Head of Energy Information System and Statistics Division at the African Union (AU)

The African Union (AU) is a continental body consisting of the 55 member states that make up the countries of the African Continent. It was officially launched in 2002 as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU, 1963-1999).  We are an Integrated, Prosperous and Peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Head of Energy Information System and Statistics Division

Requisition ID: 1169
Location: Algiers, Algeria
Reports to: Executive Director
Directorate / Department :African Energy Commission (AFREC)
Division: Energy Information System and Statistics
Number of Direct Reports: 1
Job Grade: P5
Contract Type: Regular

Purpose of Job

• Responsible for the overall supervision and management of the Division as well as the design of strategies and policies relevant to the Division and engagement of relevant stakeholders.

Main Functions

• Supervise and manage the employees of the division with regard to organisation and performance evaluation;
• Design strategies and policies consistent with the Commission’s goal in order to address the pertinent issues in the relevant area;
• Contribute to the development of the Commission business continuity plan and ensure implementation at division level;
• Design and plan policy programs to achieve the strategies;
• Develop new and expand on existing activities as components of the Commission’s strategies and policies;
• Address problems in arising to current approaches to relevant area and ensure relent risk management and mitigation plan and apply whenever necessary;
• Engage stakeholders within Members States and RECs in designing and implementing energy policies and strategies;
• Represent the Commission at meetings, workshops and conferences, and promote the AFREC’s positions on African Energy sector and its development;
• Engage with relevant stakeholders, development partners and donors to mobilize technical and financial support execute planned policies, strategies and activities;
• Contribute to the preparation of periodic financial and budget execution reports and monitor budget execution at division level.

Specific Responsibilities

• Take the lead to develop and implement AFREC’s programmes for energy statistics, including statistical analysis and methodological work by providing both technical and managerial supervision for all activities and staff;
• Initiative and supervise continuous improvements of AFREC’s programmes on energy statistics and on the Energy Information System in close coordination with African Member States, RECS and Pan African Institutions;
• Coordinate activities of energy data collection, validation, management and dissemination in coordination with African Member States, RECS and Pan African Institutions;
• Coordinate technical work and provide guidance on concepts, methods, classifications, best practices in such statistical domains such as but not limited to: energy balance, energy efficiency indictors for end uses (residential, industrial, transport, services, etc), energy prices and taxes, CO2 emissions, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).
• Design strategies for developing and improving the   Energy Statistics in Member States, including their energy information System, that are that is consistent with the Commission’s overall mission, goals, and objectives;
• Provide technical support and professional advisory services to statistician appointed by the African Energy Ministers at national level with the aim that they lead their respective National Energy Information System and implementation of the capacity building initiatives and promote increased availability of official energy statistics while assuring the timely identification of gaps and assisting in filling the gaps.
• Effectively seek to resolve address problems arising from the current approaches to Energy Information System and Energy Statistics formulation practices in the continent.
• Plan and implement comprehensive and continuous capacity building activities to African experts on energy statistics through workshops, seminars, coaching and mentoring, and implement continuous improvements;
• Promote the implementation of the strategy for the harmonization of statistics in Africa(SHASA), the Africa Charter on Statistics and other regional strategies and principles, as well as agreed upon quality assurance standards for energy statistics across Africa;
• Initiate, build and maintain partnership with regional and international institutions which includes fund mobilization, developing and implementing regional joint programmes and activities for improving the African energy statistics. This includes discussion and joint work on global harmonization of energy statistics definitions and methodologies as well as exchange of data and information as it seems necessary;
• Prepare statistics publications for dissemination for Member States, Pan African institutions, investors, academia and international arena, and review the energy data for consistency, accuracy and reliability in AFREC’s reports and publications;
• Update and further develop the statistics of AFREC website in order to increase the visibility of AFREC in term of African energy statistics and to make AFREC the reference for energy data and indicators for both Africa and worldwide user;
• Represent AFREC at workshops, conferences, meetings and seminars pertaining to energy statistics and provide guidance on energy statistical issues related with AFREC’s work on the African Energy Information System;
• Advise the Executive Director on trends and developments in the African energy sector and recommends appropriate courses of action.

Academic Requirements and Relevant Experience

• A University Master’s Degree in Statistics, Economics, Energy with a robust knowledge of Energy Statistics and Computer Sciences area with twelve (12) years of relevant progressive work experience of which seven (7) years should have been at managerial level and four (4) years at supervisory level.

Or

• A University Bachelor’s Degree in Statistics,Economics, Energy  with a robust knowledge of Energy Statistics and Computer Sciences area with a minimum of fourteen (14) years of relevant progressive work experience of which seven (7) years should have been at managerial level and four (4) years at supervisory level.

Required Skills:

• A demonstrated ability to initiate and promote collaborative approaches between geographically and culturally disparate partners;
• Ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations both internally and externally;
• Ability to develop and delegate clear program goals, plans and actions, including budgets, that are consistent with agreed strategies;
• Ability to effectively lead, supervise, mentor, develop and evaluate staff;
• Proficiency in one of the AU official working languages (French, English, Portuguese, Arabic) and  fluency in another AU language(s) is an added advantage.

Leadership Competencies:

• Strategic Perspective
• Developing Others
• Change Management
• Managing Risk.

Core Competencies:

• Building Relationships
• Communicating with impact.

Functional Competencies:

• Drive for Results
• Continuous improvement focus.
• Analytical thinking and problem solving.
• Job Knowledge Sharing.

Languages:

• Proficiency in one of the AU working languages (Arabic, English, French, Portuguese, Swahill and Spanish) and fluency in another AU language is an added advantage.

Tenure of Appointment

• The appointment will be made on a regular term contract for a period of three (3) years, of which the first twelve months shall be considered as a probationary period. Thereafter, the contract will be for a period of two years renewable, subject to satisfactory performance and deliverables.

Remuneration
Indicative basic salary of US$ 50,746.00 (P5 Step1) per annum plus other related entitlements e.g. Post adjustment (48% of basic salary), Housing allowance US$  23,544.00  (per annum), and education allowance (100% of tuition and other education-related expenses for every eligible dependent up to a maximum of US$ 10,000.00 per child per annum), for internationally recruited staff and a maximum of $3,300 per child per annum for locally recruited staff.

Application Closing Date
27th June, 2022.