Result of Service

A summary report on the completed work, outlining deliverables in terms of advisory services, updates to the MARS system, country-specific training, progress by countries/ministries and main challenges and future recommendations to improve coordination of national statistical systems. The completed parts should be prepared in English language, edited and saved in MS-Word (*.docx file) or an alternate compatible format. Note that PDF format will not be accepted. It should include a table of contents to be automatically updated followed by a list of all tables and figures. The various parts should be submitted in electronic form and sent to the email of the Head of the Statistical Policies and Coordination Unit at Cluster 4. Attention is kindly drawn to the need to ensure that the final draft of the outputs be thoroughly reviewed prior to submission and to indicate the sources of tables and diagrams. References to reports and other substantive material should be clearly indicated within the text and noted at the end. It is also essential to send, with the completed output, photocopies or scans of at least the first page of books, reports and bulletins, used as reference material as well as copies of the pages quoted. The content of the generated document shall be the sole property of ESCWA. Their contents cannot and must not be presented, discussed or published without the express authorization of ESCWA. The consultant shall keep in mind that UN-ESCWA routinely checks all deliverables for plagiarism using readily available electronic tools. All previously published content, even if written by the selected consultant, must be clearly referenced where required within the text and end-noted at the end of the study. The report submitted by the consultant must not contain quoted, previously published text equaling more than 20 per cent of the total number of pages. The consultant shall not publish or announce or reveal the content of the report, partly or entirely, on social media or any other public channel, without ESCWA permission.

Work Location

Remotely

Expected duration

6 months

Duties and Responsibilities

Background The national coordination of official statistics (Principle 8) is one of the most complex principles of the ten United Nations Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (A/RES/68/261). Improving coordination data flow of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) is vital in a period where external shocks or disruptions require the continuity of key statistical compilation activities, and the continued availability of data to inform emergency mitigation actions by Governments and all other stakeholders in the state. However, Coordination of national statistical systems impose an enormous challenge for national statistical offices (NSOs) the official source of national data. The ESCWA Statistical Committee addressed this issue at its fourteenth session to “reaffirm the importance of strengthening coordination in the national statistical system and call on all national data-producing bodies to consult with the national statistical apparatus before reporting national data to relevant United Nations organizations and others”. In response to this challenge, and the concern voiced in the 14th session of the Statistical Committee ESCWA developed the Monitoring Application for Reporting on SDGs (MARS). MARS is a management tool that enables NSOs to manage national data flow of SDG indicators from ministries. MARS enables NSOs to monitor data reporting at national and global levels by digitizing coordination processes thus enhancing accountability and transparency at the Expert Data Provider level, in line with the United Nations custodian agencies’ calendars and data collection tools as well as the national priorities. MARS performance dashboard and status report enable NSOs to monitor and track reporting by all Expert Data Providers including completion of the verification process by custodian agencies. MARS enables NSOs to take the lead as the official source of national data and to publish timely and quality data on their national reporting platforms. Moreover, NSOs can address the challenges of data gaps in a timely manner, which will lessen the duplication of efforts and discrepancies between national and international sources and strengthen the coordination mechanisms of national statistical systems. Objective The objective of this consultancy is to provide advisory services and technical support to the national statistical offices committed to implement MARS in around 4 to 6 countries : (1) Review network of data providers to ensure compliance with guidelines and completion of information, (2) Discuss with main national stakeholders needs and priorities related to SDG data reporting, (3) Provide advice on recommended data flow from various sources based on best practices, (4) Provide briefings and trainings along with launching ceremony of MARS, as required by countries. Duties and Responsibilities: Under the supervision of the Head of the Statistical Policies and Coordination Unit at Cluster 4: Statistics, Information Society and Technology Cluster at ESCWA, the consultant shall perform the following duties and responsibilities: 1. Update the national SDG indicator list and recommend suitable data sources, refine data collection tools and map data providers in cooperation with custodian agency approval and within the context of the targeted countries. 2. Provide briefings to national statistical offices on MARS. 3. Train data providers from different ministries, as required. 4. Contribute to sectoral workshops to discuss needs and priorities, where needed. 5. Collaborate with countries to identify challenges in implementing MARS and suggest remedial actions. 6. Respond to queries from countries and provide timely advice. 7. Preparing reports of national meetings and workshops conducted with main national stakeholders. 8. Performs other related work as required. In addition, the consultant would also ensure the following activities: 1. Present findings of implementation and capture the main comments and discussions. 2. Update MARS guidelines as needed to reflect good practices and questions and answers.

Qualifications/special skills

An advanced university degree in Statistics, population studies and demography is required. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. At least 7 years of experience and research in the domain of SDGs and data flow is required. Previous experience in management and planning is required. Previous experience in the delivery of research papers is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, fluency in Arabic and English are required. Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.