Regional Coordination Unit (RCU): Data Management Specialist

Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program for Aral Sea Basin (CAMP4ASB)

Regional Coordination Unit (RCU): Data Management Specialist 

Terms of Reference

Background: 

On November 3, 2015, the World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved an allocation of US$38 million from the International Development Association (IDA) to finance the first phase of the CAMP4ASB regional program. This approved financing includes US$9 million for Tajikistan, US$14 million for Uzbekistan, and US$15 million for regional activities to be implemented by the Executive Committee of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea (EC-IFAS) with support from the Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC) for day-to-day regional coordination and implementation.

The Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program for Aral Sea Basin (CAMP4ASB) aims to enhance regionally coordinated access to improved climate change knowledge services for key stakeholders (e.g., policy makers, communities, and civil society) in participating Central Asian countries as well as to increased investments and capacity building that, combined, will address climate challenges common to these countries. CAMP4ASB[1] is comprised of three components as follows:

CAREC as the RCU will provide general Program oversight, oversee implementation of activities implemented at the regional level (including liaising regularly with the NCUs to seek inputs and facilitate consensus on proposed regional activities as well as to receive feedback on their implementation), provide as needed technical support/guidance to the NCUs, review bi-annually a sample of national climate investments to ensure their consistency with guiding investment priorities set by the Regional Steering Committee, organize reviews with country TWG members to assess lessons learned from investments, and ensure lessons and results from Program activities are systematically disseminated to support participating country planning processes. The RCU will also oversee, together with the NCUs, the Program’s Feedback/Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM). The RCU will support arrangements for the Regional Steering Committee meetings.

Objectives of the Assignment:

The Data Management (DM) Specialist is expected to carry out a full range of data management processes both in the context of project management and data and information collection to the Central Asia Climate Information Platform (CACIP). He/she will report to the RCU Coordinator. He/She should be a results-oriented team player who is adaptable to changing business needs, attentive to details and capable of contributing to the Unit’s effectiveness and success. He/she will coordinate and be in touch with a group of consultants and firms, including RCU and CAREC’s staff who deal with project administration, development of knowledge products and IT system, to adequately maintain a project management system as well as design the architecture of the information platform. Data collection, quality assurance, communication and sustainability of the process are also part of the DM Specialist assignment.

Scope of Work:  

In his/her activity the DM Specialist shall be guided by the Project Operational Manual (POM) and current legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He/she will be responsible for providing project management inputs and data entry support to the RCU in the following activities: 

1.     Examine the functionality of existing project management system and database in RCU, and develop an approach of expanding it to the functional datasets and registry on a project related data and information (statistics records on individual contracts and agreements, annual and mid-term assessments of RCU staff, etc.). Coordinate and monitor the inputs provided by the RCU staff;

2.     Examine and suggest an internal system of M&E of using the project progress indicators, baseline data, knowledge products, GRM etc. jointly with the Knowledge Management Specialist. Coordinate and monitor the inputs provided by the KM Specialist;   

3.     Coordinate the group of consultants and firms on database and information platform development. In close cooperation with RCU formulate respective ToRs, initiate a recruitment process and track the progress on results achieved; 

4.     Support the development of an open information platform to facilitate public-domain collection, sharing, and maintenance of datasets relevant for climate assessment and decision making;

5.     Collect relevant data and reports from global, regional, and local sources (including curated datasets based on ground monitoring and earth observation) of relevance to Central Asia and the CAMP4ASB program; lead data-rescue exercise, on demand basis

6.     Conduct the process of data and information collection for the CACIP. Introduce data collection forms and processes and guidelines for quality assurance of data (linking to the national inputs from the countries of Central Asia and other sources of information). Synchronize the activities with CAREC Knowledge Hub and World Bank Spatial Agent applications; 

7.     Organize the data into spatial databases and with spatial references (e.g. for reports, photos, videos, and other documents) and help create data services (using Open Geospatial Consortium standards);

8.     Develop maps and undertake spatial analysis on relevant datasets of relevance and create innovative data visualizations (e.g. 2-D and 3-D maps, animations, interactive graphics, infographics) to effectively convey the information to different stakeholders in Russian, English, and other relevant languages for Central Asia;

9.     In close collaboration with KM Specialist, facilitate creation of knowledge products (e.g. Atlases, e-books, monitoring and technical reports) that effectively utilize the data analysis and visualization;

10.  Facilitate development of an online repository of spatial and non-spatial data and documents, including elements that are publicly-accessible and those that are internal to the CAMP4ASB core project team;

11.  Support development of an online public-domain portal and mobile App to access knowledge products and services and improve citizen engagement;

12.  Support development of interfaces between data Portal and decision-support tools developed or adapted under CAMP4ASB (e.g., screening tools);

13.  Support training, outreach, and capacity-building activities and professional networking to enhance the quality and use of the products created;

14.  Perform other ad-hoc duties as assigned by the RCU Coordinator.

Assignment Duration

DM Specialist is expected to begin the assignment once the CAMP4ASB Program enters in its effectiveness phase, on a full-time basis. The assignment will be initially for a period of 1 year. The decision on extension of the contract will be made by the RCU Coordinator in agreement with the Bank.  

Reporting 

DM Specialist will report directly to the RCU Coordinator who has an overall responsibility for Grants Management. The DM Specialist is expected to work closely with the CAREC KPRM Unit, RCU, NCUs and other contracted specialists needed.  

Assignment Location

The Specialist shall be based in Almaty, Kazakhstan at the CAREC office with some travel to the Program sites.

Client’s input 

CAREC will provide the following:

Program documents and Work space with access to office technology facilities.

Qualifications 

·       Master’s graduate degree in a field closely related to GIS/Remote Sensing, information technology, climate, science, engineering, or knowledge management;

·       At least 3 years of work experience demonstrating expertise in data processing/GIS, information and knowledge systems, and knowledge product development, preferably related to climate change topic and research;

·       Knowledge of project management, administration and communication principles; 

·       Excellent knowledge of the data base systems, information management and tracking processes; proven experience to operate multiple data sets and produce analytical outputs; 

·       Excellent organizational, communication skills at all levels, especially in data collection and analysis;

·       Strong computer skills: MS Excel, MS Word, GIS, PM system, Email, and Internet;

·       Fluent Russian (verbal and written). Good knowledge of English (written and spoken) is an advantage;

·       Ability to work in a team; and 

·       Willingness to travel as needed to project sites (sometimes remote). 

[1] For more details about the project and description of all components and subcomponents please, refer to the CAMP4ASB Project Appraisal Document (PAD) at http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2015/10/20/090224b083157ebd/2_0/Rendered/PDF/Central0Asia000l0Sea0Basin0Project0.pdf