Food Security and Agricultural Livelihoods Assessment Specialist

Organizational Setting

FAO Representation in Sierra Leone implements an integrated food security programme, focusing on diversification of livelihoods, managing natural resources and building resilience. The office employs diverse team of experts locally, but also attracts the available technical experts from the region and the Head Quarters (HQ). FAO works in close partnership with the Government of Sierra Leone, farmers and other stakeholders, supporting plans and policies that affect the food and nutrition security in the country; our work is a part of the corporate commitment to support countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, especially SDG 2 on Zero Hunger.

The Country Office is in charge of preparing for and effectively responding to food and agricultural threats and crises, with the support from the Office of Emergency and Resilience (OER). As part of the OER, the Needs Assessment team is in charge of generating quality and timely evidence to inform decision-making and programming, including anticipatory action and emergency response, through three work streams:

• A dynamic monitoring system of agricultural livelihoods and food security in the context of various shocks, consisting of periodic household and non-household data collection (through phone and in-person surveys) and analysis;
• Ex-post assessments of the impacts of shocks on agricultural livelihoods and value chains, using phased methodological approaches such as remote-sensing, damage & loss analyses, Post-Disaster Needs Assessments (PDNA), and other food security & livelihood surveys.

Risk profiles, which are derived from geographic baselines of past events and their impacts on agricultural livelihoods.

The various outputs of these three streams are processed, visualized and disseminated through FAO’s Data in Emergencies hub.

Reporting Lines

The NPP will work under the overall management of the FAOR, direct technical guidance from the Assistant FAO Representative and the technical supervision of the Regional Assessment Advisor. He will work in close collaboration with the global Needs Assessment team and with other country colleagues involved in evidence for programming.

Technical Focus

The NPP is responsible for coordinating and conducting the needs assessment activities in Sierra Leone. He/she is accountable for the timely implementation of activities related to the monitoring system in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

Tasks and responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Sierra Leone and direct technical guidance from the Assistant FAO Representative and the technical supervision of the Regional Assessment, the Food Security and Agricultural Livelihoods Assessment Specialist will:

Monitoring system

• Contribute to the development of a country roadmap (or annual workplan) and regularly liaise with the country management team and the regional assessment advisor on the alignment of the roadmap with strategic, technical and operational requirements;
• Lead the design of the surveys (instruments, sample, questionnaires, data collection modalities) by using and adapting the standard tools to the country circumstances, secondary data and roadmap;
• Coordinate data collection with partners (remotely for Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviews, with direct supervision and programming of digital tools for in-person surveys) and monitor data quality (including questionnaire testing and piloting, enumerators training, continuous control of interim datasets, quotas and audio recordings, production of a data quality report);
• Abide by the data management standards of the monitoring system, including data protection and storage, and hub-related workflow;
• Lead data analysis (including weights, statistical analysis and qualitative analysis);
• Lead the exploration and interpretation of dashboards on the staging hub, including the formulation of highlights and operational recommendations, and facilitate their validation by a panel of internal experts before publication;
• Contribute to the production of various analytical products including reports, presentations, meta-analyses, and Story Maps, using standard templates;
• Contribute to the dissemination of results and promotion of the Data in Emergencies hub. It can include hub demos and presentations of the survey findings to FAO country teams, Ministry of Agriculture, donors or Food Security cluster partners;
• Ensure the availability of data for other processes such as IPC, Harmonized Framework, Anticipatory Action scenario building, response analysis, programming exercises, and Humanitarian Needs Overview, and participate to these processes as required;
• Document lessons learnt and data uses;
• Participate to global and regional training workshops, and contribute to the worldwide Community of Practice.

Impact assessments and risks profiling

• Provide technical inputs to country decision-makers in the aftermath of hazards by proposing a combination of adequate and phased assessment methodologies;
• Coordinate the implementation of impact assessments with relevant expert units, including the global Geospatial unit and other country units.
• Develop an impact assessment preparedness plan for the main hazards identified in the country.
• Contribute to risks profiling exercises, as needed.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor or advanced degree in agronomy, rural statistics, agricultural economics, relevant social or natural sciences, or other related discipline relevant to the mandate of the Organization. Post graduate degree in related field is an advantage
• Minimum of 5 years of proven knowledge and experience in assessments, data analysis, surveillance systems, or monitoring and evaluation in the context of emergencies and food crises;
• Working knowledge of English and Krio.
• Nationality of Sierra Leone.

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Ability to work under pressure and adapt to an evolving and complex humanitarian context and within multidisciplinary and different cultural background teams;
• Strong analytical skills and knowledge of agriculture, food security, livelihoods, food systems and value chains in the context of Sierra Leone;
• Experience or familiarity with food security and livelihoods assessments methodologies, including surveillance or monitoring systems, Post-Disaster Needs Assessments, Damage and Losses assessments, agricultural production assessment, market analysis, and/or value chain analysis;
• Experience in survey design, sampling, data collection, data analysis, and interpretation for assessment processes in agriculture and food security;
• Working knowledge of advanced statistics with ability to use statistical software packages (in particular SPSS , STATA and/or R);
• Expertise in remote data collection including phone or web-based surveys and/or remote-sensing would be a plus;
• Experience in using and programming questionnaires in digital data collection tools (Kobo toolbox, ODK);
• Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written;
• Coordination skills with strong individual planning capacity;
• Knowledge of humanitarian principles.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• FAO does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview meeting, processing)
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. If you need help please contact: [email protected]
• Applications received after the closing date will not be accepted
• Please note that FAO only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/
• For additional employment opportunities visit the FAO employment website: http://www.fao.org/employment/home/en/