Short-Term Assignment of the GIS Analyst – The Jane Goodall Institute
Job description
The Jane Goodall Institute Tanzania (JGI-TZ) with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking to subcontract a short-term consultant to provide technical and professional support to the GIS activities under the Landscape Conservation in Western Tanzania (LCWT) Project.
Summary of the Scope of the Assignment:
The USAID-funded Project “Landscape Conservation in Western Tanzania” (LCWT) requires the services of a consultant to support GIS and Remote Sensing tasks in the three major activities including Zonal Land Use Planning, the second major Chimpanzee Survey covering 25 sites under LCWT, and Support Village Forest Monitors on technical issues particularly on using ESRI Survey123 App for data collection and uploading.
1. Consultancy Title: GIS Analysis Consultant
2. General Summary:
The Landscape Conservation in Western Tanzania (LCWT) activity is a five-year initiative funded by the Government of the United States of America (USA), through its Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) in collaboration with four districts in Kigoma and Katavi regions, Implementing Partners including Research Triangle Institute (RTI) and Pathfinder International and village authorities within the project area in Western Tanzania. The project is designed to protect chimpanzee populations and their habitat, strengthen local government capacity in natural resource management, and improve community livelihoods through sustainable natural resource management empowering local communities. A key focus is to sustain the chimpanzee population in western Tanzania and the native tropical forests they inhabit within the Gombe-Masito-Ugalla (GMU) ecosystem.
The project has 5 Intermediate results that include the following activities:
• Natural Resource Management: Building the capacity of local governments to facilitate conservation practice and effective natural resource management.
• Land Use Planning & Sustainable Development: Helping local governments and communities implement sustainable land use plans and livelihood development.
• Monitoring: Improving the monitoring of conservation and development targets and threats using innovative technologies to compile, analyze and share data as part of decision support and alert system. The information from the system will enable JGI and local stakeholders to test, validate and adapt decisions that will guide LCWT Project activities.
• Family Planning and Reproductive Health: Expanding activities to improve awareness and access to reproductive health and family planning resources.
• Environmental Education: Expanding the reach and effectiveness of community-based sensitization and environmental education efforts to inspire behavior change that will protect chimpanzees and their habitats.
The project is leveraging and using the powerful Esri ArcGIS Online platform and associated technologies and apps as its Decision Support System (DSS) to improve conservation management decisions. Esri’s ArcGIS platform and apps are used to collect, store, manage, integrate, analyze, visualize, communicate, and share all the monitoring data on chimpanzee populations, habitats, and human threats collected from the field and aerial surveys and satellite imagery.
3. Principal Duties and Responsibilities:
The agreement covers GIS and Remote Sensing support to the four major activities under LCWT Project including Zonal Land Use Planning, the second major Chimpanzee Survey covering 25 sites, and Support to Village Forest Monitors.
4. Specific Tasks for the Consultant:
4.1 Work closely with district staff and the National Land Use Commission (NLUPC) to Support GIS and Remote sensing tasks to the Zonal Land Use Planning for two specific areas within the project area in the following aspects.
a) Map existing land uses, highlighting all areas with intact or patches of natural forests using very high resolution Maxar and Planet satellite imagery and high-resolution Sentinel-2 and Landsat satellite images, map local knowledge using participatory interpretation of very high resolution satellite imagery with the local communities, and combine these data with other GIS data on watersheds and ecosystems to identify ‘ideal’ areas for village forest reserves as a primary reference to the land use planning team.
b) Participate in field data collection for the purpose of coordinating and collecting spatial data about land use zone boundaries.
c) Processing data and developing proposed zonal land use maps.
4.2 Work closely with the Chimpanzee Survey Team Leader to support the planning and implementation of the second major Chimpanzee Survey in the Masito Ugalla Ecosystem.
The survey covers 25 sites with a total of 400 transects with 1km each. The survey is using ESRI’s Survey 123 for data collection and Garmin Handheld GPS for navigation into transects. Specifically, the consultant is expected to provide the following GIS support:
a) Working closely with the Survey Team Leader and/or GIS Officer to revise and update survey sites and transects.
b) Work closely with the GIS Officer to prepare and load handheld GPS start and endpoints of transects for field navigation.
c) Regularly update the Chimpanzee Survey Form on Survey123 Connect App as proposed by the field survey team.
d) Field visit to survey teams for troubleshooting of any technical problem with navigation and data collection devices.
e) Support regular data uploading to the Organization’s ArcGIS Online, particularly during the time when a survey team is shifting from one site to another to minimize possibilities for data loss.
4.3 Work closely with GIS Officer to support Village Forest Monitors.
The LCWT Project supports more than 160 village forest monitors who use ESRI Survey123 App for data collection when they monitor their respective village forests. These village volunteers need regular technical support in troubleshooting problems on their handheld devices as follows: –
a) Support VFMs on data uploading to ArcGIS Online
b) Support updating of the survey form as changes are made and confirmed by developers.
c) Replies to queries from VFMs as they continue to monitor their village forests.
d) Provide VFMs and village government with printed maps of their observations and support their access to Community Forest Monitoring Dashboard to view their data in the DSS.
Requirements
5. Required Qualifications:
One (1) consultant with the following skills and qualifications will be required for 90 days to undertake this assignment.
a) Bachelor or Master’s Degree in GIS and Remote Sensing or related degree with a strong bias in GIS.
b) A master’s degree in the field of Natural Resources Management would be added advantage.
c) Experience in using ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Pro, and ArcGIS Online platform tools and apps particularly ESRI Survey123 is a must.
d) Technical skills and experience in using Garmin Handheld GPS are a must.
e) At least five years’ experience in implementing conservation projects in the role of GIS tasks.
f) Experience in working with government stakeholders would be highly preferred.
g) Ready to spend days in the field environment living in tented camps in the middle of the wilderness in remote areas.
h) Good communication skills: fluent in Kiswahili and English languages both verbal and written. This service involves working with a wide range of people within the institution, local communities, districts, and international partners, including technical and non-technical colleagues.
6. Location & Level of Effort:
The consultant will be based in Kigoma but will be required to travel to support various field activities in Kigoma and Katavi regions or any other location where activities related to the assignment above will be conducted. Transport costs to the assignment activities will be covered by the project. Given the nature of the activities, sometimes the consultant might be required to work for extended periods and/or over the weekends to meet pressing deadlines.
7. Supervision & Contact Person:
The consultant to be supervised by the IR3 Team Lead or his designated staff. She/he will also work closely with IR 2 Team Lead and Chimpanzee Survey Team Lead.
8. Duration of the Assignment:
This assignment is planned to start around the beginning of June to September 2022 for a priod not less than 90 days based on 5 working days per week.
9. Deliverables:
The following are key deliverables. The timeline for each activity below will be discussed and agreed upon with the IR3 Team Lead and the consultant depending on the start date of a particular activity.
9.1 Zonal Land-use Plans:
a) Field Notes
b) Maps of existing land uses in the two project areas (to be specified).
c) Ideal maps of zonation of the two specific areas which request development of zonal land use plan showing areas that still have patches of natural forests, the value of these forests to wildlife, people, and the ecosystems, and possibilities of linking them with the nearby major district local authority forest reserves.
d) Spatial analysis statistics and maps showing the distribution of population, social services, and livestock, after participating in field data collection.
e) Proposed maps of land use zones after working closely with various stakeholders in the process.
9.2 The Second Major Chimpanzee Survey:
a) Updated Maps of chimpanzee survey sites
b) Survey123 forms (chimpanzee survey form) updated and loaded to smartphones ready for the field survey team to use for data collection.
c) Start and end points of transects updated and loaded to handheld Garmin GPS devices for navigation by field survey teams.
d) Field Notes.
e) Chimpanzee survey data uploaded to ArcGIS Online
9.3 Support Village Forest Monitors on technical issues:
a) Village Forest Monitors data uploaded to ArcGIS Online for sharing with decision-makers as part of the dashboards and tools in the DSS.
APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Please send your CV and a Covering Letter by June, 05th 2022 to the following e-mail address: [email protected]
Please note that only short-listed applicants will be contacted.
