Result of Service

Deliverable 1: Complete two background briefs, one for each selected aquifer
• Deliverable 2: Complete workshop materials
• Deliverable 3: Deliver a national workshop for the two national teams
• Deliverable 4: Support the two national teams in conducting their analysis and completing case studies on the use of GRACE data for groundwater analysis and management.

Work Location

Remotely

Expected duration

12 months

Duties and Responsibilities

The primary objective of this consultancy is to support ESCWA and its member states in their efforts to use GRACE data, remote sensing tools, and geographic information systems to support data collection, monitoring, evaluation, and analysis related to groundwater resources. This includes assisting two national teams develop their capacities in using these tools to manage their groundwater basins.

Under the overall supervision of the Climate Change and Natural Resources Sustainability Cluster Leader, the consultant would report directly to the Integrated Water Resources Management for Improved Water Security Coordinator and will be responsible for the following
duties:

• Provide a background brief for two selected aquifers prior to the national workshop based on background research including past studies, climate, hydrogeology, hydrology, etc..
• Develop presentation materials and interactive exercises to cover: GRACE web tool and API use for groundwater storage analysis, downloading GRACE results from the Arab Groundwater Knowledge Platform and using the Water Table Fluctuation method.
• Deliver a national workshop for the two national teams.
• Support two national teams in developing studies on their respective aquifers and analyze groundwater storage changes from 2002 – 2023 using data from the GRACE mission. Using these results assess the long-term sustainability of the two aquifers. Also support the two national teams in using the Water Table Fluctuation method to determine the recharge trends in the two study areas and compare to precipitation trends.

Qualifications/special skills

A master’s degree in Earth observation, geo-information science or related area is required. A Ph. D. is desirable.

All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.
A minimum of ten years of experience in the areas of earth observation and geo-information science is required.
A robust knowledge of GRACE mission application and delivery of training activities is required.
A minimum of five years of experience working in the area of groundwater management is required.

Languages

Languages English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA.

For this position, fluency in English is required.

Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

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.