Policy Systems Analyst

Host entity: UNEP

Volunteer type: National

Areas of expertise: Climate change, environment, Data science, information management, Artificial Intelligence

Application deadline: 01/09/2026

Mission and objectives

Since its inception in 1972, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been the global authority that sets the environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.

UNEP’s mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.

Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, UNEP works through its divisions as well as regional, liaison and out-posted offices and a growing network of collaborating centres of excellence.

Assignment context

This assignment is located in the UN Environment Management Group (EMG) Secretariat at the Nairobi duty station, and reporting to the UNEP New York Office. The Secretariat serves more than fifty UN entities from across the world, in accordance to a UN system-wide mandate.

The EMG Secretariat is hosted by UNEP. UNEP is the leading global environmental authority of the UN, and it sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. The incumbent will overall report to Head of the Secretariat, with a day to day First Reporting Officer (FRO) supervision and reporting line to the Secretariat’s Programme Officer.

Task description

Under the overall supervision of the Head of the Secretariat of the Environment Management Group (EMG), the Volunteer will be part of a new team to bring innovation and technological advancement to the technical, programmatic, and operational work of the EMG Secretariat. The specific tasks of the volunteer will include the following:

1: Enhance the use, design, development, and implementation of digital tools, methodologies, and approaches (repositories, templates, tracking and reporting tools, and surveys).
Task Description
• Design, organize, plan, and manage the collection, evaluation, analysis, compilation, and dissemination of quantitative and qualitative analyses.
• Facilitate the presentation of information in simple and intuitive formats through interactive and impactful visualizations, to support EMG members, Issue Management Groups, and the development and implementation of United Nations (UN) Common approaches.
• Provide visuals, presentations/slide decks, and brief summary reports arising from analyses in a high-quality and timely manner.
• Perform structured data and informational analysis as needed, and contribute to drafting reports, agendas, briefs, and meeting notes.

2: Information Management.
Task Description
• Work closely with Secretariat members and EMG Members to aid information collection, curation, and customization for support service offers to UN entities, Offices, and EMG members.
• Maintain repositories of data, records of information, and files.
• Be responsible for data management activities, including data storage, processing, and qualitative policy analyses associated with reports and results frameworks.
• Content creation and maintenance of websites, social media, and newsletters.
• Facilitate the use of advanced analytical tools for data storage and data transformation.
• Implement best practices in data management to ensure data integrity and data quality.

3: Technical awareness and knowledge acquisition
Task Description
• Train co-workers on data collection, artificial intelligence (AI), and related analytical tools, and support EMG member access to tools and databases.
• Keep abreast of developments in technology both within the UN and in the industry in general.
Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:
• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance, in events that mark International Volunteer Day);
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;
• Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities;
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications, websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers;
• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Results/Expected Outputs
• The EMG, and its development and capacity, is strengthened through consolidating various fragmented organizational data sources into a single in-house data analytics and reporting platform and extracting lessons learned and related recommendations.
• Applications and tools are developed to support the automation and reporting of policy development, implementation, and guidance.
• Co-workers are trained on the tools and systems provided.
• The development of capacity through coaching, mentoring, and formal on-the-job training, when working with (including supervising) national staff or (non-) governmental counterparts, including Implementing Partners (IPs).
• Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated, and documented in all activities throughout the assignment.
• A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in, and capacities developed.

Skills and experience

• At least 3 years of professional work experience at the national or international level in environmental policy analysis, content creation, report production, software applications, and data management is required.
• Experience using tools for environmental policy data analysis, platforms, and dashboards (data models, taxonomy, indicators, visualizations).
• Demonstrated ability to design and develop templates, forms, and surveys for data collection, information management, monitoring, and reporting.
• Demonstrated ability to produce in a timely manner visually and analytically intelligent content on slide decks, social media, websites, and newsletters.
• Experience using artificial intelligence (AI) for notetaking, synthesis, analysis, and report production for review; and agenda and process-tracking.
• Ensure effective digital preparation and organization of meetings such as nexus dialogues, consultation meetings, and high-level meetings.
• Documentation and record-keeping maintenance.
• Demonstrated proficiency in at least four of the following widely used tools in the United Nations (UN): Drupal, Python, JavaScript, MySQL, Power Apps, Excel, Power BI, PowerPoint, and SharePoint Online.
• Experience working in multi-cultural teams is an advantage.
• Experience in UN/United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is an advantage.

Competencies and values

• Planning and Organizing
• Self-Management
• Working in Teams

Living conditions

The contract lasts for the period indicated above with possibility of extensions subject to availability of funding, operational necessity and satisfactory performance. However, there is no expectation of renewal of the assignment.

A UN Volunteer receives a Volunteer Living Allowance (VLA) per month and is paid at the end of each month to cover housing, utilities, transportation, communications and other basic needs. The VLA can be computed by applying the Post-Adjustment Multiplier (PAM) to the VLA base rate of US$1,602. The VLA base rate is a global rate, while the PAM is country-specific and fluctuates on a monthly basis according to the cost of living. This method ensures that international UN Volunteers have comparable purchasing power at all duty stations irrespective of varying costs of living. The PAM is established by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) and is published at the beginning of every month on the ICSC website http://icsc.un.org.
For example, kindly enter the link Calculator.

In non-family duty stations that belong to hardship categories D or E, as classified by the ICSC, international UN Volunteers receive a Well-Being Differential (WBD) on a monthly basis.
Furthermore, UN Volunteers are provided a settling-in-grant (SIG) at the start of the assignment (if the volunteer did not reside in the duty station for at least 6 months prior to taking up the assignment) and also in the event of a permanent reassignment to another duty station.
UNV provides life, health, permanent disability insurances as well as assignment travel, annual leave, full integration in the UN security framework (including residential security reimburse-ments).

UN Volunteers are paid Daily Subsistence Allowance at the UN rate for official travels, flight tickets for the final repatriation travel (if applicable). A resettlement allowance is paid for sat-isfactory service at the end of the assignment.

UNV will provide, together with the offer of assignment, a copy of the Conditions of Service, including Code of conduct, to the successful candidate.

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