Background

The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) is the voice of education in Africa and has played an important role in the educational arena for 30 years as a convenor, knowledge creator and forum for policy dialogue. Since its creation, ADEA has acted as a partner between African ministries of education and training and development partners. As a forum for policy dialogue, ADEA promotes innovative policies and practices by sharing and disseminating ideas, experiences, learning and knowledge among countries and stakeholders.

Africa is facing an education and skills data crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation. Due to the ongoing challenge of lacking quality education and skills data for informed decision-making, insufficient data continues to undermine the ability of African countries to make demand-driven policy decisions on education and skills. Through this project, ADEA seeks to support up to 30 African countries over a five-year period to produce and use the quality data on education and skills for informed decision-making through policy, planning, program implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

Position Summary

ADEA is looking for two experienced and motivated data analysts to support the project. They will carry out analyses and make recommendations to improve the production and use of data on education and skills in the project's beneficiary countries. They will also contribute to informed decision-making by the project, and by beneficiary countries, to improve education data governance and decision-making and to strengthen the capacity of the beneficiary countries’ stakeholders in data analysis.

Tasks and responsibilities

Specifically, the Data Analysts will:

Contribute to the implementation of capacity-strengthening activities in the beneficiary countries, working with the institutions and stakeholders supporting the countries:

• Participate in the continental and country specific mapping of the education and skills data landscape.
• Assess the quality of the data produced, the analyses undertaken, and the reports produced in the beneficiary countries and make recommendations for improvement.
• Support countries to identify capacity gaps, set indicators, and develop and use data analysis tools.
• Contribute to the development of the capacity-strengthening plan and support the training and advocacy of Ministry officials at the technical and policy level, to improve the education and skills data production and use by the beneficiary countries and their stakeholders.
• Provide advisory support to country stakeholders involved in the data chain to improve data quality.
• Participate in the development of a platform to promote peer learning at national, regional, and continental level and support capacity building.

Contribute to reporting and decision-making through data analysis:

• Contribute to the design, creation and management of databases.
• Develop algorithms to optimise targeting and data collection.
• Sort data to extract the most relevant for the project or the beneficiary countries’ Ministries.
• Model results to popularize and simplify usage.
• Draw conclusions from the analyses and formulate recommendations.
• Discern recurring patterns to draw strategic conclusions that can be used for decision-making by line management or by key stakeholders.

Participate in the monitoring and evaluation of the project:

• Engage in the collection and processing of data required for the project's monitoring and evaluation and analyse such data.
• Participate in studies, surveys and polls conducted by the project.
• Provide data and analytical information to inform the drafting of project progress reports.

Carry out other activities within the scope of his/her responsibilities and as assigned by line management.

Qualifications and Requirements

Qualifications:

• Master's degree or equivalent in applied statistics or mathematics, econometrics, data sciences or related field.
• At least 5 years' successful experience in conducting studies, data processing, statistical analyses in developing countries.
• At least 5 years' experience in producing education and skills data in developing countries, preferably in Africa.
• Experience working in multicultural and multidisciplinary teams.
• Fluent in spoken and written English or/and French, and a working knowledge of the other language, with excellent communication and writing skills.

Technical requirements:

• Proven knowledge of educational systems in Africa and relevant experience in education and skills data collection, processing and use.
• Knowledge of gender and youth issues and how they are considered in data collection and processing.
• In-depth knowledge on sampling, data entry and data processing.
• Strong skills in the use of statistical tools/techniques (Python, R, SPSS, Stata, ArcGIS, etc.
• Have a strong understanding of AI concepts and applications.
• In-depth knowledge of research surveys, polls, evaluations, and focus groups methods.
• Demonstrated ability to write statistical, demographic and project progress reports.
• Demonstrated ability to transfer knowledge to various groups through training, mentoring, etc.
• Ability to analyse multiple data sources to identify data trends and make recommendations on project implementation.
• Ability to work in a multicultural, multidisciplinary team.
• Sense of initiative and proactivity, ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
• Being results-oriented, organized, and systematic.

Hierarchical structure

This position reports to the Planning Officer.

Working conditions

• Full-time consultancy mandate.
• Based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, with occasional field assignments in Partner countries and on-site meetings.
• Competitive remuneration.

Performance expectations

Reporting to the Planning Officer, the data analyst will be assessed on completion of planned activities, achievement of expected results, respect of deadlines for expected deliverables, quality of deliverables produced, and on satisfaction of the beneficiary countries data chain stakeholders with the assistance provided. He/she will also be assessed on the quality of relationships developed and maintained with project stakeholders, and on his/her ability to adapt to changing technologies and project requirements.@

Application process

Interested candidates are invited to send their curriculum vitae and a letter of motivation to adea-applications@afdb.org by 13th March 2025 (11:59 PM, GMT). Please indicate “Application for the position of Data analyst " in the subject line.

As an equal opportunity employer, we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and experience.