Assistant Economist – NOA – BEY131 – UNOPS Contract - Beirut, Lebanon

General Background

According to Government estimates there are 1.5 million displaced Syrians in Lebanon. The Vulnerability Assessment for Syrian Refugees (VASyR) conducted in 2019 mentions that an estimated 73 percent of the displaced population lives below the poverty line (USD 3.84/day).  Furthermore, 55 percent of the refugee population is extremely poor and in need of assistance to meet basic needs. UNHCR has monetized assistance via Cash Based Interventions, aiming to meet Basic, Winter, Protection and other needs.  In a monthly basis, some 40,000 refugee families are withrawing assistance from different ATMs in the country. In terms of UNHCR Multi Purpose Cash Assistance, the programme is regarded as effective and dignified form of aid to mitigate the impact of severe poverty in refugee communities. To determine eligibility and target beneficiaries for assistance (food and non-food), UNHCR contracts on a yearly basis a research team to recalibrate an econometric targeting model, a process which relyies heavily on data compiled from the UNHCR database and is linked with expenditure data collected through the annual VASyR. UNHCR continues delivering Multi Purpose Cash Assistance to some 12% of the overall refugee population in Lebanon, working closely with the Inter Agency Basic Assistance Working Group at the Inter Agency Coordination scheme as well as different UN Agencies and NGOs using a multi Agency platform for the delivery of Cash Based Interventions (Lebanon One Unified Inter Organisational System for e-Cards - LOUISE).

The incumbent will contribute to the work of the Basic Assistance Unit to improve the overall quality and consistency on data analysis related to the financial transactions that UNHCR undertakes while delivering humanitarian assistance through Cash Based Interventions; the incumbant will also work closely with the Monitoring and Evaluation unit in order help improve UNHCR's analytic and research abilities.

While located in the Basic Assistance Unit, the position will be working closely with other Basic Assistance and cash actors. Internally, the position will support the design, monitoring and reporting of Basic Assistance Programmes as well as to help guide other related Cash Based Interventions. Moreover, the incumbent will coordinate with field offices informed of and involved in the process on an on-going basis. She/he will therefore need to be a good communicator as she/he will represent UNHCR’s position in various coordination forum.

The post of Assistant Economist Officer is housed wihtin the Basic Assistance Unit, but is also directly linked to the Monitoring and Reporting Officer. Its incumbent will be supervised by the Senior Field Coordinator (Basic Assistance), in close coordination with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting Officer.  The Units falls under the overall supervision of the Assistant Representative (Programme).  

The UNHCR Manual, programme objectives, Operations Plans, UN and UNHCR financial/budgetary rules and regulations will guide the work of the Assistant Economist Officer. 

Purpose and Scope of Assignment

Accountability:

• Use of data on socio-economic conditions, welfare and financial transactions at UNHCR is strengthened. Design analytical products according to international standards for quality and consistency, with the objective of providing actionable information for programme strategy and monitoring.
• Comprehensive mapping of research developed and data collected and analysed to support data-driven approaches to planning and decision making for protection and solutions programmes.
• Support the design and implementation of assessments and other data-driven products related to the socio-economic welfare and other vulnerabilities of refugees and host communities.
• Contribute to defining and promoting a vision for the use of data, particularly in planning, programming.

Responsibility:

• Consolidate raw primary and secondary datasets into final datasets to be used for analysis, as needed. This will involve data processing (e.g. compiling, coding, categorizing, calculating, tabulating, auditing, or verifying information or data) and data analysis (i.e. Identifying patterns and trends in data sets)
• Clean all datasets and create all necessary indicators. Work with the M&E team to support on a thorough plan for data analysis and carry out the coding to perform this analysis. 
• Contribute to the preparation, shadow and follow-up on research papers including formatting and creating tables, graphs, and related analysis.
• Contribute to the drafting and writing of presentations, analytical reports, as well as research and policy briefs. 
• Contribute to identify research opportunities and contribute to proposals for research partnerships and funding.
• Contribute to examine ways of how UNHCR can capture local level economic spending in community shops. 

Monitoring and Progress Controls

• Clear description of measurable outputs, milestones, key performance indicators and/or reporting requirements which will enable performance monitoring
• Creating and merging various sources of data and may require programming matching algorithms, linking up with field staff for additional information, and performing manual matching.
• Common analytical tasks include production of descriptive statistics and regression analysis for various outputs such as briefs, presentations and academic papers.