to be completed within established timeframes in coordination with the HQ Focal points and relevant national stakeholders;
• Organize, participate in and lead as a resource person in the regional training workshops and countries workshops (that involve both data users/producers) and deliver trainings on the indicators as per the methodologies endorsed by Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goals (IAEG-SDG);
• Travel to countries and engage the concerned national government agencies (i.e. the relevant ministries and National Statistical Offices) to assist them in collecting, producing and using the SDG indicators for decision-making. In particular review the current data collection instruments at the country level, ascertain data and capacity gaps and work on how to incorporate the farm based data collection in the national statistical system and also advise on alternative data sources that can be used to collect the data needed for these indicators;
• Monitor the implementation of the training programme in accordance with the data collection strategies and plans of the respective SDG farm survey based indicator, and ensure timely delivery of the training to facilitate collection of data required to construct and monitor the indicators;
• Put in contact the FAO SDG focal points with the relevant national technical personnel to organize follow-ups after completion of each mission;
• Conduct a quarterly assessment of the training programmes and propose corrective measures, as needed, to meet the achievement of planned outputs;
• Prepare a quarterly progress and evaluation report for continuous monitoring and evaluation of the capacity development activities;
• Undertake duty travel as needed;
• Perform other related duties as required.

• Advanced university degree in Statistics and/or Economic or a related field
• 5 years of relevant experience in; agricultural statistics including farm-based surveys, organization and implementation of training programmes, as well as acting as resource person and facilitator of training courses
• Working knowledge of English (C level) and limited knowledge of French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese or Russian (B level)

Additional desirable skills and competencies

• Ability to draft quickly, clearly and concisely and to communicate effectively in English
• Ability to work independently, with minimum supervision
• Extent and length of work experience in national offices or international organizations dealing with statistical data production and dissemination (for example, in survey design, data collection, data processing, statistical analysis, report writing and capacity development)
• Previous work experience with FAO and its partners in the above mentioned statistical domains and tasks will be considered an asset
• PhD or equivalent degree in relevant disciplines – this may substitute for 1 year of experience

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

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Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency

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