Switzerland: Data Science Intern for IFRC’s Go Lab

Background

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, with 190 member National Societies. As part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, our work is guided by seven fundamental principles; humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality.

Organizational Context

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC or “the Federation”) is the world’s largest volunteer-based humanitarian network. The Federation is a membership organisation established by and comprised of 190 member National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Along with National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Federation is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
The overall aim of the IFRC is “to inspire, encourage, facilitate, and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world.” It works to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people before, during and after disasters, health emergencies and other crises.
The Federation is served by a Secretariat based in Geneva, with regional and country offices throughout the world. The Secretariat is led by the IFRC Secretary General and provides the central capacity of the International Federation to serve, connect, and represent National Societies. The Secretariat’s focus includes providing support to the IFRC governance mechanisms; setting norms and standards; providing guidance; ensuring consistency, coordination, and accountability for performance; knowledge sharing; promoting collaboration within and respect for the RCRC Movement; and expanding engagement with partners. The Secretariat’s headquarters is organized in three main business groups: (i) Partnerships, including Movement and Membership; (ii) Programmes and Operations; and (iii) Management Services. The Programme & Operations Division is in turn organised in three Departments, each of them led by a Director.

Job Purpose

The intern will be part of the Emergency Operations and Information Management (EOIM) team, which is currently developing an IT-equipped emergency operations centre and networked facility to support IFRC responders and member National Societies with real-time disaster and crisis information for strategic and operational decision-making and communications. The current prototype is available on ifrcgo.org. The intern will support the creation and continuous update of information and data products such as data collection, analysis, maps, visualisations and dashboards.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

The IFRC is looking for an intern who will support the EOIM team responsible for the establishment of Go. Go is a web app supporting responders better collate, analyse, visualise and disseminate data and information during disasters. The project is still in its infancy, and new ideas, concepts and data products need to be continuously built and developed for the Go Lab – a safe place to test new ideas and products before going into production. The key tasks of the intern will be:

• Help maintain existing data processes
• Develop new data products for the Go Lab
• Work in close collaboration with key Partner National Societies in coding and developing new modules and improve existing ones.
• Provide connections within the IM network that may be useful to the Go Project.
• Provide feedback on colleagues’ work.
• Identify and track the enhancements and needs for the Go Lab and related final products.
• Technical support for Operations Room and Joint Task Force activation.
• Propose new solutions for improving data management in the Department of Disaster and Crisis and other departments. • Scraping and collation of datasets related to emergency operations, both single and multi-context environments. The intern will report to the Information Management Lead within the Emergency Operations and Information Management unit, which is part of the Disaster and Crisis Department in IFRC’s Secretariat, in Geneva.Education

Applicants for internship positions must be currently enrolled in a university or equivalent level, or have graduated recently in an area that is compatible with the IFRC activities. IFRC welcomes applicants looking to integrate an intern opportunity with ongoing thesis work.

Experience

Required:

• Demonstrated experience in data collection, analysis and processing of complex data.
• Experience with databases, creation of data-sets, data entry, and aggregation of data.

Preferred:

• Experience with Red Cross Red Crescent Movement Knowledge, skills and languages

• Proficiency in at least two of the following areas is required:

  • Mobile data collection (ODK, KoBo, Magpi)
  • Web-based mapping: (CARTO, Mapbox, Leaflet) o Dashboards (Tableau, DC.js/D3.js, Power BI)
  • Bespoke data visualisation (D3.js, Processing)
  • Basic data science (R, Python, SQL)
  • Data connections/ETL and indexing (FME, Logstash, Elasticsearch)
  • Static site generators (preferably Jekyll)

• Simple HTML editing experience is required.

• Knowledge of IFRC information management tools and IFRC data sources is preferred.

• Knowledge and understanding of disaster information management issues is an advantage.

Comments

Applicants are encouraged to link to or attach some of their work when applying.

Please apply on the organisation's website: Click Here