GIS Advisor F/M

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international, independent, medical humanitarian organization created in 1971 that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion, and natural disasters. MSF is one of the largest independent medical humanitarian organizations in the world, with projects located in 65 countries worldwide. Its work is based on the humanitarian principles of medical ethics; the goal of MSF is to provide emergency care and to offer assistance to people based only on need and irrespective of race, religion, gender, or political affiliation. The French section is present in around thirty countries.

In the context of a permanent position, we are looking for a GIS Advisor F/M.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at MSF has been developed as a service to MSF operations since 2013. In January 2021, the GIS services were transformed into an Intersectional Centre of Expertise & Services serving effectively the full Movement.

The GIS Centre is built on the existing service team, maximizing past investments, maintaining continuity of service, and continuing to foster the GIS network within the humanitarian community. The GIS Centre is coordinated from Geneva and organized as a network of internal and external partners spread out across France, Austria, and the Czech Republic.

The GIS core mission is to support informed decision-making through better spatial comprehension, enhancing the focus of health services around patients, and increasing the impact and efficiency of MSF’s regular and emergency interventions. The GIS service team aims to provide an intersectional operational support system, thanks to a framework of dedicated tools and services, that is reliable, agile, adapted to emergency contexts and needs, timely, and efficient.

Each operational Centre has a dedicated GIS Advisor (acting as GIS focal point for the OC) who is a member of the GIS Centre. GIS advisors are the keystone of the GIS network as they convey their OC’s operational needs & reality towards the GIS Centre. Conversely, they are ambassadors of GIS services and best practices within their OC. More importantly, being highly operationally rooted in an OC, they are at the forefront to provide the most adapted support and services to MSF operations. The GIS advisors are also full members of the GIS Working Group, one of the active International Technical Working Groups of MSF.

Main responsibilities:

His/her main objective is to ensure that the GIS related operational needs are met, and that the good practices in GIS are implemented in his/her OC. Referent in the field of GIS, he/she constitutes the link between the OC operations requesting GIS support and the GIS Centre. He/she monitors the requests, progress of work, and its delivery. As a member of the GIS Centre, he/she is responsible for promoting GIS within MSF and takes an active part in elaborating the GIS strategy which he/she is in charge of implementing in his/her OC.

Responsibility distribution:

• Business analysis (20%): Identification of domains of support, initial business requirements with end users, Field liaison and visit
• Business support (20%): First line of support within their OC (requests for products & services, use of tools), technical support for GIS deployments
• Learning and Development (20%): Support for coordination of GIS trainings, plan and deliver short training sessions, integrate GIS in other sectors trainings
• Change Management and Communication (35%): Promotion of GIS products & services, identification of sectors for potential collaborations
• GIS Strategy and Governance (5%): Participate in GIS Working Group and coordinate with the OC Sponsor on strategic GIS related topics. Participate in the Movement GIS strategy and implement the GIS strategy in his/her OC.

Description of main activities:

As a specialist in his/her domain, he/she is responsible for the first line of support for their OC:

• (S)he is accountable for GIS strategy implementation in their OC and contributes to overall OC strategy elaborations
• (S)he is accountable for GIS good practices implementation in his/her OC and contributes to Good practices definition
• (S)he is responsible for promoting GIS within his/her OC
• (S)he participates in the GIS Working Group and the Stakeholders & users Committee
• (S)he participates in the coordination of GIS training and is responsible for planning and delivering short training sessions
• (S)he is responsible for creating the link between his OC and the GIS Centre for specific sectors
• (S)he is responsible for assessing sectors need and identifying sectors for potential collaborations
• (S)he is responsible for integrating GIS in other sectors trainings for field user & coordination
• (S)he is accountable for gathering field requirements and priorities
• (S)he is responsible for doing initial user requirements and priorities and liaising with the GIS Centre Business Analyst for detailed requirements on complex products
• (S)he participates in GIS deployments technical support
• (S)he is responsible for first responses to field requests and participates in support on the use of GIS tools
• (S)he monitors the requests, progress of work, and its delivery. (S)he is responsible for ensuring that the GIS related operational needs are met.
• (S)he manages and coordinates GIS internships and/or GIS volunteer staff in his/her OC.

Internal relations:

Within the Operational Center:

• All departments supported by GIS: Operations, Medical, Logistics, etc.; and concerned projects.
• Learning and Development (LnD) for trainings/capacity building activities.
• Field: end users, coordinations, regional setups, GIS specialists (mobile and permanent).

Within the GIS Centre network:

• GIS Centre management team.
• Other GIS advisors (GIS Working Group), GIS technical team, partner sections, partners/actors members of the network.

External relations:

• GIS Centre partners (when relevant) i.e. academics, industry; GIS solution vendors, conferences, etc.
• Humanitarian GIS Community and actors (outside MSF)

Reporting to:

• As an employee of an OC, the Advisor hierarchically reports to Head of Operational Logistics
• As a member of the GIS Centre, the Advisor functionally reports to the GIS Centre's Head of Services.

Position in the structure:

• Technical Advisor (sector specialist), member of the Logistics Department, in close connection with the Operations and Medical Departments

Education:

• Primary education is compulsory.
• University degree in social sciences (i.e. geography, epidemiology, etc.) or in engineering is a strong asset.
• Post-graduate degree or vocational training in GIS or mapping related domains is a strong asset.

Experience:

• Minimum 2 years of missions in humanitarian contexts with various intervention thematics including emergency missions.
• Minimum 2 years project management experience.
• Minimum 2 years of experience in GIS domain.
• Experience with MSF Operations is an asset.
• Operational or Support function at HQ experience is an asset.

Skills and aptitudes:

• Excellent communication, coordination, and information management skills
• Excellent team working capacity
• Knowledge of ArcGIS software a strong asset
• Knowledge of e-volunteers Communities a strong asset
• Planning and organization
• Judgment and decision making
• Analytical thinking
• Providing technical support and advice
• Innovation and creativity

Languages: Fluent in English (C1) and French (B2) (oral and written) is compulsory.