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Contract Position:
Information & Data Program Coordinator for the ​
African Center for Aquatic Research and Education
The organizations
The African Center for Aquatic Research and Education, Inc. (“ACARE”) was formed in 2017 to create a long-term, highly collaborative process dedicated to strengthening science and increasing local capacity of Africa's freshwater experts through strong networks and enhanced training and experiential education on the African Great Lakes. ACARE aims to complete these goal through:
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Education: To educate and train the next generation of Africa’s freshwater experts on the African Great Lakes
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Information Exchange: Strengthen the understanding of the African Great Lakes through comprehensive access and sharing of information, data, and publications regarding our global freshwater natural resources
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Partnerships: Enhance collaboration among global, regional, and local individuals, institutions, organizations, and entities to address the challenges facing the African Great Lakes
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During September of 2020, ACARE partnered with the International Institute of Sustainable Development (IISD) in an effort to strengthen each organization's capacity to address enhance freshwater science globally. To learn more about this relationship, click here.
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Because no one institution can address environmental problems, IISD-ACARE partners with organizations globally and is advised by a board of directors and led by a team with a breadth of representation and experience.
ACARE's Programs
​ACARE has initiated five core programs, which include:
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Advisory Groups: Freshwater experts from the ten riparian countries of the seven African Great Lakes make up lake-specific advisory groups, whose goals are to increase information exchange, prioritize research, and help to coordinate freshwater research and management actions. A key aspect of this program is an annual meeting of the advisory groups, currently scheduled for Feb, 2023 in Dar-e-Salaam, Tanzania.
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African Women in Science: An annual ten-month program providing virtual leadership training and an in-person, North American immersive experience to expose participants to aspects of applied research, communications, and leadership.
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Monitoring: This program, still in development, will guide the collection of long-term baseline data on each of the African Great Lakes to better understand the status of these lakes, how they are affected by climate change and and other anthropogenic stressors.
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Education and Training: This developing program will make use of existing training programs and institutions, existing research stations on the AGL, to create a comprehensive program to train the next (and current) generation of freshwater experts on the African Great Lakes.
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Information exchange and coordination: This program is being developed to help collect all information, data, and publications on Africa’s Great Lakes to increase the ease of access to information, helping to strengthen overall science and understanding of these lakes.
The Position - Information & Data Program Coordinator
Previous studies conducted by ACARE ascertained, that, due to numerous challenges, including pay walls, data privacy and protection, obscure and unknown publications and data sets, and a lack of centralized repository for African Great Lakes (AGL) information, current research efforts often duplicate research, cannot compare and contribute to research already conducted, and cannot collate time-series data for climate change research and observations. The purpose of this position is to ensure that all data, publications, and other information are collected or identified and made available for use in making the AGL healthy.
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ACARE’s information and data program in part seeks to address scientific information and data exchange issues on large, freshwater African lakes. Understanding the ecological functioning and social–economic values of these resources is critical to inform their mid- and long-term sustainable use. Management and protection of the lakes depends on quality, comprehensive, and time-series data to make good decisions.
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Details:
Status: Contract position.
Conditions: Flexible work times across multiple time zones necessary (North American, European, and African)
Compensation: Based on level of experience
Start Date: February 2023 (or ASAP)
Term: Seven to eight month position with potential for extending
Location: Remote
Role Description
ACARE’s Information & Data Program, in part, seeks to develop a mechanism by which freshwater scientists can access, obtain, and submit, publications, data sets, and any other information relevant to making the African Great Lakes healthier. The person in this role will help determine what such a mechanism looks like, if it needs to be developed or if adopting an existing model, or coordinating with existing partners and databases, is suitable. Further, this position will require an extensive search locally, regionally, and globally for data and other information pertaining to the AGL and ensure that such content is known and, if possible, available for those who need it to work on freshwater resources.
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Responsibilities:
The Great Lakes Information & Data Program Coordinator's responsibilities will:
Provide leadership and guidance on a project to compile data, publications, and information for the AGL community and broader audiences, and work with the ACARE team and African Great Lakes community members to
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Identify relevant information that needs to be gathered.
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Develop a successful project methodology.
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Identify the appropriate access and contacts for each piece of information.
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Develop an information catalog system.
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Acquire the relevant information.
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Work with a web designer to create a site with open access to the resources.
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Engage North American and African experts to advise and curate the project activities.
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Prepare project proposals and reports as needed.
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Participate in relevant meetings and planning efforts with other ACARE staff.
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Other duties as assigned.
The Position - Criteria
Required skills
The candidate will bring the following set of skills to the position:
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Knowledge of research areas and priorities around the African Great Lakes.
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Expertise // experience with knowledge systems, data platforms, or other forms of online collaborative systems.
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Ability to coordinate and create data/information platforms on web-based systems.
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Ability to gather, process and analyze scientific data from various sources.
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Ability to present insights from large data/information sets.
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Strategic thinking, with strong organizational and planning skills, including the ability to provide guidance to student researchers.
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Advanced language skills in English.
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Computer literacy, including Microsoft Office applications.
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Ability to work with an international, geographically distributed team and independently with limited guidance.
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Strong interpersonal and networking skills.
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The position may require travel within Africa.
Qualifications
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Master’s degree or higher in a relevant field information systems, data management.
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Expertise and experience in information systems or data platforms or relevant field.
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Minimum 2-3 years of experience in a relevant role.
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Must be eligible to work in an Eastern African country; preference for a national of one of the ten African Great Lakes riparian countries (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia).
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Desired skills:​
Highly competitive candidates could have one or all of the following:
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Working use of Swahili and/or French.
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Knowledge of international development.
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Some knowledge of, or ability to closely network with experts who know, academic business models.​
Applying to this position
Application Deadline: January 23, 2023
All submissions must be in English
Only those candidates we wish to interview will be contacted
Resumes will be kept on file for one year
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To apply you will be directed to an on-line Application form below. Here you will be asked to provide the following:
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Cover letter
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Curriculum Vitae, resume, or work/education summary
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A 1-2 page project proposal that would accomplish the goals of this position. Including a timeline, milestones, budget and other resources needed
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Two professional references (name, institution, email)
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Additionally, you will be asked:
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Your level of education
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Some self-assessment questions
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Your familiarity and background regarding this position
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Other work experience
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Your motivations
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Timeline for this process:
Application Posting: January 9th, 2023
Application Closing: January 23, 2023
Review: on-going basis
Notices: Candidates who are successful will be contacted by January 25, 2023
Interviews - first round: Those who are contacted will be interviewed during January 25-27, 2023 depending on the interview team's and the interviewees schedules
Interviews - second round: If necessary, a second round of interviews will take place during late January, 2023
Decision: Job offer is targeted to take place late-January or early February 2023
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Because of the nature of the work at ACARE, specifically meetings of groups of people from various regions of the world, we desire our colleagues to be fully vaccinated and willing to keep up to date with vaccines that protect against COVID-19. By accepting an offer to work with ACARE, you agree to comply with this requirement, unless you are entitled to a legally mandated exemption.