Call for Surveyors / Enumerators in the Geitawi Neighborhood - LIQAA

About the collective 

The Jesuit Garden Neighborhood Gathering (JGNG) known as LIQAA, is a group of residents located in Geitawi that are interested in improving the lives of people and businesses in the neighborhood and taking care of our public spaces. Centered around the Jesuit Public Garden, we hope the community can reconnect to nature, connect with each other and feel a sense of ownership over public spaces. Ultimately, we aim to leave a legacy for future generations.

WHO?

4 surveyors will report directly to & work under the general supervision of the LIQAA Coordinator. While it's beneficial for the applicant to reside in or have comprehensive knowledge of the Geitawi/Rmeil/Jesuit Garden neighborhoods, all interested candidates are encouraged to apply. Applicants who might not have direct experience in the neighborhood will be further assessed based on their skills and qualifications.

Please note, the surveyors who show promise will be considered to be involved more regularly with the collective & for future projects.

WHAT? WHY?

LIQAA will begin its mapping project to build a cohesive network of craftspeople, artisans & small businesses/shops in the Geitawi neighborhood. This will directly assist in our mission to locate & help preserve the heritage of handicrafts in the area. Furthermore, we will be putting on the 2nd edition of our Garden Market in October & the mapping will be invaluable in bringing in hidden or otherwise unknown craftspeople or small businesses to join the market. The research & mapping will be useful in assessing the needs of our community & identifying future opportunities & dictating the programming goals of the LIQAA collective, whether specific to livelihoods or the arts & cultural sectors.

WHERE?

The general areas which will be surveyed include: surrounding the Jesuit Garden, to the Saint Lois St. & Charles Malek St. intersection (Wooden Bakery & Fransabank area), the area around Bank Byblos & Domino’s Pizza, down through the Camp Abyad area and around Qobayat St. towards the Geitawi Hospital, the residential areas directly south of Mar Mikhael & the Vendome Stairs & the Laziza Park & Laziza Stairs area, & along El Khazinein St. back around to the Orthodox Hospital. These areas make up the Geitawi, Jesuit Garden, & Orthodox Hospital (Mastashfa El Roum) areas.

Our research & mapping activities will be based out of the Jesuit Garden & the Assabil Library located inside the garden. Here we can meet & collaborate, plan our trips into the field, print surveys, finalize survey data, etc.

WHEN?

September - October, tentatively. Please refer to the "Surveying tentative timeline" for more information. (More time may be allocated to the data aggregation & analysis phase.)

HOW?

The surveyors/enumerators will be utilizing surveys designed by the LIQAA collective to gather both qualitative & quantitative socio-economic context data. We will be following the existing delineated Beirut Municipal Districts, Cadastral & Sector Zones. The data base that we will use to build our research & mapping will come from pre-existing territorial mapping done in the area. Especially data extracted after the Beirut port blast such as Beirut Urban Lab’s Beirut Built Environment Database (BBED through ArcGIS) which is made publicly available. After designing the surveys & recruiting the surveyors, Beirut Urban Lab will lead a workshop for the team to become more familiar with our specific modality/methodology for survey data collection.

Skills & qualifications

• High School diploma
• Previous experience working with community development organizations & surveying
• Familiarity with data collection tools & software is desirable
• Good interpersonal & communication skills, sensitivity in dealing with people from different backgrounds (social, economic, religious, ethnic, age, etc.)
• Ability to adapt to difficult field environments, perform tasks in a timely & consistent manner, and problem-solving & working effectively as a team
• Fluency in written & spoken Arabic & English

Compensation

The surveyors will be compensated depending on the hours of work/days invested by each member. (Our standard pay rate for daily workers is $10 per day [between 4 – 8 hr. workdays]). However, this can be negotiated...the pay can based on achievements & capacity of the team to meet deadlines & successfully complete the project deliverables within the suggested timeline. In that case, each surveyors will be paid on a project completion basis in lump sum.

Tentative project timeline

• August 18th – August 31st : Surveyors recruitment & interviews
• September 1st : Surveyors first team meeting w/ Coordinator
• September 6th : Survey design & methodology workshop
• September 7th : Surveyors team begins field visits in Geitawi
• September 11th : Surveyors first report to Coordinator
• September 15th : 2-week assessment of data collection; assess team strengths & difficulties
• September 22nd : 3-week assessment; begin aggregating & analyzing data results
• September 29th : 4-week assessment; final report to Coordinator; extend or finalize data
• October 2nd – October 6th : Finalize data results & complete map of craftspeople/MSMEs