Support to the UN Regional Hub for Big Data and Data Science for Africa

Result of Service- Development and monitoring of the UN Regional Hub for Africa’s workplan for 2024. - Support to the organization of the regular meetings of the UN Regional Hub for Africa for the period of the consultation: the weekly meetings of the Programme Management Unit and two meetings of the steering committee of the regional hub. - Development of at least six programs for the delivery of capability-building activities of the UN Regional Hub for Africa – this includes webinars, hackathons, and NSO collaborative projects. - Support the promotion of the UN Regional Hub for Africa through the production of promotional materials such as presentations, blogs, articles, and videos or the organization of promotional events. At least ten promotional articles or blog posts for the web from across the region on topics of interest such as data science, machine learning, large language models, etc. should be produced and disseminated during the consultation period. - Continuous engagement with stakeholders, partners and potential donors who can support the activities of the UN Regional Hub for Africa and mobilize resources: at least two meetings with donors should be organized. - Organization of at least four data science webinar programmes during the consultation period. - Production of the activity reports for the regional hub for the steering committee meetings and for the Statistical Commission for Africa: at least four activity reports should be produced during the consultation period. - An end of assignment report summarising the work undertaken and recommendations on developing the programme further in terms of content, implementation and opportunities to work more closely with other donor partners Work LocationLondon Expected duration12 months Duties and ResponsibilitiesBackground At its 45th session, the United Nations Statistical Commission voted to establish a UN Committee of Experts on Big Data and Data Science for Official Statistics (UN-CEBD) to further examine the benefits and challenges of Big Data, particularly the potential for monitoring and reporting on the SDGs. In this context, the UN-CEBD and the wider official statistical community recognized the importance of adequately addressing issues such as methodology, quality, technology, data access, legislation, privacy, management, and finance, as well as providing adequate cost-benefit analyses for the use of Big Data. To make this modernization endeavor more accessible and inclusive, four Regional Hubs for Big Data were established in 2020 and 2021 in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro), China (Hangzhou), Rwanda (Kigali), and the United Arab Emirates (Dubai). These centers were mandated to encourage creative initiatives, exchange methodologies, algorithms, and tools, and teach the local community of official statisticians on Big Data and data science. The Regional Hubs will host international conferences and workshops on data science and the modernization of official statistics. The National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) are collaborating to support the UN Global Platform Regional Hub for Africa. The collaboration was formalized by a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA). The Regional Hub for Africa was established with the objective of: a) investigating the advantages and disadvantages of Big Data, b) monitoring and reporting on long-term development goals c) successfully enhancing official statistics with Big Data Objectives Under the overall supervisor of the Director, African Centre for Statistics, the consultant will lead on the delivery of the UN Regional Hub for Africa’s workplan for 2024. This includes helping with the organization of meetings, eliciting NSO capability requirements (and priorities), designing and running webinars, hackathons and collaborative NSO projects, delivering presentations, and engaging stakeholders and potential donors for the mobilisation of resources. The consultant is expected to perform the following tasks: - Provide support to the organization of the regular meetings of the UN Regional Hub for Africa. - Develop or contribute to the development of programmes for the delivery of capacity-building activities of the UN Regional Hub for Africa – this includes webinars, hackathons, and NSO collaborative projects. - Undertake tasks to promote the UN Regional Hub for Africa more widely; this includes the development of a promotional material and continued work on the webpages. - Engage with stakeholders, partners, and potential donors who can support the activities of the UN Regional Hub for Africa and mobilize resources. Deliverables The Consultant is expected to: • Monitor and deliver the UN Regional Hub for Africa’s workplan for 2024. Ensure outcomes are delivered and shared with the Steering Committee, and feedback received is absorbed into the future workplan. • Administer and provide a Secretariat role for all meetings of the Programme Management Unit and Steering Committee of the UN Regional Hub for Africa. • Initiate and facilitate activities that engage NSOs, garners information on priorities, and promotes the work of the UN Regional Hub more widely to key stakeholders. • Produce promotional materials for the hub. • Ensure continuous updates and maintenance of the UN Regional Hub for Africa’s web pages. • Engage new partners, stakeholders, and potential donors who can support the delivery of the work plan. • Engage in activities that support understanding NSO capacity building needs relating to big data and data science, and ensure priorities are fed into the workplan. • Lead on and assist in the preparation and implementation of NSO collaborative projects with associated training programmes, that support capability development needs. • Develop, maintain, promote and deliver a data science webinars programme, ensuring at least one webinar is run each month, on a topic of interest or priority to African NSOs. • Assist in the preparation and execution of data science hackathons, as required. • Draw on experts from across the data science community and enable partnerships to support the delivery of the work. • Undertake an evaluation of capacity-building activities delivered via the UN Regional Hub for Africa. Qualifications/special skills• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in a field related to ICT (Computer science, Data Science, Statistics, Information systems, or a related field). A first-level university degree, in combination with qualifying experience, may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. A minimum of 5 years of practical experience in delivering big data or data science capability programs Strong organizational and time management skills with experience in coordinating the delivery of activities across multiple business areas/partners. Experience in delivering, coordinating, and providing leadership for regional or cross-continent capability projects. Familiarity with alternative data sources, Big Data, and data science tools and techniques. Good communication, presentation and writing skills. LanguagesNot available. Additional InformationNot available. No FeeTHE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.