UNV - United Nations Volunteers · Panama City, Panama
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is seeking a Regional Environmental Data Analyst to manage and coordinate environmental data and analysis across Latin America and the Caribbean. The role involves ensuring seamless data flow, facilitating interagency collaboration, and supporting the development of Common Country Analyses and Cooperation Frameworks. The analyst will identify key data sources, collect and validate environmental data, and lead internal coordination to create evidence-based narratives. This position is crucial for aligning national development priorities with Sustainable Development Goals.
Candidate Requirements:
Experience in data management and analysis
Knowledge of environmental issues
Ability to coordinate with multiple stakeholders
Strong analytical skills
Familiarity with statistical systems and databases
Excellent communication skills
Mission and objectives
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading environmental authority in the United Nations system. UNEP uses its expertise to strengthen environmental standards and practices while helping implement environmental obligations at the country, regional and global levels. UNEP’s mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
Context
The UN Volunteer (UNV) will serve as the primary focal point for internal data management and the coordination of information, ensuring a coherent, timely and seamless exchange of relevant indicators, analytical narrative, and statistics between technical division projects and the activities implemented by the regional office at the country level. In this capacity, the UN Volunteer will maintain continuous dialogue and strategic information coordination with the UN Development Coordination Office (DCO) for Latin America and the Caribbean to ensure UNEP’s coherent, evidence-based contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) and Country Analysis (UNCA) processes.
This role will be critical to aligning environmental data and analysis across regional and country-level planning cycles. By bridging technical data with regional operations, the UNV will strengthen the capacity of United Nations Country Teams (UNCTs) to integrate critical environmental dimensions, including climate change, biodiversity, and natural resource management, into national development priorities, effectively aligning national agendas with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the UNEP LACO Regional Management Project through evidence-based insights.
Task description
Under the direct supervision of UNEP’s Regional Coordinator for Science-Policy Unit, the UNV shall perform the following activities:
a. The selected candidate will be responsible for identifying and mapping key sources of official and non-official data at both national and regional levels. This involves acting as a central node for the coordination of information among Regional Subprogramme Coordinators, Technical Divisions, and Heads of Subregional/National Offices or Officers in Charge. By consulting national statistical systems, sectoral national databases and global datasets, the UNV will provide the necessary evidence base to support environmental analysis for CCAs and CFs in countries currently undergoing these strategic processes.
b. The UNV will collect and manage essential environmental data, such as statistics, indicators, and thematic maps, focusing on national priorities like climate change, biodiversity, and pollution. Working in close coordination with the Resident Coordinator Offices (RCOs), the UNV will validate this information to ensure accuracy. He/she will analyze these datasets to identify key trends and patterns, risks, gaps, and opportunities, ensuring that technical division projects are effectively linked to the activities implemented by regional and national offices at the country level.
c. The UNV will lead the internal coordination of information and analysis required to develop a coherent and evidence-based narrative for the environmental dimension of CCAs and CFs. This involves facilitating continuous dialogue between Regional Subprogramme Coordinators, Technical Divisions, and the RCOs to ensure that UNEP’s specialized knowledge is translated into impactful policy support. The UNV will organize inter-office working sessions to ensure national environmental challenges are addressed through a unified and evidence-based approach.
d. The UNV will serve as UNEP’s technical interface with the UN Development Coordination Office (DCO) for Latin America and the Caribbean, ensuring that UNEP’s contributions are synchronized with regional UN reform objectives. In this capacity, the UNV will also act as the LACO focal point for activities conducted by the Policy and Programme Division (PPD) regarding the monitoring and reporting of Cooperation Frameworks and Country Analyses in the region.
Furthermore, the UNV will support the Peer Support Group (PSG) in close coordination with sister agencies, funds, and programmes of the UN, providing technical quality assurance to ensure the environmental dimension is robustly represented in all interagency strategic documents.