Job Details
Description
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has a significant portfolio of landscape projects and programs in Eastern and Southern Africa, South and East Asia, Australia, and other regions, for wildlife conservation, community engagement, wildlife crime prevention and animal rescue and rehabilitation. Its present and future projects in Africa constitute IFAW’s ambitious Room to Roam initiative, designed to secure corridors for elephants and other wildlife across multiple countries. Additionally, IFAW implements programs regionally and globally on marine mammal rescue, animal rescue, including from disasters, marine conservation, wildlife crime, and international policy.
The GIS Analyst’s main responsibility will be to conduct geospatial analysis to support the planning, monitoring and evaluation of IFAW’s landscape initiatives, particularly its Room to Roam initiative. While s/he will work as a part of the Impact & Evaluation (I&E) team and report to the I&E Director, the GIS Analyst will work collaboratively with the relevant teams and country offices across IFAW to carry out their work. As a part of the Analyst’s tasks, s/he will conduct or support data-gathering for geospatial landscape analysis, including of human land uses, wildlife habitat quality, wildlife movements, climate change and natural disaster impacts and risks, human-wildlife conflicts and wildlife poaching and other factors to aid in the planning of the Room to Roam initiative and large-scale landscape conservation. The Analyst will use this analysis to produce geospatial products for internal staff and external stakeholders, where necessary, documenting all work done using Esri’s[1] geospatial standard. S/he will also be responsible for storing and managing all data in IFAW’s geodatabase. For monitoring and assessing the impact of IFAW’s interventions and other changes in the landscape, the GIS Analyst will periodically conduct analyses on changes in land use/quality for reporting to the IFAW Executive Management Team, IFAW Board and donors. Reader-friendly geospatial information will also be provided to the Communications Team. Outside of her/his responsibilities for the Room to Roam initiative, the Analyst will also provide, as a secondary priority, similar geospatial analytical support to IFAW’s other landscape projects; and support to IFAW’s programs in animal rescue, marine conservation, wildlife crime and others, including basic training to The incumbent should take leadership in keeping abreast with emerging tools and innovation in the spatial analysis domain, foster relationships with service providers e.g. ESRI, and facilitate strategic partnerships with peers in conservation for cross learning. –training
Role and Responsibilities
- For IFAW’s Room to Roam initiative across Eastern and Southern Africa, gather landscape-related data on land cover, land use, land parcels, conservation areas, agriculture, human settlements, wildlife corridors, elephant range, human settlements, human wildlife conflict, natural and climate-induced disasters, and infrastructure
- Undertake wildlife habitat suitability analyses, especially for elephants
- Using this data, conduct geospatial analysis to identify suitable trans-boundary corridors for African elephants in the landscape, or the barriers in terms of specific forms of land use to creating such corridors
- Assist in the development of geospatial products required by IFAW’s Room to Roam initiative and other landscape projects in Asia and Australia
- Monitor land-use and habitat quality changes to evaluate IFAW’s impacts and/or identify new challenges to landscape conservation
- Store collected data and derived information products into IFAW’s geodatabase
- Document all work done using Esri’s geospatial standard
- Train field staff, including rangers, community scouts and IFAW staff, on the basics of GIS and field geo-referencing, for data collection and validation
- Provide basic GIS training (including Story maps) to IFAW staff in projects outside of landscape conservation
Qualifications and Education Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in a GIS related field preferred.
- A minimum of three years working in a busy GIS environment.
- Expert knowledge in the use of ArcGIS suite of software and other related tools.
- Ability to create high quality geospatial products.
- Knowledgeable in the use of Remote Sensing.
- Proven affiliation to Spatial Analysis community of practices an added advantage
- Excellent skills in working in a large organization with different teams, including field staff and external partners, for data-collection, decision-making, M&E and reporting
- Ability to operate basic Microsoft Office programs, including but not limited to Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
- Must be willing to travel to IFAW field locations, often in remote environments.
- Travel up to 20% required.
At IFAW, we aim to create and foster a workforce that reflects and contributes to the diverse, global community in which we work to improve the lives of both animals and people. We are dedicated to fostering justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion so we actively encourage candidates from diverse backgrounds.