Population and Development (P&D) Analyst

UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Our mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s goal is to achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health, realize reproductive rights, and reduce maternal mortality to accelerate progress on the ICPD agenda, to improve the lives of adolescents and youth, and women, enabled by population dynamics, human rights, and gender equality. In 2018, UNFPA launched efforts to achieve three transformative results, ambitions that promise to change the world for every man, woman and young person: 1.) Ending unmet need for family planning 2.) Ending preventable maternal death 3.) Ending gender-based violence and harmful practises UNFPA recognizes that innovation is a key accelerator to achieve these results. UNFPA will harness innovation to meet tomorrow’s challenges and boost its impact, especially in addressing furthest behind populations, and leverage opportunities, social capital, funding and technology by (a) strengthening the corporate innovation architecture and capabilities, (b) scaling up innovations that have proven to be effective and impactful, (c) forming new partnerships and connecting with relevant innovation ecosystems, (d) strengthening and leveraging financing for innovation, and (e) expanding communities and culture for innovation.

UN Member States re-affirmed that the Programme of Action from the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD PoA) is an “unfinished agenda” and expressed their full commitment to carrying forward the ICPD agenda. The ICPD PoA marked a paradigm shift from target-based population policies and programs to prioritize human rights, reproductive health, and women’s empowerment as the basis for sustainable development. The Arab region’s current population of about 486 million is projected to increase by nearly 40 percent by 2045. The region is characterized as youthful, with four in ten of its population aged below 20 years, while more than half (54%) is in the working age category (20-64) and five percent are aged 65 or more years. However, there is demographic diversity among the 22 countries in the region: 13 countries have at least a third of their current population aged below 20 years while four countries have 7 per cent or more of their population aged 65+ years. In the next two decades, six countries will still have at least a third of their population aged below 20 years while those with 7 percent or more of their population aged 65+ years will increase threefold. Total fertility rate has reduced from around 5 children in 1995 to 3 children currently and is projected to drop to 2.2 by 2045 and falling below the replacement level fertility of 2.1 in at least 10 countries. The Programme Analyst will contribute directly to the UNFPA Arab States Regional Program (2026-2029), under Output 1 on Data, analysis and foresight and all its associated indicators, and Output 2 on Policy, advocacy and accountability, under the fourth indicator related to support to regional outcome documents advancing the ICPD agenda, and the seventh indicator on the integration of the UNFPA three transformative results and demographic change into global, regional and national development frameworks and accountability mechanisms. The Population and Development Analyst, located in UNFPA’s Arab States Regional Office (ASRO), reports to the Population and Development (P&D) Advisor. The Analyst will contribute to the strengthening of population data systems and evidence-based policy advice in the area of population change and development. More specifically, he/she will identify opportunities and strategies to deepen UNFPA ASRO’s work in population change and development, covering broad areas of demographic dividends, population aging, rights-based population policies, emerging major trends, including climate change, urbanization, migration and displacement, monitoring and accountability mechanisms related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ICPD PoA. He/she will coordinate convenings on population and development with key stakeholders in the Arab region and beyond. The Programme Analyst will also support the strengthening of population data systems through technical assistance for population and housing censuses, representative household surveys, Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS), Health Management Information Systems (HMIS), Common Operational Datasets-Population Statistics (COD-PS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) and analysis. The P&D Analyst will work in an integrated manner with the technical, operations, programme and communications staff in the Regional office.

Under the direct supervision of the Regional Population and Development Advisor, in collaboration with other relevant teams, the Population and Development Analyst will undertake the following tasks: A: Programme and technical support - Ensure the creation and documentation of knowledge about current and emerging population and development trends in the Arab region, including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and gender issues. - Contribute to the generation and analysis of evidence on population and development issues, specifically around the demographic dividend, population aging, climate change and other megatrends and development of policy guidance to national counterparts. - Contribute to the review of the political, social and economic environment relevant to Population and Development and pursue opportunities for UNFPA’s assistance and interventions. - Strengthen a multidisciplinary approach to population dynamics and sustainable development by analyzing linkages between sexual and reproductive health and rights, education, young people, ageing, gender equality, reduction of poverty, climate change and other relevant development issues. - Ensure that pertinent technical knowledge is generated, updated, and disseminated for effective technical support, capacity building and policy dialogue on population dynamics and development. - Support efforts to strategically embed demographic change and data within the Country Program Documents (CPDs) and other strategic documents such as the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) and Country Common Analysis (CCA). B: Intelligence, research, evidence-based policy and knowledge for advocacy - Assess and document policies and other strategic documents such as national development plans addressing demographic dynamics and sustainable development across the countries in the Arab region and identify opportunities for developing new or updated policies, frameworks, guidance and tools for the advancement of the ICPD Programme of Action and related sustainable development goals (SDG). - Contribute to multi-disciplinary, evidence-based demographic resilience reviews, demographic foresight analysis and scenarios building to generate evidence and guidance to UNFPA country offices and national counterparts on anticipatory policy actions for adapting to demographic change. - Maintain a repository of research studies and evaluation activities related to population change and development and ensure the collection, analysis, and dissemination of analytical information and qualitative and quantitative indicators. - Monitor and analyze socio-economic and political events and trends at the regional, international and national levels and advise the regional office’s management on their potential implications for UNFPA’s mandated areas, and in particular demographic change and development. - Interpret, analyse and conceptualize the data/information generated through population and housing censuses, relevant surveys and administrative sources such as Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) and health management information systems (HMIS) to draw concrete policy options and recommendations related to population change and development. - Identify emerging issues and research needs on the impact of public policies and investments on population dynamics. - Contribute to quality assurance of research studies and evidence synthesis activities commissioned by UNFPA on population change and development. - Contribute substantially to efforts at knowledge management and advocacy by translating the results of policy monitoring and evaluation and research studies into advocacy materials and publications. - Contribute to the strengthening of population data systems through technical assistance for population and housing censuses, surveys, CRVS, HMIS, Common Operational Datasets-Population Statistics (COD-PS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) and analysis. C: Regional partnership building and coordination Collaborate with relevant staff in ASRO to: - Foster strategic partnership and collaboration with external counterparts, including research institutions, think tanks, academia, civil society and other development partners for technical cooperation and knowledge sharing in the area of population change and development. - Ensure effective coordination with key regional stakeholders on population and development, including but not limited to the League of Arab States (LAS), United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), Arab Institute for Training and Research in Statistics (AITRS) and other UN agencies. - Map key events and opportunities at the regional, global and national levels that can be leveraged to advance the population change and development agenda and policy dialogue, such as national development planning processes and regional intergovernmental convenings. - Participate in population and development-related interagency Working Groups and any other relevant structures, technical meetings, workshops and conferences, as required. - In all activities, work as part of the interdisciplinary ASRO team and provide high quality integrated technical, operational policy, programme and communications support to the Regional Office management and other programme units in relevant country offices. D: Carry out any other duties as requested by the Population and Development Advisor.