Intern: Data Analyst - Sunninghill, Johannesburg

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles.

Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance.

The African Risk Capacity (ARC) is a Specialised Agency of the African Union (AU) established in November 2012.  The ARC Agency leads the ARC Group, a development finance institution that provides financial tools and infrastructure to help countries manage natural disaster risk and adapt to climate change. As of 2017, it counts 32 AU countries as members and is supervised by a ministerial level governing board elected by its Conference of the Parties. The ARC design and establishment phase was supported by WFP under a MoU with the AU, and WFP continues to provide administrative services support to the ARC Agency through an administrative services agreement.

In 2014, ARC launched its initial risk insurance product for member states through its financial affiliate the ARC Insurance Company Limited (ARC Ltd). ARC Ltd is a specialist hybrid mutual insurance company and Africa’s first ever disaster insurance pool, aggregating risk by issuing insurance policies to participating governments and transferring it to the international market. ARC Ltd uses the satellite weather surveillance software Africa RiskView, developed by WFP, to estimate the impact of drought on vulnerable populations – and the response costs required to assist them – before a season begins, and as it progresses, so that index-based insurance payouts, based on Africa RiskView, are triggered at or before harvest time if the rains are poor. With initial capital commitments provided by the governments of Germany (through KfW on behalf of BMZ) and the United Kingdom (DFID), ARC Ltd issued drought insurance policies to a first group of African governments – Kenya, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal – in May 2014, marking the launch of the inaugural ARC pool. Since then, ARC Ltd has issued drought insurance policies to a growing number of countries including Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Malawi and Mali. To date, four countries benefited from payouts, namely Mauritania, Niger and Senegal after the 2014 rainy season, and Malawi after the 2015/16 season. ARC aims to reach up to 30 countries with drought, flood and cyclone insurance coverage by 2020.

Since its creation in 2012 the ARC Agency has been working towards establishing and mainstreaming its operational procedures and in-country work programme with ARC Member States. At the country-level the ARC Secretariat of the ARC Agency supports ARC in-country technical working groups on several technical and political work-streams as they progress towards making an informed decision on participating in the ARC Ltd insurance pool. The ARC Secretariat Technical Support Division supports the technical aspects of this interaction, including working with countries to customise and validate Africa RiskView and select risk transfer parameters for their insurance products.

Based in the ARC offices in Johannesburg, the Intern Data Analyst will be a member of the Technical Support Division supporting all aspects of the ARC engagement with the ARC Member States, with a particular focus on the technical engagement with the in-country Technical Working Group (TWG) and in-country interactions with the TWG. Reporting to the Head of TSD, and working closely with the TSD Focal Points for the assigned Member States, the Intern Data Analyst’s responsibilities will include the following:

-Understand ARC and the Africa RiskView software and its underlying methodology

-Assist the TSD and the TWG on all matters relating to the customisation of Africa RiskView and preparation

  for participation in the insurance pool, including:

-Support background research to understand the risk factors and risk profiles of the ARC Member State

-Gather and prepare historical data on droughts and other natural disasters in the ARC Member State

-Support the data analysis and customisation work for the ARC Member State

-Support the drafting and review of customisation reports

-Monitor and verify Africa RiskView’s estimates against information from the ground

-Monitor Africa RiskView’s estimates to contribute to monthly bulletins and other ad hoc analyses and

  publications

-Support the documentation of the ARC Technical Support Division’s in-country activities

-Support the Technical Support Division in designing and conducting Africa RiskView in-country trainings, -

  preparing training material and support documentation;

-Contribute to the development, upgrade and update of the Africa RiskView software and its related

  manuals

-Represent the ARC Secretariat at country conferences and meetings as required, and report back to the TSD

  about relevant discussion points

• Be a recent graduate (max. 12 months after graduation) from an undergraduate or graduate university programme in Economics, Statistics, Mathematics, Food Security, Natural Sciences, Agriculture, Development Studies or similar relevant discipline
• Not be sons, daughters, brothers or sisters of WFP employees
• Must be eligible to stay and work in South Africa
• Proficient in Excel. Good knowledge of statistical packages (SPSS, Stata). Good knowledge of Microsoft Word and Power Point.
• Basic knowledge of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing
• Fluent in English and/or French (+ official language of duty station if different).
• Strong analytical and data interpretation skills
• Reliability, attention to detail and problem-solving skills are highly appreciated.
• Teamwork and good social skills.
• Ability to work both collaboratively and under minimum supervision, and under tight deadlines.

• Interns receive a monthly stipend from WFP up to the maximum amount of US$1000 per month depending on the duty station of assignment. 
• The successful candidate must be available to start as soon as possible after accepting the contract
• Working hours are 08h00 to 17h00 - Monday to Friday

25 SEPTEMBER 2019

("SPSS" OR "STATA" OR "statistical packages" OR "GIS" OR "Geographical Information Systems" OR "remote sensing" OR "data analyst" OR "data analytics")

WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.