Consultancy - Low Birthweight Estimates Analyst Consultant, Data and Analytics (D&A) Section, DAPM NYHQ (home based)

Contract

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Consultancy Title: Low Birthweight Estimates Analyst Consultant

Section/Division/Duty Station: Data and Analytics (D&A) Section/DAPM NYHQ (home based)

Duration: 11.5 months (190 days between 01 September 2021 and 15 August 2022)

About UNICEF

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments. UNICEF has over 12,000 staff in more than 145 countries.

BACKGROUND

UNICEF and partners released the first inter-agency estimates on low birthweight with annual estimates from 2000 to 2015, in 2019. The inter-agency estimates on low birthweight are being updated for release in 2022 and support is needed for the analysis and abstraction of data, country consultations and writing of reports and other publications. As part of a broader initiative to institutionalize the full administrative database on birthweight, UNICEF aims to fully integrate all country sources into their Nutrition Database system. This will increase efficiency for future updates and contribute to timely release of high-quality estimates.

Terms of Reference / Deliverables

In close collaboration and working with the Statistics and Monitoring Specialist on Nutrition, of the Data and Analytics Section of Department of Data, Analysis and Monitoring, the incumbent is responsible for supporting the development of the 2022 Edition of UNICEF/WHO low birthweight estimates and un-weighed at birth database and related publications with specific tasks as follows:

1. Undertaking data analysis of household surveys to generate adjusted low birthweight estimates, data quality outputs and related methodological analyses
2. Supporting counterparts in countries, for which survey datasets cannot be shared, to undertake their own re-analysis of birthweight estimates, and other country capacity building activities as needed
3. Review and abstraction of administrative data on birth weight for up to 130 countries for all available years between 2000 and 2020 as part of the double data abstraction for the global database of administrative data sources on birthweight
4. Development of the un-weighed at birth global database covering the period from 2000 to 2020 based on available data from administrative sources and including re-analysis of up to 400 surveys
5. Technical support for the country consultations on the estimates including technical review of materials, and drafting of the country consultation background document, related technical notes and materials for webinars
6. Drafting of the inter-agency report on low birthweight and peer review publications

Deliverables include

• Abstractions of available administrative data on birthweight for use in country modelling from 2000 to 2020 for an estimated 130 countries
• Country consultation background documents and webinar materials
• Final low birthweight estimates database from household surveys, including re-analysis of up to 40 new surveys
• Methodological analyses of household survey data on birthweight
• Global database on percentage un-weighed at birth for the period 2000 to 2020 based on data from administrative sources and including re-analysis of up to 400 surveys
• Final text for the inter-agency report on birthweight estimates
• Draft text and materials for the peer-review publication on the birthweight estimates and peer-review paper on methodological developments

Qualifications

(1) Education

• Advances University degree (i.e. Masters or Doctorate) in Nutrition, Statistics, Public Health, Epidemiology or a related field.
• The individual should be highly proficient in undertaking statistical analysis for large datasets using STATA and also be proficient in a range of PC/web applications, including but not limited to: MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Outlook, and Lotus Notes.

2) Work experience

• At least eight years of experience undertaking tasks related to data analysis and database management with some experience at the international level
• Experience working with and consulting national governments on statistical estimates

3) Competencies

• Strong organizational, planning, and analytical skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication in English.
• Good judgment, initiative, high sense of responsibility, tact and discretion.
• Ability to work well in a team environment
• Demonstrated cultural sensitivity and ability to establish harmonious working relations in a multicultural environment.)

Requirements****:

• Completed profile in UNICEF's e-Recruitment system and provide Personal History Form (P11) Upload copy of academic credentials
• Financial proposal that will include:
• your daily/monthly rate (in US$) to undertake the terms of reference (can be downloaded here: https://www.unicef.org/about/employ/index_consultancy_assignments.html
  • travel costs and daily subsistence allowance, if internationally recruited or travel is required as per TOR.
  • Any other estimated costs: visa, health insurance, and living costs as applicable.
  • Indicate your availability
• Any emergent / unforeseen duty travel and related expenses will be covered by UNICEF.
• At the time the contract is awarded, the selected candidate must have in place current health insurance coverage.
• Payment of professional fees will be based on submission of agreed satisfactory deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold payment in case the deliverables submitted are not up to the required standard or in case of delays in submitting the deliverables on the part of the consultant.

U.S. Visa information:

With the exception of the US Citizens, G4 Visa and Green Card holders, should the selected candidate and his/her household members reside in the United States under a different visa, the consultant and his/her household members are required to change their visa status to G4, and the consultant’s household members (spouse) will require an Employment Authorization Card (EAD) to be able to work, even if he/she was authorized to work under the visa held prior to switching to G4.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.