St Helena Government and South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI)

St Helena Government and South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute (SAERI)

Terms of Reference

Environmental Data and GIS Manager

1. Background

The island of St Helena, an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom (UK) is of volcanic origin and covers 47 square miles in the South Atlantic Ocean. St Helena is over 4,000 miles from the UK, 700 miles southeast of Ascension Island, and 1,700 miles from South Africa. The Island’s total population is around 4,000 persons, about 25% of whom live in the capital, Jamestown. The climate is kept mild and equable by the southeast trade winds and temperatures range from 14-32 degrees centigrade in the summer and 14-26 degrees centigrade in winter. The economy is small and is mainly based on offshore employment, agriculture, fishing and more recently a small but growing volume of tourism. Most commodities are imported and St Helena relies heavily on UK Aid to support essential services and livelihoods.

St Helena currently has no airfield and therefore the only regular mode of access to the Island is via the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) St Helena, which calls roughly 25 times a year, shuttling between St Helena, Ascension, and Cape Town. In November 2011 the announcement was made that an airport would be built on the island. The ‘airport project’ is now underway and the airport is currently scheduled to open in early 2016.

SHG has adopted a policy framework of three high level Goals and eight key result areas. This framework builds upon the structure developed as part of the 2012/13 -2014/15 Sustainable Development Plan and sets out Government’s policy priorities. These priorities form the basis for all planning, target setting and resource allocation within each Directorate.

The St. Helena Government (SHG) Environmental Management Division (EMD) was created in April 2012 and since publication of our National Environmental Management Plan in October 2012, work has been progressing to put in place the staffing, research and strategic planning to enable effective management of the environment, so vital to St Helena’s future in a rapidly developing economic climate. EMD consists of three sections covering Environmental Risk Management, Nature Conservation and Environmental Assessment and Advocacy.

A key component to the development of effective environmental management is a sound evidence base. A robust system for data and spatial data management is required to be developed and embedded in working practice across EMD.

This post was created, in collaboration with SHG, as part of the South Atlantic Information Management and GIS Centre being set up by SAERI. The objectives of the collaboration are for the five South Atlantic Overseas Territories to work through the Falklands based SAERI to facilitate the development of a cloud GIS analysis and data management system to support a wide range of conservation projects in the South Atlantic. This will give all the OTs in the region access to a range of data via the SAERI offices in Stanley and provide support and training to all of the regional OTs to assist them in their use of new and existing environmental data for research and project management.

SAERI’s objective is to be a world class academic institute, based in the Falkland Islands, operating in the South Atlantic from the equator down to the ice in Antarctica. It aims to conduct world class research, teach students, and build capacity within and between the UK South Atlantic Overseas Territories (UK OTs). The institute’s remit includes the natural and physical sciences. Its mission is to advance environmental understanding in the South Atlantic through research excellence and innovative scientific leadership (

This is an 18 month post based with EMD on St Helena. Salary for the post is £20,000.

1. Scope of work:

• Review the existing data management and GIS systems within EMD and propose an approach to develop these.

• Implement the (approved) proposal by establishing these systems.

• Train relevant staff and provide support to ensure the long term effective use of these systems

• Provide GIS expertise for current EMD projects including mapping for National Conservation Areas and marine habitat mapping

• The work will be in the context of a number of constraints including limited broadband width, slow download speeds, limited resources, rugged terrain providing challenges for DGPS work (line of sight for signals limited)

1. Outputs

• Robust data management and GIS systems for Enviromental data for EMD

• Standard protocols for data share, collection, entry and analysis for EMD and for other stakeholders.

• At least 2 staff from each EMD division and 2 from SHG GIS team trained in use of systems created.

1. Reporting

The SHG officer responsible for this contract is Isabel Peters, Acting Head of Environmental Management Division(); GIS Specialist – Project Officer based in SAERI, Falkland Islands will be the technical lead

1. Qualifications and Experience

Essential

• Qualified with a degree in GIS or equivalent subject
• At least 5 years post graduate experience working in the field of GIS and managing GIS projects, particularly within the Environmental Sciences
• Experience of setting up and the development of Environmental GIS systems from the ground up, to include a spectrum of end users from Government, NGOs and community members
• A good working knowledge of Arc GIS, and other GIS packages includingopen source GIS applications and databases.
• An excellent communicator with good interpersonal skills who can convey complex concepts and facts to a variety of audiences, including international scientists, government leaders and officers, companies (Directors), industry (CEOs and Managers), the general public and to secondary and primary education.
• The ability to work well in a small team
• Ability to work well under pressure
• Resourceful and Flexible

Desirable

• Chartered geographer status (Cgeog (GIS))
• Experience of working practices, or contacts, within other small islands or Southern Africa.
• Experience in supporting terrestrial and/or coastal and marine management. This could cover habitat mapping, spatial analysis of animal movements, habitat modelling, and the optimisation of marine/terrestrial protected areas

1. Competencies

Under the SHG Competency framework, this post holder is required to have the competencies as outlined in the attached annex.

Annex 1: Competencies

COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK

1. Planning and delivery of work -

iv) / Ensures appropriate resources and levels of capability to deliver to plan.
Promotes and enforces appropriate organisational rules and procedures
Leads by example in managing business relationships

1. Analysis and use of information –

v) / Identifies trends from complex or conflicting data.
Takes steps to address the root causes of highly complex problems
Develops new policy and procedures.

1. Decision making –

iv) / Thinks through the implications of decisions.
Breaks down highly complex information into workable components for others.
Draws together disparate information to resolve problems.
Facilitates others to generate and solve probems.
Empowers others to take creative decisions to meet organisational needs.
Considers internal and external influences in complex decision making and problem solving.
Solves problems that have significant long-term implications for the organisation.

1. Working with others –

iv) / Manages relationships with key stakeholders by utilising a high level of understanding of own and other’s behaviours.
Develops relationships with key stakeholders.
Influences key stakeholders on issues relevant to the organisation.
Creates an environment which will enable delivery of shared policy outcomes

1. Communication –

v) / Promotes communication across the organisation.
Negotiates to reconcile individual competing priorities
Communicates the organisation’s priorities
Summarises complex information in an effective manner

1. Influencing and persuading –

v) / Influences the organisation’s strategy by utilising internal and external resources.
Delivers influential advice and briefings.
Focuses on outcomes irrespective of the source of the challenge.
Sets strategies to support a diverse workforce.

1. Dealing with Change –

iii) / Supports individuals in their team through periods of change.
Listens and responds to constructive feedback.
Initiates new ways of doing things.
Recognises and deals with obstacles to change.
Promotes goals or new initiatives to others.

1. Continuous improvement –

iv) / Keeps up to date with developments that affect SHG and anticipates what may affect it in the future.
Creates an environment which allows people to improve the way they work.
Creates an environment where employees and colleagues work to improve the way things are done.

1. Managing resources (including people and finances)

ii) / Promotes and enforces appropriate business rules.
Deals with varied situations with limited guidance.