Launched in 2019, Giga is a joint initiative by UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) that aims to connect every school in the world to the Internet and every young person to information, opportunity, and choice.
Half of the world’s population still lacks regular Internet access. Millions of children complete school without digital skills, widening the digital divide between the connected and the unconnected—a divide made even starker during the COVID-19 pandemic. Giga seeks to address this inequality by mapping schools, measuring connectivity, and supporting governments and partners to deliver affordable and sustainable Internet access.
To date, Giga has mapped over 2.1 million schools across 140 countries, supported 40+ national governments, and contributed to connecting more than 20,000 schools globally.
The role will be based in Barcelona, Spain, as part of the Giga Barcelona Tech Centre. The consultant’s on-site presence facilitates collaboration, engagement with local partners, and participation in key events.
Under the supervision of the Data & Product Lead, Senior Data Analyst will lead Giga’s data analytics, governance, and open-source data workstreams. The Senior Data Analyst will develop data strategies, manage data pipelines and quality frameworks, coordinate with technical partners, and provide strategic insights to guide Giga’s mission to connect every school to the Internet.
Key Responsibilities:
Data Strategy: Develop and implement Giga’s comprehensive data strategy, defining the vision for data-driven decision-making and analytics innovation.
Open-Source Data Management: Design and execute a plan to open-source Giga’s school geo-location and connectivity datasets, ensuring compliance with data quality and licensing standards.
Data Governance & Quality: Establish and oversee data governance best practices, including data documentation, metadata management, and quality assurance processes using tools such as Datahub, Deltalake, and Great Expectations.
Data Integration & Pipelines: Collaborate with engineers to design, maintain, and optimize robust, scalable, and automated data pipelines ensuring the integrity and timeliness of analytics outputs.
Product Analytics: Build and manage analytics frameworks and dashboards (e.g., in Superset, Grafana, Mixpanel) for Giga’s digital products (such as Giga Maps and Giga Meter) to monitor adoption, performance, and impact.
Network Data Partnerships: Act as a technical lead for data partnerships with Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and network partners, defining requirements and overseeing data integration with Giga’s monitoring systems.
Advanced Analytics & Insights: Develop automated reports, visualizations, and analytical stories to provide actionable insights for internal teams, partners, and the public.
Stakeholder Engagement: Represent Giga’s data initiatives to governments, private sector partners, and open-source communities, organizing data workshops and capacity-building sessions.
Open Data Community Building: Work alongside the open-source community manager to engage contributors, manage data repositories, and drive community participation.
Knowledge Sharing: Contribute to analytical blog posts, internal documentation, and communication materials to disseminate insights and best practices.
3. Monitoring and Progress Controls
Item
Outputs/Deliverables
Month/Year
1
Comprehensive data strategy for Giga developed, documented, and implemented, outlining vision, priorities, and roadmap for data-driven decision-making.
Plan for open-sourcing Giga’s school geo-location and connectivity datasets, ensuring compliance with licensing and data quality and licensing standards.
Ongoing
2
Data governance framework established and maintained, including documentation, metadata management, and quality assurance using tools such as Datahub, Deltalake, and Great Expectations
Ongoing
3
Robust and automated data pipelines designed, maintained, and optimized in collaboration with engineers, ensuring data integrity and timeliness
Ongoing
4
Product analytics dashboards (e.g., Superset, Grafana, Mixpanel) developed and maintained to monitor adoption, performance, and impact of Giga’s digital products
Automated reports, visualizations, and analytical outputs produced to provide actionable insights for internal and external stakeholders
Ongoing
5
Data partnerships with ISPs and network partners managed, with integration requirements defined and data flows established within Giga’s monitoring systems
Data-sharing requirements defined and implementation progress tracked
Ongoing
6
Engagement with governments, private sector partners, and open-source communities maintained through data workshops, capacity-building sessions, and community collaboration
Ongoing
7
Contributions made to blog posts, documentation, and other materials to share findings and promote open data participation.
Ongoing
