Emergency and Rehabilitation Officer (MEAL)

Organizational Setting FAO is investing across all 34 provinces of Afghanistan in resilience reinforcing actions that focus on protecting agriculture livelihoods and local ecosystems, boosting local production of nutritious foods and cash-incomes, and safeguarding critical agriculture sectoral development gains achieved over the past couple of decades through revitalizing rural markets and economy. In particular, FAO provides a combination of humanitarian and basic needs/non-humanitarian assistance to female and male farmers and herders across Afghanistan in the agriculture, livestock, irrigation and natural resources sub-sectors through its projects and programs, as described in the 2024 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) and the United Nations Strategic Framework for Afghanistan (UNSFA) 2023-2025, specifically under UNSFA Priority 2 Economic Opportunities and Resilient Livelihoods. The position is located in the FAO Representation in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Reporting Lines The Emergency and Rehabilitation Officer (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning - MEAL) reports to the FAO Representative. In the execution of his/her duties, the Emergency and Rehabilitation Officer (MEAL) will work closely with the Programme, Operations and Compliance Units and will be supported, as required, by the Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER) MEAL team at headquarters. Technical Focus Provide advice and specialized support in the strengthening and monitoring of FAO Aghanistan’s emergency and resilience programme.

Key Results Technical and policy expertise to support the planning, development and implementation of divisional programmes, projects, products and services in accordance with the FAO Strategic Framework.

Key Functions • Plans and leads components of multidisciplinary teams, coordinates, and/or participates in Organization-wide committees, and provides technical expertise on international committees and working groups. • Develops and updates the supporting approach, methodology, tools, systems/databases, policies and/or standards to support programme delivery and specific objectives, services and outputs of Division teams focusing on (i) humanitarian policy, interagency collaboration and mobilization of emergency resources; (ii) response, food chain crisis, special operations, Level 3 emergency preparedness, early warning and support to transition; (iii) and/or programming to integrate resilience into FAO planning at all levels. • Develops position papers, proposals and/or policy briefs to support humanitarian policy development, coordination and liaison with international partners such as the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and other humanitarian groups involved in emergency and recovery activities. • Undertakes FAO emergency needs assessment activities and missions, conducts food and nutrition security assessments and analysis, coordinates in-country early warning alerts and further coordination with all partners. • Provides technical support to ongoing operational emergency and recovery projects and programmes and related capacity development in Afghanistan supported with Standard Operating Procedures, surge mechanisms and Level-3 capable response systems. • Promotes best practices to facilitate emergency programming, resource mobilization and integration of emergency and development work, as well as to provide capacity during critical phases of emergencies. • Monitors, promotes and coordinates resource mobilization activities including corporate appeals, donor macrogrants, Central Emergency Revolving Fund/Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation (CERF/SFERA) submissions, annual appeals and midyear reviews to facilitate resource mobilization through project and programme formulation. • Maintains and updates FAO emergency information systems, crisis communications, information and advocacy, as well as providing up-to-date information for reporting, audits, evaluations and inputs to FAO Governing Body documents. • Performs other related duties as required.

Specific Functions • Leads the development and implementation of a programmatic MEAL framework/strategy to generate consistent quantitative and qualitative information on FAO’s Afghanistan country programme. • Leads the harmonization of varied monitoring approaches including third party monitoring, field monitoring, technical monitoring and use of remote sensing imagery/big data/artificial intelligence in monitoring. • Provides timely and relevant information to the FAO Afghanistan management on the reach, outcomes and longer-term impacts of FAO's emergency and resilience activities including high-level analytics and visualizations (in the form of dashboards and other forms) as well as high-level impact analyses on key outcomes pertaining food security, nutrition security, livelihoods and agriculture-irrigation sectoral impacts. • Establishes tools and processes to monitor FAO's emergency and resilience activities, outputs and outcomes as well as high level impact analytics mentioned above. • Strengthens the processes, systems and activities pertaining enhanced accountability to affected populations (AAP) in coordination with the various teams within the Field Programme Unit. • Establishes a sound link between data generated at project/programme level and organizational learning priorities for both internal and external audiences. • Ensures the availability of relevant data for position papers, advocacy materials, policy briefs and proposals. • Manages the MEAL team human resources effectively to ensure compliance with specific donor requirements and accurate data collection and analysis for all FAO Afghanistan country programme. • Actively engages with OER MEAL team to increase alignment with corporate guidelines and procedures. • Ensures ongoing learning and capacity development of the Country Office MEAL team. • Leads FAO’s contributions to interagency initiatives on monitoring and knowledge generation at country level.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements • Advanced university degree in agricultural economics, social sciences, agricultural sciences, or related field. • Seven years of relevant experience with increasing levels of responsibility in monitoring and evaluation. • Working knowledge (proficient – level C) of English and limited knowledge (intermediate – level B) of another official FAO language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

Competencies • Results Focus • Teamwork • Communication • Building Effective Relationships • Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills • Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions, is desirable. • Extent and relevance of experience in monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning in humanitarian, development and peace programmes/settings. • Demonstrated knowledge of methodologies and technologies (STATA, SPSS, R) relevant to MEAL practice required, knowledge of the Resilience Index Measurement and Analysis (RIMA) is desirable. • Demonstrated ability to effectively communicate Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) findings into programming decision-making products. • Demonstrated experience in managing MEAL teams and processes. • Understanding of FAO policies and programs is considered a strong asset.