UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR)

INTERNAL/EXTERNAL VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT
Vacancy Notice No. VA/BGDDA/FTA/2022/002

Title of Post Economist Category/grade National Professional Officer, NOC
Post Number 10036510 Type of contract Fixed-term Appointment  
Location Dhaka, Bangladesh Date of Issue 2008 February 2022
The Effective Date of Assignment As soon as possible Closing Date 22 February 2022

Operational Context:
The Economist will contribute to the Bangladesh Country Operation to improve the overall quality and consistency of data on refugee populations. Working under the Senior Development Officer in Dhaka, with a functional reporting role to the Senior Economist based in Geneva, the Economist is expected to engage across a range of internal and external stakeholders in the design, implementation and analysis of a variety of knowledge products related to refugee welfare and socio-economic profiling. Of particular relevance to this role is coordination in collection of a panel dataset in collaboration with Yale University and the World Bank.

Duties

Project Management

  • Lead the design and implementation of assessments and other data-driven products related to the socio-economic welfare of refugees, forcibly displaced persons and host communities, wherever possible through coordination with the National Bureau of Statistics and World Bank Country Economist in inclusion of forcibly displaced into National Poverty Assessment.
  • Successfully manage all partnerships and activities in the collection of comparable socio-economic (poverty) data on forcibly displaced
  • Contribute to defining and promoting a vision for the use of socio-economic data, particularly in planning, programming and advocacy at the country, regional and headquarters levels.
  • Maintain a strong understanding of the state of literature on poverty analysis for forcibly displaced.
  • Manage data collection activities, as appropriate. This may take place at all stages of data collection (preparation, survey design, sampling, onsite data collection oversight and supervision and quality assurance, data analysis and report writing).
  • Conduct data analysis using econometric programs (R, Stata).

Data Collection and Analysis

  • Consolidate raw primary and secondary datasets into final datasets to be used for analysis, as needed. This will involve creating and merging various sources of data and may require programming matching algorithms, linking up with field staff for additional information, and performing manual matching.
  • Clean all datasets and create all necessary indicators. Work with the research team to design a thorough plan for data analysis and carry out the coding to perform this analysis. Common analytical tasks include production of descriptive statistics and regression analysis for various outputs such as briefs, presentations and academic papers.
  • For any field survey, assist in programming the instrument and developing protocols to ensure high quality data.
  • Properly prepare and document relevant datasets for archiving on the UNHCR Microdata Library.
  • Lead the preparation of research papers including formatting and creating tables, graphs, and related analysis.
  • Engage with country operation, partners and government, as appropriate, in the design and implementation of data collection and research projects.

Coordination

  • Ensure good communication and coordination among members of the country team, Governments, researchers and partners, serving as a link between these parties.
  • Lead drafting and writing of presentations, analytical reports and research and policy briefs.
  • Participate in official missions and deliver capacity building and training activities for partners and governments.
  • Identify research opportunities and contribute to proposals for research partnerships and funding.
  • Reflect UNHCR's positions on policy, advocacy and programming issues as they relate to the protection, resilience and solutions of refugees with medium-term economic and social development programmes.
  • Represent UNHCR in negotiations and meetings relating to socio-economic profiling of forcibly displaced and wider partners research in country.
  • Represent UNHCR in technical capacity with external actors.
  • Perform other related duties as required.

Essential Minimum Qualifications and Experience:

  • Years of Experience / Degree Level: For NOC - 6 years relevant experience with Undergraduate degree; or 5 years relevant experience with Graduate degree; or 4 years relevant experience with Doctorate degree
  • Field(s) of Education: Economics; Statistics
  • Relevant Job Experience: At least six (6) years of demonstrated experience in economics, analysing data and conducting research. Familiarity with processes of the World Bank, the African Development Bank or other international financial nstitutions, bilateral development agencies or research institutions.
  • Knowledge of English and UN working language of the duty station if not English and local language

Desirable Qualifications & Competencies:

  • Familiarity with displacement and development issues. Experience of working with the private sector. Experience working in applied development economics. Experience in poverty modelling. Experience leading primary data collection effort and data analysis. Experience of working with synergies between the humanitarian-development nexus. Demonstrated skills and experience with measuring welfare through socio-economic profiling. Demonstrated experience with analysis of large datasets. Demonstrated expertise in utilization of relevant statistical software (R, Stata). Ability to work independently with limited supervision and deliver high quality products. Demonstrated ability to think creatively, and to explore, harness and translate innovative concepts into relevant practical approaches for programming, policy, and advocacy purposes. Demonstrated ability to think creatively, and to explore, harness and translate innovative concepts into relevant practical approaches for programming, policy, and advocacy purposes.

Functional Skills:

  • MS-Drafting, Documentation, Data Presentation
  • MS-Networking
  • MG-Project Management
  • IT-Statistical software (eg. SPSS, Stata, CSPRO, etc.)
  • MS-Statistics Analysis
  • MS-Data Collection and Analysis

Competency requirements:

Core Competencies

  • Accountability
  • Communication
  • Organizational Awareness
  • Teamwork & Collaboration
  • Commitment to Continuous Learning
  • Client & Result Orientation

Managerial Competencies:

  • Empowering and Building Trust
  • Judgement and Decision Making

Cross-Functional Competencies:

  • Analytical Thinking
  • Technological Awareness
  • Planning and Organizing

All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination, and abuse of power.

As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.

Eligibility:

Candidates must be Bangladeshi Nationals.

Interested staff members should consult the Administrative Instruction on Recruitment and Assignment of Locally Recruited Staff (RALS, UNHCR/AI/2020/1/Rev.2). If you have questions regarding your eligibility, you may also contact the HR Unit.

In line with the RALS, the below category of candidates are eligible to apply for internally/externally advertised vacancies.

Group 1 candidates: Current NPO staff members holding an indefinite or fixed-term appointment are eligible to apply to advertised positions in the NPO category at their personal grade and one grade below or above, as Group 1 candidates.

External candidates: All other candidates are eligible to apply to positions in the NPO category as external candidates, including GS staff members holding a university degree and fulfilling eligibility requirements, regardless of grade or length of service, who may apply to any vacant NPO position in their country of assignment for which they qualify. External candidates must meet the essential minimum requirements of the position.

Remuneration:
A competitive compensation and benefits package is offered. For information on UN salaries, allowances and benefits, please visit the portal of the International Civil Service Commission at: http://icsc.un.org

Submission of Applications:
Interested candidates meeting the above requirements are requested to submit their applications online via UNHCR Bangladesh Job Portal https://bgdco.unhcr.org/Apps/jobportal/jobs/37. Candidates must comply with the below mandatory requirements. Non-compliance with any of the below points will immediately disqualify the candidacy of the applicant:

  • Submit fully updated, completed, and signed Personal History Form (PHF/P11) and Supplementary forms in PDF format. P11 (PHF) should always be in PDF format, and in UNHCR template. Any other formats will not be accepted
  • For Internal applicants: Submit your updated FactSheet.
  • When applying, interested candidates must clearly indicate the Position Title, Position Number and Vacancy Notice number in their application

Click to download

Only Shortlisted candidates will be contacted for the Assessment Exercises for the recruitment of the position, which may include Written/Technical tests and/or Interviews, as applicable for the recruitment of the position.

UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview, processing or any other fees).

The evaluation of applicants will be conducted based on the information submitted during the application. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application.

UNHCR strongly encourages qualified female applicants for this position. UNHCR seeks to ensure that male and female employees are given equal career opportunities. UNHCR is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and culture. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality.

UNHCR has a zero-tolerance policy against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA). SEA is unacceptable behaviour and prohibited conduct for UNHCR personnel. It constitutes acts of serious misconduct and is therefore grounds for disciplinary measures, including dismissal. Any concerns or suspicions about a possible case of SEA should be reported immediately to the Inspector General’s Office (IGO) at inspector@unhcr.org or through the online complain form at https://www.unhcr.org/php/complaints.php or by confidential fax: +41 22 739 73 80.

Refugees – who cares? We Do