International data expert to support selected country Parties with UNCCD reporting in English and French

Result of Service

Technical assistance provided in French and English to a selected number of Parties during the regional capacity-building workshop and throughout the 2026 UNCCD reporting process, thereby supporting timely, complete, and high-quality report submissions by the established deadlines.

Work Location

Home-based.

Expected duration

09 months between Mid-March 2026 to Mid-March 2027.

Duties and Responsibilities

Background note: Desertification, along with climate change and the loss of biodiversity were identified as the greatest challenges to sustainable development during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Established in 1994, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. The Convention seeks to support countries to address desertification, land degradation, and drought (DLDD). (www.unccd.int) In 2017 the UNCCD Conference of the Parties (COP) adopted the UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework with five Strategic Objectives (SOs) and an underlying indicator and monitoring framework. In 2018 and 2022 country Parties reported in a harmonized way on the trends in these indicators using the Performance Review and Assessment of Implementation System (PRAIS). Results of the 2022 reporting process can be visualised in a series of charts, maps and graphs on the UNCCD Data Dashboard . Parties undertaking the 2026 reporting process, will use the PRAIS 4 system . PRAIS 4 is pre-filled with default data derived from free and open global data sources to enable as many countries as possible to report. Conservation International (CI) is a key partner supporting countries with default data for land and drought monitoring. They developed Trends.Earth, a free, open-source tool that enables countries to: - Compare national and default data sets - Calculate SDG indicator 15.3.1 (proportion of land that is degraded over total land area) and its sub-indicators using global and/or national data: - SO 1-1: Trends in land cover - SO 1-2: Trends in land productivity - SO 1-3: Trends in carbon stocks (above and below ground) - Compute indicators related to drought hazard and exposure as well as exposure to land degradation As part of the capacity building for UNCCD reporting, technical assistance to all Parties will be provided throughout the reporting process by a combination of regional institutions and international consultants. The work of the regional institutions and the consultants will be coordinated by the UNCCD secretariat. This opening is seeking a qualified international consultant with fluency in English and French to serve around five French speaking countries and five English speaking countries. The consultant will be tasked with conducting and assisting in online webinars, an in person regional workshop, as well as becoming an essential part of the online Helpdesk that will be open for Parties to submit questions and queries on the reporting process. While the emphasis of this consultancy will be to scientifically backstop Parties in reporting, the international consultant will be fully engaged in other activities relating to ensuring that UNCCD Parties submit their national reports by the deadline and successfully complete the reporting process. Duties & Responsibilities: Under the overall supervision of the Chief of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) unit, and the direct supervision of STI Programme Officers and UNCCD Regional Liaison Officers, the consultant will be engaged in the following tasks: 1- Support to in-person capacity-building workshop: - Provide technical support for the planning, organization, and delivery of the capacity-building workshop for UNCCD Annex I (Francophone Africa), tentatively scheduled for mid-April, 2026, in Senegal, in liaison with the UNCCD secretariat, the Global Mechanism, and Regional Liaison Officers. Contribute to the preparation of training material, support facilitation during the event, and provide on-site assistance as required, with particular attention to participants from the five French -speaking countries directly supported by the consultant, and more broadly to participants whose first language is French. 2- Technical Data Analysis & Tools - Conduct a full practice run of calculating all UNCCD indicators using Trends.Earth and uploading the results in PRAIS to identify process gaps, challenges, and inefficiencies. - Assist countries in understanding UNCCD reporting requirements, indicators, and default data, and support data processing using Trends.Earth or other relevant analytical tools. - Develop French-language technical notes on dataset specifications and differences, and advise countries on selecting the most suitable datasets. - Test the suitability of high-resolution global land cover and productivity datasets for specific geographic contexts upon request, and document findings to inform reporting choices. 3- PRAIS 4 System Support - Guide countries in using PRAIS 4, including data entry, map tools, file uploads, messaging, and other system features. - Manage topic-specific PRAIS chat rooms in French to facilitate peer learning and Q&A. - Support the progression of national reports in PRAIS 4, including expert review in line with quality assurance guidelines. 4- Country Engagement & Capacity Building - Host demand-driven technical webinars in English and French for national focal points, reporting officers, and other national experts. - Respond to country queries through the UNCCD online helpdesk within 48 hours and help compile FAQs for publication. - Monitor reporting progress in assigned countries, maintain regular liaison with Parties to identify bottlenecks and support needs, and update a shared Gantt chart schedule to reflect progress and risks. - Maintain ongoing contact with assigned Parties via PRAIS communication tools, and other channels, and provide French-language communication support to UNCCD staff. 5- Coordination & Collaboration - Participate in online technical sessions with tool developers and data producers. - Attend regular coordination meetings organized by the secretariat and provide progress updates. 6- Knowledge Products & Final Outputs - Assist with reviewing translations of e-learning materials and disseminating capacity-building resources. - Contribute to a final Technical Backstopping report summarizing challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations.

Qualifications/special skills

- Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in data science, environmental science, natural resource management or a related field. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree - Minimum 5 years working experience in Geographical Information systems (GIS) and remote sensing applications is required. - Demonstrated experience in providing capacity-building support to countries, particularly in the context of environmental monitoring, data management, or international reporting frameworks is required. - Experience in processing, managing and analysing geospatial data in the land domain, including spatial and multi-temporal analysis of land cover, land productivity, soil organic carbon stocks and/or drought is required. Experience with human population data would be an added advantage is required. - Good knowledge of the Francophone Africa region is required. - Experience in geodata processing software (e.g. QGIS); familiarity with Trends.Earth. - Experience in dealing with numerical data in different formats, importing/exporting, translating formats etc. Familiarity with a programming language such as Python. - Experience in or familiarity with the UNCCD reporting modalities would be advantageous.

Languages

- Proficiency in both English and French language, spoken and written, is required.

Additional Information

Only individuals who can act as independent, individual economical operators are qualified to apply. Individuals who can provide their services only on account of an institution or enterprise are not eligible under this procedure. Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered "staff members" under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations Secretariat and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultant and individual contractor is responsible for determining tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. For remote consultancies, the selected candidate will be required to have a laptop or desktop PC (with Windows 11 or newer) or Mac (with the latest MacOS update), as well as a reliable, high-speed internet connection. An Office 365 license will be provided by the UNCCD to enable the candidate to access official emails, SharePoint, OneDrive and other office applications, such as Word and Excel. Further computer requirements: An antivirus application which receives regular updates; Browsers must be a newer version with regular updates enabled; Regular Windows 11 updates should be enabled with Windows laptop or PC. In addition, a mobile phone will be required to enable Multifactor Authentication (MFA) through SMS or the Authenticator App.

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.