Country Technical Senior Specialist – Food Security and Instability & Conflict | Angola, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, or Togo | 2024

Chemonics seeks a Country Technical Senior Specialist – Food Security and Instability and Conflict (CTSS – FS&IC) in support of the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) 8 Decision Support (DS) project to be based in one of the following country offices: Angola, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, or Togo. The CTSS-FS&IC is responsible for supporting the delivery of food security analysis with a focus on instability/conflict, as well as representing FEWS NET in national and sub-national fora, under the County Technical Lead’s (CTL) direction. The CTSS-FS&IC’s primary focus will be integrated food security analysis, and specialized conflict analysis training will be provided to ensure the CTSS-FS&IC can fully assess the impact of conflict on food security.  We are looking for individuals who have a passion for making a difference in the lives of people around the world. 

FEWS NET is a donor funded project and is an integrated set of activities intended to provide timely, accurate, evidence-based, and transparent food security early warning information and analysis. The eighth phase of FEWS NET includes the Decision Support (DS) project which is charged with providing integrated monitoring and analyses of current and forecast acute food insecurity in countries worldwide to support policy and programmatic decisions. Based on an in-depth understanding of local livelihoods, the FEWS NET DS Team members monitor information and data on factors that affect food security, such as conflict, weather conditions and climate, crops, pasture, markets and trade, and nutrition. The work of the FEWS NET DS Team relies on close collaboration with international, regional, and national partners on food security data and information gathering and analysis. Major activities include joint monitoring and assessments, data sharing and exchanges, collaborative analysis and reporting, and technical capacity strengthening.  

Responsibilities include: 

Food Security Analysis  

  • Supporting the fulfilment of designated monthly reporting requirements, including providing critical inputs to the Food Security Outlooks (FSOs), FSO Updates (FSOUs), Price Watch, and key messages; contributing to Food Assistance Outlook Brief (FAOB) reports; and providing briefings to national and sub-national partners 
  • Under the guidance of the CTL, supporting the integrated food security analyses (FSOs, FSOUs, FAOB input) to classify and communicate the severity of acute food insecurity at the national and sub-national levels in line with the globally recognized Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) scale. Where IPC compatibility is not possible, the CTSS-FS&IC will support the CTL to ensure analyses remain globally comparable 
  • Supporting the CTL in meeting funder’s expectations on timely delivery of national and sub-national decision support products, which include, but are not limited to: delivery of monthly reporting for all presence countries no later than 7 days after the last day of the reporting month; responding to urgent questions on acute food insecurity within one day; providing briefings within one week of request; and assessing acute food insecurity in Expanded Global Early Warning (EGEW) countries within one week of request 
  • Supporting the CTL and Country Technical Manager (CTM) where relevant, in maintaining a national and sub-national knowledge base comprised of, at a minimum, livelihood zone profiles, commodity trade flow maps, seasonal monitoring calendars, commodity price data, nutrition data, security monitoring, conflict data, migration, remittances, labor, humanitarian food assistance, and other technical data covering rainfall, agricultural production, population, etc., in collaboration with other FEWS NET 8 implementing partners, as applicable    
  • With support from the CTL, overseeing the collection of data by in-country enumerators or field monitors and liaising with the Regional Data Coordinator to ensure effective management (cleaning, storage, uploading, etc.) of all field data/information  

Instability and Conflict Analysis   

  • Providing early warning analysis of instability and conflict in the country 
  • Supporting the technical development of the DS Team’s instability and conflict analysis sector, including improving the team’s ability to understand, communicate, and interpret conflict events, and supporting the development of conflict scenarios and projections of future conflict situations 
  • Regularly reviewing the consistency and accuracy of conflict projections and other conflict-related forecasting in the DS’s analysis and incorporate associated learning into sector methods, processes, and products 
  • Reviewing and providing guidance and inputs on conflict forecasts as a critical input to the Food Security Outlook and Food Security Outlook Update reports in collaboration with regional and country-level technical specialists to ensure alignment between conflict, livelihoods, agroclimatology and M&T forecasts 
  • Monitoring, assessing, and analyzing conflict, instability, social, political, and/or economic events that are likely to have an impact on the trajectory or intensity of conflict for integration into conflict forecasts where relevant 

Qualifications 

  • 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 
  • Minimum eight 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 
  • Proficiency in written and spoken English is required; other local language skills relevant to the country are desirable 
  • Excellent planning, organizational, analytical, and report writing skills 
  • Demonstrated ability to work effectively with others at all levels, including an ability to effectively liaise with supervisors, national and sub-nationally government authorities, UN, NGO, and other relevant stakeholders and an ability to coordinate effectively with remote colleagues 
  • Excellent computer skills, GIS applications. and mapping skills are desirable 
  • Willingness to travel regularly nationally and sub-nationally as well as regionally and internationally as be required, security permitting.   
  • Demonstrated leadership, versatility, and integrity  
  • Proficiency in written and spoken English is required; other local language skills relevant to the country are desirable 

Application instructions 

Please apply using the following link  by December 24, 2024, at 11:59 PM ET. No telephone inquiries, please. Chemonics will contact short-listed candidates. 

Chemonics is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate in its selection and employment practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, or other non-merit factors. 

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