Programme Specialist

United Nations Population Fund

dakar, Senegal

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.  UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Job Purpose:

The Programme Specialist Demographic Dividend, Population Dynamics and Big Data provides strategic, technical and programmatic support for the Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend project (SWEDD) Regional Technical Secretariat (RTS) and the region in the areas of demographic dividend, population dynamics and big data.

You will work under the direct supervision of the SWEDD Regional Coordinator and in collaboration with the Evidence, Knowledge, Data and Policy Unit at the West & Central Africa Regional Office.

Qualifications and Experience: 

Education:  

  • Advanced university degree in quantitative social sciences, such as epidemiology, statistics, demography, sociology, economics or related disciplines.

Knowledge and Experience: 

  • Minimum five years of professional experiences in programme/project management, specifically dealing with the interrelationships between population and development, including issues of poverty and/or health economics, population dynamics, demographic dividend, etc.;
  • Demonstrated experience in modeling the interrelationships of social sectors and development with the application of internationally accepted methodologies;
  • Demonstrated understanding of national planning, programming and budgeting processes;
  • Strong analytical, synthesis and communication skills on issues related to development, while ensuring respect for aspects sensitive to the culture and values specific to populations;
  • Demonstrated experience in the application of demo-economic modeling and monitoring evaluation methods and tools (NTA, DemDiv, small area estimations), as well as statistical methodologies (including statistical packages such as STATA or SPSS);
  • Demonstrated mastery of methods and techniques for data quality assessment, processing and analysis using a variety of health and population sources (DHS, MICS and population census);
  • Strong knowledge and understanding of the socio-cultural and political context in SWEDD Countries;
  • Strong interpersonal communication skills;
  • Excellent report writing and compelling oral presentations;
  • Familiarity with the UN system is desirable;

Languages: 

  • Fluency in English is required, and French is desirable to enable effective communication with English speaking and French speaking country coordination groups and local organizations.

Source: https://www.unfpa.org/jobs/programme-specialist-demographic-dividend-population-dynamics-big-data-swedd-regional-office