GIS Expert - SNV Ghana

SNV Netherlands Development is a not-for-profit international development organization that has built a long-term local presence in 38 countries in Asia, Africa and Latin-America. SNV Ghana implements projects to improve individual lives and contributes to solving global challenges in the areas of Agriculture, Energy, and Water, Sanitation & Hygiene. SNV’s implementation approach focuses on developing innovative solutions to alleviate poverty through sustainable and locally-led development.

Job Description

Terms of Reference for the Engagement of Data Platform and GIS-based NRM Experts

INTRODUCTION

SNV Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) has been in Ghana since 1992 with an extensive experience in the development of inclusive agricultural value chains. SNV has been implementing series of projects in the land use and cocoa value chain sectors towards finding a balance in resource use in forests and agricultural landscape interfaces and ensuring sustainable use of production of forest risk commodities with particular focus on cocoa value chain in the Western North region.

Shaded cocoa agroforestry systems project (SCAFS); and Operationalising National Requirement for Result based Payment from REDD+ (REDD+ Safeguards project) with funding support from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU); and Collaborative Learning for Climate Smart Cocoa (CLCSC) with funding support from Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Key components of these projects include identifying deforestation hotspots and associated drivers, monitoring land use dynamics within the project landscape including cocoa driven deforestation and land cover enhancement activities. In addition, longitudinal smallholder farmer data is being collected to track effects of interventions such as promotion of good agricultural practices, cocoa agroforestry systems, farm inputs schemes on both smallholder farms and land use dynamics in the project landscape.

In order to meet its monitoring requirements, SNV is seeking suitably qualified experts to be engaged under a framework agreement for its database and maps production, including meeting the periodic data collection and assessment needs of selected projects. 

OBJECTIVES

Establish a framework agreement with qualified experts to support the development and management of smallholder farmers’ database; and land use land cover data collection and processing in order to operationalize deforestation and land cover enhancement monitoring in cocoa and other forest risk commodity supply chains.

SUMMARY OF TASKS 

Provide overall technical assistance for the development of forest monitoring system in forest-agricultural landscapes in the project area.

Specifically, by: supporting analyses of patterns of change between different land use classes of interest including various cocoa classes and associated drivers;

•  Using change analysis and land use transition potential tools to estimate future conversions;  
•  Supporting the development of functional deforestation monitoring system in hotspots areas of forest-cocoa interface including integrating satellite-based forest monitoring and community-based forest monitoring platforms;

•  Supporting the review of existing of National Forest Monitoring System (NFMS) data available from local institutions, national bodies, external partners like WRI, and global platforms and datasets (e.g. Global Forest Watch) and their relevance to the development of Ghana’s NFMS;
•  Support the development of the institutional framework and come up with a workable institutional arrangement involving key actors at the national and subnational levels towards operationalising Ghana’s NFMS. 
•  Participate in relevant trainings and support the deployment of national capacity in operationalising NFMS using open source satellite data processing techniques. 

Deliverables

• Land use change dynamics of Juabeso-Bia landscapes and associated drivers established and land use transition potentials for the landscapes conducted. 
• Pilot integrated satellite and community-based forest monitoring system established in Juabeso-Bia landscape
• Contribute to the development of institutional arrangement, regulatory measures and infrastructural development for Ghana’s NFMS.
• Participate in and Support GIS capacity enhancement for open source and automated satellite data processing for cocoa-forest landscapes

Duration

A framework agreement for both the GIS Expert and Data Platform Expert will cover a period of one year.

Required Skills or Experience

• At least a PhD degree with demonstrated experience in the application of GIS and Remote sensing techniques to aspects/issues in ecosystem/landscape ecology, forestry, soils, biodiversity, natural resource management or a closely related field. 
• Demonstrated experience with evidence in application of GIS tools/techniques to delineate cocoa from other forest trees using open source satellite data;
• Ability to use change analysis techniques and land use transition tools/ to estimate potential land use conversions in forest-agricultural landscapes.