Background

The United Nations Millennium Declaration was adopted in 2000 by world leaders, committing their countries to a new global partnership to reduce extreme poverty and setting out time-bound goals on meeting the needs of the world’s poorest. These goals, to be achieved by 2015, formed the basis for what are now known as the eight Millennium Development Goals, which have been broken down into 21 quantified targets that are measured by 60 indicators.

As was outlined in the report of the Secretary to the general Assembly in September 2011, the UN system’s process of developing a new frame work post 2015 is likely to have the best development impact if it emerges from an inclusive, open and transparent process with multi-stakeholder participation. UN Millennium Campaign has for the last 8 years led UN efforts to build partnerships with civil society, private sector and citizens to contribute to the achievement of the MDGs This has been done through the use innovative communications campaigns, advocacy, social mobilization and policy dialogue. The focus has been to seek to influencing policy, the generation, allocation and effective use of resources, ways of working and the democratic governance environment to accelerate the progress toward MDG achievement.

In this regard, the UN Millennium Campaign is taking the lead in designing and implementing a strategy for outreach to stakeholders; both within and outside the UN including key leaders across civil society. Our Post-2015 outreach is an attempt to bring the voice of citizens, civil society and the myriad of other stakeholders directly into the debates and conversations that will shape the development agenda. MY World, a global options survey, has been designed and developed to ask citizens what would make the most difference to their lives and that of their families. It will be disseminated through different channels to ensure both scale (to create political and media traction) and representativeness (for credibility of the results). The outcome of the Phase I will be to present regular analyses of the results to the High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda to inform their work. It is envisaged that MY World will continue to 2015 and help to develop an engaged constituency to strengthen accountability for the next development agenda.

The UN Millennium Campaign is therefore seeking a consultant to prepare a toolkit for the My World Offline Component and conduct an offline statistical survey in Liberia. Throughout the duration of the consultancy, the consultant will report and work closely with the Deputy Director-Policy/UNMC to carry out the tasks.

Duties and Responsibilities

Preparation of tool kits for use in conducting offline surveys and mobilizations for my world
 
The aspect of the job has the following main components:
  • Compiling a toolkit covering the procedures and essential information required for any organization wishing to conduct the non-statistical MY World survey offline, to cover the mechanics of doing the survey and uploading the results to ensure that the data is consistent with other MY World data, plus information on techniques and best practice in interviewing.
  • Checking the advice and information with a group of NGOs who have expressed an interest in assisting with the development of the toolkit.
  • Preparing a supplementary kit for organizations wishing to conduct a representative survey in a given country or region, to cover procedures to follow; developing a sampling frame, sampling and stratification techniques, selection of EAs, mapping identification etc. and methodologies for selection (random, systematic etc.) of households listing of household residents and selection, identification and interviewing selected individuals. 
  • Guidelines on processing and analyzing data including coding of open ended questions, selecting appropriate software for crating of data entry screens, data entry and cleaning, tabulation and analysis (recommended statistical packages for cross tabulation and analysis
  • Consultation on toolkit - In discussions with NGOs about MY World, a number of them expressed concern about how the survey could be done in ways that would be appropriate to the particular groups they work with, such as the elderly, people with disabilities or children. Once a draft of the basic toolkit has been prepared, it should be shared with these groups, so they can provide information on what extra advice might be needed to ensure that all groups can be reached through the survey. Depending on the information given, it could be incorporated into the text or added in the form of boxes or appendices. 
  • Output:   Basic Toolkit and toolkit for representative surveys 
Conduct an analysis of statistical survey
 
This aspect of the job has two main components:

Lead data processing and analysis of the survey results:

  • The consultant will develop a data entry screen to be used enter the data and guidelines for coding open ended questions.
  • As part of the first task, develop guide for data quality assurance; supervision of field work, handling refusals and non-responses, substitutions guide to the ethics of interviews, including controlling expectations, privacy and confidentiality etc.
  • Train a core group of coders and data entry clerks.
  • Upload data entry screen on to a number of computers to be used for the data entry.
  • Consolidate all data entered and undertake verification and data cleaning.
Prepare national report of the Myworld offline survey:
  • The consultant will develop a plan for the analysis of the data; suggested list of tables and x-tabulations, as well as an outline and proposed content of the national report and discuss and agree it with the MyWorld technical team
  • Produce dummy tables for review and comment by MyWorld technical team
  • Prepare a draft national report of the sample survey as per the agreed content and outline and a final report once comments and inputs are received from the technical team
  • Upload the data to the global Myworld data base

Competencies

Corporate
  • Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’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.
Technical competencies
  • Strong writing and analytical skills.
  • Ability to be flexible and work under tight deadlines in an independent working environment.
  • High level of communication and interpersonal skills and experience in working effectively in a multi-cultural environment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • At least a Master’s degree in social sciences; preferably in statistics or demography.
Experience:
  • Knowledge and experience in statistical work; design of statistical surveys, sampling etc.;
  • Experience in carrying out training for field data collection for statistical surveys;
  • Knowledge and experience in data entry and analysis software packages such as SPSS, SAS, EPI, Info etc.;
  • Experience in writing statistical reports.

Language Requirements:

  • Excellent spoken and written English and communication skills; Knowledge of other UN working language is an asset.