Democratic Republic of the Congo: Project assistant

I. Context

Eradicating poverty is hampered by unreliable or non-existent data and the lack of skills and incentives to use it. The Global Partnership on Sustainable Development Data (GPSDD) addresses this challenge by improving the effective use of data, filling key data gaps, harmonizing data specifications and architectures, expanding data literacy and capacity, increasing openness and leverage of existing data and mobilizing political will and resources.

The GPSDD funded project “Building a Data Collaborative” in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Malawi, led by the Netherlands Red Cross, Malawi Red Cross and CartONG, aims at establishing a Data Collaborative, a semi-formal, long term collaboration, that brings volunteer & technical communities (VTCs) and in particular OpenStreetMap communities, humanitarian and development organizations together with National Statistics Offices, businesses, and other civil society organizations.

Founded in 2006, CartONG is a French non-governmental organization committed to furthering the use of geographic information tools to improve data gathering and analysis for emergency relief and development programs around the world.

II. Position

CartONG is in charge of implementing the project in DRC, in liaison with the local OpenStreetMap community. CartONG already has the skillset required in the team on both coordination/event planning and technical/implementation aspects, but lacks a local resource and network in DRC towards national and international actors. To support the project, CartONG will therefore hire a senior advisor in charge of guiding the project implementation locally, and a junior project coordinator in charge of helping with the implementation and logistics.

The project assistant will be co-supervised by the Project manager and the senior advisor. Administratively, he will be supported by the Admin Officer.

The position is planned to be based in Kinshasa with probably one deployment in the field.

III. Responsibilities

The project assistant will be in charge of the following tasks:

• Support the organization of the 1 to 3 workshops organized in Kinshasa, on logistical (venue, catering, planning, etc.), communication, and on the day coordination
• Support the organization of the field pilot: help identify field location, support contact with partners, co-organize and participate in implementation (logistics and if possible technical aspects), support the potential recruitment of field enumerators
• Contribute to the mapping of actors, identify and contact key stakeholders/contacts
• Meeting stakeholders on behalf of the project for the planning of workshops, field pilot, and general promotion of the project
• Contact & meet official stakeholders for identifying datasets and their owner, and discuss their potential opening
• Support the OpenStreetMap DRC community on importing & using the data acquired through the project
• Support the writing of communication products and reports on the project, as requested and depending on time left
• Any other local networking/organization task required for the project and feasible

IV. Work schedule and contract

The project assistant will work a planned total of 30 to 50 days (6 to 10 weeks) from February to October 2018. This schedule will be concentrated around the workshops (expected 1 full week of work before and during the event) and field pilot (expected 1 to 3 full weeks of work before and during the mission). The schedule will be defined collaboratively with the consultant, taking into account that this is a part-time position and trying to fit both his constraints and the project requirements.

CartONG not being registered in DRC, we plan to hire a consultant or to contract via an organization. Please do not apply if you don't fit these requirements.

V. Skills & experience

V.1. Required

• Good knowledge of the DRC humanitarian actors and organizations, as well as the GIS & Information Management sector and institutions
• Excellent communication skills in French. Other national languages (Lingala, Swahili…) would be an asset.
• Good writing skills in French and English
• Knowledge of humanitarian GIS & IM tools and datasets
• Knowledge of the local OpenStreetMap community
• Interest for open data and data sharing

V.2. An asset

• Mobile data collection tools, in particular ODK
• Contribution and validation of data in OpenStreetMap (JOSM), and basis in GIS (QGIS)
• Experience in event planning
• Experience in delivering trainings

Send your CV and cover letter to m_noblecourt[at]cartong.org.

Interviews for applicants will be conducted in Kinshasa on February 2-3-4 (only).

Please note that given the particular nature of the project, CartONG reserves the right to not hire anyone if no suitable candidate apply.