Statistician (Technical Assistance and Training)

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• FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture.
• Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and person with disabilities are encouraged to apply;
• Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO's values
• FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination　　
• All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks
• All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality

Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) collects, analyses and disseminates statistics as part of its core mandate. In addition, it serves as custodian agency for 21 SDG indicators. The Statistics Division (ESS) focuses on production of statistics in FAOSTAT and supports the SDG process on five indicators; 2.3.1, 2.3.2, 2.4.1, 5.a.1 and 12.3.1.
The Environment Statistics (ENV) team covers statistics and indicators in the domain of: fertilizers, pesticides, land use and land cover, climate change statistics and agri-environmental indicators. It also serves as focal point for SDG 2.4.1 indicator, defined as the proportion of agricultural area under productive and sustainable agriculture.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the ESS Director direct supervision, technical guidance of ESS Senior Statistician and in collaboration with the Office of Chief Statistician (OCS), and other FAO divisions and teams at the headquarter, regional and country offices, the consultant will be responsible for the below mentioned tasks.

Technical Focus

The consultant will act as the key resource person for: data collection, analysis, alignment of actions with work plan, will support in organization, monitoring and coordination of the capacity development activities (technical assistance and training) at the global, regional and country level.

Tasks and responsibilities

Specifically, the consultant will perform and contribute to the following tasks within the ENV team:

• Support data collection, analysis, quality assurance and control (QAQC) activities as per FAO defined protocols and processes;
• Support capacity development activities including organizing, facilitating and presenting at the regional training and countries workshops (virtual or in-person); Preparation of preliminary and final reports of the trainings and follow-up with countries on action points and next steps;
• Coordinate regularly and systematically with other cross-functional teams i.e. 50x2030 team, the World Census of Agriculture (WCA) team and OCS on data collection and capacity development activities (i.e, both for SDG 2.4.1 and Environmental team questionnaires);
• Assist in the rolling out of the proxy indicator for SDG 2.4.1 by coordinating and supporting the capacity development activities, its compilation, documentation and reporting to UNSD;
• Support the identification and implementation of alternative data sources including geospatial information for updates to the ENV Questionnaire-based domains and ENV analytical datasets
• Prepare weekly, monthly and quarterly reports as required;
• Contribute to the preparation of methodological and analytical documents
• Carryout other tasks related to Environmental team as and when required;
• Undertake duty travel as needed.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Masters or higher (Ph.D.) university degree in Statistics, Economics, Environmental sciences and GIS/geography
• 5 years of relevant experience in: Environmental Science/Agricultural statistics/Economics/GIS including farm-based surveys, organization and implementation of training programs, 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). For PSA, working knowledge of English is required.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• 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, international organizations, academia, dealing with research, statistical data production and dissemination (for example, in survey design, data collection, data processing, statistical analysis, report writing and capacity development)
• Statistical and GIS programming languages, such as R, Python, Java Script, GIS software, experience with Google Earth Engine
• Previous work experience with FAO and its partners in the above mentioned statistical domains and tasks will be considered an asset

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