Thematic Lead at Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD)

Thematic Lead -Water & Hydro-climatic Disasters Reporting to the Science & Data Lead, the Thematic Lead -Water & Hydro-climatic Disasters, will be required to provide technical leadership and coordination in all SERVIR-Eastern and Southern Africa (E&SA) work relating to water and water-climatic related disasters.

The position will leverage on the individual’s knowledge and expertise in hydrology and hydrological modelling, geo-spatial applications for decision making in water related disasters, and tools for water related early warning and resilience building, with an emphasis on major issues of interest at global, regional and national levels, and therefore contribute to SERVIR’s goal of developing services that respond to societal problems in this field.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership in this thematic area, to work effectively and come up with results as per SERVIR-E&SA’s Work Plan and the SERVIR Results Framework.
• Conceptualize problem areas through engagement of relevant stakeholders and formulation of appropriate services to respond to these problems within the scope of your expertise.
• Engage partner institutions in problem definition, proposal development, and execution of a project to achieve desired results within the thematic area. Partner institutions could be, but are not limited to SERVIR implementing partners, implementers of Applied Science Projects, etc.
• Develop work plans for the thematic section, in liaison with other Thematic Leads under SERVIR-E&SA. Contribute to the overall SERVIR-E&SA work planning process.
• Ensure timely delivery of results for assignments under the thematic area, and strictly adhere to reporting guidelines and deadlines for given assignments.
• Coordinate and work with different agencies and SERVIR partners (e.g. governments, non- governmental organizations, universities, research institutes etc) to derive products that are relevant to policy and/or operations.
• Lead and coordinate analysis of data and information, write articles for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Present the results of the thematic work effectively and communicate findings to diverse audiences, either at policy level, scientific forums, and/or community based organizations. Make timely reports (submissions of proposals, work plans, quarterly reports, annual reports and budgets) to the relevant line manager(s).
• Liaise with the SERVIR User Engagement Lead and M&E Officers to ensure that the outreach and monitoring and evaluation data and information from the thematic line are captured adequately.
• Liaise with the Capacity Development Lead to ensure capacity building activities under the theme are coordinated and delivered appropriately.
• Carry out other activities related to the job as may be assigned by the supervisor.

Qualifications

• A masters’ degree or higher in hydrology, hydrological engineering (or a related field), or an equivalent of 4 years’ experience with demonstrable outputs in the field of hydrology and hydrological modeling. A bias towards knowledge and skills in analysis of geo-spatial datasets in flood risk management and hydrological models would be an added advantage.
• Knowledge of major water related issues of interest at global, regional and national levels, with demonstrable capacity to engage peers in hydrology, hydrological engineering, water basin management, stream flow monitoring and management, flood monitoring using geo- spatial tools and related applications. The capacity to define problems in this sector, develop proposals, and execute projects to achieve desired results.
• Capacity to work with multi-agency and multi-national teams on problems relating to water resource use and related disasters, and to derive a product that is relevant to policy and or operations.
• Knowledge and capacity to analyze geo-spatial and non-spatial data and information and write articles for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Ability to present results effectively and communicate to diverse audiences, either at policy level, scientific forums, and/or community based organizations.
• Demonstrable ability to lead a team to work effectively on a defined problem and come up with results within a desired time-frame.