Result of Service

Under the supervision of the Chief of Section (SAS) and the project officer, the Consultant will undertake the following tasks: 1. Develop a web-based operational platform to map slums in Bandung, West Java Province, Indonesia and Makassar City, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia 2. Support other works assigned by the supervisor in the Section and/or Division.

Work Location

Remote

Expected duration

01/03/24-31/10/24

Duties and Responsibilities

Space Application Section (SAS) of the Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction Division (IDD) is implementing the Asia-Pacific Plan of Action on Space Applications for Sustainable Development (2018-2030), which was formulated by ESCAP member States in 2018. As ESCAP progresses towards the second phase of the Plan of Action, the innovative use of digital technology and geospatial information system will play an essential role in developing new and emerging sustainable development solutions. In a post-pandemic world, “SPACE+ for our earth and future” is now the primary focus to build back better. Slum Area Mapping Tool (SAMT) is the third operational tool developed by ESCAP under the SPACE+ initiative. In working towards achieving the SDGs, integrating statistical data from various government sectors with geospatial data is essential for accurate and comprehensive SDG monitoring, assessment and planning. Geospatial data have high relevance for certain sectors notably, infrastructure, disaster management, agriculture, water and marine environments and urban development. Gathering, complementing, and analysing geospatial and social, economic and environmental data linked to time and location attributes in cost-effective ways enriches the understanding of ground-level impacts and interlinkages, both over time and in real time, and thus provides insights that would not be available otherwise. SAMT will be developed as part of the implementation of the project on “Building institutional capacity for the use of integrated spatio-temporal data in local SDGs monitoring and decision-making.” The key objectives of the project are to strengthen the institutional capacity of national geospatial information applications agencies, and local governments in target countries, to utilize integrated spatio-temporal and statistical data for local SDG monitoring and decision-making. This will be done through capacity development and knowledge-sharing activities to support local governments to select SDG indicators, process data, calculate, evaluate, provide a results summary and a demonstration system. Furthermore, voluntary local reviews will be conducted through online tools for the related demonstration systems. The results will also be shared with other countries in Asia and the Pacific through ESCAP’s regional cooperation mechanism and platform. Using machine learning the SAMT will identify slum areas derived from remote sensing data presented on an informative map and estimate the number of potential recipients of government social assistance. The informative map will be generated by developing a model derived from remote sensing data. A reliable classification model in determining the right locations of the potential recipients presented on a map would help the stakeholders increase the provision planning and monitoring of social assistance. The outputs of this project are intended to support related Ministries/Agencies and Local Governments to manage the distribution strategy and quantify the estimated number of social assistances needed for an area.

Qualifications/special skills

Higher level qualifications in engineering, disaster risk management, big Earth data analysis, remote sensing, economics or equivalent. In-depth knowledge of Southeast Asian languages and studies. have at least 10 years of working experience in geospatial information applications and have rich experiences in Google Earth Engine, slum mapping, machine learning and SAR data analysis. Knowledge and experience in Asia and the Pacific will be considered as an advantage.

Languages

Fluency in English and other Asian languages speaking and writing skills.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.