Welcome to REACH

Introduction

Welcome to the REACH Team! We are delighted to have you on board as our new GIS Officer/Assistant. Your role is vital in ensuring the effective management and visualization of data.

This welcome package is designed to provide you with essential information and resources to kick start your journey with us. Please take the time to read through these materials and familiarize yourself with our organization and your role in it.

Background on IMPACT and REACH

REACH was born in 2010 as a joint initiative of two International NGOs (IMPACT Initiatives and ACTED) and the United Nations Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNOSAT). REACH’s purpose is to promote and facilitate the development of information products that enhance the humanitarian community’s decision making and planning capacity for emergency, reconstruction and development contexts. REACH facilitates information management for aid actors through three complementary services: (a) need and situation assessments facilitated by REACH teams; (b) situation analysis using satellite imagery; (c) provision of related database and (web)-mapping facilities and expertise.

IMPACT Initiatives is a humanitarian NGO, based in Geneva, Switzerland. The organisation manages several initiatives, including the REACH Initiative. The IMPACT team comprises specialists in data collection, management and analysis and GIS. IMPACT was launched at the initiative of ACTED, an international NGO whose headquarter is based in Paris and is present in thirty countries. The two organizations have a strong complementarity formalized in a global partnership, enabling IMPACT to benefit from ACTED’s operational support on its fields of intervention.

Inductions

Induction Meetings

During your first weeks with IMPACT/REACH, you will be reached out by several Unit/Team focal points to attend an induction meeting. Below are the main induction meetings and the facilitators.

Cailean Mallon (Humanitarian Needs Monitoring Unit - HNMU)

Anastasiia Fitisova (Durable Solutions Unit - DSU)

Dave Van Zoonen (Emergency Team)

Brett Schmicking (Resilience and Early Recovery Unit - RERU)

Tetyana Kuchma (Environment Team)

Antoine Chandonnet (Humanitarian Infrastructure and Damage Unit - HIDU)

RaeAnne Dietlin (Localisation Team)

Nestor Cheryba (Data/Tools)

Mariia Tomashchuk (GIS)

Alina Belobra (Reporting and Communications Unit)

Yuliia Lastochkina (Field Operations)

Natalie Bark (PD and M&E)

Kateryna Stepanenko/Khrystyna Trush (HR - Code of Conduct[National Staff])

Oleksandr Nesterenko (Finance)

Kyrylo Osmak (Logistics)

Casey Clark/Sarah Studds (Programmes)

Gemma Robson (Impact in Ukraine)

Team Meetings

All Impact Staff Weekly Team Meeting

The company Organigram

Tools

List of frequently used tools in REACH

Key Contacts

Cross-Cutting Team

Nestor Cheryba (Ukraine Data Technical Coordinator)

Mariia Tomashchuk (Ukraine GIS Specialist)

Units Specific

Tetyana Kuchma (Environment Team – Senior GIS Manager)

Anatoliy Smaliychuk (Environment Team – Senior GIS Officer)

Dmytro Prodaniuk (Environment Team – GIS Officer)

Liliia Yurkiv (Humanitarian Infrastructure and Damage Unit – GIS Specialist)

Taras Kazancev(Humanitarian Infrastructure and Damage Unit – Senior GIS Officer)

Taras Hinchuk (Humanitarian Infrastructure and Damage Unit – GIS Officer)

Kostiantyn Klymenko (Humanitarian Infrastructure and Damage Unit – GIS Officer)

Ivan Perekrest (Localization/Emergency Team - Senior GIS Officer)

Nadia Usik (Resilience and Early Recovery Unit - GIS Officer)

Olha Stouzhuk (Humanitarian Needs Monitoring Unit - GIS Officer)

Iryna Novosiolova (Durable Solutions Unit - GIS Officer)

Bruna Rutyna (Longitudinal Survey - GIS Officer)

Your role as a GIS Personnel

GIS activities:

Supervision all GIS-related processes before the beginning, during, and after data collection - Sampling design, preparing data collection frame, monitoring of the data collection process, crosschecking data collected, spatial and numerical data checks, collection and management of spatial datasets, verification, cleaning, and updating of the collected data, communication with the field, security, and assessment teams on the progress and potential issues encountered;
Providing GIS analysis support to the REACH office including but not limited to providing required inputs for the development of mapping solutions, map development, data analysis, and data visualization;
Supporting the development and maintenance of country-level databases for the consolidation of all assessment-related and GIS data;
Assisting activities directed to the analysis of freely available optical and radar satellite imagery, and high-resolution images obtained within partnership frameworks with the aim of estimating conflict-related damage to infrastructure and environment;
Supporting the development of internal Information management procedures and guidelines.

Data visualization activities

Managing the overall development of tools and dashboards to visualize spatial data in an interactive manner using web-mapping tools. Under the overall guidance of the assessment team, You will be responsible for transforming static products into dashboards that can be shared with external partners.

Internal Communication Processes

Coordinating closely with GIS/Data Specialists, Senior Assessment Officers, and GIS Officers in the country to guarantee the quality of all REACH products.

Confidentiality and Data Protection

Maintaining the strictest confidentiality of data and processes. You will actively take measures to prevent the unauthorized sharing of information and data.

SOPs

Map-making SOP

Hello!

In case you made it here, you are currently reading the SOP of map development (Read Me) made by Me 😀. This repository contains the structure and the scripts needed to work with data, map-making process and creating final outputs.

The REACH Mapping Guidelines are the reference document to be followed by all REACH teams when requesting or making maps. They are divided into four sections:

- Section One outlines the process to be followed for the production and validation of maps.

- Section Two details the specifications to be followed for all REACH static maps, including the map structure, layout and filing specifications.

- Section Three specifies the process for requesting and updating interactive webmaps, the production of which is centralized by REACH’s Geneva Global Unit.

- Finally, Section Four provides an overview of remote sensing options available to REACH as well as the process on how to request it. As per webmaps, the request and initial analysis of webmaps is made at Geneva level by the REACH global unit

You can find the this document in the following link: REACH Mapping guidelines

Mapping Visualisation

All maps will have some purpose and audience for which they are intended, and all maps share a need for clear, effective communication.

To achieve a good visual result use recommended guidelines below:

Symbology

Recommended sequential color palettes for quantitative data.
Color-blind friendly palettes for mapping (diverging and qualitative data)

How to name files & maps

The correct naming of files is important in order to enable an easy search of products and to give a professional impression of our work. (See the guide )

The filename is made of the following element:

INITIATIVE = {REACH / IMPACT / PANDA / OTHER}
CTR = The 3-letter ISO country code Wikipedia
TYPE = {Report, Factsheet, Situation Overview, Profile, Presentation, Brief}
Research cycle = the name of the research cycle (e.g. JMCNA, Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI), etc.) and location, if applicable. Please do not use an underscore inside.
Date = The last element of the filename and document title. This should be the same as the date that appears on the cover page/header of the actual document and expressed by: Month Year (e.g. October 2018). Please do not use an underscore between the month and year.
Language: Only specified if there is more than one language version of the document. Add the 2-letter language code (e.g. EN, FR) at the end of the filename and document title, preceded by an underscore.

Training and Development

List of trainigns provided by HQ (mainly R)

Here is the link for the list of trainings.

Intro to R (Basic - Intermediate)

Here is the link to a training in R for basic and intermediate level. (Mandatory)

FAQs

Impact Initiatives Intranet FAQs

Under this link, you will find the most frequently asked questions related to R/Kobo/GIS/Coding within the organization.