MNCAH Data Scientist consultant, UNICEF Office of Strategy and Evidence (OSE), Integrated Health Data Analytics Unit, Data and Analytics Section, Florence, Italy, 15 months (remote)

Contract Duration: 15 months

Working arrangement: remote

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built. We offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

                                                         TERMS OF REFERENCE

The Maternal, Newborn, Child, and Adolescent Health (MNCAH) portfolio of the Integrated Health Analytics Unit, Data and Analytics Section of OSE Innocenti maintains and updates the global MNCAH database which is a key source for country- and regional-level MNCAH data. This database is used by a wide range of stakeholders for activities related to SDG monitoring, global, regional and country programme planning and policy advocacy.

The MNCAH team is expanding the MNCAH database to align with emerging global health landscape and priorities to include administrative data, modelled data, and subnational data, and to improve timeliness and availability of the data which will necessitate strategic enhancements to the global database workflow. In addition to maintaining the global database, this consultancy will support maintenance and development of data products and data reporting processes such as SDG monitoring, Strategic Plan reporting, and other global reporting processes related to MNCAH.

The consultancy will provide technical expertise needed to navigate this process successfully under the guidance and supervision of the Statistics and Monitoring Adviser (MNCAH). Another priority of the team is to support countries in strengthening health data analytics and data use in decision making through the Actionable Health Analytics for Decision-making (AHEAD) project which requires additional analytic capacity on the team. The consultancy will support build-out of the AHEAD analytics package and respond to custom analytics requests from the countries.

If you would like to know more about this consultancy, please review the complete Terms of Reference here:  TMC0005591 ToR.pdf

Minimum requirements:

• Education:
  • Master’s degree in in data science, computer science, demography, public health, social sciences, epidemiology, statistics, or related field.
• Work Experience:
  • Two years of work experience at the national or international levels in statistical data processing, data analysis, and development/maintenance of statistical databases.
  • Proven experience in analysing, compiling, and presenting data, with a focus on MNCAH related areas preferably.
  • Demonstrated expertise working with R (preferred), python or STATA.
  • Experience with enterprise databases and data visualization software (e.g. Tableau, Power BI).
  • Demonstrated knowledge of global health data systems.
• Language requirement:
  • Proficiency in English;
  • Knowledge of other UN languages (particularly French) is an asset.     

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

Qualified candidates are invited to submit the following documents via the online recruitment portal, TMS (Talent Management System):

• An up-to-date TMS profile and curriculum vitae (CV)
• Cover letter
• A separate financial proposal  TMC0005591 Financial Proposal Template.xlsx

Remarks:  If the TOR or financial proposal documents are not visible on certain recruitment platforms, please visit our official page Vacancies | UNICEF Careers.

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.