Result of Service

• The total number of substantive pages of the report prepared should be a minimum of 30 pages, in Arabic; • A 2 to 3 pages executive summary of the report; • PowerPoint presentation on main findings. The completed parts should be edited and saved in MS-Word (*.docx file) or an alternate compatible format (except for the presentation that would be drafted using PowerPoint). 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 designated focal point. 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

Local/Remote

Expected duration

3 months

Duties and Responsibilities

Background: Transport data plays a pivotal role in fostering sustainable development by providing insights into patterns of mobility, infrastructure usage, and environmental impact. By analysing transport data, policymakers can make informed decisions regarding transport planning, resource allocation, and the implementation of efficient transport systems. Additionally, transport data facilitates the identification of areas requiring infrastructure improvements and the development of strategies to enhance accessibility for marginalized communities, fostering social equity and inclusivity within transport networks. Ensuring the quality of data is paramount in producing accurate transport indicators essential for informed decision-making and effective policy formulation. High-quality data enhances the reliability and credibility of transport indicators, allowing stakeholders to assess the performance of transport systems accurately. Poor data quality can lead to erroneous conclusions, potentially resulting in ineffective interventions and inefficient resource allocation. Therefore, implementing robust data collection methods, maintaining data integrity throughout the storage and processing stages, and adhering to standardized protocols are essential practices to uphold the quality of transport data. Clean and high-quality data in transport databases impact the accuracy, reliability, and effectiveness of decision-making processes within transport systems. Transport databases often accumulate vast amounts of data from various sources, including sensors, surveys, and administrative records, which may contain inconsistencies, errors, and duplications. Cleaning data involves identifying and rectifying these discrepancies to ensure that the information is consistent, complete, and usable for analysis and decision-making. UN-ESCWA, through its technical cooperation program, is committed to provide technical assistance to its member states to boost national efforts towards the achievement of the 2030 Development Agenda. The Ministry of Transport (MoT) in Syria recently requested UN-ESCWA’s assistance in assessing the data quality used in the Ministry Indicators System. The provision of this advisory service is the subject of these terms of reference Duties and Responsibilities: The consultant shall propose to the designated UN-ESCWA focal point a detailed version of the paper’s outline. The proposed draft version should include the following sections: 1. Review national available documents related to current Ministry Indicators System; 2. Review best regional and international practices related to quality data assessment; 3. Conduct meetings with MoT team and other national stakeholders to identify the status and scope the needed interventions; 4. Summarize the findings of national meetings conducted throughout this assignment; 5. Test samples of real data provided by MoT team to identify currents issues (redundancy, discrepancy, erroneous entries …) and apply several methodologies for data cleaning to ensure completeness, comparability and consistency among other data quality criteria). The consultant shall specify auditing techniques that could be used to detect repetitions, inconsistencies, and fix them appropriately; 6. Suggest actionable recommendations that could be directly applied by MoT team to raise the quality of their data used in Ministry Indicators System based on the conducted analysis, national needs and international practices. Those recommendations would include needed steps for MoT team to implement a full-scale cleaning and improvement of the database; 7. Suggest actionable recommendations targeting the current Ministry Indicators System to improve data quality inspection, standardisation of data entry, system security and availability. The consultant shall check tools/techniques for standardizing data input and implementing unified database rules, such as data validation procedures and data cleansing; 8. Suggest a roadmap to finalize the Ministry Indicators System to be ready for planning and management requirements. This roadmap would aim to improve the Indicators System based on the findings from the data quality assessment, and would outline the specific steps and resources required for its implementation. In addition, the consultant would also ensure the following activities: (1) Present the draft report in a national workshop (physically or remotely) and capture the main comments and discussions; (2) Update the draft proposal according to all received feedback and comments during the reviewing process by ESCWA and MoT teams. ESCWA promotes gender equality and integration of youth through its publications and therefore the consultant should pay attention, with the help of ESCWA staff, to gender considerations and youth dimension throughout the research work to ensure that the report gives equal attention to the needs of both men and women, as well as girls and boys. Writing should use gender-sensitive language.

Qualifications/special skills

An advanced university degree in ICT, technology, engineering, computer science or related area is required. A PhD degree is desirable. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. A minimum of 5 years of professional work experience and research in data technologies is required. Previous experience with SQL Server 2008 databases is required. Previous experience in the delivery of analytical/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 is required. Fluency in English is desirable. 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.