National GIS, Data and Information Management Specialist

Organizational Setting

The FAO Subregional Office for the Pacific Islands (SAP) was established in 1996 in Samoa to coordinate the FAO work in 13 member countries in the Pacific subregion - Cook Islands, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and one Associate Member, Tokelau. SAP is responsible for developing, implementing and overseeing programmes and projects to address food security, nutrition, agriculture, and rural development priorities. It develops and maintains relations with subregion wide institutions and entities. The Subregional Office is a subsidiary of FAO’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) in Bangkok.

The main aim of the FAO country offices, which are headed by an FAO Representative, is to assist governments to develop policies, programmes and projects to achieve food security and to reduce hunger and malnutrition, to help develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, and to use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner. 

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) has approved the “Integrated Agro-ecosystem approach for enhancing Livelihoods and Climate Resilience in Tuvalu” with GEF total budget of USD 2.64 million and total co-financing of USD 6.6 million. This project will be implemented by FAO in partnership with the Government of Tuvalu, executed and coordinated by the Ministry of Natural Resources, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Climate Change and Environment, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.  

The main objective of this project is to reverse land degradation, enhance local livelihoods and increase climate resilience through integrated agro-ecosystem (IAE) approach in all the islands of Tuvalu. The IAE approach emphasises a systems approach to local food production to reduce land degradation and improve the health of agro-ecosystems while ensuring socioeconomic benefits. This overall Objective will be achieved by: 
•    Strengthening enabling framework for implementation of integrated agro-ecosystem approach (Component 1). 
•    Implementing integrated agro-ecosystem approach in all the islands (Component 2). 
•    Ensuring project implementation is supported by an M&E strategy based on measurable and verifiable outcomes and adaptive management principles (Component 3). 

FAO in partnership with the Government of Tuvalu will set up a Project Management Unit within MLGA and will recruit a Project team, international and national constants (long and short term appointments) to co-ordinate and support project implementation. The GIS, Data & Information Management Specialist, will be recruited as key members of the PMU, to manage spatial (GIS) database and maps for monitoring land cover, land use changes, land productivity (Net Primary Productivity) and Soil Carbon Stock (SOC), spatial mapping of customary land tenure (Solutions for Open Land Administration (SOLA) & Open Tenure (OT)). for the Consultant will also contribute to the project M&E system design and implementation.   

Reporting Lines

The National GIS, Data & Information Management Specialist will work under the overall guidance of the FAO Subregional Coordinator (SRC) for the Pacific and the Lead Technical Officer (LTO), as well as working closely with the Land Tenure Specialists (FAO HQ), the Solutions for Land Administration System (SOLA) and Open Tenure (OT) Software Specialist, with direct supervision of the National Programme Director (NPD) and the National Programme Coordinator (NPC).

Technical Focus

The technical focus will be on the management of spatial (GIS) database and maps for monitoring land cover, land use and land use changes, land productivity (Net Primary Productivity) and Soil Carbon Stock (SOC), as well as spatial mapping of land tenure. The incumbent is expected to have expertise in Geospatial Information Management (GIM), including GIS, for capturing, storage, analysis, maintenance, and use of geospatial data to inform the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) target setting process and the land administration digitization.

Tasks and responsibilities

•    Act as the focal point to build local capacities to assess and monitor Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Indicators through the use of remote sensing (e.g. Collect Earth, Google Earth);
•    Contribute to the validation and ground-truthing of a Geospatial Information Management (GIM) system, including GIS database and maps for monitoring land cover, land use changes, land productivity (Net Primary Productivity) and Soil Carbon Stock (SOC);
•    Assist the National Technical Support Programme for Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) in the analysis of spatial data relevant to the LDN indicators, particularly those on land cover, land use changes, land productivity (Net Primary Productivity) and Soil Carbon Stock (SOC);
•    Support the customization of the FAO open-source software called Solutions for Open Land Administration (SOLA) and Open Tenure (OT) for community data collection and mapping of customary land tenure and land use (agro-ecosystem data;
•    Support the application of the open-source community mapping tool (SOLA/OT) for crowd-sourcing and recording of customary land and submerged land  tenure and land use (agro-ecosystem) data;
•    Support the definition of the content of a training on SOLA/OT app and customization of SOA/OT Manuals, and ensure of an easy-to-use mobile data collection application that permits to capture data in the field (with no internet connection) by registered users;
•    Facilitate the application of the open-source community mapping tool (SOLA/OT) for crowd-sourcing and recording of customary land tenure and land use (agro-ecosystem) data;
•    Coordinate with key stakeholders and ensures clarity and understanding that the SOLA/OT recordings of land users is an ‘informal’ system, aligned with, but not a replacement of, the ‘formal/legal’ land registry native lands established under the provisions of the Native Lands Commission Act
•    Operationalize data collection on customary land tenure, land use and agro-ecosystem data to populate the SOLA database and monitor land use changes;
•    Populate the SOLA database with data of geo-referenced boundaries of land parcels tagged to land user (household, communal, or public) together with land use and agricultural ecosystem data within those boundaries;
•    Contribute to the collection of spatial geo-referenced data recordings of land user rights and land use for approval by the 8 Island SOLA/OT Land Tenure Committees in databases covering 100% of the country land area of 26km2 (2,600 ha);
•    Seek alignment with the formally recognized land tenure based on the data collected, in order to improve land tenure security on the islands and help address the drivers of land degradation;
•    Provide inputs to the organization and delivering of a Land Administration Digitization - SOLA/OT Workshop for training Island SOLA/OT Land Tenure Committee on the app and build the capacity to approve SOLA/OT land user rights and land use recordings;
•    Support the design a georeferenced database of tree inventory data and map of spatial distribution of tree resources in the eight islands of Tuvalu.
•    Contribute to the design and implementation of the project M&E system; 
•    Contribute to M&E and reporting to the GEF by defining Geospatial Information Management (GIM), including GIS, displays and interactive maps that will enable different users access to layers of information and produce tailored reports to track progress towards the achievement of project outcomes and objectives.
•    Perform any other duties deemed necessary for the successful execution of the project.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements    

•    Bachelor’s degree in Geographic Information System (GIS), Computer Science, or a related field or relevant experience. 
•    At least 5 years of progressive working experience in information management and/or
•    At least 5 years of experience in designing and building linked databases and/or
•    At least 5 years of well-rounded experience in GIS in natural resources management.
•    Working knowledge of English and national language.
•    National of Tuvalu.

FAO Core Competencies

•    Results Focus
•    Teamwork
•    Communication
•    Building Effective Relationships
•    Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

•    Experience in working across Government Departments;
•    Computer literacy required; 
•    Knowledge of the UN system and procedures preferred; 
•    Efficiency, competence and integrity as well as negotiating skills, tact and diplomacy are essential. 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION