Technical Specialist – Census Cartography

The Census Cartography Technical Specialist provides technical and operational assistance on geospatial and mapping activities for the national census across all provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The role involves overseeing pre-census mapping, field enumeration area delineation, mobile GIS integration, and satellite imagery processing to ensure modern digital cartography and GIS technologies are integrated into all census phases.

Responsibilities

• Lead the formulation and execution of the national Census Cartography & GIS Master Plan and budget, aligned with international standards.
• Establish technical protocols for digital cartography, including spatial database architecture, baseline coordinate reference systems, enumeration area (EA) size parameters, and layer standards.
• Manage procurement specifications for high-resolution satellite imagery, mobile mapping devices, GNSS/GPS technology, and GIS software/hardware.
• Design workflows for hybrid/digital mapping combining satellite data, open-source cartographic layers, and ground-truthing in complex field environments.
• Oversee the spatial delineation and digitizing of Enumeration Areas (EAs) and Supervision Areas (SAs) across all provinces.
• Develop robust Quality Assurance/Quality Control protocols to ensure geographical coverage is complete, non-overlapping, and accurate prior to enumeration.
• Supervise deployment and synchronization of mobile GIS mapping tools ensuring offline capabilities and data integrity in remote areas.
• Conduct field monitoring visits to evaluate cartographic progress, resolve technical bottlenecks, and adjust strategy to local contexts.
• Assess capacity gaps in GIS and digital cartography within national census bodies.
• Design and deliver technical training programs for national staff on GIS software, mobile data collection, satellite image interpretation, and spatial analysis.
• Establish sustainable local GIS infrastructure within the national statistical framework.
• Integrate EA boundaries and geospatial datasets into CAPI platforms for automated workload assignment.
• Manage post-census geodatabase, perform spatial analyses, population distribution modeling, and thematic mapping.
• Direct production of official digital census atlases, interactive web-mapping applications, and georeferenced population portals for open-data access.
• Serve as UNFPA technical focal point for cartography and GIS-related technical committees.
• Coordinate technical inputs with UN agencies, donors, academic institutions, and national mapping agencies.
• Provide strategic progress reports and risk analysis to Census CTA, UNFPA Country Office Management, and national census steering bodies.

Requirements

• Advanced University degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Cartography, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Geomatics, Geography, Remote Sensing, or related quantitative field.
• Minimum of 7 years of progressively responsible international professional experience in census cartography, GIS design, and spatial database management.
• Demonstrated hands-on experience designing and executing digital mapping strategies for large-scale population censuses, particularly in developing countries (experience in Sub-Saharan Africa / fragile contexts highly desirable).
• Expertise in using advanced GIS software platforms (ESRI ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Enterprise, QGIS), spatial DBMS (PostGIS, SQL Server), mobile mapping tools (Survey123, ODK, CSEntry), and high-resolution satellite imagery processing.
• Proven experience in technical capacity building and conducting technical training for national staff.
• Fluency in French and working knowledge of English is required.

Skills

• Census Cartography
• GIS Design
• Spatial Database Management
• Digital Mapping Strategies
• Esri ArcGIS
• ArcGIS Enterprise
• QGIS
• PostGIS
• SQL Server
• Mobile Mapping Tools
• Survey123
• ODK
• CSEntry
• Satellite Imagery Processing
• Technical Capacity Building
• Technical Training Delivery
• Geospatial Analysis

Languages

French, English