Humanitarian Analyst (Volunteer) | ReliefWeb 6 views

About the Initiative

Data Friendly Space (DFS) is building a global volunteer network to ensure that every humanitarian crisis, especially those most neglected, receives consistent, professional-grade situational analysis.

This initiative is inspired by other community-driven efforts where committed individuals devote a few hours of their time to maintain a public good, from Wikipedia’s volunteer editors who keep the world’s encyclopedia current, to the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT), whose mappers provide critical geographic data for crisis response. We believe humanitarian analysis can follow the same model: professional knowledge, crowd-maintained, and freely shared.

Through SituationHub, our digital public good, we aim to publish weekly humanitarian analysis for local responders, affected communities, NGOs, national institutions, INGOs, UN agencies, and the wider humanitarian community. This initiative invites talented humanitarians to contribute a few hours each week to monitor crises and keep the global community informed.

We believe access to quality data and analysis should be democratised and free. By decentralising and localising analysis with people living in affected countries monitoring their own contexts, we ensure that insights are grounded, timely, and relevant.

Position Description

Volunteer Humanitarian Analysts contribute to SituationHub by producing frequent analytical outputs for their assigned region or country. Volunteers are placed in regional analysis groups based on interest and capacity, and work alongside the DFS Analysis Team.

All analysts receive training in secondary data review, humanitarian analysis methodology, and AI-supported workflows. This role is open to early-career professionals seeking to build analytical experience and to experienced humanitarians willing to share their knowledge for the benefit of the wider community.

Roles & Responsibilities

Humanitarian Analysis

• Contribute to regular regional situation reports, country briefs, and thematic outputs published on SituationHub.
• Conduct secondary data collection, desk research, evidence synthesis, and trend identification.
• Identify early indicators relating to humanitarian needs, risks, access issues, displacement, and shocks.
• Use AI-assisted research and drafting tools (training provided) to support analytical production.
• Participate in collaborative review cycles to ensure clarity, accuracy, and responsible framing.

Collaboration, Learning & Team Engagement

• Actively participate in coordination calls with the analysis team.
• Join capacity-building and training sessions conducted by DFS, including method sessions, tool walkthroughs, and analytical skill modules.
• Engage in peer review, shared drafting, and feedback processes within the regional group.

Preferred Profile

We welcome applications from a range of professional backgrounds. Humanitarian experience is a strong advantage, and we particularly encourage applications from analysts based in or with deep knowledge of crisis-affected regions.

• Early-career professionals and humanitarian practitioners seeking to build or strengthen analytical experience.
• Experienced humanitarians willing to share their insight and contextual knowledge as a contribution to a digital public good.
• Fluency in French, Spanish, Arabic, or other official local languages, with the ability to draft professional analytical reports in those languages, ensuring this public good reaches humanitarian communities beyond English speakers.
• Strong skills in research, writing, synthesis, and critical reasoning.
• Ability to commit 5–10 hours per week reliably over a 6-month period.
• Comfortable working in a remote, collaborative environment with deadlines.

Engagement Terms

Type: Volunteer position
Commitment: 5–10 hours per week
Minimum Duration: 6 months (extendable)
Location: Fully remote

Regional Groups Available:

• Americas & Caribbean
• West & Central Africa
• East & Southern Africa
• Europe & Central Asia
• South & East Asia & Pacific
• Middle East & North Africa

Benefits & Development Path

• Practical experience in real-world humanitarian analysis.
• Training and skill-building through DFS capacity-building sessions.
• Exposure to AI-assisted humanitarian workflows and reporting tools.
• Visibility and publication credit for contributions on SituationHub.
• Certificate of completion upon successful completion of the programme.
• Priority consideration for paid roles as the initiative scales and funding is secured.

Long-term Vision

The volunteer and crowdsourced nature of this initiative is central to its identity as humanitarian analysis is maintained by the community, for the community. However, expanding to more comprehensive, varied, and granular analysis requires resources beyond what volunteers alone can sustain: paid analyst time for deeper outputs, and dedicated human resources for coordination, capacity building, outreach, and advocacy.

Our goal is to secure long-term funding that enables this growth while preserving the volunteer foundation that makes the initiative possible. Volunteers who contribute to this programme will be prioritised as it scales.

About Us

Data Friendly Space (DFS) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation based in the United States with a fully remote team. DFS helps social impact organisations get things done, with specific emphasis on technology, AI, and data analysis.

Learn more at datafriendlyspace.org