Remote Sensing Specialist

IMPORTANT NOTICE\: Please note that Closure Date and Time displayed above are based on date and time settings of your personal device

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FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender and nationality

People with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply

All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality

The incumbent may be re-assigned to different activities and/or duty stations depending on the evolving needs of the Organization

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The FAO in Afghanistan assists the Government to develop policies, programmes and projects to address the root causes of hunger and malnutrition; to help the Government develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors and to use the environmental and natural resources in a suitable way. It participates in the development of FAO’s field projects in the country and implements it, including the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the damaged relevant sectors.

FAO assistance in Afghanistan achieves its objectives through capacity development and direct project implementation in four specific areas of FAO’s technical expertise\:

• Better governance through improved capacity for policy planning, land reform, decentralization, and management of common natural resources;

• Fostering expansion of irrigation and field water management;

• Intensive agriculture for surplus commercialization, value chains development, and job creation;

• Supporting vulnerable farmers for improved food & nutrition security, resilience, and emergency response to natural and man-made disasters and climate change.

The post is located in Kabul – Afghanistan and will have some travel missions inside country as required and subject to security permitting.

Project Background\:

The project “Strengthening capacity of the National Government to use geospatial technology for evidence-based decision making” TCP/AFG/3706. The project aims at improving food security by ensuring effective crop production and trade policies and better agriculture program monitoring and decision making as a result of more effective and balanced use of Earth Observation data and rigorous approaches to crop area and yield information.

The Remote Sensing Specialist will report directly to the FAO Representative in Afghanistan as his/her supervisor. On technical aspects, s/he should consult with the Lead Technical Officers (LTO) based at FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok – Thailand. Moreover, s/he maintain close coordination and consultant with NSIA (National Statistics & Information Authority of Afghanistan) and FAO counterpart MAIL (Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock) to carry out following task;

The Consultant will work directly with the project Lead Technical Officer (LTO) and National Policy Analyst. He/she will have overall responsible for review of existing reports, project documents, policies and strategies in the country with greater focus on Google Earth Engine – GEE, Remote Sensing and develop NSIA’s staff capacity through organizing training and workshops. Further to this, the consultant will also prepare the end of assignment report containing findings, conclusions and recommendations for the future

• Provide support for managers and resource specialists at NSIA and MAIL in the use of geospatial technology and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for collecting, extracting, using and leading information in the country to support national development plans, priorities and to realize evidence-based decision making;

• Provide extensive training workshops and on the job trainings for NSIA experts on google earth engine including code development mainly for crop estimation and image processing tool;

• Assess quality, compatibility, and limitations of various data used currently in the system and provide recommendation for improvement;

• Create crop signature (wheat, rice…) understand and share knowledge of the crop phenology, supervised and unsupervised crop classification;

• Develop and automate the process for final crop (wheat, rice…) area identification using sentinel-1 and sentinel-2 satellite imagery, for agriculture area estimation (Irrigated land and rain-fed land)

• Provide specialized trainings on image processing (optical and radar);

• Develop data dictionaries, data models, and metadata for multi-disciplinary information and geospatial applications;

• Use and provide training to resources specialists on geospatial technology to facilitate geospatial model design and analysis procedures;

• Manipulate and analyse geospatial data to support resource management decisions; and

• Perform multi-scale and/or multi-resource analysis in support of planning, analysis, and monitoring activities.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

• University degree in Earth Science Discipline, such as Remote Sensing and GIS, Natural Resource Management, Water Resource Management, Geology, International Development, Development Studies, social science, or closely related fields;

• At least twelve (12) years of relevant practical experience in performing the tasks described above in statistics, GIS, data management and analysis in hunger, food insecurity and nutrition, sustainable development, including senior level, and other similar functions/duties.

• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of one of the other FAO languages (French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian).

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions;
• Must have experience in developing scripts in Google Earth Engine and a portfolio of work to demonstrate
• Must have experience of analytical and/or research related or with the development in particular with remote sensing use in agriculture, hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition issues in the South Asia
• Knowledge of spatial sampling and accuracy assessment of the crop area estimation, using remote sensing technology
• Practical and theoretical knowledge of remote sensing, especially knowledge of using GEE in crop and water
• Good interpersonal communication, report writing and computing skills and must be fluent in English;
• Experience with programme and communication with United Nations, FAO or other international agencies;
• Demonstrated inter-personal ability to work as an effective team member in complex multi-cultural environments.
• Demonstrated initiative and ability to deliver results within tight deadlines.
• Work experience in Afghanistan or other hardship duty stations would be an asset;
• Experience with staffing, administration and finance, and coping with pressure;
• Ability to work productively in a pressurized environment and to maintain visibly high levels of morale in difficult circumstances;
• Demonstrated ability to work and perform duties under security restricted conditions;
• Experience in developing training materials and providing trainings/capacity building programs;
• Familiarity with the UN Communications rules and procedures;
• Previous working experience in the region and familiarity with the country situation will be highly desirable.
  

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Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency

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