The GBIF Secretariat is seeking applications from an individual candidate interested in coordinating three regionally distributed teams supporting projects in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Pacific Islands.
This call complements a separate call for regional support contractors for the Biodiversity Information for Development (BID) programme. The candidate selected through this call will guide and contribute to the work of distributed teams of support contractors working directly with communities of practice in the region. Candidates who wish to be considered for the part-time roles must respond to the call for applications for regional support contracts.
The regional support coordinator must reside within GBIF's Africa, Oceania, and Latin America and the Caribbean regions and will guide and participate in the work of the regional support teams assisting BID project grantees engaged in data mobilization and use. The selected candidate will play a key role in organizing the work of the three distributed regional teams.
Planning for BID's next phase is underway and expected to begin in the third quarter of 2024. This programme aims to improve access and availability to biodiversity data and information for decision-makers in developing countries, enabling the effective implementation of multilateral agreements such as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). Recognizing the challenge of implementing data mobilization projects successfully, BID emphasizes the role of capacity enhancement in helping funded projects achieve their goals.
The regional support coordinator will add to ongoing efforts of node managers, regional representatives, and volunteer trainers and mentors by:
- Coordinating the distributed help-desk assistance, training, and mentoring provided by the regional support teams contracted by the Secretariat in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Oceania
- Establishing knowledge flows between the BID project teams, the Secretariat, the GBIF network, and other experts from the GBIF community
- Ensuring the achievement of the objectives set out for each of the three regional support teams
Coordinator’s role
The regional support coordinator will work closely with the Secretariat to guide and contribute to the actions of the BID regional support teams in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Oceania.
GBIF's regional sub-committees serve as key platforms for communication, coordination and collaboration between GBIF Participant nodes. The regional support coordinator will collaborate with both nodes and the elected regional representatives to strengthen regional coordination in GBIF. These efforts complement the volunteer mentors, who remain an essential component of GBIF's capacity enhancement activities.
The regional support coordinator will:
- Support the onboarding of any new contractors in the regional support teams in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Oceania.
- Oversee the overall coordination of the work of the regional support teams in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Oceania to ensure maximum impact.
- Communicate timely information to the Secretariat on the implementation of actions undertaken as part of the BID programme, highlighting key impact areas, best practices, potential challenges, and identified capacity needs.
This call complements a separate call for regional support contractors, who together with the coordinator will form distributed regional teams. Candidates who wish to be considered for these part-time roles must respond to the call for applications for regional support contractors.
Scope of work under the contract
The regional support coordinator will support the Secretariat's BID programme team with responsibility for:
- Coordinating the overall action of the regional support teams in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Oceania, including guidance promoting a consistent approach, monitoring of progress and impact, and onboarding new contractors as they join these teams
- Regular group meetings of the regional support teams to support the development of regional communities of practice, involving, whenever relevant: the Participant nodes and regional representatives; BID project teams; the data publishing community; and interested observers
- Knowledge sharing and regular communication between the three regional support teams
- Compiled updates and feedback from the regional support teams to the Secretariat, with a focus on escalating any challenges that may prevent the successful implementation of the BID projects
- Advice to the Secretariat on training and skills development that would increase the impact of the regional support teams' actions
- Help in sharing news and events relating to the BID programme activities and ensuring the visibility of regional achievements
- Coordination for the efficient implementation of distributed regional help desks and oversight of the technical administration of the regional cloud-hosted IPTs in collaboration with the relevant Participant nodes and the Secretariat
- Updates and maintenance of relevant entries in the Global Registry of Scientific Collections (GRSciColl) in coordination with the Secretariat, GBIF regional representatives, relevant Participant nodes and regional support contractors
- Support, recruit and assign mentors and biodiversity open data ambassadors to strengthen the community of practice, in coordination with the Secretariat, regional representatives, and relevant nodes
- Bi-monthly status reports summarizing activities undertaken personally and by the regional support teams, in addition to participating in regular planning meetings involving the Secretariat and other regional contractors.
Eligible applicants and location
Individual applicants must reside in a country, island or territory within Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, or Oceania.
For applicants located in a GBIF Participant country or organization
Applicants residing in areas with a GBIF Participant country or organization must inform the relevant head of delegation (HOD) or node manager of their application. They are encouraged to include a letter of support from these representatives to strengthen their application during the review process. Applicants may find the contact information for these on the Participant tab of any country page or from the Participant list.
Skills and competencies
Required skills
Written and oral fluency in English is required, as it is the working language of the Secretariat. The ideal contractor will have substantial experience in a similar role, strong skills in mobilizing and publishing data through GBIF, and a solid working knowledge of:
- The GBIF network and its governance
- Community engagement and stakeholder management
- Strong communication skills and the ability to provide clear guidance, on engagement issues relating to motivating a distributed network, and on technical issues related to data publishing
- The content, structure and components of the GBIF data infrastructure
- The GBIF Integrated Publishing Toolkit (IPT)
- Relevant standards for data exchange (Darwin Core Archive and EML)
- The coordination of a multicultural distributed team
Desirable skills
The following skills will also be beneficial:
- Fluency in French, Spanish and/or Portuguese (written and oral) is highly desirable, with additional language skills considered an advantage
- Demonstrated experience in coordinating a team
- Project management skills, such as having successfully delivered funded projects
- Knowledge of international biodiversity-related conventions, including the Convention on Biological Diversity
- Experience in training or mentoring
- Basic understanding of JSON web services and their use
- Knowledge of R or Python and APIs
Schedule and time commitments
We expect the contracted work to be full-time equivalent (FTE) over the contract period. The majority of the working hours allocated to the contract should fall within the regular working hours of both the target regions and the GBIF Secretariat in Denmark.
The full-time equivalent rate for a 12-month contractor period based on 40 hours a week is €45,000 (euros) for the contract period.
The contract will run for an initial period of two (2) years with the possibility of renewal to continue providing similar services as described in the Scope of Work, based on a positive performance review. We anticipate that the contract will start in 2024.
The deadline for submission of proposals is 12 July 2024 at 23:59 CEST (UTC+2).
Application procedure
Applications must be submitted in English through the GBIF Grants Portal by 12 July 2024 at 23:59 CEST (UTC+2). When completing an application form on the GBIF Grants Portal, a candidate must upload their full CV.
For applications from countries or organizations that already participate in GBIF, you must inform the GBIF Head of Delegation or Node Manager of your application. In addition, you are strongly encouraged to include a letter of support, stating at a minimum that the Head of Delegation or Node Manager is aware of the application and that it appears to fall within the scope of the call.
Questions on the application procedure may be directed to bid@gbif.org.
About the GBIF Grants Portal
We highly recommend that applicants create an account in the GBIF Grants Portal as early as possible, as the account verification process can take up to two working days.
Note that if you already have an account in the GBIF Grants Portal, you should use your existing login information. You should not create a new account to apply to this call.
If you need to create an account in the GBIF Grants Portal and you are not currently affiliated with an organization:
- Go to the GBIF Grants Portal and click on "create an account now".
- Choose "yes" when asked if you represent or are affiliated with an organization or an institution.
- Complete the form indicating your primary contact information.
- In the Organization Information section, indicate the following under organization's name: 'Your first name-your last name-Consultant' and then replicate the information provided in the "Primary Contact Information" section of the form.
Selection process
A selection committee will involve Secretariat staff and members of the Participant Node Managers Committee.The selection committee will review and score applications from qualified applicants against the following criteria:
- Demonstration of required and desirable skills
- Previous relevant experience
- Appreciation of the task
- Potential for lasting impact on the capacity within the region
Candidates will also be expected to demonstrate their data mobilization, coordination, and communication skills through a practical exercise.
The selection committee will then evaluate the applications based on scoring. The committee may also take the following criteria into account:
- Language skills
- Geographic location to ensure alignment with the volume of expected BID-related activities in each of the target regions
- Complementary skill set with processes already established and managed by the GBIF network
Short-listed candidates will be invited to interview in August 2024.
Following the interviews, the selection committee will submit the list of suitable candidates to the Secretariat, which will decide on the appointment of the successful candidate.
Eligible countries and areas for coordinator's residence
Africa
- Algeria
- Angola
- Benin
- Botswana
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Cabo Verde
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Comoros
- Congo, Democratic Republic of
- Congo, Republic of
- Cote d'Ivoire
- Djibouti
- Egypt
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Eswatini
- Ethiopia
- French Southern Territories
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Liberia
- Libya
- Madagascar
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Mayotte
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Niger
- Nigeria
- Reunion
- Rwanda
- Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Senegal
- Seychelles
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Africa
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Tanzania, United Republic of
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Uganda
- Western Sahara
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Latin America and the Caribbean
- Anguilla
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Aruba
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bermuda
- Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
- Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba (Caribbean Netherlands)
- Brazil
- Cayman Islands
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Curaçao
- Dominica
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
- French Guyana
- Grenada
- Guadeloupe
- Guatemala
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Jamaica
- Martinique
- Mexico
- Montserrat
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Puerto Rico
- Saint Barthelemy
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Martin
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Sint Maarten
- Suriname
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- Uruguay
- Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of)
- Virgin Islands, British
- Virgin Islands, U.S.
Oceania
- American Samoa
- Australia
- Cook Islands
- Fiji
- French Polynesia
- Guam
- Kiribati
- Marshall Islands
- Micronesia, Federated States of
- Nauru
- New Caledonia
- New Zealand
- Niue
- Norfolk Island
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Palau
- Papua New Guinea
- Pitcairn Islands
- Samoa
- Solomon Islands
- Tokelau
- Tonga
- Tuvalu
- United States Minor Outlying Islands
- Vanuatu
- Wallis and Futuna