Technical Editor (Statistics) at Denmark

Added Date: Tuesday, 05 August 2025

Tags: English Environment
Organization: UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees)
Country: Denmark
City: Copenhagen
Post Level: Unspecified

5 Steps to get a job in the United Nations

Similar jobs

Logistics Technical Assistant
Organization: Norwegian Refugee Council
Added: Wednesday, 06 November 2024

Logistics Technical Assistant
Organization: Norwegian Refugee Council
Added: Monday, 28 October 2024

Consultant: Technical Writer/Editor
Organization: Winrock International
Added: Friday, 20 December 2024

Hardship Level (not applicable for home-based)H (no hardship)

Family Type (not applicable for home-based)

Family

Staff Member / Affiliate TypeCONS Local

Target Start Date2025-08-11

Deadline for ApplicationsAugust 6, 2025

Terms of ReferenceTitle: Technical Editor (Statistics)
Location: Home-based
Duration: 11 August 2025 - 31 January 2026
Contract Type: Individual Consultant

General Background of Project or Assignment, Operational Context:

The Expert Group on Refugee, Internally Displaced Persons, and Statelessness Statistics (EGRISS) is a multi-stakeholder group mandated by the UN Statistical Commission to develop international recommendations, standards, and guidance for improved forced displacement and statelessness statistics. Since its establishment in 2016, the expert group has made significant progress supporting countries and regional and international organizations to enhance their collection, production, and dissemination of official statistics on these groups.

Its first phase of work included the development of International Recommendations on Refugee Statistics (IRRS), which were formally adopted during the 49th session of the UNSC in 2018. Following this, the second phase of EGRISS’ work produced the International Recommendation on IDP Statistics (IRIS), adopted in 2020. The third and current phase of EGRISS’ mandate has seen the development of the International Recommendations on Statelessness Statistics (IROSS), approved by the UNSC in 2023, and emphasizes a range of activities aimed at promoting and supporting implementation of the three sets of Recommendations through national statistical systems.

EGRISS’ work is undertaken collaboratively by its members, currently including 61 national statistics authorities from different regions of the world and 38 regional and international organizations. EGRISS’ work is guided by a Steering Committee comprised of its 15 members. Activities are undertaken by the broader membership, organized in thematic subgroups. The Steering Committee and subgroups benefit from support and coordination of the EGRISS Secretariat, hosted by UNHCR.

One of EGRISS’ subgroups (Technical Subgroup 2) focuses on Methodological Research and Guidance Development and is co-led by the World Bank-UNHCR Joint Data Center and the Somali National Bureau of Statistic. The two deliverables foreseen in this consultancy are included in the workplan of TSG2. EGRISS’ current mandate continues until the end of 2025, following which the Group will report to the UNSC at its 57th session in 2026 and officially request an extension of its mandate.

Purpose and Scope of Assignment:

Concise and detailed description of activities, including measurable outputs and delivery dates, impact indicators (what qualitative and quantitative results would be achieved upon completion of individual contract), performance indicators (timelines, value of the service rendered in relation to the cost, timeliness) and work plan:

1. Compiler’s Manual – Second revision:

In 2025/26, EGRISS TSG2 will oversee the second revision of the EGRISS Compilers’ Manual (CM), as per commitment to periodically update the publication. This CM provides technical, hands-on guidance for implementing the International Recommendations on Refugee and IDP Statistics. The current version predates the endorsement of the IROSS, and a primary objective of the planned revision is to ensure that the CM adequately incorporates guidance for implementing the International Recommendations on Statelessness Statistics (IROSS). Moreover, the revision also aims to incorporate recent statistical developments inside and outside of EGRISS, methodological advancements under TSG2 and lessons learnt from the last two years of implementation experience, potentially adding relevant country and regional level case studies.

Incorporating the IROSS into the CM will include developing a new standalone chapter on inclusion of stateless populations in sample surveys (akin to existing chapters B and C for refugees and IDPs, respectively); as well as mainstreaming statelessness into the other existing chapters of the CM.

Beyond incorporating stateless into the CM, further revisions will include refinements based on work published in the EGRISS methodological paper series (e.g. on SDG indicators and FDP identification in surveys) as well as from initiatives under TSG1’s Regional Task Teams (e.g. on use of administrative data sources in Latin America). As appropriate, the CM may also incorporate methodological advancements and practical examples from outside of EGRISS. This will include referencing new or updated global frameworks (e.g. Copenhagen Framework on Citizen Data; Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses, Recommendations on Statistics of International Migration).

Given the prominence of the CM in EGRISS’s line-up of statistical guidance documents, it is important to ensure that the CM reflects consensus of the full EGRISS membership. As with the current version of the CM, the upcoming revision will therefore undergo an all-member validation/review exercise.
EGRISS is thus seeking the services of a technical editor (statistics) to implement the revision of the CM, in the direction outlined above, under the guidance of Subgroup 2 and with inputs as needed from the wider EGRISS membership.

The technical editor will be responsible for all aspects of the CM revision, including a fit-for-purpose and user-friendly structure/presentation (including for users from low-resource environments) as well as the technical accuracy of all content with an emphasis on improving data quality of official statistics on forced displacement and statelessness. Beyond a direct and regular communication required with Technical Subgroup 2, the technical editor will also be expected to liaise with select members of the wider EGRISS and the EGRISS Secretariat in order to obtain relevant content for the CM revision. EGRISS Secretariat will facilitate this all-members review of the CM revised draft, the technical editor will be responsible for actioning and documenting (via a feedback matrix) the responses to the feedback received.

2. Migration-Displacement Paper:

In the field of migration and displacement statistics, three key sets of recommendations guide global understanding and measurement: the International Recommendations on Refugee Statistics (2018), the International Recommendations on IDP Statistics (2020), and the recently revised Recommendations on Statistics of International Migration and Temporary Mobility (2025) – all three endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission. The three frameworks aim to provide comprehensive guidance, standardized methodologies, and clear classifications to enhance the comparability and coherence of international migration and forced displacement statistics across countries and regions. While not formalized to the same degree, official statistics also make frequent use of well-established best practices for measuring and reporting on internal migration.
Identifying alignment, gaps and opportunities for further harmonization between these frameworks is crucial, as the populations they address – international migrants and refugees; internal migrants and internally displaced persons – often overlap or are closely related in practice.

Reviewing these frameworks to clarify areas of alignment is an important step toward advancing methodological consistency in migration and displacement statistics. The methodological paper to be developed will present a technical review of the Recommendations and practical experiences of their application, to support national statistical systems in developing a more coherent and standardized approach to measuring population movements and improving comparability across countries and regions. At the same time, identifying gaps or areas of divergence will highlight where further clarification or refinement is needed, ensuring that statistical practices are more precise, and the resulting data is consistent. Ultimately, this exercise offers an opportunity to strengthen the existing frameworks, enabling better evidence-based decision-making and more effective responses to global migration challenges.

While the focus is on the three aforementioned key Recommendations, additional frameworks and relevant resources may also be taken into consideration. These include the International Recommendations on Statelessness Statistics (2023), specifically given the close linkages between statelessness, migration and displacement, the Principles and Recommendations for Population and Housing Censuses (2025) with a focus on the core and non-core topics, and the International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) guidelines. In addition, recent and ongoing related efforts from different stakeholders and groups, including the CEA Working Group on Migration and Displacement Statistics, the Migration Cooperation project in Africa and the International Data Alliance for Children on the Move (IDAC), will also be considered.

The development of the methodological paper will be a collaborative effort between partners from the UN Expert Group on Migration Statistics and EGRISS. Other relevant expert groups will be invited to peer review as appropriate.

EGRISS is thus seeking the services of a technical editor (statistics) to implement the compilation of this paper, in the direction outlined above, under the guidance of Subgroup 2 and with inputs as needed from the wider EGRISS membership. The technical editor will be responsible for all aspects of the publication, including a fit-for-purpose and user-friendly structure/presentation (including for users from low-capacity environments) as well as the technical accuracy of all content with an emphasis on improving data quality of official statistics on forced displacement. Beyond a direct and regular communication required with Technical Subgroup 2, the technical editor will also be expected to liaise with select members of the wider EGRISS (including Statistics Sweden, Statistics Norway, Statistics South Africa and UNSD) and the EGRISS Secretariat in order to obtain relevant content for the paper.

Required qualifications, language(s) and work experience:

Education:
Degree in the field of statistics, economics, mathematics or related field

Field of expertise, competencies:

Required:
- Extensive experience of developing and/or implementing international statistical standards
- Track record of publication on statistical methods that are technically robust yet accessible to a wide range of audiences, including national statistical systems
- Proven ability to systematically analyse complex statistical/methodological frameworks
- Excellent communicator with strong interpersonal skills and technical drafting skills.
- Ability to deliver quality results on time.

Desirable:
- Good understanding of and familiarity with one or several of the international statistical standards and best practices mentioned in the ToR.
- Work experience in a national statistical office / authority, or the statistical unit of an international organization.
- Extensive experience in designing and delivering effective trainings, guidance material, and capacity building initiatives in the field of official statistics.
- Field experience in the context of migration, forced displacement or statelessness.

Minimum Years of Experience:
8 years of previous relevant work experience with graduate degree (equivalent of a Master’s), 9 years with undergraduate degree (equivalent of a BA/BS) or 7 years with a Doctorate degree (equivalent of a PhD)

Language:
Required: English
Desirable: Spanish

Monitoring and Progress Controls

1. Compiler’s Manual:
- Brief note / annotated outline (approx. 3-4 pages) presenting proposed changes to existing CM chapters as well as proposed structure of the new chapter(s) (end-August)
- Submission of first draft of revised CM, and presentation to TSG2 (September)
- Submission of second draft version (October/November)
- Submission of final version of the revised CM as well as feedback matrix that documents actions taken against feedback received from EGRISS all-members review (December)

The final version is expected in January 2026 (ideally earlier to allow time for graphic design/layout) so it can be submitted as a Background Paper to EGRISS’ official report to the UN Statistical Commission. It will be widely disseminated to be used by EGRISS members and national partners to support country efforts to implement the International Recommendations on Refugee, IDP and Statelessness Statistics within the next mandate period.

2. Migration-Displacement Paper:

- Annotated outline (approx. 3-5 pages) of methodological paper (August)
- Submission of first draft paper (approx. 20-30 pages) (October)
- Submission of second draft of the paper and presentation to EGRISS –TSG2 as well as EGMS (approx. 20-30 pages) (December)
- Submission of final version of migration-displacement paper (approx. 20-25 pages) (January)

The final version is expected in January 2026. The paper is expected to be published in the EGRISS Methodological Paper Series which contains the Expert Group’s input to ongoing methodological debates. Papers published in this series do not represent the official views of EGRISS, its members, TSG2, or the institutions with which the authors are affiliated; and thus do not undergo an EGRISS all-member review.

The above deliverables will be complemented by regular check-ins with the co-lead(s) of Subgroup 2 and the EGRISS Secretariat (for Compilers’ Manual) and with relevant task team members for the methodological paper (including experts from Statistics Sweden, Statistics Norway and the UN Statistics Division). Alongside the hiring manager a technical supervisor is identified to ensure achievement of quality outputs and periodic progress review meetings will be scheduled to ensure agreed timelines are met.

Location and Conditions:

This is a home-based Individual Consultancy.

Shortlisted candidates might be required to sit for a written test. Only shortlisted candidates will be notified. No late applications will be accepted.

Please note that UNHCR does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process (application, interview, meeting, travelling, processing, training or any other fees).

All UNHCR workforce members must individually and collectively, contribute towards a working environment where each person feels safe, and empowered to perform their duties. This includes by demonstrating no tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, harassment including sexual harassment, sexism, gender inequality, discrimination, and abuse of power.

As individuals and as managers, all must be proactive in preventing and responding to inappropriate conduct, support ongoing dialogue on these matters and speaking up and seeking guidance and support from relevant UNHCR resources when these issues arise.