Result of Service

Under the supervision of the project coordinator at UNSD, and in close collaboration with UNODC, the consultant’s work assignment will involve the following: -Prepare a detailed plan of activities, specifying key outputs and timelines, in close consultation with the UNSD and UNODC teams. -Engage with selected countries that already have started implementing the Framework to understand their process, which challenges and opportunities they met along the way and what approaches they decided to take. -Work with the 3 countries to support their process of identifying priorities, available data sources, analysis and validation approaches, and based on this, improve their production and dissemination strategies of corruption statistics. -Organize and facilitate two workshops on corruption measurement and data dissemination for key national stakeholders (anti-corruption agencies, national statistical offices, etc.) – one in Colombia, one in the Dominican Republic. -Update the practical guidance on corruption statistics based on the in-country progress made in the 3 countries and incorporating feedback from the Global Consultation in collaboration with UNODC, UNSD, involved countries and other key stakeholders. -Engage with partners and stakeholders at the regional and global level, including the Data for Now core-team, UN agencies, donors as well as partners in civil society, academia, private sector, etc., in order to share the progress achieved through the practical application of the guidance and to obtain feedback from subject-matter experts. -Contribute to communications and outreach work related to the above work, including data stories, webinars and the corruption statistics side-event during the UN Statistical Commission. -Collaborate with UNODC and UNSD in conceptualizing a corruption data dissemination dashboard for national counterparts. -Implement other related tasks as requested by supervisor. Expected outputs and delivery dates By 30 Jan: Output 1: Detailed workplan with key outputs and targets Output 2: Workplan for the three countries agreed with national stakeholders. Output 3: Concept note and Agenda for in-country workshops/visits By 31 March: Output 4: Two workshops on corruption measurement and data dissemination for key national stakeholders (anti-corruption agencies, national statistical offices, etc.) Output 5: Revised draft of the practical guidance on corruption statistics based on the in-country progress made in the 3 countries and incorporating feedback from the Global Consultation. Output 6: Final report on the progress on the implementation of activities according to the listed tasks, including recommendations for the way forward. Performance indicators -Communication with the countries and the degree to which in-country contacts are handled diplomatically -Quality of the guidance materials, workshop contributions and other materials prepared and development; including the degree of them being reader-friendly, concise, clearly structured, organized and written. -Collaboration with the UNSD and UNODC project team and other key stakeholders to the project. -Timeliness of delivery of outputs.

Work Location

The consultancy is home-based with regular phone and web conference meetings with UNSD, project countries and other partners. The consultant will be required to travel to selected countries to carry out workshops. Travel Authorization will be granted to the consultant prior to the travel date. The travel itineraries will be determined in due course and the related costs will be obligated separately. Airline tickets and Daily Subsistence Allowance will be covered by the project.

Expected duration

The initial consultancy is for the period from 1 January 2026 – 31 March 2026.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Data for Now initiative (https://unstats.un.org/capacity-development/data-for-now/), co-led by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the World Bank, the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD), the UN Development Program (UNDP) and the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), aims to develop countries’ capacities to deliver the information needed by local and national policy and decision makers to achieve the 2030 Agenda. To this end, it supports members of the national statistical systems in participating countries to collaborate more effectively with local, national and global partners from intergovernmental organizations, academia, civil society and the private sector, to leverage innovative sources, technologies and methods for the streamlined production and dissemination of better, more timely and disaggregated data to better inform decision making. Supporting areas where information needs are not met because statistics is not readily available is a substantial part of the Data for Now initiative. An area many statistical systems are still grappling with is how to provide timely, relevant and transparent information on corruption. The UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), has in this context, to support both the statistics community and the anti-corruption bodies, led the development of a Statistical Framework to Measure Corruption. The Framework has been adopted both by the UN Statistical Commission (UNSC) and the Conference of State Parties (CoSP) of the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC). The Framework is comprehensive with 145 different indicators covering different dimensions of corruption and elements that can describe it. As is clearly stated, it is not expected that a country measures all these indicators, instead they are encouraged to select those that are most relevant in their context. The Framework is an excellent starting point for improved statistics on corruption but is also complex and countries have asked for support on how to operationalize the work. UNODC and UNSD, with funding from the Data for Now initiative, has developed a draft practical guidance that presents good ways of collaboration between NSOs and anti-corruption bodies, supporting them and other stakeholders for its practical implementation through the enumeration of concrete steps. This guide proposes mechanisms for identifying thematic priorities within the framework according to country contexts, as well as provide input on which data sources can be used, either individually or through data integration. The guide is currently open for global consultation. In this context, the consultant is expected to support the practical implementation of the UNODC Statistical Framework for Measuring Corruption and to engage with a selected number of countries that have already implemented, or are in the process of implementing, the framework, in order to gather experiences to be included in the guidance. The consultant will, jointly with UNODC and UNSD, work closely with 3 countries that have requested support in the implementation of the framework through the identification of priorities, available data sources, analysis and validation strategies, and, based on this, improve their production and dissemination of corruption statistics. The consultant is also expected to support the finalization of the practical guidance based on feedback from the global consultation. The work of the consultant will require close collaboration with the Data for Now team of UNSD, UNODC and other key partners in the work.

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in statistics, economics, development studies, international relations, public administration, or a related field. A Bachelor’s degree in combination with additional 2 years of qualifying work experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree. A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in social sciences, including statistics or economics. Experience working with national governments, preferably with National Statistical Offices and/or anti-corruption bodies, providing capacity development, including guidance and training Experience in working with drugs and crime statistics, preferably with corruption statistics is desired. Knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals and national efforts to implement them is desirable.

Languages

Full command of spoken and written English is required, knowledge of other UN languages is an advantage.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE 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.