Jobs at UNICEF in Uganda- Data Analyst

Job Title: Data Analyst, Kampala
Closing Date: Wednesday, 22 February 2012
George Street, Kampala

Level: NOA Duration: 2 months Duty station: Kampala

* Background (attach documents if necessary):

In September 2010, after an initial testing phase, UNICEF Uganda officially launched the U-report program. U-report uses mobile technology through SMS to provide a forum of opinion and information sharing for youth and children in Uganda. Using a crowd-sourcing approach to initiate an SMS dialogue with the members ('U-reporters') the ultimate aim of the program is to stimulate citizen-led and youth-led development. Since its inception the U-report program has evolved into a powerful tool with implications for both improved service delivery and increasing youth engagement in the political process, with a high level of international attention and interest shown. There are currently 82,000 members of U-report; the community grows by 500 on an average day. Each member has a profile consisting of various data fields such as age, district, village, gender and youth group membership.

The members are engaged via SMS polls to solicit opinions and information on development issues that are important to Ugandan youth and children, such as; early marriage, justice for children, children's rights, violence against women, human rights, power, employment, inflation, health, education, water availability and quality. In addition to the poll responses, a high volume of unsolicited SMSs are sent to U-report which account for approximately 15% of all messages received. On average U-report will receive between 50,000 to 80,000 messages per week. The SMSs fall into the following three categories 1) Registration data (personal demographic information) 2) Poll response data 3) Unsolicited messages Once the information is collected the data is instantly analysed. The information is subsequently utilised in advocacy work across all media channels and many UNICEF programs. The next stage of U-report requires application of the information gathered to having a positive impact on the livelihoods of youth and children throughout Uganda. This will be achieved through increased political engagement with Members of Parliament. As such the data used will require the highest standards of data integrity to ensure a fair representation of public opinion. Once data integrity is guaranteed the information can be used in supply-chain management, legislative, policy and budgetary political decision-making process.
To ensure data integrity UNICEF Uganda seeks to fill the position of Data Analyst, to lead a thorough audit of all historical data and poll results.
2. Purpose of Assignment:

UNICEF Uganda requires an enthusiastic, hard-working, determined data analyst to ensure that data integrity is improved and that trends are identified and analysed effectively for publication in the media, online and throughout Parliament. The successful candidate will:

* Carry out a data review of all over 100 poll results since January 2011 to date.
* Identify challenges within the U-report digital operational structure that allow data integrity to be compromised.
* Make recommendations on systems management to improve data integrity based on the pre-identified challenges.
* Manually remove irrelevant data from polls using the U-report online interface.
* Analyse historical polls to establish baseline trends for monitoring of future attitudinal change.
* Identify and categorize popular themes from unsolicited messages that potentially require further processing e.g. reports of disease outbreaks
* Display trends through data analysis in graphs at expert level.
* Analyse current polls for publication in national press and parliamentary newsletters.
* Identify and rectify missing fields of demographic and registration based user profile information.
* Make recommendations for data display in the U-report website.

Qualifications or specialized knowledge/experience required for the assignment
* A University degree in Statistics, Mathematics, or Data Analysis related field as well as a track record of practical data analysis. (Advanced degree would be preferred). A combination of a university degree and relevant practical experience may be substituted for the particular fields mentioned.
* 3 years' experience of research and data analysis.
* Experience using online dashboards for data analysis
* Expert level experience of using Microsoft Excel.
* A good understanding of UNICEF programmes and policy, including knowledge of technology for development programs.
* Good understanding of development issues, world affairs and current events
* Proven ability to conceptualize, plan and execute ideas as well as to transfer knowledge and skills.
* Experience of working within teams.
* Strong writing and communication skills and the aptitude to handle advanced data integrity tests.
* Proven successful track-record in data analysis projects with tangible results.
* Fluency in written and verbal English is essential. Fluency in a Luo dialect is also desired.
* Residence and work experience in East Africa, current or past, is advantageous.

How to apply:

To Apply, send letter of interest, CV and any relevant sample work (links or attachments) to ugderecruit@unicef.org

Applications must be received by 22 February 2012