Data scientist-GIS expert

Details

Mission and objectives

With its partners, OCHA contributes to principled and effective humanitarian response through coordination, advocacy, policy, information management and humanitarian financing tools and services. OCHA’s country and regional offices are responsible for delivering the core functions in the field by leveraging functional expertise throughout the organization.

Context

UNOCHA is part of the United Nations Secretariat and has offices at country, regional, and headquarters level. ROWCA is a regional office based in Dakar, Senegal since November 2003 and covers 24 countries: the 15 ECOWAS member states and Mauritania, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Republic of Congo, DRC, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe.
More information on UNOCHA ROWCA can be found at www.unocha.org/ROWCA.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) through its Regional Office for West and Central Africa (ROWCA) promotes early warning and emergency response preparedness and works towards strengthening national capacities in the region and that of members of the international humanitarian community to respond to disasters quickly and in a coordinated fashion.
ROWCA covers a region highly susceptible to natural and man-made disasters. In the past, flash floods, civil conflicts, and drought have often overwhelmed the affected Governments, paving the way for the international community to assist. Climate change, global food and energy price spikes, and national and ethnic tensions are additional risks that affect vulnerable communities.
The main goal of ROWCA’s strategy is to promote a more enabling environment for humanitarian action in West and Central Africa and a more effective coordination system through public information, partnerships, donor and media outreach. ROWCA improves levels of preparedness through early warning and contingency planning, ensuring the inclusion of all relevant key partners. ROWCA makes sure that Governments, civil society (including volunteers and/or volunteer organizations) and international actors are well prepared, so that in the face of slow- or sudden-onset emergencies, the entire humanitarian community joins efforts to assist affected populations. In slow- or sudden-onset disasters or crises, ROWCA provides specialized support to country offices and partners within its areas of expertise, including surge teams, emergency response coordination, information management, advocacy and resource mobilization.

Task description

Within the delegated authority and under the direct supervision of the Head of the Information Management Unit or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UN Volunteer Information Management Officer will:
• Participate in the collection and processing of data of humanitarian interest and their integration into the geo-spatial databases of the coverage area of the OCHA Regional Office (West and Central Africa)
• Provide guidance, Support and implementation of new developments on Artificial Intelligence tools to be piloted in Humanitarian settings
• Participate in the daily routines of the Geographics information system (GIS) Team and provide support to maps , databased and layer production and updates. A strong knowledge of GIS and ESRI Suite is needed . R mapping component is very much desirable.
• Support the technical programing development and maintenance of an integrated Regional Humanitarian Database complementing other team members tasks
• Prepare thematic maps as well as reference maps of the countries covered by the regional office. Compile and make available to partners through the interagency website the humanitarian interest maps produced by OCHA country offices as well as by other organizations.
• Participate in the development and finalization of Geographic Information Systems projects defined by the office.
• Work closely with the other members of the information management unit and the office for the creation and analysis of cartographic products as well as pilot project in relation to new information management tools and techniques
• Design, develop and manage databases, spreadsheets and other data tools; understand, document, and ensure the quality of high-value humanitarian data for accuracy, consistency and comparability; consolidate operational information on a regular schedule to support analysis.
• Organize, design and carry out the evaluation and analysis of location-specific datasets through meaningful statistical techniques.
• Ensure the quality of high-value humanitarian data for accuracy, consistency and comparability.
• Produce and update information products such as reports, charts and infographics by turning data into graphical products to convey messages and a storyline; develop advocacy materials including posters, presentations and other visual materials (using tools such as. R Power BI, InDesign. Illustrator)
• Support on streamlining of analysis of Field collected data with state of the art tools (Data cleaning, data processing and data processing) through automatic or semiautomatic routines specially R and Python Scripts. A Strong knowledge of automatic and semiautomatic tools and scripts for data cleaning is desirable.
• Encourages, mobilizes and supports co-workers, fellow UN Volunteers and local communities to play an active part in the development of emergency response tools and strategies on a voluntary basis; Initiates / participates in local volunteer groups, including assisting them in submitting stories and experiences to the World Volunteer Web site.
• Discusses with the supervisor on how volunteerism for the development of emergency preparedness and response tools and mechanisms can be mainstreamed throughout the assignment and aims to integrate relevant activities into work plans.
• Participate on time sensitive emergency operation support (remote support to field deployed staff) in terms of map and visual production as well as data cleaning and harmonization.
• Performs other duties as required.