Mercy Corps
Position Title: Geospatial Officer
Requisition Number: GEOSP003068
Full-Time
Location: Wajir, Kenya
About Mercy Corps
Mercy Corps is powered by the belief that a better world is possible.
To do this, we know our teams do their best work when they are diverse and every team member feels that they belong.
We welcome diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be stronger and have long term impact.
Mercy Corps Kenya
Mercy Corps has been working in Kenya since 2008, partnering with Kenyan communities to drive peace and development.
Last year, our programs reached over 905,000 people across the country in the areas of strengthening governance, empowering young people, promoting peace and stability, and supporting resilient livelihoods.
The ASAL Adapts program aims to strengthen ecosystem health in Wajir and Garissa counties by enhancing the uptake and use of digital information services and tools among county governments and other key stakeholders in the rangeland management decision-making chain.
This approach is highly participatory and guides decision-makers to think more broadly about the relationship between natural resources and the productivity of their livestock.
The Position
The Geospatial Officer, working under the ASAL Adapts Geospatial Advisor, is responsible for providing geospatial technical support and capacity building on insights generated from geospatial technologies with county governments in Wajir and Garissa.
The duties of the Geospatial Officer include daily management and implementation of technical activities including data collection and cleaning, tool development, and creation of digital maps.
The Geospatial Officer will also ensure appropriate technical systems and support mechanisms are in place to track, analyze, and report on results.
They are responsible for maintaining partnerships with local governments in Wajir and Garissa counties, translating geospatial analyses to ward development committees, and working closely with the Geospatial Advisor and Natural Resource Managers to prioritize land management activities in consultation with ward development committees.
The Geospatial Officer will also have the opportunity to participate in Mercy Corps’ wider GIS Working Group with colleagues around the world.
Essential Responsibilities
GEOSPATIAL ANALYSIS & DEVELOPMENT (50%)
- Use a range of available geospatial tools (GPS, remote sensing, geofencing, etc.) to map the locations of assets such as vegetation, soil water content, underground water availability, population density, and county infrastructure like health facilities, schools, roads, etc.
- Digitize paper maps on land ownership and access rights.
- Support the County staff to maintain and update existing GIS databases with additional information, other datasets as required, and as new data is collected.
- Support County staff to manipulate, analyze and present geographical information by joining different types of GIS data and create new information in order to investigate patterns and create informative dash boards for the County executive.
- Consider gender, youth, and people with disabilities in land use analysis and planning.
LAND USE EXPERTISE (20%)
- Work with Geospatial Advisor in collaboration with county government and ward development committees to make decisions about natural resource management.
- Apply a sustainability lens to land and water use decisions, balancing the need for livelihood activities and long term landscape ecology.
COMMUNICATION AND RELATIONSHIP BUILDING (20%)
- Be able to communicate learnings from geospatial analyses using written, oral, and visual tools to less technical audiences, including ward development committees.
- Work collaboratively with county government and ward development committees to build buy in for geospatial technology.
INFLUENCE, REPRESENTATION & FUNDING (10%)
- Works with Geospatial Advisor to support future geospatial funding proposals or geospatial elements of other proposals in Northeastern Kenya.
- Collaborates with Technology for Development (T4D) to communicate results and learnings on the use of geospatial technology for climate change adaptation.
Supervisory Responsibility
Direct Reports: None
Accountability
Reports Directly To: ASAL Adapts Geospatial Advisor
Works Directly With: ASAL Adapts program team, Kenya MEL team, county governments and Ward Development Committees in Wajir and Garissa, Technology for Development team.
Accountability to Participants and Stakeholders
Mercy Corps team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our program participants, community partners, other stakeholders, and to international standards guiding international relief and development work.
We are committed to actively engaging communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.
Minimum Qualification & Transferable Skills
- Master’s degree or bachelor’s with 3-5 years experience in geospatial technologies, information science, quantitative analysis, statistics, or natural resource management OR 6-8 years technical experience without a degree.
- Must have demonstrated experience working with geospatial data, software (QGIS or ArcGIS), and methods including experience with raster datasets and remote sensing analysis.
- Background in land use planning, natural resource management, rangeland ecology, or water resources highly preferred.
- Demonstrated experience in training/capacity-building and in fostering collaborative relationships with data users and other stakeholders is preferred.
- Ability to work effectively with geographically dispersed teams.
- Excellent oral and written English skills required; proficiency in Swahili and/or Somali preferred.
- Attention to detail.
- Ability to work with a team and independently.
It is not required, but we encourage you to share a small portfolio of geospatial work products with your application to get a sense of your skills and experience.
This could be web based or through attachments to your application.
Success Factors
The Geospatial Officer is expected to be a strong communicator who can effectively work with stakeholders from a variety of technical and non-technical backgrounds including county government, ward development committees, and community members.
They do not hesitate to seek clarification and assistance when needed.
They are curious about other people’s ideas and perspectives and are willing to share their own.
They welcome and proactively seek feedback and are interested in exploring alternative paths to solving a problem.
Living Conditions / Environmental Conditions
The position is based in Wajir, Kenya and it requires up to 30% travel to Garissa to support the program.
Ongoing Learning
In support of our belief that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities we serve, we empower all team members to dedicate 5% of their time to learning activities that further their personal and/or professional growth and development
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Achieving our mission begins with how we build our team and work together.
Through our commitment to enriching our organization with people of different origins, beliefs, backgrounds, and ways of thinking, we are better able to leverage the collective power of our teams and solve the world’s most complex challenges.
We strive for a culture of trust and respect, where everyone contributes their perspectives and authentic selves, reaches their potential as individuals and teams, and collaborates to do the best work of their lives.
We recognize that diversity and inclusion is a journey, and we are committed to learning, listening and evolving to become more diverse, equitable and inclusive than we are today.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Mercy Corps is an equal opportunity employer that does not tolerate discrimination on any basis. We actively seek out diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and skills so that we can be collectively stronger and have sustained global impact.
We are committed to providing an environment of respect and psychological safety where equal employment opportunities are available to all.
We do not engage in or tolerate discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender identity, gender expression, religion, age, sexual orientation, national or ethnic origin, disability (including HIV/AIDS status), marital status, military veteran status or any other protected group in the locations where we work.
Safeguarding & Ethics
Mercy Corps is committed to ensuring that all individuals we come into contact with through our work, whether team members, community members, program participants or others, are treated with respect and dignity.
We are committed to the core principles regarding prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse laid out by the UN Secretary General and IASC and have signed on to the Interagency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.
We will not tolerate child abuse, sexual exploitation, abuse, or harassment by or of our team members.
As part of our commitment to a safe and inclusive work environment, team members are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, respect local laws and customs, and to adhere to Mercy Corps Code of Conduct Policies and values at all times.
Team members are required to complete mandatory Code of Conduct elearning courses upon hire and on an annual basis.
How to Apply
CLICK HERE to apply online.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.
Mercy Corps does not charge any fees at any stage of the recruitment process.