Background

The mission of the Human Development Report Office (HDRO) is to advance the idea of human development. The goal is to contribute towards policies and measures that expand opportunities, choice and freedom of individuals. The office works towards this goal by promoting innovative new ideas, advocating practical policy changes, and constructively challenging policies and approaches that constrain human development. The office works with others to achieve change through writing and research, data analysis and presentation, support to national and regional analysis and outreach and advocacy work. The office produces the annual Global Human Development Report and supports UNDP regional bureaus and country offices in the production of several regional and national Human Development Reports a year. More information about the office and Human Development Reports can be found at http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/.
 
To provide research support to the reports, HDRO proposes to offer a post-doctoral fellowship (consultancy) for a scholar
with a doctoral degree in statistics, economics or a related discipline to contribute to statistical function of the Development Research and Data team on the measurements, indices, statistical tables and other statistical issues for the Human Development Reports.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under supervision of Chief Statistician, s/he is expected to produce research output on topics relevant to the report, but also relevant for the system of measurements, indicators and composite indices used in the report.
 The research will be undertaken in close collaboration with the HDRO staff and will inform the writing of the Human
  • Development Report of 2015 and 2016.
  •  Expected to engage in the brainstorming sessions of the office, contribute ideas and knowledge;
  •  Guide interns on data analysis as required.

Competencies

Corporate:

  • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  • Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional:

  • Strong statistical, econometric and quantitative research skills;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
  • Demonstrates openness to change;
  • Responds positively to feedback and differing points of view.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Potential candidates should have acquired their Ph.D. degrees in statistics, economics or related fields (including but not limited to quantitative social research, demography, development studies) not more than three years ago. Individuals who expect to receive their degrees within the calendar year 2014 are also encouraged to apply. Their research and expertise will be in statistical methodology, analysis of micro-data, international statistics, analysis of poverty and inequality.

Experience:

  • Potential candidates should have a minimum up to one year of research assistance /publications or teaching assistance experience.
  • Excellent writing skills and understanding of the human development and capabilities approach
  • Knowledge of Stata is required. 
Language:
  • Demonstrates good writing skills in English. 

Evaluation Method:

Consultants will be evaluated based on UNDP’s cumulative analysis method. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract shall be made to the consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

  • Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
    Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical (80%) and financial (20%) criteria.

Evaluation Criteria:

  • Technical (based on CV, technical test/interview) - 80%:
  • Experience (20%); 
  • Technical test/interview (60%);

Financial Proposal - 20% 
The consultant is requested to provide his/her daily or monthly consultancy fee.

Important note:

Interested candidate is required to submit application via UNDP jobsite system, because the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP jobsite system. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document - for your CV, please fill out the UNDP Personal History Form (P11) for Individual Contracts, which can be downloaded at https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Byo5Ju5ka4Fnc3UtbVNqNXhOdXc/edit
Please sign and upload it to the jobsite.