Data Gathering and Visualization on International Trade in Pacific

Details

Mission and objectives

Morobe Development Foundation Inc. is a leading Internationally recognised NGO based in Lae Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea who has the vision to help young people reach their full potential by utilizing their hidden talents in community development initiatives so they can realize their potential and become a role model in the community.
MDF was established to address a broader and more diverse range of objectives and work through the use of dance, music and drama, MDF’s primary aim is to ensure that women participate equally in decision making in any project undertaken, including projects related to Ending Violence against Women, and promoting Human Rights with a aim to support the Government and UN their Development Goals.
MDF, in collaboration with Online Volunteers engaged through the UNV’s Unified Volunteer Platform (UVP), has also undertaken various scientific research studies related to the environment – forest cover loss, land use land cover change, the influence of various parameters on surface waters, and coastal shoreline turtle habitat loss. These projects included the participation of various experts and researchers from diverse fields across various countries across the globe – ranging from marine biology, biodiversity conservation, PNG community management, remote sensing, and land use policy among various others.
MDF is managed by a management committee, which is made up of the Chairman, the Deputy Chairman, Secretary, the Treasurer, the Project Coordinator, Community Development Officer, and a male and female member of the foundation, and ensures that women participate equally in decision making.
We at MDF assert that we have the required skill sets, knowledge, established international network, and the necessary foundational work to undertake projects successfully.

Context

The relatively limited resources of the Pacific island countries make country-to-country trade links an important channel for meeting supplies and promoting geographic development. As a PNG-based NGO, MDF is committed to promoting community development; however, we also need to focus on geographic economic development.
To that end, MDF is conducting research on the topic of economic development in Pacific Island countries. The objective of the research is to attain results that can be used as support material for MDF research on the said topic, which will form part of our research report. This research is relevant to MDF’s current projects and mission goals which are to support and develop local and urban communities and in this regard to support and help meet the UN SDG, specifically goal no. 8.
Thus, we are seeking to collaborate with Online Volunteers through this virtual assignment. The task involves combining publicly available resources from academic and government websites, analysing the lack of material resources and the abundance of resources in each country based on the industrial chain of PNG and other Pacific Island countries, and organising them into a visual table for our reference.

Task description

To that end, we are seeking the support of online volunteers, specifically to support the following tasks:
– First volunteer to collect resource information and data on Pacific island countries online around the topic of international trade. The volunteer will nee to use the collection and then categorise them by subject. This data is relevant to the economic development and trade flows of Pacific Island countries and is best presented with visualisations in the references.
– Second volunteer to combine the information into a visualisation table. That is, based on the tasks completed by the first volunteer, the qualitative and quantitative information collected is made into a visualisation table or graphic.
– Third and fourth volunteers will be assigned to review and add or revise relevant information and data.