ACS Telephone survey specialist

Result of Service 1. CATI survey software adapted for price data collection in the pilot countries. 2. An Operational and Implementation Guide on the CATI survey method for price data collection and compilation of CPI. 3. Report of the webinar and training materials and presentations on CATI survey software for the webinar. 4. Report on the proceedings of CATI survey method during price data collection implementation in the pilot countries. 5. Final reports on technical assistance sessions in the pilot member States.

Work Location The consultants will work from his/her country of residence

Expected duration The duration of the contract is for 6 months and it will be undertaken on a part-time basis. The consultancy will begin upon signature of the contract by the consultant and she/he is expected to cover 2 countries, with one country taking about 3 months. The consultant will work from his/her country of residence. The honorarium will be in a lump sum of 30,000 USD and payments will be made in six installments (5,000 USD each), upon satisfactory achievement of the related milestones. The milestones for one country will be along the following lines. - 1st delivery: Organization of a webinar (inauguration & advocacy), preparation of workplan, setup of CATI system, and preparation of training materials as well as quality control protocol; - 2nd delivery: Organization of training sessions and pilot data collection; and - 3rd delivery: Undertaking actual CATI data collection and phone survey, improvements, and regional webinar on experience sharing.

Duties and Responsibilities Background The African Centre for Statistics of ECA has been undertaking a technical capacity building programme on price statistics for African countries. The programme aims to support the national statistics offices mitigate the adverse impacts of the restrictive measures taken by the countries in their efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme seeks to enable price statistics experts in the application of novel and adaptive solutions with a view to ensuring the continued production of reliable and good quality price statistics. Moreover, the application of alternative methods of price data collection, such as telephone surveys, scanner data and web scrapping assist countries in modernizing their statistical system in general.

Telephone survey is one of the alternative methods on which the African Centre for Statistics, in collaboration with its partners has been working. Telephone interviews have some advantages over face-to-face interviews, including timeliness and cost-effectiveness, amongst others. Furthermore, computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) has been used as alternative to computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. CATI is an interview method where enumerators communicate with respondents in a voice call. In the telephone interviewing approach, enumerators use electronic devices such as computers, tablets, or mobile phone, in order to read the survey script and enter the information collected. The African Centre for Statistics is therefore looking for a consultant who provides technical support to a pilot of African countries in the application of CATI survey to collect prices statistics.

Objective The objective of the project is to provide technical support to additional 4 African countries on the use of telephone surveys to collect price statistics for the compilation of consumer price index (CPI). The price data must be collected using CATI method which could be applicable during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Thorough documentation of CATI survey methods and processes which are essential for price data collection must be provided.

Duties and responsibilities of the consultant Under the supervision of the Chief of the Economic, Infrastructure and Agriculture Statistics Section (EIASS) of the African Centre for Statistics, the consultant will be responsible for the following, with emphasis on price data collection by using CATI surveys: - To make an introductory and advocacy presentation on how to apply CATI and phone survey methods at the webinar which will be organized to concerned countries; - To design a work plan with the pilot country on how to apply the CATI and phone surveys; - To set up a questionnaire of the pilot country in CATI system; - To develop training and phone data collection operational manual; - To develop data quality control protocol; - To conduct training on the use of CATI system; - To conduct training on the organization and administration of CATI and phone surveys / Training of the trainers (TOT); - To conduct training for the enumerators / call agents; - To advise and monitor pilot data collection and finalize CATI forms; - To advise and monitor the actual CATI and phone surveys data collection; - To evaluate the results, prepare summary notes and share the findings of the CATI data collection process; - To improve the system set-up which is put in place based on the results of the evaluation and assessments; - To support the pilot country in preparing and presenting its experiences and lesson learned in a regional webinar to share with other countries; and - To perform tasks indicated in the concept note as well as other duties as assigned.

Qualifications/special skills Academic Qualifications: Advanced university degree (Master's degree) in economics, statistics, sociology, finance, or related fields is required. A first-level university degree in combination with additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. Experience: A minimum of eight years of progressively responsible experience in the collection, compilation, analysis and dissemination of statistical data or related area is required. Knowledge of CATI system, and data collection by using CATI and telephone surveys is desirable. Experience in provision of technical assistance is an advantage. Language: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this consultancy, fluency in either English or French is required. Knowledge another UN official language is an advantage.

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.