Web Scraping Analyst International Consultant

Background:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

Under the UN Women Regional Office for the Arab States (ROAS) regional Strategic Note (2022-2023) Outcome 7.1, Arab States are accelerating the implementation of global and regional gender norms and standards with high-quality, comparable data, particularly on the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Sustainable Development Goals, and the Cairo Declaration for Arab Women. UN Women works closely with United Nations, government, and civil society partners to increase the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 and the inclusion of gender in Humanitarian Action. UN Women has been collaborating with governments, UN partners, and civil society to support women’s participation and influence at all levels of decision-making to prevent and resolve conflicts in the Arab region and to ensure regional coordination on gender inclusion in humanitarian action.

Looking ahead, the UN Women ROAS data and results team is working to expand its data generation across the region through internal and external data platforms, with the development and strengthening of multiple additional systems: GenTrack, Track-it, and GenForm. To support its role, the data and results management team at UN Women ROAS is seeking a web scraping analyst to support the team in non-traditional data collection methodologies as needs arise. The candidate must have strong experience in web scraping, data mining, and related techniques.

The consultant will be on retainer, available to support the data and results management team at UN Women ROAS as needed in collecting and analyzing data relating to women and girls in the region. The consultant will report to the Regional Specialist on Evidence for Programming, who will be the point of contact for contract and payment issues.
 

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work:

The web scraping analyst will work closely with the Data and Results Management Team to collect data through social media, web platforms, and major events and trends in the region, gaining a deeper understanding of the issues pertaining to women and girls in the region. The web scraper will be responsible for performing rule-based scraping and data mining techniques for the classification and identification of key data points, influenced by key events such as political/diplomatic meetings, elections, statements, reforms, policy shifts, conflicts, protests, policy changes, and other significant developments. The analyst can also provide a temporal analysis of the extracted events to identify trends, periodic patterns, and potential correlations.
 

Data Collection:

• Develop and implement web scraping scripts to collect data from various online sources relevant to gender equality and women's empowerment in the Arab States;
• Ensure data collected is accurate, up-to-date, and relevant to UN Women's objectives.

Data Cleaning and Processing:

• Clean and preprocess the scraped data to ensure it is in a usable format;
• Identify and remove any duplicate, irrelevant, or erroneous data entries.

Database Management:

• Store and manage the collected data in a structured database;
• Ensure the database is secure and accessible to authorized team members.

Integration with Existing Systems:

• Integrate the scraped data with existing systems like GenTrack, Track-it, and GenForm;
• Ensure seamless data flow and compatibility between different platforms.

Analysis and Reporting:

• Analyze the collected data to identify trends, patterns, and insights related to gender norms and standards;
• Prepare detailed reports and visualizations to support policy and decision-making processes.

Collaboration and Support:

• Work closely with the data and results management team to understand their data needs and provide timely support;
• Assist in drafting policy and research documents based on the analyzed data.

Continuous Improvement:

• Continuously monitor and improve web scraping techniques to enhance data collection efficiency and accuracy;
• Stay updated with the latest developments in web scraping and data mining technologies.

Training and Documentation:

• Provide training to team members on web scraping tools and techniques;
• Document all processes, methodologies, and scripts for future reference and knowledge sharing.

Consultant’s Workplace and Official Travel

This is a home-based consultancy, without travel. 

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework: 

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent strategic planning, goal-setting and prioritization skills;
• Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision;
• Proven analytical and problem-solving skills;
• Strong interpersonal skills;
• Strong writing and communication skills.

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, or a relevant field is required;
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. 

Experience:

• Minimum of 2 years of experience in data operations, web scraping, and/or related field is required;
• Proven experience with web scraping techniques and tools, such as Selenium and Python is desirable;
• Strong programming skills, with proficiency in Python and other relevant languages is desirable;
• Familiarity with data analysis tools and techniques is desirable;
• Strong communication and collaboration skills is desirable;
• Knowledge of DevOps and Cloud Computing technologies is desirable.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required;
• Knowledge of Arabic language is desirable.

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW, and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. (Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.)