Data Specialist, Consultant

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a multilateral fund created to make significant and ambitious contributions to the global efforts to combat climate change. The GCF contributes to achieving the objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement. In the context of sustainable development, the GCF aims to promote a paradigm shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to climate change while accounting for their needs and supporting particularly those that are vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. The GCF is governed by a Board composed of equal members from developed and developing countries. It is operated by an independent Secretariat headed by an Executive Director. The GCF Board mandates the Independent Evaluation Office (IEU) of the GCF under paragraph 60 of its governing instrument to inform its decision-making. Specifically, the governing instrument states, “… the Board will establish an operationally independent evaluation unit as part of the core structure of the Fund. The head of the unit will be selected by, and will report to, the Board. The frequency and types of evaluation to be conducted will be specified by the unit in agreement with the Board.”

The IEU has several objectives:

a. Informing decision-making by the Board and identifying and disseminating lessons learned, contributing to guiding the GCF and stakeholders as a learning institution, providing strategic guidance;

b. Conducting periodic independent evaluations of GCF performance to objectively assess the results of the GCF and the effectiveness and efficiency of its activities; and

Providing evaluation reports to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement for purposes of periodic reviews of the Financial Mechanism.

Role

The Research Assistant Consultant will support the Science and Data Workstream of the Independent Evaluation Unit (IEU) in delivering data collection, management and analysis support to IEU’s evaluations and learning activities. Responsibilities of the Research Assistant Consultant include data collection and dataset maintenance, qualitative and quantitative analysis to identify trends and patterns in data, and other tasks related to IEU evaluations.

Duties and responsibilities
Under the overall guidance of the Head of the IEU, the Evaluation Advisor and other designated primary supervisors within the IEU, the Research Assistant Consultant will:

• Support the IEU in the automation of data collection from documents, databases and online sources

• Support successful reaching milestones of IEU’s evaluations on time and scope

• Develop and maintains IEU data pool through extraction and update of quantitative and qualitative information from a variety of sources, both internal and external to the GCF

• Review and analyze quantitative and qualitative data contained in databases and reports, as well as available online information to deliver data-driven insights into IEU’s evaluations.

• Maintain and update the assigned datasets, including data cleaning and control of data quality

• Provide organizational and substantive support for GCF Board meetings and other events and meetings related to the functioning of the IEU, for example assisting in the preparation of relevant documentation, taking meeting minutes, preparing summaries of discussions, meeting reports, drafting agreements and other legal documentation;

• Support any additional analytical and operational tasks as assigned by the Head of the IEU, or designated primary supervisor, and perform tasks routinely undertaken by members of the Unit, including for instance: participation and documentation of meetings, representation of IEU externally, provision of feedback and participation in team activities;

• Perform other related duties including travel, as required.

Qualifications

Essential

Education

a) Master’s degree in Statistics, Applied Mathematics, Applied Economics, Computer Sciences, Social Sciences or other fields relevant to the assignment;

Experience and competencies

b) As least one (1) year of work experience with Master’s level degree or four (4) years’ work experience with a Bachelor’s level or equivalent combination of relevant education and experience;

a) Proven track record in data management and analysis in relevant development and environmental projects, including field experience and experience with large-scale datasets;

b) Proficiency in R, Python, Excel, Tableau; knowledge of STATA, SPSS and SAS

c) Experience of applying advanced quantitative and qualitative research methods;

d) Good analytical skills and ability to analyze documents and projects, introduce innovative methods and designs for climate-related projects;

a) Experience in international organizations, development agencies, government, private sector or non-profit sector;

b) Experience in establishing strong working relationships with colleagues from different functions and cultures. Proven ability to work innovatively within a team environment;

c) Mature judgment and absolute commitment to confidentiality;

d) Ability to manage multiple data-related tasks simultaneously;

Language requirements

e) Fluency in English is essential
f) Knowledge of another UN language, in particular Spanish, French, Portuguese and Arabic, is considered an advantage

Desired:

a) Experience in a multilateral setting
b) Knowledge of GCF and the IEU
c) Familiarity with gender analysis tools and methodologies;
d) Familiarity with machine learning methods will be an asset