Climate Change Data Analyst (Consultant)

Organizational Setting

The Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is undertaking its readiness activities for accessing Green Climate Fund (GCF) resources for addressing climate change. The project involves strengthening capacity of the Government to access climate finance through extensive stakeholder engagement, with the main objective of improving the monitoring system for climate change impacts on the agriculture sector in Trinidad and Tobago. The activities under this readiness will provide important baseline data and information that would be useful for future decision making on climate change priorities in the agriculture sector and therefore a basis for concept note and proposal development.

The activities under this consultancy will include the collection and analysis of data to establish the baseline and data needs to support further climate change analysis. The deliverables from this consultancy will inform other aspects of this project, including the technical design of the required databases and data collection frameworks that will support the monitoring of climate change and the effects on the agricultural sector in Trinidad & Tobago.

Reporting Lines

The Consultant will report to the FAO Representative and Project Coordinator in Trinidad and Tobago, the Lead Technical Officer in the Food and Agriculture Organization and the National Designated Authority (NDA) of Trinidad and Tobago (Ministry of Planning and Development).

Technical Focus

Climate change adaptation and planning

Duties and responsibilities

• Develop a framework for collection and analysis of meteorological, hydrological, (water flow) and agriculture data (production area and production figures for crop and livestock);
• Review existing meteorological, hydrological and agricultural data sources and examine for robustness and consistency;
• Evaluate the limitations of existing data sources and make recommendations to address limitations and data gaps, with particular focus on data needed to track the effects of climate change;
• Analyse meteorological, hydrological, water flow, and agriculture data sets to establish data baseline which can be used for further analysis of the effects of climate change and the relationship between climate change and agricultural data;
• Contribute recommendations for the develop ment of updated data collection, storage and analysis methods and sources, which will be utilized by IT Specialist to design database system recommendations.
• Contribute recommendations for the development of updated data collection, storage and analysis methods and sources, which will be utilized by IT Specialist to design database system recommendations.
• Meet with the stakeholders who collect the referenced datasets to discuss data limitations/gaps and suggestions for improvement, and to assess the institutions’ capacities to re-configure their current surveys and field work as needed to collect the data required for future projects and to contribute to a centralized database.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• A minimum of an advanced degree with at least 3 years relevant work experience in a quantitative discipline with climate data analysis and research experience.
• At least 5-years’ experience in a related field, with demonstrated experience in collecting, analysing and presenting data.
• National of Trinidad or resident in the country with a regular work permit.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Demonstrated knowledge of relevant climate change and agricultural literature and policy and/or industry knowledge and experience
• Experience in collecting, synthesizing and reporting data
• Experience in presenting data and numbers in simple language to various target audiences
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English
• Excellent digital presentation skills (including over virtual channels)
• Ability to interact with and work with a diverse array of people
• Experience in statistical analysis and ability to train others who do not have a statistical background.
• Professional background in agriculture, natural resources management, climate change or a related area would be an asset.
• Knowledge of role of agriculture and natural resource management in climate adaption/resilience and mitigation and related techniques.