Consultant - National Address System Scoping

Result of Service

1. By 30 April: o Inception report prepared jointly with STATIN, NSDMB, and DESA (Output 1) 2. By 31 May: o Summary of international benchmarking and models (Output 2) 3. By 30 June: o Current state and gap analysis, including institutional, legal, technical and data aspects (Output 3) 4. By 30 July: o Draft conceptual design and governance options as detailed in the work assignment (Output 4) 5. By 30 August: o Draft final report including list of national stakeholders consulted, current state assessment, gap analysis, international benchmarking, conceptual design options, institutional and data governance options, financial assessment, risk assessment, proposed roadmap for full feasibility study, and recommendations for developing a national address system in Jamaica (Output 5) 6. By 30 September: o Presentation of the draft report to the national address system steering committee for feedback (Output 6) o Final report, considering feedback from the national stakeholders (Output 7)

Work Location

The consultant must be home-based. The consultancy is expected to have phone and web conference meetings with staff members of NSO, UNSD and other DATAS and Data4Now core partners and national and international stakeholders. The consultant is expected to maintain effective and fluent communication with STATIN and NSDMB throughout the consultancy. Travel or commute time to and from United Nations Headquarters, as well as related expenses, will not be covered as part of the consultancy.

Expected duration

1 APR 26 - 30 SEP 26

Duties and Responsibilities

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 SDGs. Almost 10 years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, countries still rely on out-of-date and incomplete statistics to inform implementation and review progress. SIDS, in particular, are facing a unique set of challenges. These are well documented and are underlined 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”, These documents all recognize that improved data collection and statistical analysis are required to enable SIDS to effectively plan, follow up on, evaluate the implementation of and track success in attaining the SDGs and other internationally agreed development goals. To support SIDS to address their data capacity challenges, DESA’s United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) and the SIDS Unit of the Division for the Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) have jointly developed the project Data for SIDS (DATAS) which follows the Data for Now approach. DATAS aims to strengthen the capacities of national statistical systems to produce and disseminate better and more timely data and statistics to inform decision making through four interconnected components; (i) national data governance and coordination; (ii) national data production and availability; (iii) national data dissemination and reporting and; (iv) SIDS to SIDS collaboration and experience exchange. This will accelerate the country’s progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while pursuing national development objectives.  DATAS aims to bridge data and information gaps in priority areas identified by the country by improving human and institutional capabilities for collecting, producing and integrating data from across the data ecosystem to publish more timely and granular indicators and statistics. It will also support national statistical offices (NSOs) in their efforts to collaborate with other government entities and partners to obtain and maintain access to non-traditional data sources to increase timeliness and granularity of statistical information. DESA launched DATAS in Jamaica with the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) as the project owner and lead for the initiative. One of the identified priorities under this initiative in consultation with national partners is the development of a national address system in Jamaica, which is critical for improving statistical infrastructure and supporting evidence-based decision-making across sectors. Jamaica has long lacked a consistent and authoritative address system. Address information is collected and maintained by multiple ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs), municipal authorities, emergency services, and private entities with inconsistent standards and limited interoperability. This fragmentation creates significant challenges for statistical operations, service delivery, and national planning. Previous attempts fell short because they only supported postal sorting and did not provide parcel-level accuracy or integration with geospatial and statistical systems. As a result, many properties still rely on descriptive directions leaving informal settlements, rural communities, and new housing schemes without reliable location identifiers. In this context, UNSD, in partnership with STATIN and National Spatial Data Management Branch (NSDMB), has organized a series of engagement meetings and workshops with international and national partners for understanding needs and knowledge sharing. These engagements have provided valuable insights into international practices for national address development. With this background, this consultancy aims to conduct a scoping study to determine institutional, technical, financial, legal, and operational viability prior to proceeding to a full feasibility study to develop a national address system in Jamaica.

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced university degree (master's degree or equivalent) in statistics, geographic information systems, or a related field with ten (10) years of experience. A bachelor’s degree in combination with twelve (12) years of experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree. A minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible experience in designing and developing national address systems, spatial data infrastructure or a national ICT application (digital registers) is required. Proven experience in public sector advisory, management, and stakeholder engagement is required. Demonstrated experience in conducting feasibility studies is required. Strong knowledge of governance models for national-scale systems including experience in interpreting, analyzing and applying policy and legal instruments is required. Excellent communication, presentation, analytical, and interpersonal skills are required. Knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals and national efforts to implement them is desirable. Experience in capacity building and working with national governments, including national statistical offices and mapping authorities in a SIDS is desirable.

Languages

Fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of another official UN Language is an advantage.

Additional Information

Not available.

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.