NGO JOBS

Service/Section: CISB/OCHA
Estimated Start Date: 01/11/2012
Duty Station: New York
Duration: 9 months (with possibility of extension)

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

This position is located in the Advocacy and Visual Media Unit, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), New York. The Programme Officer reports to the Head of Advocacy and Visual Media Unit.

Within the limits of delegated authority, the incumbent will discharge the following functions:

• Develop web applications and manage information to support OCHA and the UN system, as well as partner organizations, prevent, mitigate, manage, and recover from humanitarian disasters and emergencies.

• Determine the primary data and information elements that are required internally and externally to support humanitarian decisionmaking. Support strategic and operational decision making by processing and analyzing data and information, developing onlinevisualization tools and presenting it in the format most useful for analysis (e.g. charts, maps). *Develop a client-oriented approachwith all relevant stakeholders to help identify their priority information requirements.

• Provide training to OCHA staff on OCHA's web information visualization systems and standards.

• Undertake data preparedness activities in support of OCHA's response preparedness and contingency planning efforts.

• Establish and maintain an information network to facilitate humanitarian information exchange and the promotion of data andinformation sharing platform.

• Develop databases and other applications to support the collection, processing and visualization of context specific data (e.g.:affected population, displaced populations, demographic and vulnerability data, results of common rapid needs assessment etc.).

• Support the advocacy, communication and reporting functions of the office through the collection, processing, storage and onlinevisualization of emergencies and vulnerability, as well as relief operations data.

• In collaboration with the Information Services Section and Advocacy and Visual Media Unit, apply global information management standards, policies and procedures to guide related activities within the OCHA Office.

• Construct tools that give reporting/public information officers the ability to publish their own data and visualizations.

• Any other duties as may be requested by the Head of AVMU.

COMPETENCIES

PROFESSIONALISM:

• Extensive hands-on coding experience with open-source technologies.

• Ability to build web applications to visualize data (charts, maps).

• Knowledge of the use of information management in humanitarian emergency, crisis management or disaster management contexts; ability to analyze and articulate the information management requirements of complex situations requiring a coordinated response between disparate actors; demonstrated problem-solving skills and ability to use sound judgment to ensure the effective and timely completion of complex tasks; ability to work under extreme pressure, on occasion in a highly stressful environment (e.g. civil strife, natural disasters).

• Shows pride in work and in achievements

• Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter

• Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results

• Is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns

• Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges

• Takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas ofwork.

• Remains calm in stressful situations .

Creativity:

• Actively seeks to improve programmes or services

• Offers new and different options to solve problems or meet client needs.

• Promotes and persuades others to consider new ideas; takes calculated risks on new and unusual ideas; thinks “outside the box”.

• Takes an interest in new ideas and new ways of doing things.

• Is not bound by current thinking or traditional approaches.

Technological Awareness:

• Keeps abreast of available technology.

• Understands applicability and limitation of technology to the work of the office.

• Actively seeks to apply technology to appropriate tasks.

• Shows willingness to learn new technology.

QUALIFICATIONS

Experience: A minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible professional experience in web programming, managinginformation in a crisis management, disaster management, emergency management, humanitarian emergency or recovery context. Relevant international field experience in any of these area is desirable.

Education: An advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in information technology, Disaster and EmergencyManagement, Geographic Information Systems, Information Management, Statistics, or Social Sciences, or related area. A firstlevel university degree (Bachelor's degree or equivalent) combined with qualifying relevant professional experience (at least sevenyears) may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Languages: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations. For this position, fluency in English (writtenand oral) is required; knowledge of French is desirable. Knowledge of another UN official language is an advantage.

Other Skills: Qualifications and/or certification in the following applications are desirable: MS Access, MS Excel, ArcGIS,Adobe Creative Suite, google fusion, google chart, google map mash-up, OpenLayers, MapNik or similar applications. Knowledgeof current web standard (HTML5, CSS3, JSON) and programming (drupal, PHP, SQL, Javascript).