National Consultant - Data Scientist

Background

Realization of Sustainable Development Goals remains a formidable challenge for Sri Lanka despite having made significant strides in reducing poverty and promoting social development. Sri Lanka having downgraded to a Lower Middle-Income Country (LMIC) is faced with the threat of the ‘triple traps’ - the middle-income trap, the inequality trap, and the imbalance trap - that may jeopardize the country’s ability to transition to high income status and achieve the SDGs. Starkly and powerfully, the COVID-19 pandemic illustrates how critical data use, with a human face, is to protecting lives & livelihoods. The crisis is a wake-up call. We must accelerate a shift in our data and analytics abilities: to respond to COVID-19 and build back better, to drive the Decade of Action for the SDGs, to amplify climate action, to promote gender equality, to protect human rights, to advance peace and security, and to accelerate UN Reform – for greater impact on the ground.

Cultivating better approaches to using data will deliver better outcomes: Stronger decision-making and thought-leadership, greater data access and sharing, improved data governance and collaboration, robust data protection and privacy with respect for human rights, greater efficiency across our work, more transparency & accountability, and more relevant services for people and planet. Currently, our data is often acquired, stored, and used for a single purpose within pillars or functions. Access is often difficult, partly because of a lack of awareness the data could help others or reticence to share what we can. In addition, uneven practices in data management, combined with data quality gaps, limited usage of technology, also limit our ability to harness machine learning responsibly and create new risks.

At present, the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) plays the central role in the data landscape in Sri Lanka. Currently coordination between data producers and data users is an area where there is room for improvement. When specifically considering SDG data, the Sustainable Development Council of Sri Lanka (SDC) is the government agency tasked with monitoring and evaluation of government organizations that are working towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals that have been undertaken by Sri Lanka, in accordance with the United Nations (UN). Both these organizations are critical to ensure the success of national policy and strategy, and in compliance with the global pledges and sustainable environmental standards to consistently facilitate, monitor and review the development of Sri Lanka’s sustainable growth.

With over five decades of experience in Sri Lanka and with a global footprint spanning over 150 countries, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has undertaken the task of providing support to both the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS) and the Sustainable Development Council (SDC) in strengthening their domestic data ecosystems and catalyze the use of data and evidence-based policy making across government institutions. This would serve as the foundation to the broader National Development Plan (NDP). Setting up essential data bases and data analytical systems to operationalize the engagements within this process would be vital.

SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this assignment is to work closely with the Department of Census and Statistics and the Sustainable Development Council in strengthening and putting in place domestic data systems, finding SDG data gaps, setting up/consolidating/streamlining essential databases and data analysis techniques which would enable the utilization of available data, and access new data sources to adopt a data driven and evidence-based approach to policymaking.

Objectives:

Thorough analysis and research of the projects carried out by the ministries along with a brief overview of the political, social and economic situation of the country, engage in substantive data collection, processing, dissemination and information gathering to support ongoing and proposed policy/strategy development.
Identification of areas for support and interventions related to open data, use of data for public services and public administration, citizen-generated data, improve administrative data system, utilization of non-traditional data sources and other innovative activities related to the implementation of the SDGs;
Data analytical process mapping that would strengthen the overall Planning process.

THE ASSIGNMENT:

Against this backdrop, the UNDP is looking to commission an independent consultant to conduct this exercise, by conducting data management, analysis and reporting activities which will assist in establishing data analysis systems which would strengthen overall framework of the Department of National Planning

The assignment should be carried out in close consultation with the Government partners i.e. Department of Census and Statistics, Sustainable Development Council and UNDP as well as other relevant national stakeholders including development partners, donors, civil society and sample selection of beneficiaries.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Data Scientist will report to UNDP’s Senior Economist and working closely with the SDG Integration Specialist and the Citra Social Innovation Lab’s Data Scientist in carrying out the key responsibilities of the assignment.

Responsible for but not limited to:

With the support from DCS, SDC and other relevant partners, create a live data catalogue containing available data sources, data producers, and frequency of update
Provide advice and capacity building support to filter and clean aggregated SDG data by reviewing reports, performance indicators
Work with DCS and SDC to prioritize SDG information needs
Support SDC and DCS to mainstream SDG data collection through effective mapping of available data sources
Support to SDC and DCS to initiate discussion on developing research methodologies to collect SDG data and necessary disaggregation
Support to Interpret data, analyze results using statistical techniques and provide ongoing reports on SDG data, and conduct necessary capacity building with engaging partners
Support to SDC and DCS to identify relevant, digital, reusable and meaningful data visualizations from available data.
Work with SDC and DCS to incorporate new data products into the national data portal

Support to collate data in the thematic priority areas
Ensure and review existing and incoming data and metadata for currency, accuracy, usefulness, quality and completeness to facilitate consistent and harmonized datasets and ensure Linkages to reference datasets. Support relevant stakeholders to provide necessary inputs on the above
Support DCS and SDC to initiate producing timeseries data through digitized means
Advise and support on enhancing the compatibility of data and metadata structures with related systems, standards or regulations
Provide expertise on data systems / database design / big data/statistics during the entirety of interventions
Build required capacity of DCS and SD Council to continue the above workstreams following the end of the consultancy

Expected outputs and deliverables

No.

Task/Activity

Deliverable

% Out of All-Inclusive Lump Sum

Target date of submission

1

Inception report outlining the current data landscape gaps and actions to improve data ecosystem

Inception Report

10%

30th April 2022

2

Preliminary list of SDG Information, data and available resources required by SDC and DCS

Excel Workbook/Report

10%

31st May 2022

3

Report on identified data visualizations, knowledge products, followed by a capacity building plan for government counterparts

Report

10%

30th June 2022

4

Developing a framework for DCS and SDC to collect data and meta data in par with the international standards

Framework

15%

31st July 2022

5

An exploratory study on usage of non-traditional data to fulfill data requirement (SDG and other) at national level

Exploratory Study

20%

31st August 2022

6

Finalized data catalogue containing available data sources, data producers and frequency of update

Finalized data catalogue

10%

30th September 2022

7

Deliver a min of 2 capacity building training sessions to DCS and SDC to enable them to continuously deliver the workstreams

Completion of 2 capacity building workshops and outcome report

15%

31st October 2022

8

Following finalized documents to be submitted

- List of SDG Information

- Data Catalogue

Final list of SDG information and data catalogue

10%

30th November 2022

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT

The Data Scientist will work under the overall supervision and guidance of the Senior Economist of UNDP’s Policy and Engagement Team.

TIME FRAME

The envisaged time frame of the consultancy is nine (09) months.

Competencies

Analytical and Business Skills,

Strong analytical and research skills
Pro-active, results driven and able to meet strict deadlines
Ability to collect, gather, visualize and analyze information in detail
Attention to details and proven ability to work independently and effectively

Technical and Computer Skills

Proficiency in computer software, including Microsoft office.
Experience in programming, web application development
Proficiency with database management, database management systems.
Master statistical language (R, STATA, SPSS).
Proficiency in programming (Python, Javascript, etc.), statistical software’s (R, SPSS, etc), web and database development (HTML, CSS, RDBMS and/or NoSQL knowledge) is required
Good at data visualization and master reporting techniques.
Visual perception of information with charts, diagrams, tables.
Argumentation and logical thinking.
Ability to organize information and work with graphical information.

Leadership
People Management, maturity and confidence in dealing with senior members of national institutions
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
Communication. The ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform
Delivery. Ability to get things done while exercising good judgement
Good organizational skills and the ability to prioritize work deliverables
Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and results for the client and responds positively to feedback
Knowledge transfer and mentorship

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Masters’ Degree in Econometrics, Statistics, Computer Science, Information Management or any other field related to Data Science

Qualifications

Minimum 3 years of progressively responsible work experience in the Data Science field
Proficiency in programming, statistical software’s, web and database development is required
Knowledge about the technical aspects of data management and utilization required.
Knowledge about data processing and evaluation, management and in organizing the collection, storage and usage of geographic data required.
Proficiency in programming (Python, Javascript, etc.), statistical software’s (R, SPSS, etc), web and database development (HTML, CSS, RDBMS and/or NoSQL knowledge) is required
Producing quality written outputs with rich data visualization is required.
Understanding of the social, economic, institutional, and political environment in Sri Lanka essential
Ability to support evidence-based policy analysis through collection of relevant data.
Knowledge of the SDG Framework and/or previous experience working with development data will be an added advantage

Language Requirements

Fluency in spoken and written English and a good working knowledge of Sinhala