National Consultant – ICCS Implementation and Crime Statistics Strengthening (Fiji)

Result of ServiceExpected outputs and delivery dates By 1 November 2025 • Output 1: Detailed workplan with key outputs and targets • Output 2: Draft national crime assessment report, describing the methodology of the work, execution schedule, and key actors, including engagement with national stakeholders. • Output 3: Presentation to key stakeholders for review and feedback By 30 December 2025 • Output 4: Updated draft of the national crime assessment report, including analysis of data production processes, flow of information, frequency of updates, and existing data integration challenges, data profile, and assessment of data collection mechanisms, including engagement with national stakeholders. • Output 5: Draft ICCS correspondence tables on selected crimes, conducting comprehensive review on current versions. By 30 March 2025 • Output 6: ICCS implementation roadmap with phased plan and resource requirements, providing actionable, country-specific recommendations for ICCS implementation along with the updated ICCS correspondence table agreed with national stakeholders • Output 7: Final report on the progress of the activities, including support provided to estimate prioritized indicators and practical guidance for building national capacity to generate, update, institutionalize additional indicators beyond the end of the project. Performance indicators ● A clearly defined methodological approach. ● Quality of the meeting materials and documentation provided with every output. ● Degree to which reports are reader-friendly, concise, clearly structured and written ● Timeliness of delivery of outputs Work LocationThe consultant will be based in Suva, Fiji. The consultancy is home-based with regular phone and web conference meetings with staff members of FBOS, UNSD and UNODC, as well as in-country visits to partners and government offices. The consultant must be available for regular technical meetings to monitor the progress of the work with the FBOS, the UNODC and the UNSD team. Travel or return travel time to the headquarters of the United Nations, FBOS or national institutions, as well as related expenses, are not part of the consultation. Expected durationThe consultant will work in the period between 1 October 2025 and 30 March 2026. Duties and ResponsibilitiesData and statistics are essential in understanding, managing and mitigating the economic, environmental, and human and social of external shocks and stressors and for designing appropriate responses and accelerated actions to put countries back on track to achieving the SDGs. Almost 10 years after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, countries still rely on out-of-date and incomplete statistics to inform implementation and review progress. SIDS, in particular, are facing a unique set of challenges. These are well documented and are underlined in the recent “Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for Small Island Developing States (ABAS): A Renewed Declaration for Resilient Prosperity”, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), the Paris Agreement and the 2018 OECD report “Making Development Co-operation Work for Small Island Developing States”. To support SIDS to address their data capacity challenges, the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) launched the Data for SIDS (DATAS) initiative to support Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in strengthening the capacities of national statistical systems to produce and disseminate better and more timely data and statistics to inform decision making through four components: national data governance and coordination, national data production and availability, national data dissemination and reporting and SIDS to SIDS collaboration and experience exchange. It draws from the Data for Now initiative approach, which in particular emphasize country ownership and multi-stakeholder collaboration to fill critical data gaps and meet policy needs. Fiji joined DATAS in January 2025, with the Fiji Bureau of Statistics (FBOS) serving as project lead in the country. Under this framework, FBOS prioritized crime and justice as a key area of work. One of the key issues identified in consultation with national stakeholders is the lack of standardization across institutions handling crime and justice data, along with incomplete data flows and inconsistent offence classifications. Meetings held with Fiji Police Force, Judiciary of Fiji, Fiji Corrections Services, Substance Abuse Advisory Council and the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) emphasized the need for standardized data templates, harmonized classification systems, digitalization of data collection processes and support in implementing the International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS). The International Classification of Crime for Statistical Purposes (ICCS), endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in 2015, serves as the global statistical standard for the collection, classification, and dissemination of crime data. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) was designated as the custodian agency to support ICCS implementation globally. The ICCS provides a unified framework grounded in internationally agreed definitions and classification principles. It supports countries in enhancing the quality, consistency, and comparability of their crime statistics across different sources and justice institutions. The classification is also adaptable for use with both administrative records and population-based sources such as victimization surveys. Recognizing that full ICCS implementation is a lengthy process, the project will focus on adopting the ICCS for selected priority crimes which align with Fiji's most urgent needs, specifically: • Serious assault, with a specific focus on gender-based violence, both sexual and non-sexual; • Intentional homicide, with a specific focus on gender and femicide; • Acts involving controlled psychoactive substances or other drugs. To respond to this demand, DESA’s Statistics Division (UNSD) collaborated with the UNODC-KOSTAT Centre of Excellence for Statistics on Crime and Criminal Justice in Asia and the Pacific (UNODC-KOSTAT CoE) and UNODC Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific (UNODC ROSEAP) to develop a structured roadmap for ICCS implementation and institutional capacity strengthening to improve the production of crime statistics for informed decision-making. In this context, the consultant is expected to work closely with and under the guidance of UNSD, UNODC, and FBOS to provide practical guidance on the implementation of the ICCS tailored to the Fiji’s needs, covering all stages from design to implementation, to enable national institutions responsible for crime and justice data to produce high-quality, internationally comparable crime statistics; facilitate cross-institutions collaboration and coordination to enhance data sharing and harmonization among relevant agencies, eventually supporting the production of statistical indicators for more informed policymaking; and practically apply the ICCS framework to produce a preliminary estimate of one or more selected indicators from the National Development Plan (NDP), in support of the broader objective of improving crime statistics production, and develop a roadmap for the progressive and sustainable implementation to additional indicators beyond the end of the project. Qualifications/special skillsAn advanced university degree in economics, statistics, and/or law, criminology, social sciences or a related field. A bachelor’s degree and two additional years of experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced degree. A minimum of seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience in social sciences, including statistics or economics Experience working with law enforcement and/or criminal justice system in Fiji. Experience working with data disaggregated by geography, sex and specific population groups of interest for sustainable development is desirable. Experience working on issues relevant to criminal investigation, with a particular focus on gender and use of drugs is desirable. Work experience for the UN or other international organizations or work for global companies or enterprises is desirable. LanguagesFull command of spoken and written English is required. Additional InformationNot available. No FeeTHE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.