Data Officer : Global Emergency Unit

BACKGROUND ON IMPACT AND REACH

REACH was born in 2010 as a joint initiative of two International NGOs (IMPACT Initiatives and ACTED) and the United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). REACH’s purpose is to promote and facilitate the development of information products that enhance the humanitarian community’s decision making and planning capacity for emergency, reconstruction and development contexts. REACH facilitates information management for aid actors through three complementary services: (a) need and situation assessments facilitated by REACH teams; (b) situation analysis using satellite imagery; (c) provision of related database and (web)-mapping facilities and expertise.

IMPACT Initiatives is a humanitarian NGO, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The organisation manages several initiatives, including the REACH Initiative. The IMPACT team comprises specialists in data collection, management and analysis and GIS. IMPACT was launched at the initiative of ACTED, an international NGO whose headquarter is based in Paris and is present in thirty countries. The two organizations have a strong complementarity formalized in a global partnership, enabling IMPACT to benefit from ACTED’s operational support on its fields of intervention.

We are currently looking for a Data Officer to join our Global Emergencies Unit in Geneva, Switzerland.

• Position: GEU Data Officer
• Department: Global Programmes
• Supervisor: GEU R&D lead
• Start date: ASAP
• Duration: Open-ended
• Location: Geneva, Switzerland

Overview

The Global Emergency Unit (GEU) seeks to establish systems to track, monitor, and advocate around the worst-off humanitarian crises, in order to inform emergency prioritisation at the global and national level. The newly established GEU will lead the strategic development and implementation of REACH emergency programmes, including Humanitarian Situation Monitoring (HSM), responding to sudden onset disasters, monitoring risk of excess mortality, as well as launching new global programmes, such as the global alert system. The unit plays a critical voice within the organisation, and externally among humanitarian stakeholders, to raise alarm in case of anticipated or occurring catastrophic outcomes in both protracted and sudden onset emergencies. Under the direct supervision of the GEU R&D lead, the Data Officer (DO) will provide data support on core research cycles, research and development (R&D) activities, provide data surge support during emergencies, and support the standardization of R scripts.

CORE TASKS

• With the supervision of the GEU R&D lead and in coordination with the GEU Data Specialist, support with all aspects related to data extraction, data processing, and analysis for research cycles in IMPACT’s Global Emergencies Unit (GEU), with a specific focus on Research and Development (R&D) activities. This includes:
  • Supporting all aspects of data extraction, processing and analysis, in line with IMPACT research guidelines;
  • Contribute to data analysis outputs and tools, including (but not limited to) datasets, data cleaning logs and scripts, analysis scripts, analysis outputs, data saturation grid, and ensure these are in line with IMPACT’s minimum standards and the analysis plan outlined in the research Terms of Reference;
  • Ensure that meaningful analysis and techniques are used to infer results on data collected;
  • Ensure all steps taken to produce the final dataset and analysis are well documented and transparent, and that Data Protection SOPs are followed;
  • Flag and discuss identified risks with the GEU R&D Lead and GEU Data Specialist as and when relevant.
• Support with the development of standardized R scripts for rapid assessments and sudden onset crises, in line with the UNDAC KI Indicator Bank;
• On an ad hoc basis, provide other support to the implementation of REACH emergency programmes at global or country level, including in-country or remote surge to IMPACT country teams (up to 25%)
• Contribute to capitalisation of lessons learned as well as development of tools and guidelines for emergency programmes within IMPACT.

REQUIREMENTS

Required

• Qualifications & Experience
  • Good academic qualifications, including a Master’s degree or higher in a quantitative discipline or with a significant quantitative component (e.g. Computer or Data Science, Physics, Economics, Econometrics, Statistics, Mathematics, etc.)
  • Proficient with R, particularly the tidyverse (dplyr, tidyr, rlang)
  • Proven track record of working with and compiling, processing and analyzing data of varying quality, type, and structure from multiple different sources
  • Knowledge of ArcGIS and spatial analysis an advantage
  • Commitment to humanitarian principles required, but no previous experience in the humanitarian or development sector necessary
  • Good understanding of statistics and data analysis
• Soft skills
  • Attention to detail and commitment to producing high quality work
  • Openness to feedback and willingness to learn
  • Ability to manage time effectively and thrive in a fast paced, results-oriented working environment
  • Ability to work independently, with initiative, while taking a proactive, solutions-oriented approach
  • Ability to communicate clearly and effectively, including in remote work settings
  • Fluency in English required, competency in French (or Spanish, Portuguese) an asset

Desired

• Experience with R Shiny app development
• R package development experience
• In addition to R (required), prior experience with at least one other analysis software package/ language (Python, SPSS, STATA, etc.)
• Experience in needs assessments, monitoring & evaluations, information management in field research settings in an international context
• Experience in coding data collection tools for mobile data collection platforms (KOBO/ ODK / SurveyCTO)
• Familiarity with the humanitarian aid system
• Fluency in additional languages (French, Spanish)