Demographer/Social Statistician
| Location: | Noumea, New Caledonia |
| Job Code: | 12/35 |
| # of openings: | 1 |
Description | |
SPC invites applications for the position of Demographer/Social Statistician in its Statistics for Development Programme located at its headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia.
SPC is the Pacific Island region’s principal technical and scientific organisation. It delivers technical, scientific, research, policy and training support to Pacific Island countries and territories in public health, geoscience, agriculture, forestry, water resources, disaster management, fisheries, education (community, TVET, quality and standards for all school levels), statistics, transport, energy, ICT, media, human rights, gender, youth and culture. For more information, visit www.spc.int.
In applying, candidates should be guided by SPC’s vision, mission and corporate values, the role and profile of the position and the key result areas and selection criteria.
SPC’s vision for the region is a secure and prosperous Pacific Community, whose people are educated and healthy and manage their resources in an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable way.
Our mission is to help Pacific Island people position themselves to respond effectively to the challenges they face and make informed decisions about their future and the future they leave for the generations that follow.
Our corporate values are underpinned by the principle of ‘making a positive difference in the lives of Pacific Island people – putting people first’. They include accountability, integrity, respect, transparency, sustainability, people-centredness, gender equality and cultural sensitivity.
Statistics for Development Programme (SDP) – The strategic goal of the programme is to ‘strengthen the capacity of national statistical systems and social and economic planning agencies to ensure the region’s policy-makers and analysts have access to a wide range of key demographic, economic and social indicators to support evidence-based decision making’. To achieve this goal, SDP’s 2011–2014 strategic plan, addressing Phase 1 of the regional Ten Year Pacific Statistics Strategy, 2011–2020, focuses on six strategic objectives and 20 associated outputs in support of Pacific Island countries and territories as follows: (i) undertaking key statistical collections as scheduled; (ii) producing the agreed core set of statistics across key sectors; (iii) developing their own capacity or are accessing regional capacity to undertake agreed core and some specialist statistical functions; (iv) improving access to and utilization of national and regional statistics; (v) introducing new and innovative statistical tools and systems; and (vi) contributing to effective and efficient national and regional statistics governance. The team comprises of 15 staff: a Programme Manager, 12 internationally recruited staff, and two locally recruited staff. From time to time, consultants and temporary staff are employed, depending on programme needs and funding availability.
The role – the Demographer/Social Statistician is accountable to the Programme Manager. The role is responsible for maintaining the programme population and development database, including the annual update of population projections for the Pacific Islands, and capacity building of national staff in demographic and social statistics and analysis. The role works closely and collaboratively with internal demographic, economic and social statistics specialists and two population census and survey data processing specialists/programmers, to effectively respond to a growing workload of household surveys and processing of administrative records, particularly relating to births, deaths and migration. The appointment is for three years, renewable subject to performance and funding availability.
The profile – SPC seeks a qualified demographer/social statistician with experience in working in collaboration with peers and stakeholders, ideally in a regional or developing country setting. Attributes will include skills in undertaking population projections for use in policy development, planning and monitoring of country development progress. He/she will be a consultative team player, with the excellent representational, interpersonal and communication skills needed to work effectively with diverse stakeholders and partners.
Key result areas – The successful applicant must be able to demonstrate strong ability, and potential to progress, in the following five key result areas of the position:
1. Demographic analysis – Assist member countries and territories with demographic analysis and population profiling, based on population and housing censuses, demographic and health survey and civil registration data; and undertake policy-relevant demographic analysis and research.
2. Technical support, programme collaboration and strengthening in social statistics – Provide analytical and technical input and support to key programme activities associated with the upcoming 2020 round of population and housing censuses and the ongoing multi-year and multi-country household survey programme; collaborate with the programme’s Vital Statistics and Civil Registration specialist to improve civil registration systems and the quality of vital statistics in the region, and with its administrative database specialists to improve the quality and timeliness of education statistics; and provide technical expertise and support in social statistics in relation to either migration, labour force, health or gender issues.
3. Capacity building – Provide capacity building support, training, workshops and activities in social and demographic statistics and analysis to staff in SPC and to technical staff in member countries and territories and other stakeholder agencies; and actively collaborate with programme colleagues to deliver high-quality technical training and to regularly review and update training materials.
4. Disseminate and communicate development statistics and key indicators – Contribute to ongoing programme management of the National Minimum Development Indicator database; and assist member countries and territories with their regular production of outputs in social statistics and contribute to the development of programme publications.
5. Contribute to an effective team environment and SPC corporate activities – Participate in close technical collaboration with programme colleagues, particularly in relation to household surveys, population and housing censuses, and development of administrative databases for education, health and vital statistics; demonstrate willingness to work with other SPC programmes in social statistics applications, particularly in regard to health and human development; participate in SPC’s development of joint country strategies; and represent the programme in regional and international meetings and technical working groups.
Key selection criteria – Candidates will be assessed against eight key selection criteria:
Remuneration – The Demographer/Social Statistician is a Band 11 position within SPC’s 2012 salary scale, with a salary range of 3,589 –5,182 SDR (special drawing rights) per month, which currently converts to approximately XPF 485,711–701,280 (USD 5,000–7,300; € 4,000–5,800). An offer of appointment for an initial contract will be made in the lower half of this range, with due consideration given to experience and qualifications. Progression within the salary scale will be based on annual performance reviews. SPC salaries are not subject to income tax in New Caledonia at the present time.
Benefits – SPC provides subsidised housing in Noumea. An establishment and relocation grant, removal expenses, airfares, home leave, medical insurance and education allowances are available for eligible employees and their recognised dependants. Employees are entitled to: 25 days annual leave and 30 days sick leave per annum; life insurance; and access to SPC’s Provident Fund (contributing 8% of salary to which SPC adds a matching contribution).
Work environment – SPC has a standardised computing environment based on Microsoft Office running under Microsoft Windows. Smoking is not permitted in the work place. As an equal-opportunity employer, SPC recruits on merit, but if two interviewed candidates are ranked equal by the selection committee, preference will be given to nationals of Pacific Island countries and territories.
Application procedure – The closing date for applications is Monday 6 August 2012. Candidates MUST provide: a detailed curriculum vitae; a written response stating their claims against the eight key selection criteria; and contact details, including email addresses, for three referees.
Apply online – Please use SPC’s online recruitment system at http://www.spc.int/job.html.
Important note: prepare and save your curriculum vitae, response to key selection criteria and referee information as Microsoft Word documents BEFORE attempting to submit your application online. It is not possible to partially complete your application via the online system, save it and return to complete later.
Can’t access the online recruitment system? Apply via email: recruit@spc.int; fax: + 687 26 38 18 or post: Sally Clark Herrmann, Recruitment and Staff Development Officer, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, P.O. Box D5, 98848 NOUMEA CEDEX, New Caledonia.
Need assistance? Contact SPC at recruit@spc.int or telephone + 687 26 20 00. | |
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