UNDP Jobs - 49692- Re-advertisement - Geographic Information Systems

Re-advertisement - Geographic Information Systems Officer - ( Open to Syrian Nationals Only)

Location :

Damascus, SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC

Type of Contract :

Service Contract

Starting Date :

15-Oct-2014

Application Deadline :

20-Sep-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

SC-8

Duration of Initial Contract :

One year

Languages Required :

Arabic English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

One year

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Unrest in the Syrian Arab Republic has been on-going since March 2011 and has deteriorated ever since. The situation has recently worsened as the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance has increased many folds since March 2011 and is now estimated at over 9 million people (SHARP, 2014). Sixty-five per cent of the population or 13.9 million persons are living now in poverty, with 7.9 million people becoming poor since the beginning of the crisis, of which 4.4 million living in extreme poverty as households spent their savings and exhausted their coping strategies (SCPR, June 2013). Among the affected people, the number of IDPs has grown significantly and is now estimated at 6.5 million (SHARP 2014). Many families had to leave their homes and seek refuge in schools, public gardens, relatives’ houses or in surrounding countries because of violence but also scarcity of livelihoods, income, and access to basic services in their home towns and villages.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Early Recovery Specialist and direct supervision of the Information Management Specialist and in close coordination with UNDP thematic team leaders and the early recovery and livelihoods sector members, the Geographic Information Systems Officer will be responsible of the following:

Collect, clean, tabulate, analyse, and visualise data related to Early Recovery and Livelihood activities form UNDP different units/programmes and projects, UN agencies, NGOs, Government agencies, and other partners;
Create and maintain a network of professional GIS specialists to setup a forum of experts in order to facilitate sharing, exchange, and standardization for datasets, shape-files, symbols, templates, and GIS platforms used by different unites and projects of UNDP, UN agencies, NGOs, Government agencies, and other partners;
Provide technical support and advise other colleagues in both at programme/projects and Early Recovery and Livelihoods sector working group/cluster on geographic information solutions and tools;
Develop geographic information systems to facilitate statistical and spatial data collection, analysis and reports generation based on defined socio-economic indicators that could support informed decisions for adequate evidence based response planning;
Develop spatial components for different information systems, such as registration and preservation system of vital legal documents in times of crisis and ensure a safe access of all citizens to such identification cards and land and property registry documents;
Provide technical assistance and mapping support to other projects and initiatives working in areas related to Early recovery and Livelihood Programme, such as Capacity Building for Community Resilience, Early Recovery and Livelihood Coordination, Emergency support for Restoration of Disrupted Livelihood, etc …
Exploit available geographic information technologies, tools, platforms and systems, including GIS server, open-source solutions, GIS apps, to support the programme goals and objectives;
Ensures implementation and development of Geographic Information System strategies and standards and ensure data readiness through effective data display and visualization;
Maintain mapping products inventory, kiosk, and online catalogue and ensure maps recentness in both offline and online repositories;
Provide technical assistance to the Early Recovery and Livelihoods sector to improve data analysis, display and visualization;
Perform other duties as assigned by the supervisor.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning:

Shares knowledge and experience;
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;
Makes valuable practice contributions.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

Ability to perform a variety of standard specialized and non-specialized tasks and work processes that are fully documented, researched, recorded and reported;
Ability to perform work of confidential nature and handle a large volume of work;
Ability to provide input to business processes , implementation of new systems;
High analytical and synthetic skills.

Leadership and Self-Management:

Focuses on result for the beneficiary and responds positively to feedback;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
Embraces extra responsibility;
Contributes to team morale and consensus;
Excellent communication skills: writes and speaks clearly and convincingly;
Have good presentation skills;
Substantive and interpersonal networking capacity.

Technical Skills:

Strong knowledge of Excel and preferably MS Access or other databases;
Ability to present information in understandable tables charts and graphs;
Ability to maintain and manage website content for the sector;
Data storage and file management expertise;
Assessment, Survey, and Monitoring and Evaluation expertise;
Communications and technical writing using both graphic and narrative presentations;
Information Technology and networking skills;
Knowledge of ArcGIS or other mapping software an advantage;
Knowledge of Visual Basic/macros a plus.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Bachelor degree in civil engineering, Geography, GIS and/or equivalent that involves GIS and Remote sensing programmes.

Experience:

Six years of experience in GIS (ex. GIS system integration, geographic/terrain analysis, remote sensing, mapping, GPS, geo-spatial related information technology, etc.);
Knowledge and practical experience in: land use management, urban planning, and satellite imagery analysis is an asset;
Knowledge and practical experience of GIS software, such as ArcGIS (ArcInfo, ArcEditor, ArcView, and their extensions); as well as online mapping application programming interface, such Google and OSM APIs;
Experience in web design and programming;
Working experience with UN, donors, Government, or NGOs would be an asset.

Language Requirements:

Excellent command of Arabic and English.