Director, Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific

Organizational Context

The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) promotes sustainable development and regional connectivity. The Statistical Institute for Asia and the Pacific (SIAP), a subsidiary body of ESCAP located in Japan, focuses on statistical training. SIAP's mission is to enhance the capability of developing countries in the region to collect, analyze, and disseminate high-quality statistics for economic and social development planning.

Job Purpose

The Director of SIAP provides strategic leadership for the Institute's statistical training and capacity development programs, ensuring alignment with the Governing Council's priorities and the needs of national statistical systems, particularly for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This role involves overseeing the Institute's administration, work program development, and implementation, including budget management, staffing, and performance evaluation. The Director advises on ESCAP's strategy for training and capacity building, coordinates work planning, and fosters collaboration within ESCAP and with external partners. The position also involves managing meetings, representing ESCAP, and maintaining relationships with host government authorities to advance technical cooperation and statistical development in the region.

Responsibilities

Lead and supervise the administration and work program development/implementation of SIAP, in consultation with ESCAP's Statistics Division and based on Governing Council decisions. Provide strategic leadership for statistical training and capacity development programs, ensuring they meet regional needs and SDG requirements. Offer policy advice on ESCAP's training strategy and capacity building for SDG implementation. Oversee annual and long-term work planning using results-based management principles. Manage programmatic and administrative tasks, including budgeting, reporting, staffing, and performance evaluation. Coordinate with the Statistics Division on the subprogramme's work. Collaborate with regional institutions and ESCAP divisions to integrate SIAP's work into the ESCAP strategic framework. Strengthen partnerships and initiate resource mobilization. Lead the organization of meetings on capacity development and training, facilitating collaboration among institutions. Serve as Secretary to the SIAP Governing Council, contributing to strategic discussions and preparing reports. Represent ESCAP in relevant meetings and facilitate south-south cooperation. Coordinate with the host government to expand technical cooperation.

Work Experience

A minimum of 15 years of progressive experience is required in leading and managing strategic planning and program implementation for data collection. This includes experience in analyzing, disseminating, and utilizing official statistical data, and in formulating/implementing capacity development programs with various training modalities. Experience in leading a sizable work unit is also required. Research and analysis in core official statistics areas, managing a national statistical office, and experience in the Asia-Pacific region are desirable.

Skills

Professionalism in official statistics, knowledge of emerging trends, expert knowledge in economic/social/environmental statistics relevant to SDGs, in-depth understanding of statistical capacity development in Asia-Pacific, ability to innovate and lead initiatives, strong research and technical writing skills, public engagement, adherence to UN regulations, teamwork, effective communication, leadership, and performance management.

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