Geographic Information System (and Remote Sensing) Analyst

To be a competent professional guided by integrity and hard work; be able to use Geospatial technology in decision making towards solving problems of development (Environmental protection and socio-economic development).

I have worked as a Community Interviewer with Kenya Medical Research Institute (US's Centers of Disease Control and Prevention’s DSS Project); a training consultant with several NGOs in Kenya such as USAID-APHIA II Nyanza, Care Kenya and Plan International on community related issues. I have served in the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) under the GEF/WB funded Western Kenya Integrated Ecosystem Management Project (WKIEMP) as a Volunteer Field Assistant responsible for Community participation in conservation initiatives of the riparian zones in the three river basins of Western Kenya (R. Nyando, R. Yala and R. Nzia); here I was involved with mapping the areas of operation of the project and analysis of spatial data, and disseminating the same.

I am currently working as Assistant Project officer, Monitoring and Evaluation in the GIS Department with The Greenbelt Movement-Kenya. This is a non-profit grassroots Non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Kenya and founded by the 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate (Prof. Wangari Maathai) whose mission is to mobilize the rural community consciousness for self-determination, equity, improved livelihoods and security, and environmental conservation. Here, I work in the validation and verification of tree planting data from the planting sites using the GPS technology; collection of spatial data using GPS and analysis of the same using ArcInfo, and training the staff on spatial data collection, publishing the spatial information to staff, stakeholders and the donor community. This has helped the organization in getting the exact numbers of trees surviving from those actually planted by the communities in the organization’s areas of conservation. Also, the continued application of Earth observation by the organization especially the use of Remote Sensing and digital image analysis has helped the organization with a timely monitoring of the progress made in land cover change overtime.

Through reading many Geographic articles and papers I have tried to make an in-depth exploration into GIS and Remote Sensing as my areas of interest rather than just earning high scores in the final examinations.

I am an Undergraduate with Upper Second Class honours in Geography with concentrations in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing from Moi University, Eldoret-Kenya.

My academic training in Sociology, Community Development, Statistics, Research Methods and Communication Skills, Medical Geography, Geo-Information System and Demography has given me the ability to analyze complex socio-economic problems more analytically and quantitatively. I have well developed computing skills, competency in research and data analysis. In my work and research experience, I have worked as a team to achieve a common goal and as a result developed excellent interpersonal skills, precision in performance and great attention to detail.

I have received several certificates of training in GIS and Remote Sensing
I have an Upper Second Class Honurs degree in Geography (GIS and Remote Sensing)
I have successfully completed the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE)

I certify that the information so given is right.

Yours Sincerely,
Victor Odipo

I have undertaken several refresher courses in GIS and Remote Sensing that has contributed to my continued interraction with geoinformation:

• JICA-Net (Phillipines, Malaysia, Cambodia and Kenya): Remote Sensing and GIS Course sponsored by JICA with support from Japan Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
• RCMRD, Nairobi: Principles of Remote Sensing (using ERDAS Imagine and Idrisi)
• Clinton Climate Initiative: Mapping Biomass Baseline Survey for the Carbon stock in the Enoosupukia Forest-Kenya
• ESRI North Eastern Africa: training on the ArcGIS Server including Web Administration using the Microsoft.NET Framework, ArcGIS Server Enterprise Configuration and Tuning for SQL Server; Authoring, publishing and using GIS Services.
• ESRI Eastern Africa: training on GIS for Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Audit
• Google Kenya: creating mapping information useful to the community using Google Earth, Google Earth Pro, Google API, Google Map Maker and using Key hole Mark-up Language (KML)