Researcher / Data analyst Officer
The Land Portal Foundation
Organization profile
The Land Portal foundation is a non-profit organization headquartered in Groningen, The Netherlands.
Launched in March 2011 as a global hub for access land information the Land Portal allows for the collection, sourcing, and searching of otherwise fragmented and inaccessible data and information on land governance and land use from diverse sources, produced by governments, academia, international organizations, indigenous peoples and NGOs. The Land Portal brings together content from over 70 partner organisations.
Besides documenting land rights, the Portal also encourages social information exchange, debate and networking. By combining public data, published information, and first-hand knowledge, the portal has built strong foundations as the online destination for land information.
The Land Portal Foundation has set out an ambitious new strategy for 2014-2017 to become an open development platform, working to improve land governance to the benefit of those with the most insecure land rights and the greatest vulnerability to landlessness.
Land Portal Theory of Change
Job Description
The Researcher/ data analyst officer will be part of the Land Portal coordination Unit and will be tasked to contribute to i) Amount and Quality of data; ii) Data Management and Organization; iii) Data Use and Accessibility on the Land book of Countries.
Principal role and responsibilities
Specific responsibilities will include:
- Increase the range and number of available indicators by cross checking how existing data describe Land Book topic areas and widen the range of thematic areas covered while fostering an open source, decentralized and distributed data collection method. Include data at the regional and at the local level.
- Ensures quality of the data (i.e. incidence of errors, missing values, etc) using statistical tools widely adopted to check for the robustness and consistency of the data (e.g. compare each value with the average, minimum, maximum and standard deviation). In addition, comparing different sources – where available – for the same indicator can be a useful technique to further reduce errors and missing values.
- Increase the level of consistency of data.
- Ensure a good structure of the data presented to increase the accessibility of data dividing the dataset into main dimensions such as space time, theme, indicator, metadata values, etc.
- Include the most relevant information about any given indicators (e.g. definition of the indicator, descriptive statistics, pros and cons…) in order to facilitate the use, the selection and the interpretation of the data.
- Include meta-information available for each indicators for easy inspection, such as the time period covered, the incidence of missing values, the minimum level of spatial disaggregation at which the data are available (e.g. country, region or local) and the method of data collection. This exercise will be instrumental to realize, from 2016 onwards, the annual Report on the Status of Land Information.
- Data accessibility: make easier the access and navigation of the data by grouping/organizing Land Book information into main categories according to major themes, target audience and the level of detail.
- Data use: increase use of the data provided in the Land Book and stimulate the debate over land related issues by combine and correlating existing indicators to reveal new tendencies and a different perspective over land issues.
- Provide quarterly reports on specific issues using data from the Land Book country or region pages and produce yearly compendium of the main fact and figures emerging from the Land Book. Both quarterly reports and the compendium can be intended as well as a contribution to the Land Journal.
Qualifications and skills
The successful candidate will have:
- University degree (Masters level) or PHD in information science, economics, mathematics or statistics or related field, with first rate academic record;
- Prior experience or studies in land governance related issues
- Experience in data management
- Knowledge about data sharing technologies and standards such as metadata standards, semantic web and linked data;
- Fluency (native level) in English;
- Minimum 1 year of relevant work experience;
- Excellent computer skills are vital (expecially experience with Excel and other statistical software);
- First class analytical skills;
- Superior attention to details;
- Good drafting, communicating and presenting abilities;
- Problem-solving attitude;
- Diplomacy, team spirit and willingness to take initiatives;
- Ability to meet strict deadlines;
Reporting
The Land Portal Researcher / data analyst Officer will be working in close liaison and under the direct supervision of the Land Portal Coordinator and will be accountable to the Chair, Secretary and other Board members of the LP Foundation.
Position
This position will be staffed on a full time basis for one year with the possibility of extension. This is a project position sponsored by project funds. In the event project funds are no longer available, the position will be terminated. The terms of this contract will be contingent upon the project donor contract.
The official language for this position is English.
How to apply
Applicants should send a CV and a cover letter to laura.meggiolaro@landportal.info
Deadline: 16 February
While we sincerely appreciate all applications, only those candidates selected for interview will be contacted.