Data and GIS Consultant at UN-Habitat

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary:

The main objective of this consultancy is to lead the design, development and implementation of an information management and GIS(IM/GIS) strategy for HAPSO/ABSG on Aba city structure/spatial plan project. Processing geospatial data from satellite imaging, aerial photography and remote sensors for the creation of a digital base map. Support the collection, storage, and analysis of additional data to better understand current needs for Aba city, and support design to fulfil those needs with the ability to pull together the vast amounts of information necessary to balance competing priorities and solve complicated problems.

Organisational Setting and Reporting

• The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Habitat, is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.
• The overall objective of this project is to support the preparation of Structure Plan for Aba City in Abia State, Nigeria as an overall framework for guiding the future growth and development of Aba City and environs as well as Abia State and the wider sub-region. The Structure Plan will be an important tool contributing to informed strategic decision-making and present a framework for further activities aiming to meet the urban challenges of the targeted areas.
• A team of experts will be recruited for the project under the coordination of Technical Adviser. The Technical team will comprise 10 theme consultants made up of Urban Planner, Transportation Planner, Infrastructure Planner, Economist, Data/GIS Consultant, Urban Management Expert/Urban Psychologist, Waste Management Expert, Quantity Surveyor, Gender Specialist and Youth Specialist. The team will work with one GIS expert.
• The Data/GIS Consultant will work under the overall guidance of the UN-Habitat Regional Office for Africa (ROAf), Nairobi, Kenya, the overall supervision of the Human Settlements Officer responsible for Nigeria, the immediate supervision of the Project Technical Adviser and the Coordination of the Habitat Programme Support Office (HAPSO), Abuja.
• The duty station shall be in Aba, Abia State and the incumbent, as a member of the Technical Team, will support the Abia State Government in implementation of this project working closely with relevant state ministries especially the Ministry of Lands and Survey, in collaboration with relevant UN-Habitat branches: Urban and Regional Planning Branch (Metropolitan Planning Unit, Urban Planning and Design Lab), Global Urban Observatory/Data and Statistics Unit, Urban Basic Services, and Urban Economy.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Within delegated authority and working in close collaboration with other thematic area Consultants, the Data/GIS Consultant will be responsible for the following duties:

• Lead the design, development and implementation of an information management and GIS (IM/GIS) strategy for HAPSO/ABSG on Aba city structure/spatial plan project.
• Provide guidance for acquisition of the most recent satellite imageries to establish base map for the Aba city, standardize and clean geospatial datasets.
• Coordinate the development of standard reporting and analytical products to support data- driven decision making in emergencies. More precisely: design, develop and implement data collection tools and reporting mechanisms to gather and share relevant information;
• Develop Enterprise GIS for the preparation of structure/spatial plan Aba city system using FOSS4g Stack and administer the online platform with PostgreSQL/PostGIS
• Undertake comprehensive survey of existing LU/LC patterns and ascertain trends and direction of the growth within Aba City by conducting change detection with QGIS & R
• Transportation planner in carrying out traffic transport surveys (road, rail and water) including public parking facilities to identify existing bottlenecks and opportunities that may affect or influence future demand and plan linkages that can solve the existing traffic congestion within the study area.
• In close collaboration with urban economist undertake survey of socio-economic activities and facilities such as school, healthcare, employment opportunities and other related variables for the present and future. Survey existing housing stock and building development patterns, land value and property rating with a view to determining the use, characteristics and intensity of development.
• Examine the extent of implementation of the short, medium and long-term infrastructural proposals of any existing plans vis-a-vis existing pattern of growth and development of the study area and its environs. Identify existing major activity centers, industrial areas and location of new centers including business districts,
• Establish the database for areas that are prone to flooding and proffer solution to curbing this incidence and its consequences. Identify water bodies and natural habitat within study area for the purpose of protection, preservation and adequate containment, consider contiguous settlements of the study area and integrate them into city/region map and develop an inventory of unique, historical, cultural and scenic areas for the purpose of conservation.
• Train and mentor counterparts in the development and construction of maps, relational geo- databases, spatial analysis, annotation, digitizing and editing in the using QGIS. Preparation of data to be processed with the GIS, on utilization of GPS, GNSS and other GIS tools;
• In liaison with the Technical Adviser and other thematic experts, provide GIS support for preparation of proposals for phasing of the Structure Plan implementation, notably the following:
  • Automated conversion of data, delineation of the project areas into basemaps at agreed scales for easy mapping, data collection and verification;
  • Input data collected from field into geo-database and adapt tools to join together different datasets, including GIS datasets, and create new information or investigate patterns
  • Production of corresponding land use, transportation and other thematic maps in line with proposals from Consultants; Conduct geospatial analysis on collected datasets; create maps, infographics, interactive graphical products and other cartographic products on a regular and ad-hoc basis; in response to consultants technical needs.
  • Develop the tools for loading/transferring data, including GIS data, between different systems; design and maintain the structures necessary for data storage.
  • Manipulate presentation of geographical information by creating programs to convert GIS information from one format to another.
  • Any other tasks that have to do with Map production towards effective completion of the project

Qualifications/special skills

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in urban planning, geography, regional planning, architecture, cartography, GIS, information management, engineering, geometrics, computer or earth sciences, or any other related field is required. Post graduate courses in geographic information systems (GIS) is desirable. A bachelor's degree with an additional two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the master's degree.
• At least 2 years experience at the national & international levels in GIS management, urban planning, informal settlement upgrade & land management, using different GIS tool is required.
• Experience of networking, project & programme management is desirable;
• Experience of conducting policy reviews & preparation of policy recommendations for decision makers is desirable;
• Demonstrable analytical, drafting, reporting & presentation experience is desirable;
• Experience of analyzing, summarizing & presenting large quantities of statistics on urban issues using relevant computer software is desirable;
• Experience in the coordination of multiple contributors to major reports is desirable;
• Experience in coordinating trainings, technical, fundraising and capacity building workshops is desirable;
• Experience in mobile app dev. and in applying GIS in a humanitarian context across UN partners, NGOs & local governments is desirable.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the position advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required.