Historique

Through a series of different projects, the Office of the Senior Strategic Advisor aims at improving human development tracking and promotion through enhanced national capacity to generate and use indicators and disaggregated data for vulnerable and excluded groups, at strengthening capacities of national institutions to integrate social and economic policies for the reduction of poverty and inequality, and at identifying and addressing key areas of policy intervention in different countries of Latin America and the Caribbean in collaboration with Country Offices and other RBLAC thematic units.

Each of the aforementioned three broad areas requires substantial support to ensure quality and timely delivery. It is in this context that UNDP would like to recruit six Research Assistants, two per term as described above, to assist the Office and its projects with qualitative as well as quantitative research inputs.

Start and Expected Duration of Assignment:      

  • Spring Term: March 2nd to May 31st, 2015;
  • Summer Term: June 1st to August 31st, 2015;
  • Fall Term: September 1 to December 15, 2015.

When applying, candidates have to indicate which term they are interested in.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Under the guidance of and reporting directly to the RBLAC Senior Strategic Advisor/HDR Director & Lead Author, the HDR Coordinator and the Unit’s Senior Economist, the Research Assistant Intern will be responsible for the following generic on-demand activities:

  • Perform assistance to characterize specific groups in terms of different indicators of well-being;
  • Perform background assistance (qualitative and quantitative) on project activities using household surveys and descriptive statistics; prepare inputs aimed at describing specific “hard to reach” subgroups of the population that need to be included in the policy toolkit offered by the poverty unit to country offices;
  • Provide support and empirical inputs for regional and sub-regional Human Development Reports, and assessments on fiscal and social policy;

Deliver inputs on multidimensional analysis. In particular:

  • Quantitative analysis on poverty and inequality decompositions over time;
  • Quantitative analysis and socioeconomic and demographic profiles of social groups in LAC countries;
  • Provision of research assistance on fiscal/benefit microsimulation models across LAC countries;
  • Research support on data and analysis to strengthen the quality of publications produced;
  • Compile, analyze and synthesize information for the Senior Strategic Advisor/HDR Director & Lead Author, the HDR Coordinator and the Unit’s Senior Economist;
  • Support the development of knowledge management products (methodologies, reports, briefs, etc.) on specific poverty and inequality issues.

Key Results Expected

The incumbents are expected to deliver the following key results expected in relation with their key functions:

  • High quality quantitative and qualitative research products;
  • Analytically rigorous notes and inputs for discussion;
  • Comprehensive literature reviews with particular attention to policy matters;
  • Clear, organized and visually appealing presentations;
  • Insightful, straightforward and intuitive texts, graphs, boxes, maps and infographics on complex matters.

Compétences

Corporate Competencies:

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

Functional Competencies:

  • Highly developed research assistance skills;
  • Strong analytical skills, and ability to rapidly analyze and integrate diverse information from varied sources;
  • Computer literate; must be able to use the Internet and other research and applied econometric software’s such as STATA effectively;
  • Identifies priority activities and assignments;
  • Teamwork - excellent interpersonal, organizational and management skills and ability to work within multi-disciplinary teams.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

  • Ability to operate effectively in a changing and complex environment, and to produce results under stress;
  • Consistently approach work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Proven organizational skills;
  • Demonstrate strong oral and written communication skills;
  • Demonstrate openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
  • Strong analytical skills;
  • Strong interpersonal skills.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:  

  • Enrollment in a graduate degree programme in Development, Economics, Politics, Public Administration, Public Policy, or other related development fields.

Experience:  

  • Relevant work experience, including research and research methodology desirable;
  • Broad knowledge of research methods and econometric software’s such as STATA;
  • General knowledge of political and economic context in Latin America and the Caribbean;
  • General knowledge of UNDP work in the region is desirable.

Language requirements:        

  • Excellent oral and written communication skills in English and Spanish are required.

Availability:                 

  • For Spring and Fall, must be available three days a week;
  • For Summer, must be available full-time.

Conditions:

Interns are not financially remunerated by UNDP. The costs associated must be borne by the nominating institution, related institution or government, which may provide the required financial assistance to its students; or by the student, who will have to obtain financing for subsistence and make his or her own arrangements for travel, accommodation, visa, etc.