Information Management Specialist for the Food Security Cluster

Organizational Setting

Since its endorsement by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) in December 2010 and its functional set-up in April 2011, the global Food Security Cluster (gFSC) has been successful in creating a conducive environment for global partners to discuss food security operational and policy matters. It has been instrumental in developing tools and providing guidance and support to countries affected by humanitarian crisis. The gFSC is led by FAO and WFP. Over 40 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the international Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) are active members at global level. The cluster focuses on coordination of food assistance and livelihood humanitarian interventions. Overall, food security is the largest sector in humanitarian response, as it represents 35% of funding requirements through the global humanitarian appeal. The average profile of a country food security cluster is a group of 68 partners targeting two million food insecure people and managing a sector appeal of US$ 250 million yearly.

Reporting Lines

The IMO reports to the Food Security Cluster Coordinator (FSC-CC) and responds to the FSC Membership’s needs for information.

Technical Focus

The Information Management Officer (IMO) is one of the core Food Security Cluster (FSC) Coordination team members and plays a vital role in collecting, analysing, and sharing information that is important for the cluster stakeholders to make informed, evidence based and strategic decisions on:

1. Food security needs and geographic areas of affected populations;

2. Location and activity of Food Security actors;

3. Key gaps in activity/program coverage and response overlaps;

4. Existing capacity (human, material, financial) to be utilised in support of the identified response needs;

5. Monitoring of the response against the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) and other set indicators.

The FSC IMO is responsible for the day-to-day management of the FSC IM Tool, under the technical guidance and support of the IM team at the Global FSC. The IMO needs to be able to liaise and communicate with a wide range of stakeholders and acts as a ‘bridge’ between food security decision makers and technical information management (IM) staff. Fundamental to the job is the ability to design (and/or adapt) the right tools to collect and analyse data as well as to present information in a way that is easily understood by the FSC members, and external audience (i.e. graphic means such a mapping but also through tables, charts, and narrative writing).

Tasks and responsibilities

• Support the Humanitarian needs Overview (HNO) preparation: provide data for FS indicators; together with FSC-CC, and along with Information Management Working Group (IMWG), analyse the severity of needs and define People in Need (PiN);
• Support the development, together with the FSC-CC and in consultation with sector partners, of the coordination of FSC response plans, strategy and logframe (e.g. HRP);
• Support FSC-CC in creating and monitoring the FSC HPC online system for project submission;
• Proactively gather information from FSC partners and other organizations which may be of use in ensuring informed decision-making processes;
• Develop and maintain database about FSC partners’ activities, analyse and process the data, and share final information and products (dashboards, maps, etc.) with FSC partners. Ensure that data is collected and presented in a way consistent with the FSC objectives;
• Ensure financial monitoring for cluster response activities (e.g. check OCHA FTS);
• Conduct secondary data review, compile an inventory of available assessments and provide FSC partners (and IPC where applicable) with a list of available information/data with respective sources on a regular basis (e.g. common Cluster / Sector data sets, including population data disaggregated by age and sex, assessments and other surveys such as EFSA /CFSAM/SMART, IPC);
• Create and maintain contacts directories and mailing lists ;
• Maintain updated gFSC country and the FSC Humanitarian Response webpages with all relevant material;
• Conduct capacity building for FSC partners on IM (e.g. on monitoring / reporting formats, project submission, excel use);
• Contribute to the development of reports (Sitreps, Bulletins, newsletters) by providing the FSC-CC with data and information;
• Assist in organizing FSC meetings and working groups (if applicable) ;
• Together with the FSC-CC, support gFSC initiatives, e.g. Cluster Coordination Performance Monitoring, global cluster annual overview, global dashboards, etc.;
• Liaise with OCHA and IM Focal Points in other clusters, and attend IM Working Group meetings or other relevant WG meetings – share information as appropriate.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree preferably in Statistics, Economics, Data Management, GIS, International or Humanitarian studies or other related fields;
• At least 1 year of relevant experience in data management and visualisation.
• Working knowledge of Spanish (mother tongue or C level) and limited knowledge of English (B).

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• International work experience -mainly in Latin American countries- is an asset.
• Work experience in humanitarian contexts is an asset.
• Experience in food security-related topics is highly desirable