Consultancy: Python/SQL Developer – Contextual Alert and Trend System (CATS), EMOPS, 4 months, Home-based

Contract

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UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, Hope

The EMOPS Risk Assessment and Analysis Section (RAPS) has a mandate to improve risk analysis and forecasting related to contextual risks, at HQ, RO and CO levels. This includes developing methods and tools to support these activities.

Being able to identify slow and sudden changes in the volume of reporting of online media regarding events connected to potential natural and human-induced events will help UNICEF Country Offices (CO), Regional Offices (RO) and Headquarters (HQ) – including RAPS – identify places where anomalies may indicate growing risk. A system that can automatically point out these situations can act as an efficient searchlight to pinpoint where human analysts need to pay more attention. Trend data can also act as an analytical input.

CATS will directly support existing UNICEF tools and processes such as the Horizon Scan and the Emergency Preparedness Package (EPP), as well as UNICEF’s contributions to inter-agency contextual risk analysis fora.

How can you make a difference?

UNICEF’s Office of Emergency Programmes is seeking a Python/SQL Developer Consultant to support UNICEF’s contextual risk analysis and emergency preparedness efforts. The Consultant will develop the back and front end of a system to analyse trends and identify sudden spikes in online country-level media reports about specific types of events. This system will leverage existing natural language processing capabilities (e.g. the Global Database of Event, Language and Tone (GDELT)) and concentrate on querying API, managing data returned from these queries, running calculations on these data, and displaying the results in an interactive interface.

In short, the Context Alert and Trend System CATS will identify real-time points and trend conditions where current country/event reporting (as well as article tone scores, and Goldstein score that rate event significance) exceeds long term averages by defined thresholds.

The Consultant will work closely with the EMOPS Risk Analysis and Preparedness Section. This is a remote / home-based consultancy. The contract starts on 15 January 2021 and ends on 30 April 2021.

Work Assignment Overview

Tasks/Milestone:

Deliverables/Outputs:

Due before

• Technical Project Plan

• Technical revision/update of CATS project document to define project elements in technical terms, including a sustainability plan

29 January 2021

• Data mining

• API queries covering data requirements as defined in the Technical Project Plan, feeding the SQL database, including necessary support code

12 February 2021

• Database creation and data population

• SQL database capable of managing data/queries as specified in the Technical Project Plan, including necessary support code

26 February 2021

• Data Manipulation

• Code to perform statistical calculations on data in the database as defined in the Technical Project Document

12 March 2021

• Data visualization

• Interactive visual web interface with displays and user controls as defined in the Technical Project Plan

26 March 2021

• User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

• Design and implement UAT programme, including necessary revisions to system components

30 April 2021

• Technical Documentation

• Produce detailed documentation sufficient to allow a new developer to easily start work with no additional information

07 May 2021

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• At least two years of Python and SQL project development experience
• Strong Python skills (experience with libraries such as NumPy and Panda are an asset)
• Experience in SQL database development and management
• Experience integrating RESTful APIs with interfaces
• Experience with data analytics (Databricks preferred)
• Experience with data visualization tools such as PowerBI
• Working knowledge of front-end tools such as JavaScript frameworks like React, HTML5/CSS3 is an asset
• Working knowledge of Leaflet for interactive maps is an asset
• Experience with scripting, shell environments, and version control systems is an asset
• Spoken and written fluency in English

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.

View our competency framework at

http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

Instructions for Applicants

• Submit a CV and cover letter outlining how the candidate meets the consultancy requirements
• Include 3 references with accurate phone and email contact information
• Include a financial proposal following the template above, with daily rate covering all expenses. Applications without a financial proposal will not be considered. Rates shall be all-inclusive and include all cost components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR.
• Payment schedule is according to deliverable acceptance.

Remarks:

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

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.

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.