National Consultant for Project on Using Big Data for Producing Environment-Gender Indicators (Mongolia)

Result of Service This pilot project in Mongolia aims to develop a better understanding of the nexus between environment and gender by improving the capacity of NSO of Mongolia to utilize big data to produce a sample of environment-gender indicators. The project outcomes will provide insights on the feasibility of using non-traditional data sources to produce environment-gender indicators. They will also offer valuable case studies for countries in Asia and the Pacific region to determine whether they would be interested in replicating this pilot.

This project will contribute to advancing the Collective Vision regarding the Action area C: Integrated statistics for integrated analysis.

Work Location Home base

Expected duration 2.5 months

Duties and Responsibilities The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development places great emphasis on promoting inclusive and sustainable future all, leaving no one behind. By endorsing this Agenda, member states are committed to advancing initiatives geared towards generating an enabling environment for socio-economic as well as environmentally sustainable development. This presents a rationale for efforts in deriving a better understanding of development themes requiring more attention, including environment, gender, and the nexus between the two. Several barriers including data gaps impede progress, and while governments and partners are directing more resources to this space, more coordinated and standardized approaches including national and international guidelines are needed.

To respond to these identified needs, UN-Women, ESCAP, UNEP, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have developed a set of environment-gender indicators aimed to reveal the interactions between the two themes and their importance for advancing the 2030 Agenda in Asia and the Pacific. The purpose of this indicators set is not to prescribe a compulsory measuring tool but to offer an approach for countries interested in better understanding the nexus between environment and gender. The set combines indicators from existing frameworks including the SDGs framework and Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. The seventh session of the ESCAP Committee on Statistics welcomed the initiative and encouraged continuation of this work.

Data availability remains a key challenge for these indicators and big data present an opportunity to address these gaps. To a certain degree, several National Statistical Offices (NSOs) in the region have experimented with non-traditional data sources and non-traditional methods to produce a range of indicators.

These initiatives are encouraging and illustrative of the potential use of big data to pilot a production of one of the environment-gender indicators, looking at disaggregation and intersectionality where possible. To build on these efforts, the project aims to support Mongolia in utilizing big data to produce one of the indicators from the environment-gender indicators set.

ESCAP is seeking a national consultant to implement the project. The national consultant will work closely with an international consultant to facilitate two national workshops in Mongolia.

The first will focus on a stock-take of data availability and the capacity of the National Statistical System, while the second will focus on presenting and disseminating findings to data users. Under the overall guidance of the international consultant, the national consultant will also provide hands-on trainings in-between workshops to the National Statistical Office of Mongolia (NSO of Mongolia) on data collection, data analysis, and production of relevant indicators. The consultant will work with the international consultant in facilitating a regional workshop to share the findings with countries across Asia and the Pacific. S/he will also work closely with the international consultant to draft a national strategy on the use of big data for producing the selected environment-gender indicator or recommendations to be able to do so.

Qualifications/special skills - Master’s degree in statistics or related fields - Excellent coordination, communication, planning, and organisational skills - In-depth knowledge of Mongolia’s national statistical system, its capacities and limitations, and opportunities for official statistics production - Strong IT knowledge and skills including STATA, R, and GIS software - Strong research, data analysis, and writing skills (reports, strategies, training manuals, and workshop documents) - A minimum of 5 years of work experience in data production for official statistics, SDGs, or related indicators. - Practical experience in facilitating trainings for NSOs and/or government officials at line ministries in Asia and the Pacific region is an advantage. - Experience in conducting workshops, coordinating, and collaborating across the national statistical system and data ecosystem including NSO, line ministries, development partners community, private sector and CSOs in the areas of production and analysis of official statistics. - Experience in using big data for producing SDG or relevant indicators is preferred.

Languages - Fluency in English, both spoken and written - Fluency in Mongolian, both spoken and written

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.