Southern Africa Regional Food Security Consultant at Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET)

Position Description

The FEWS NET EWT maintains offices in Africa, Central America, Asia, and the Caribbean. The regional food security (RFS) consultant is a member of the regional technical team who supports field offices in their respective region in the following activities:

• Efficient, focused acute food insecurity monitoring, early warning analysis, and response planning;
• Effective communication of this analysis to partners and decision-makers though high-quality reports, briefings, and other decision support;
• Capacity strengthening and network management of key local and regional stakeholders;
• Additional technical backstopping to French and Portuguese speaking countries in the region in food security monitoring, including focused early warning, technical reporting, and related food security activities;
• Supporting the FEWS NET EWT Madagascar and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and any other project offices in the region in the implementation of network development activities in collaboration with the regional representative (RR) and country representatives (CR).
• The RFS consultant assists the RR in providing quality control of project deliverables from the regional and national offices as assigned and helps to ensure that activities and products for the region are delivered in a timely manner.

Responsibilities

The RFS consultant will direct the majority of their support to the French- and/or Portuguese-speaking EWT project offices in the region. The main activities of the RFS consultant include, but are not limited to:

• Supporting field offices in the region in maintaining an evidence base composed of, at a minimum, livelihood zone profiles, commodity trade flow maps, sub-national seasonal monitoring calendars, and technical databases covering commodity prices, rainfall, agricultural production, population, historical assistance flows, and nutrition/health;
• In collaboration with the RR, providing high quality and effective early warning of acute food insecurity and supporting efforts to mitigate acute food insecurity and prevent food crises through the effective communication of actionable food security analysis;
• Participating in strategic planning and executing technical activities in areas of expertise, including cross-border markets and trade monitoring, regional scenario development, livelihoods analyses, and other areas as requested by the RR;
• Contributing to remote monitoring of non-presence countries in the region, including directly carrying out remote monitoring activities;
  • Collaborating with regional, and international partners in acute food insecurity monitoring and analysis, including through the implementation of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) and/or Cadre Harmonisé (CH) protocols;
• Coordinating with the RR to develop and maintain strong collaborative relations, both formal and informal, with USAID missions/representatives, US Embassy technical contacts, United Nations agency representatives, government ministries, and key international non-governmental organizations to facilitate technical exchanges, promote consensus-building, and resolve any potential conflicts;
• Supporting national offices in collecting, archiving, analyzing and sharing food security data and information;
• Fulfilling monthly reporting requirements, including support to drafting Food Security Outlooks (FSOs) and FSO Updates and providing regular briefings to the US Government and other partners;
• Contributing to other FEWS NET EWT information products required regionally and by the Washington-based technical team;
• Contributing to FEWS NET EWT methods development and testing;
• Assisting the RR in carrying out other technical, management, and representational functions of the regional office upon request. • Coordinating with the RR to support field offices in the implementation of Network Development activities,] in the region.

Qualifications

• Proficiency in written and spoken English and French is required; proficiency in Portuguese and local language skills relevant to the region are desirable.
• Bachelor’s degree in a discipline relevant to the work of FEWS NET, such as economics, agricultural economics, agronomy, nutrition, climatology, anthropology, or social geography is required; advanced university degree (Master’s degree or higher) is desirable
• At least two years of relevant experience (with PhD), four years of relevant experience (with Master’s degree), or six years of relevant experience (with Bachelor’s degree) is required. Relevant experience includes working on food security information systems, food security analysis, early warning, or other related fields; experience working with UN agencies and/or NGOs is desirable
• Demonstrated ability to effectively conduct food security assessments, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and analyze data from relevant sectors using both qualitative and quantitative methods is required.
• Demonstrated ability to work and coordinate effectively with regional partners and stakeholders is required.
• Experience leading capacity building activities is desirable.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills are required.
• Excellent analytical and report-writing skills are required.
• Strong computer skills are required; ability to use statistical software packages and/or GIS applications is desirable.
• Previous experience with Household Economy Analysis (HEA) is desirable.
• Previous experience with the IPC or CH is desirable.