Economics Specialist at South Sudan Centre for Census, Statistics & Evaluation

Economics Specialist at South Sudan Centre for Census, Statistics & Evaluation
Location: Juba
Background
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed between the Government of Sudan and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM/A) on 9 January 2005 marked a critical juncture for Sudan, and opened an unprecedented window of opportunity to turn the devastation of over 20 years of civil war, displacement and underdevelopment into a new era of peace and prosperity. The CPA made provisions for a Government of National Unity (GNU) of Sudan. It also recognized the political and administrative autonomy of Southern Sudan in the interim context, making federalism and decentralization as the framework for governance. Accordingly, the Government of Southern Sudan (GoSS) was formed and significant progress has been made to establish three functioning levels of Government.

Over the CPA Interim period, one of UNDP’s focus areas in Southern Sudan has been on capacity development to strengthen development planning, public financial management and accountability frameworks at all three levels of Government. At GoSS level, support in this area has been channeled through the project, “Support to Economic Planning (SEP)” which has been implemented since 2007.

The project has three interdependent and mutually reinforcing components:

Improved Planning and Monitoring of Government Budget Allocations and Expenditure
– Providing institutional and technical support to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP) to ensure and increase alignment of Government budget allocations and expenditures in line with GoSS development priorities.

Improved Coordination and Management of Donor Support
– Enhancing institutional capacity and provision of technical support so that all UN and donor projects and programs are increasingly formulated, implemented and reported in line with the Government’s development priorities and development needs.

Improved Capacity for Collection and Dissemination of Statistical Information and Poverty Monitoring
- Providing institutional and technical support to South Sudan Centre for Census, Statistics & Evaluation (SSCCSE) to produce, use and monitor socio-economic statistics and measure progress towards MDGs with a view to ensuring that all planning, programming and budgeting activities are evidence based.
An Economics Specialist will be recruited to provide technical support and guidance to the SSCCSE with a view to improve and strengthen the foundation for the development of statistical production both in terms of quantity and quality, to ensure that the economic statistics are comparable to international standards, and to increase credibility, quality and timeliness of the National Statistical System with best practices.

The role of the Economics Specialist is to help improve the capacity of the SSCCSE and improve the range and quality of statistics, with a focus on economic statistics, including implementation of a strong coordinating mechanism across all agencies involved in the production of official statistics in Southern Sudan. Thus, the Economics Specialist would also provide technical assistance in order to build staff capacity and improve the range and quality of economic statistics. This will require a technical person with expertise and hands on experience in supporting a national government agency mandated to produce and disseminate official statistics.

Duties and Responsibilities
The Economics Specialist will be based at the Centre for Census, Statistics and Evaluation (SSCCSE) in Juba, and will have the following key functions:

Summary of Key Functions:
* Provide technical support and advice to the SSCCSE in collection and analysis of economic and poverty statistics; * Provide technical assistance in order to build staff capacity in the SSCCSE and improve the range and quality of economic statistics; * Facilitation and provision of strategic advice to the SSCCSE for implementing a strong coordinating mechanism across all agencies involved in the production of official economic and poverty related statistics in Southern Sudan.

Provide technical support and advice to the SSCCSE in collection and analysis of economic and poverty statistics:
* Provide technical assistance and facilitation of collation, analysis and dissemination of Government Finance Statistics; * Provide technical assistance in the development, continued compilation and dissemination of Southern Sudan Consumer Price Index (CPI); * Provide technical assistance for development of methodology for computation and actual computation of GDP for Southern Sudan; * Provide technical and analytical assistance towards collection, analysis and dissemination of poverty data (Statistical Yearbook, Millennium Development Goals Progress Reports).

Provide technical assistance in order to build staff capacity in the SSCCSE and improve the range and quality of economic statistics:
* Assist the SSCCSE in conducting a capacity needs assessment among relevant staff in the SSCCSE, State Statistics Offices and other line ministries in the collection, analysis and dissemination of economic statistics; * Develop and implement a regular in-house, on the job-training and coaching programme to meet the needs as identified in the capacity assessment; * Assist the SSCCSE in developing and implementing long-term staff capacity building strategy in the area of economic statistics.

Facilitation and provision of strategic advice to the SSCCSE for implementing a strong coordinating mechanism across all agencies involved in the production of official economic and poverty related statistics in Southern Sudan:
* Provide technical advice and facilitation to enhance the role of the SSCCSE to effectively coordinate with line ministries, State and other government institutions, and international development partners engaged in the production and dissemination of economic and poverty related statistics; * Support the leadership of the SSCCSE to engage, create and coordinate partnerships with bilateral and multilateral donors, UN Agencies, and International Financial Institutions in connection with production and dissemination of official economic statistics; * Provide facilitation in order to ensure that appropriate linkages are made by the Centre to draw upon other country experiences, lessons learnt and knowledge sharing to strengthen implementation of the mandate of the Centre; * Participate, as requested by the leadership of the Centre in relevant Government and development partner task forces, working groups, and/or thematic groups.

Impact of Results
The key results of this post will be ensuring that the SSCCSE is able to produce credible, accurate and high quality economic statistics, as well as effectively coordinate all agencies involved in the production of official economic statistics in Southern Sudan.

Competencies
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:
* Experience as an economist or statistician with demonstrable knowledge in the practical collection, analysis and interpretation of macroeconomic statistics; * Experience in providing direct technical assistance, including hands-on day-to-day peer support and training; * Ability to plan, organize and coordinate work and deliver the services in a tight time frame is essential; * Ability to organize and produce results in a fluid working environment in a post-conflict and high demand context; * Strong communication and interpersonal, analysis and planning skills and ability to work amicably in a multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural environment; * Ability and readiness to work in a highly stressful hardship duty station, with very limited infrastructural facilities; * Demonstrated strong management, coordination and facilitation skills; * Strong communication skills (both oral and written); * Results oriented, flexible, problem solving skills.

Knowledge Management and Learning:
* Shares knowledge and experience and contributes to UNDP Practice Areas and actively works towards continuing personal learning and development; * Ability to provide top quality policy advice services on issues related to economic statistics; * In-depth practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues.

Required Skills and Experience
Education:
* Master’s Degree or above in Economics.

Experience:
* A minimum of 7 years relevant professional work experience at national or international level; * Experience of working as an economist or statistician with demonstrable knowledge in the practical collection, analysis and interpretation of macroeconomic statistics; * Experience of undertaking similar in Sub-Saharan Africa in general and Southern Sudan would be an advantage.

Language Requirements:
* Excellent knowledge of English and ability to communicate clearly in written and spoken English.

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.

To apply http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?job_id=20293