Individual Consultant for Research Assistants, GDP Rebasing

Business development - Consulting / Research - Data Management - Operations - Other - Record Keeping and Reporting Job Overview Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West and Central Africa ( HISWACA) Project Implementation Unit (PIU), C/o Gambia Bureau of Statistics, Kanifing Institutional Layout, Kanifing, The Gambia REQUEST FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST Country: The Gambia Project: Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West and Central Africa Grant No.: IDA E1750-GM Assignment Title: Recruitment of a individual consultant for Research Assistants, GDP Rebasing Exercise Duration of the Assignment: 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027 Duty station: As assigned by the National Accounts Unit, The Gambia Bureau of Statistics Reporting line: Principal Statistician, National Accounts Unit, or Director of Economic Statistics Background The National Accounts Unit (NAU) of The Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS) is undertaking the rebasing of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), updating the base year from 2013 to 2024 in accordance with the System of National Accounts 2008 (SNA 2008). The exercise is intended to enhance the accuracy, relevance, and comprehensiveness of national economic indicators by incorporating new data sources, applying updated methodologies, and reflecting recent structural changes in the economy. To support the exercise, the NAU will engage Research Assistants to collect data from selected establishments, institutions, households, and informal sector enterprises, as applicable, and to process the resulting information for GDP compilation. Their work will be essential to ensuring that the data used in the rebased GDP estimates are accurate, reliable, complete, and fit for purpose. Objective of the Assignment The principal objective of the assignment is to collect, process, and validate high-quality data required for the GDP rebasing exercise. The assignment will cover relevant economic activities and institutional units, including: Agriculture, industry, and services sectors; Public institutions, private sector entities, and non-governmental organizations; Households, where applicable, and informal sector enterprises; Processing and cleaning data for integration into the national accounts compilation system; and Ensuring compliance with established statistical, methodological, ethical, and quality-assurance standards throughout the exercise. Scope of Work Under the guidance of the National Accounts Unit, each Research Assistant will be responsible for the following duties: Accurately administering questionnaires and collecting relevant supporting documents, including financial statements; Conducting interviews with assigned enterprises, institutions, and households in accordance with approved procedures; Submitting weekly progress updates to the Head of the National Accounts Unit; Safeguarding the confidentiality of all information obtained and complying with applicable ethical and data-protection standards; Participating fully in on-the-job training and other technical orientation sessions organized by the NAU; Undertaking data validation, verification, and follow-up activities as instructed; Ensuring the consistency, accuracy, and completeness of all information collected; Entering, coding, processing, and validating data using designated software, including Excel and Stata; Identifying inconsistencies, omissions, and errors, and promptly flagging anomalies for review; Supporting the compilation, cleaning, and organization of datasets for analysis and integration into the GDP compilation framework; Assisting in the preparation of summary reports, field documentation, and other materials required by the NAU technical team; and Performing any other duties relevant to the compilation of national accounts, as may be assigned. Expected Deliverables Complete, accurate, and verified data from assigned respondents and data sources; Cleaned and validated datasets ready for compilation an…