The United Nations Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has established a Centre for Humanitarian Data
in The Hague, the Netherlands to help increase the use and impact of data in
the humanitarian sector. The vision is to create a future where all people
involved in a humanitarian emergency have access to the data they need, when
and how they need it, to make responsible and informed decisions.
The Centre focuses on four areas: data
services, data policy, data literacy, and network engagement. The Centre’s data
services work includes direct management of the Humanitarian Data Exchange
(HDX) platform and the Humanitarian Exchange Language (HXL) data standard. The
data literacy work focuses on improving the data skills of technical and
non-technical humanitarians. For data policy, the Centre creates guidelines for
the responsible use of data by OCHA staff and partners. Finally, the Centre
works to further build and engage an active community in support of its mission
and objectives through a number events and communication activities.
The Centre’s Data Fellows programme began in
2018 and aims to expose the Centre and its partners to new areas of
data-related expertise that can impact humanitarian response. The structure of
the programme provides Fellows with exposure to different parts of the
humanitarian system while allowing them to focus time and energy on an
individual project that addresses a challenge related to the use and impact of
data in the sector.
The Centre will host its second class of Data
Fellows in The Hague in June and July 2019. The 2019 Fellows will focus on four
areas where the Centre is seeking new perspectives, insights and partnerships
including: Business Strategy, Data Science (education data), Predictive
Analytics, and Statistics (disability data). The Fellowship programme is
residential, with Fellows living and working in The Hague under the direction
of the Coordinator for the Data Fellows Programme. https://centre.humdata.org/data-fellows
Predictive Analytics in Humanitarian Action
One area of emerging interest in the humanitarian sector is predictive analytics: asking “what will happen” in a particular humanitarian context and using machine learning and the application of statistical modeling to arrive at an answer. When Mark Lowcock, the Head of OCHA, opened the Centre for Humanitarian Data in December 2017, he asked whether predictive analytics could be used to work out the next problem before it crystalizes so that humanitarians could act faster, cheaper and better to address it.
The Centre initiated its work in Predictive Analytics through the 2018 Data Fellows Programme, and has continued to invest in this area through sustained research into the development of models related to different aspects of humanitarian response. This has included predicting funding allocations in Somalia and South Sudan, and predicting needs related to the possible onset of El Niño in southern Africa.
There are also a number of initiatives by partners to predict humanitarian need. The World Bank is developing a model as part of its Famine Action Mechanism (FAM) and UNHCR, IOM and IDMC have developed models to predict the movement of people. As more organizations start investing in predictive analytics, there is an opportunity to promote improved coordination, collaboration, peer review, and collective investment in models as a public good.
We are looking for a candidate who is self-motivated and can thrive in an international, multidisciplinary team. The right candidate has the skills and abilities that together comprise the right levels of expertise to develop and assess predictive models and think strategically about how to use data to create value and insight for humanitarian response.
Reporting Relationships
The Consultant on Predictive Analytics will report to the Coordinator for the Data Fellows Programme under the overall direction of the Lead for the Centre for Humanitarian Data. She or he will be expected to work closely with the rest of the Centre team.