Principal Economic Affairs Officer, D1 UNECA – United Nations Economic Commission for Africa Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 776 views

Principal Economic Affairs Officer, D1

UNECA – United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Responsibilities

With the delegated authority, the Principal Economic Affairs Officer will be responsible for the following duties:

• Providing technical advisory services on using Digital Technology and Big Data in transforming statistical operations.
• Supporting member states to use innovative strategies and incorporation of digital technology in statistical operations, for example, censuses, surveys, population registers, civil national identity management and registration and vital statistics systems.
• Provide technical expertise to ECA member states to exploit the non-traditional data sets that will augment or supplant existing sources for the efficient and effective production of ‘fit for purpose’ official statistics.
• Preparation of position papers on using Digital Technology and Big Data to transform National Statistical Offices in Africa.
• Supporting member states to harmonize their national macroeconomic policies particularly in the context of regional criteria for convergence to use digital technology and Big Data to transform statistical operations.
• Building of effective partnership with other UN system agencies and bilateral partners through joint activities, continuous dialogue, mobilization of support and knowledge sharing with ECA member states.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Competencies

• Professionalism: Knowledge of the substantive field of work in general and of specific areas being supervised. Ability to produce reports and papers on technical issues and to review and edit the work of others. Ability to apply UN rules, regulations, policies and guidelines in work situations. Shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations.
• Teamwork: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.
• Technological Awareness: Keeps abreast of available technology; understands applicability and limitation of technology to the work of the office; actively seeks to apply technology to appropriate tasks; shows willingness to learn new technology.
• Leadership: Serves as a role model that other people want to follow: empowers others to translate vision into results; is proactive in developing strategies to accomplish objectives; establishes and maintains relationships with a broad range of people to understand needs and gain support; anticipates and resolves conflicts by pursuing mutually agreeable solutions; drives for change and improvements; does not accept the status quo; shows the courage to take unpopular stands. Provides leadership and takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work; demonstrates knowledge of strategies and commitment to the goal of gender balance in staffing.
• Empowering Others: Delegates responsibility, clarifies expectations, and gives staff autonomy in important areas of their work; encourages others to set challenging goals; holds others accountable for achieving results related to their area of responsibility; genuinely values all staff members’ input and expertise; shows appreciation and rewards achievement and effort; involves others when making decisions that affect them.

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Economics, Management Information Systems, Information Analytics, Computer Science, Data Science, Statistics or another quantitative field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Work Experience

• A minimum of fifteen years of progressively responsible experience in the field of economic policy analysis gained through involvement in policy research, formulation and advisory at national and sub-regional levels, as well as programme development and management is required.
• The use of digital technology in statistical operations is required.
• Experience in use of technology methods in interviewing such as Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI), Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) and Computer Assisted Web Interviewing (CAWI) is required.
• Knowledge and usage of tools such as R, SAS, Tableau, Python, Qlikview, Advanced Excel, Machine learning etc is desirable.
• Experience in analysing data from third party providers like telecoms is desirable.

Languages

• Fluency in one of the working languages of the UN Secretariat, English or French, (both oral and written) is required; knowledge of the other is desirable. Knowledge of another UN official language is an advantage.