Data and Socioeconomic Analysis Specialist/Consultant - Absorptive Capacity (Consultancy)

Position Title: Data and Socioeconomic Analysis Specialist - Absorptive Capacity Report

Duty Station: Kabul, Afghanistan

Expected Start Date of Deployment: 15 September 2026

Deployment Duration: 3 months, 16 days

Organizational Context and Scope: Under the overall supervision of the Chief of Mission in Afghanistan and the direct supervision of the Senior Programme Coordinator, DTM, and in close coordination with relevant IOM Afghanistan, regional and headquarters colleagues, the incumbent will support the development of a flagship analytical report: (1) Beyond the Numbers: Afghanistan's Capacity to Absorb Large-Scale Returns. The incumbent will develop the quantitative evidence base, indicators, district typology and reproducible analytical package for Beyond the Numbers: Afghanistan's Capacity to Absorb Large-Scale Returns. The incumbent will begin data inventory, harmonization and exploratory work immediately and proceed in parallel with the Senior Research and Policy Specialist. Maps will be produced in-house using validated geographic data and specifications prepared by the incumbent.

The incumbent will work as part of a parallel two-person report team and coordinate closely with the corresponding research or analytical specialist. IOM's in-house information management and GIS teams will support approved data access, validation and map production. All work must comply with IOM standards on data protection, confidentiality, ethical analysis and information security. Where advanced analytics or artificial intelligence-assisted methods are used, they must remain transparent, proportionate, subject to human review and consistent with IOM standards; sensitive or personally identifiable data must not be entered into unauthorized tools or environments.

Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

Compile an inventory of approved datasets and assess access, coverage, definitions, geographic units, temporal alignment, missingness and comparability to establish a defensible analytical base.

Clean, harmonize, merge and document relevant ACVA, RRM, population, return, displacement and secondary datasets using reproducible workflows and clear metadata.

Develop and test indicators covering demographic pressure, service access, livelihoods, vulnerability and resilience and document definitions, assumptions, weighting and limitations.

Construct and sensitivity-test a district-level absorptive-capacity typology or related hotspot approach, ensuring that classifications remain transparent and interpretable.

Produce accurate analytical tables and charts and provide timely intermediate findings to the research specialist so that analysis and drafting proceed in parallel.

Prepare validated map-ready datasets, classes, legends, titles, caveats and detailed specifications for map production by the in-house GIS team.

Maintain a quality-control log, identify outliers and inconsistencies, and ensure that all outputs comply with IOM data protection, disclosure-control and information-security requirements.

Finalize the technical annex, scripts or documented workflows, metadata and analytical files and deliver a structured technical handover to IOM.

Expected Assignment Outputs:

Data inception package within 10 working days, including inventory, comparability assessment, variable matrix, proposed indicators, analytical plan and quality-control protocol.

Cleaned dataset, draft indicator framework and exploratory analysis by 20 October 2026.

Complete analytical package, typology, tables, charts, map specifications and draft technical annex by 20 November 2026.

Final reproducible data, code/workflows, metadata, quality-control log, technical annex and handover by 18 December 2026.

Required Qualifications and Experience:

Education: Master's degree or higher in statistics, economics, demography, data science, geography, public policy analytics, information management or a related field from an accredited academic institution with at least three years of relevant professional experience; or a university degree in the above fields with at least five years of relevant professional experience.

Experience: Experience in quantitative analysis, humanitarian information management, population analysis, development analytics or socioeconomic research. Demonstrated experience integrating datasets with differing geographic units, time periods, definitions and levels of completeness. Proven experience building or testing composite indicators, vulnerability or resilience measures, pressure indicators, typologies or hotspot analyses. Experience with humanitarian, migration, displacement, return, service-access or population datasets; DTM or comparable systems experience is strongly preferred. Familiarity with responsible and transparent use of advanced analytics or AI-assisted coding or analysis is desirable, including validation, documentation, human review and protection of sensitive data.

Skills: Advanced proficiency in R and/or Python and strong command of reproducible data workflows. Strong statistical judgement and quality-control skills, including assessment of missingness, outliers and comparability limitations. Ability to produce clear tables, charts, technical notes, metadata and map-ready datasets. Ability to explain complex analytical choices and findings to non-technical audiences.

Languages: Fluency in English is required (oral and written). Working knowledge of Dari, Pashto, or another relevant regional language is an advantage.

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