Consultant - Data Management, New York, United States

## Consultant - Data Management, New York, United States - Organization:DESA - Department of Economic and Social Affairs - Office:DESA New York, USA Expected outputs and delivery dates By 30 October - Concept note for mapping, describing the methodology of the work, execution schedule, and key actors of potential interest (Output 1). By 15 December - A draft fisheries data catalogue and profile report for presentation to the NSS actors consulted and submit it for review and validation by INSEED, and UNSD (Output 2). - Presentation to key stakeholders for review and feedback (Output 3). By 30 January 2027 - Final fisheries data catalogue and profile report, including recommendations for strengthening and standardizing fisheries data collection mechanisms and tools, and ensuring consistency and comparability across agencies and jurisdictions (in close consultation with national stakeholders and under FAO guidance to align with global standards). The report will also identify a preferred national or open-source platform to support data management and reporting (Output 4). - Final report on the progress of the activities, including practical steps for building national capacity to generate, update, and institutionalize SDG 14.4.1 and indicator on fishing efforts (Output 5). Performance indicators - A clearly defined methodological approach. - Quality of the meeting materials and documentation provided with every output. - Degree to which reports are reader-friendly, concise, clearly structured and written. - Timeliness of delivery of outputs. The consultancy is home-based with regular phone and web conference meetings with staff members of INSEED, INRAPE, DGRH, UNSD, FAO, UNDP, UN Women and other partners and stakeholders, as well as in-country visits to partners and government offices. The consultant must be available for regular technical meetings to monitor the progress of the work with the INSEED and the UNSD team. Travel or return travel time to the headquarters of the United Nations, INSEED or NSS member institutions, as well as related expenses, are not part of the consultation. Travel The consultant may be required to travel to conferences/meetings related to this consultancy. 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. The consultant will work in the period between 1 October 2026 to 30 January 2027 Duties and Responsibilities Background Data and statistics are essential in understanding, managing and mitigating the economic, environmental, and human and social impacts of external shocks and stressors and for designing appropriate responses and accelerated actions to put countries back on track to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Ten years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, countries still rely on out-of-date and incomplete statistics to inform implementation and review progress. Small Island Developing States (SIDS), in particular, are facing a unique set of challenges. These are well documented and are highlighted in the recent “Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for Small Island Developing States (ABAS): A Renewed Declaration for Resilient Prosperity”, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), the Paris Agreement, and the 2018 OECD report “Making Development Co-operation Work for Small Island Developing States”. To support SIDS to address their data capacity challenges, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) launched the Data for SIDS (DATAS) initiative to support SIDS in strengthening the capacities of national statistical systems to produce and disseminate better and more timely data and statistics to inform decision making through four components: national data governance and coordination, national data production and availability, national data dissemination and reporting, and SIDS to SIDS collaboration and experience exchange. It draws from the Data for Now initiative approach, which, in particular, emphasizes country ownership and multi-stakeholder collaboration to fill critical data gaps and meet policy needs. Comoros joined DATAS in 2025, with the National Institute of Statistics and Economic and Demographic Studies (INSEED) serving as the national lead for project implementation. INSEED has strongly advocated for shifting toward administrative data systems rather than relying primarily on surveys and censuses. The latter are costly and, in the context of declining resource availability, increasingly difficult to carry out. The DATAS project is therefore timely and directly addresses a national statistical priority. In this context, INSEED, together with other relevant stakeholders in the national statistical system (NSS), identified fisheries-related data as a priority area. To support the generation of high-quality data for efficient and timely decision-making for the fisheries sector, INSEED has established a dedicated working group bringing together relevant NSS members working in this area. The group is tasked with identifying a set of priority indicators aligned with the country's information needs, assessing the availability and quality of the data sources needed for their production, and ultimately producing the corresponding estimates and analysis. Within the framework of the working group, the stakeholders involved identified indicators under the scope of the Goal 14 (conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development), including: (a) SDG indicator 14.4.1 (proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels) in support of national priorities regarding marine biodiversity, especially of endemic species, and (b) indicator(s) on measuring fishing efforts to support policymaking on transformation and modernization of the fishing industry in support of national development priorities. Objective In collaboration with UNSD, and under the guidance of INSEED and the working group, the objective of this consultancy is to strengthen the capacity of the national statistical system to produce, validate, analyze and sustainably use high-quality fisheries-related data and indicators, in order to support timely, evidence-based decision-making for the fisheries sector in Comoros. In this regard, the consultant is also expected to develop a common data catalogue and profile report (also referred to as a ‘data mapping’) of data produced by the NSS that are potentially relevant to the estimation of identified indicators for the assessment, monitoring and evaluation of the fisheries sector in the Comoros. The consultant is also expected to assess existing data collection mechanisms and platforms and to make recommendations for improved compilation of fisheries-related indicators in Comoros, particularly SDG 14.4.1 and indicator on fishing efforts. Work assignment In close collaboration with UNSD, INSEED, the working group, and other relevant national stakeholders, the consultant will undertake the following tasks: 1. Develop a concept note describing the methodology, implementation schedule, and an indicative list of key data providers or custodians to be included in the data catalogue and profile report relevant to estimate the proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels, and fishing efforts. 2. Assess the methodology and tools for data collection to ensure consistency and comparability across agencies and jurisdictions, aligning them with SDG and FAO methodologies to enable both global and national reporting where applicable. 3. Identify stakeholders across the NSS involved in the data production system related to the shortlisted indicators and make an inventory of the challenges encountered in reporting data. 4. Identify, in collaboration with INSE