UNDP Jobs - 79106- CAPACITY AND COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT TO CENTRAL ADM

CAPACITY AND COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT TO CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION OF STATISTICS TOWARDS ENHANCED AND INCREASED ACCESS TO DATA AND STATISTICS IN LEBANON - UN DATA AND STATISTICS WORKING GROUP MAY 2018.

Location :

Beirut, LEBANON

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

05-Jun-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

12 weeks from the signing of the contract.

Languages Required :

Arabic English French

Expected Duration of Assignment :

12 weeks from the signing of the contract.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) is a public administration within the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. Its primary mandate and mission are: a) to collect, process, produce, and disseminate social and economic statistics and national accounts (through administrative data and surveys), b) to harmonize statistical classifications and terms and as well to improve statistical methods for the benefit of public administrations, c) to provide technical supervision and coordination of statistics compiled by other public administrations, and d) to provide technical training to staff of various statistical units in public administrations.

CAS is organized in seven departments/units operating under the leadership of the Director General. These departments/units are the following: household and social statistics, statistics of the production sector, coordination and national accounts, fieldwork operations and regional statistics, dissemination and printing, IT, and administration.

Despite the high caliber of its staff, CAS has suffered from staff challenges – including constraints on temporary recruitment, absence of medium-to-long term budget, and with regard to autonomy and flexibility (to make decisions, particularly on administrative procedures). These constraints are factors to be reviewed when seeking to improve and develop the capacity of CAS. CAS would benefit from increased access to data produced by other agencies and entities, such as BDL, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Interior and Municipalities, etc. There is a need for long-term planning to meet on statistical needs. Coordination could be further developed with line ministries, research /academic institutions, and with UN/developmental entities.

The SDG National Committee established a Working Group on Data and Statistics, chaired by CAS, in March 2018. The TORs are currently being developed.

Data availability and access to information are major and cross-cutting challenges affecting evidence-based policy making in Lebanon. They also constrain the ability of citizens to hold government to account particularly in the process of economic and social reforms and the work for democratic consolidation as well as enable programme planners to monitor and evaluate deliverables and results.

The amount of timely, coherent, up-to-date, reliable and internationally comparable statistical data is limited due to weak overall statistical capacity and we can mention in particular data on poverty, income distribution, and economic measurements. The situation is highly problematic with respect to access to micro data from household surveys, labour market surveys, health surveys, etc. as the CAS’s current law doesn’t mention at all sharing of micro data There is heavy reliance on estimates and projections, namely in the absence of a population census (Lebanon is the only country in the world with no population census in more than 80 years). The use of the 2004–2005 Census of Buildings, Dwellings and Establishments (CBDE) as a sampling frame for large-scale surveys is a key challenge identified by CAS (noting that the CBDE requires continuous update).

In the past decade, UN agencies and WB as well as the private sector have undertaken a multitude of ad-hoc surveys through CAS and research and academic institutions; these surveys show a wide variety of methodological approaches, making the comparability of data sets challenging.

Duties and Responsibilities

In view of the described problem and situation, it is evident that CAS as a national legal entity with a clear mandate is required to provide a functional institutional and organizational framework that guarantees and sustains the generation of comparable official statistics, based on international standards and best practice, in order to leverage, build and enjoy legitimacy and credibility among national and international stakeholders. Of key importance is to ensure CAS compliance with each of the ten UN Fundamental Principles for Official Statistics.

The objective of this consultancy is to carry out a review of the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) as follows: a) to assess its governance, decision making, resources, capacities, and normative framework, b) to determine its needs, risks and challenges in assuming its role as mandated by law, and c) to inform priorities and mitigation measures and actions (including legal / regulatory, if relevant) to be able to fulfill its functions.

In carrying out the assessment, the consultant will review organizational set-ups of a few national statistical offices in the Arab region and globally to draw a comparison on similarities and discrepancies with CAS as well as identify and review best practice that could be replicated in Lebanon.

This comprehensive review and analysis of the institutional, organizational and technical capacities of CAS will ultimately contribute to the outcome that will deliver the following results: a) develop a sustainable professional statistical capacity, b) elaborate a medium/long-term statistical plan, and c) ensure that the institutional set-up is not hindered by administrative and/or legal hurdles.

Competencies

Functional competencies:

Good knowledge in facilitating high level meetings with critical thinking;
Good knowledge of the UN system as well as national counterparts;
Excellent written and spoken communication skills in Arabic and English including report writing.

Corporate Competencies:

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

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

Advanced University degree in social/development sciences or other related areas.

Experience:

Strong background in research methodology including development and adaptation of assessment tools;
Good knowledge and understanding of the Lebanese context and public administrations (including CAS);
Extensive international and regional experience (more than 15 years) in providing overall leadership and advocacy on developmental issues;
Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to establish effective and working relations with other stakeholders;
Excellent report writing with analytical skills.

How to apply

Interested candidates who meet the above qualifications should apply on line by submitting an Updated CV detailing their work experience relevant to the consultancy requirements

The above document should be submitted to the following email address: info-lebanon@unfpa.org no later than June 5, 2018.

UNFPA will only be responsible to respond to those applicants submitting the above required documents and in which there is further interest.