Agriculture Information Specialist – Geographic Information Systems and Earth Observation (SC 7)

The Agriculture Information Specialist will support the operational deployment of a Sen4CAP pilot integrating Earth Observation data with farmer registry data in Zimbabwe. The role includes developing IT solutions for data collection, coordinating with national stakeholders, and supporting capacity development and reporting within the ESTELLA project framework.

Responsibilities

• Support the implementation of a limited, policy-driven Sen4CAP operational pilot in Zimbabwe, focusing on practical integration with the national farmer registry and priority policy use cases under ESTELLA.
• Participate in targeted consultations with key national stakeholders to confirm priority EO-derived indicators, aggregation levels, and use cases.
• Translate agreed policy needs into operational mapping of required Sen4CAP outputs, formats, and delivery mechanisms.
• Support the operational deployment and running of a Sen4CAP pilot using predefined workflows and methodological guidance.
• Coordinate the ingestion and validation of farmer plot boundaries and attributes into Sen4CAP workflows.
• Execute pre-defined Sen4CAP processing chains to generate EO-derived indicators linked to registered farmer plots.
• Package and deliver policy-relevant EO outputs in standardized formats for institutional use.
• Act as the national technical interface between FAO, national institutions, and UCLouvain for Sen4CAP-related operational matters.
• Design, develop, or configure a farmer-facing mobile solution to support data collection and integration within ESTELLA and Sen4CAP.
• Assess existing digital tools and propose appropriate technical solutions including configuration or custom development.
• Design and implement mobile data collection workflows for digitizing plot boundaries and capturing farmer and crop information.
• Ensure mobile solution usability in low-connectivity environments and interoperability with national IT systems and Sen4CAP workflows.
• Support pilot onboarding of farmers or extension services ensuring data quality and integration.
• Produce technical documentation and handover materials for national institutions.
• Coordinate with FAO and national IT counterparts on data governance and sustainability.
• Support and facilitate technical and coordination meetings within the ESTELLA governance framework in Zimbabwe.
• Provide technical mentoring to national staff on EO, GeoAI, and Sen4CAP workflows.
• Support technical sessions, coordination meetings, and demonstrations focused on practical application.
• Act as a national technical focal point supporting coordination between FAO, national institutions, and regional ESTELLA partners.
• Prepare and submit a final technical report summarizing activities, outputs, challenges, and recommendations.
• Design, develop or configure an interactive Remote Sensing/GIS dashboard for measuring progress on human-wildlife co-existence and biodiversity.
• Identify and map biodiversity and ecological hazards and risks using machine learning-based classification and time series analysis.
• Support the Geo-spatial component of the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund 2 initiative to track ecological health and biodiversity progress.

Requirements

• Advanced University degree in computer science, geospatial sciences, remote sensing, data science or a related field.
• At least five (5) years of relevant professional experience in Earth Observation, geospatial analysis, GeoAI, or related technical fields.
• Working knowledge (level C) of English.
• National of Zimbabwe.
• Practical experience with EO data and GeoAI or machine learning techniques.
• Experience using geospatial processing environments such as QGIS, Python or R, Google Earth Engine, or similar platforms.
• Ability to extract, manage, and structure plot-level EO indicators and document technical workflows.
• Experience working with agricultural or land-related datasets and with government institutions or development partners is an asset.

Skills

• Earth Observation
• Geospatial Analysis
• GeoAI
• Machine Learning Techniques
• QGIS
• Python
• Google Earth Engine
• EO Data Management
• Technical Workflow Documentation
• Agricultural Data Analysis
• Land-related Data Analysis
• Data Collection IT Solutions
• Capacity Development
• Stakeholder Coordination

Languages

English