Gather Census Materials for Knowledge Management

Host entity: United Nations Population Fund, HQ

Areas of expertise: Knowledge management, research, reporting

Application deadline: 03/11/2026

Mission and objectives

UNFPA serves as the lead UN agency for population and housing censuses, supporting National Statistical Offices (NSOs) through six core areas: providing technical guidance and modernization for digital and register-based census transitions; driving capacity building through specialist training and South-South hardware sharing; leading advocacy and resource mobilization to secure funding and political commitment; ensuring quality assurance aligned with UN standards and independent post-enumeration surveys; enabling data dissemination via open-access georeferenced portals; and facilitating policy integration so disaggregated demographic intelligence directly informs national development strategies, SDG tracking, and population policy.

Assignment context

UNFPA operates across more than 150 country and regional offices. The curated documents will directly empower census practitioners. The Population and Housing Census (PHC) is a fundamental pillar of national statistical systems, generating vital demographic, social and housing data for national planning and monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals. UNFPA's Data and Analytics Branch (DAB) leads global support to census implementation, managing knowledge through a Portal and Census Community of Practice (on Google Drive). These resources require updating to fill information gaps and strengthen the census knowledge base. This assignment specifically targets SDG 5 (Gender Equality).

Task description

Targeted Web Research: Conduct online searches across National Statistical Office (NSO) websites, regional portals (such as those of UNECA, SPC, ECLAC, ESCWA), and open data repositories to identify official materials from the 2020 and 2030 census rounds. (Target countries and focal years will be specified during the orientation meeting).

Document gathering and filing: Locate, download, and file documents across all phases: Phase 1 (Planning and Governance), Phase 2 (Field Instruments and Questionnaires), Phase 3 (Data Processing and Verification), Phase 4 (Dissemination and Thematic Reports), and Phase 5 (Administrative Closure and Evaluation). (File system to be defined in orientation meeting).

Recording document details: in an Excel/Google Sheets document. (Information to be recorded will be defined in the orientation meeting).

File naming and accessibility checking: Apply standardized file-naming conventions and check Google Drive links. (Naming conventions will be defined in the orientation meeting).

Orientation meeting: An initial 2-hour virtual briefing via Google Meet upon assignment start.

Weekly check-in: 1-hour weekly virtual status check-in calls.

Continuous communication: via email; joint tracking on Google Sheet/Google Drive.

The Data and Analytics Branch (DAB) is located at UNFPA HQ in Nairobi, Kenya, and hence the assignment country is Kenya - although the Online Volunteer can be physically anywhere globally.

Skills and experience

Web search skills: Ability to conduct online desk research, locate official government publications, and navigate statistical databases.

Technical and tool proficiency: Proficiency in Google Workspace (Google Sheets, Google Drive) for document gathering and filing and recording document details. Ability to use online translation tools.

Full eligibility requirements, conditions of service and application instructions are available on the official UNV platform.