Regional Emergency Preparedness and Response Consultant

Overview

Support emergency preparedness and response initiatives in the LAC region

You have:

• Master degree or first-level university degree with additional years of work experience in International Affairs, Human Rights, Social Sciences or other fields relevant to international development assistance.
• A minimum of Six (6) years of relevant working experience in humanitarian and/or development-related work with an international organization.
• Fluency in English and Spanish. Knowledge of French (desirable).
• Willingness and flexibility to travel to Country Offices within the LAC region to support on emergency preparedness and response.
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural setting as a strong team player.
• Proficiency in Windows MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook).

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WFP celebrates and embraces diversity. It is committed to the principle of equal employment opportunity for all its employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of race, color, national origin, ethnic or social background, genetic information, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, religion or belief, HIV status, physical or mental disability.

Are you interested in further developing your professional experience while contributing to ending global hunger? Are you passionate about helping those in need? Would you like to join a global organization investing in its people? If so, an exciting & fulfilling career awaits you! Join our diverse and passionate team that works on varied and international projects directly contributing to saving & changing millions of lives around the globe.

ABOUT WFP

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide. The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes. Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

The deadline to apply for this position is June 13, 2022.

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

Disasters are a leading cause of hunger, affecting all aspects of food security; therefore, reducing risk and building resilience are prerequisites to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 2, and to create a world with Zero Hunger. LAC is home to 9 of the world’s top-20 countries most vulnerable to natural disasters. Over the past 5 years, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries have been affected by a variety of disasters and crises, including hurricanes (most recently Eta and Iota), recurrent droughts (i.e., the dry corridor that crosses El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala), the Venezuelan migratory and refugee crisis (that affect Colombia, Ecuador and Peru) and socio-political crisis, (i.e., in Haiti, Venezuela and Nicaragua).

With the exception of Haiti, the region is characterized by middle-income countries, with governments that are strengthening their disaster management systems as well as their social protection systems. However. these countries often require complementary assistance and/or technical assistance in order to ensure that these systems work together more effectively and become increasingly shock responsive. The region is also characterized by the presence of a number of vulnerable small island countries where WFP does not have a direct operational presence, but where WFP is often called upon to support emergency preparedness and response related initiatives.

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has particularly affected the LAC region, has not only exacerbated these pre-existing socio-economic inequalities, hampering access to food and nutrition and affecting the basic livelihoods of millions of people in the region but is also outpacing the capacity of the disaster management and social protection systems of many countries in this region, which are increasingly calling upon WFP Country Offices to complement their emergency response efforts.

The WFP Regional Bureau in Panama is responsible not only for positioning WFP strategically in this region but also for providing support to its 12 Country Offices at the operational level in view of facilitating the design and implementation of programmes, strategies, and processes that strengthen the emergency response and preparedness capacities of their host countries, as well as managing risks that come with these operations.

JOB PURPOSE

Under the direct supervision of the Head of the EPR and CBT team within the Programme Unit, and working closely with the rest of the programme team in RBP (in particular the Research and Analysis Team and Climate Change teams), the Consultant will assume responsibilities, that may have a clear field focus, potentially requiring travel to country offices (CO) across the region, including to hard-to-reach locations.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive)

The RBP Regional Emergency Preparedness and Response Consultant will develop the following responsibilities:

• Contribute in the provision of first level strategic and technical support (in coordination with other functions) to Country Offices about preparedness, early warning analysis, triggered early action, and effective emergency response.
• Provide advice and support to Country Offices to prepare and review programme related documents to ensure minimum preparedness is adequately integrated into these and proactively monitor when a potential change in context could trigger the need for changes at this level.
• Provide technical advice on the convening and organization of internal, regional level cross-functional coordination mechanisms (including acting as the secretariat of the Regional Emergency Task Force).
• Contribute to the Regional Bureau’s engagement efforts with regional political and economic organizations on regional emergency management and early warning and participate and represent the emergency preparedness and response function in regional thematic coordination working groups (e.g. regional clusters and working groups)
• Manage to provide Regional Bureau’s normative guidance and technical support to Country Offices (and governments where there is no Country Office presence) on capacity strengthening of National and Regional Disaster Management Agencies, supporting regional partnerships and training/simulations, partnering for south-south and triangular cooperation.

• Develop and maintain a technical peer network across regional actors (including on early warning analysis, climate tracking, GIS/innovations, capacity strengthening; etc).

• Enhance Information, knowledge sharing and learning on EPR related initiatives in the LAC region through the documentation and capturing of best practices and the sharing of corporate tools, systems, and resources with Country Offices in the region,

• Contribute with Research, Analysis and Monitoring (RAM) unit in tracking early warning indicators/risks and emerging risks in the LAC region, specifically of slow and sudden onset risks; disseminating daily, punctual/weekly, monthly and quarterly risk updates for the Region;
• Monitor risks in countries without WFP operations, in a proactive manner, and assist RB in identifying and implementing emergency preparedness, risk analysis and response options in these oversight countries.
• Provide technical advice on the use and implementation of emergency preparedness and response capacity related corporate EPR monitoring tools to measure WFP's contribution to national efforts at this level

• Carry out Economic, social unrest and conflict analysis to enable preparedness and contingency planning, including supporting CO to identify and monitor potential triggers, to develop contingency plans for potential future responses, and identify and implement appropriate preparedness actions. Review of minimum preparedness actions with informed social and economic analysis. This will include analysis/preparation for potential economic and/or civil unrest in urban areas, and feed into operational readiness plans. To support this work, EME teams (including Early Warning, OSS and the GIS Unit ; etc), CBT and Supply Chain teams in HQ can be leveraged.

• Contribute on the design and development of anticipatory actions and forecast based financed response mechanisms in coordination with the Climate change unit in the regional Bureau.

• Provide advice to Country Offices in the region, affected by a crisis/disaster, design and implement their emergency responses, through remote assistance or deployments to these countries
• Other duties as necessary, including additional surge support responsibilities and assistance to the Head of Programme

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Master degree or first-level university degree with additional years of work experience in International Affairs, Human Rights, Social Sciences or other fields relevant to international development assistance.

Experience: A minimum of Six (6) years of relevant working experience in humanitarian and/or development-related work with an international organization.

Languages: Fluency in English and Spanish. Knowledge of French (desirable).

Knowledge & Skills:

• Experience in international development asistance
• Willingness and flexibility to travel to Country Offices within the LAC region to support on emergency preparedness and response
• Ability to work in a multi-cultural setting as a strong team player
• Proficiency in Windows MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook);
• Action Management, Client Orientation, Cognitive Capacity, Innovation, Partnering and Teamwork.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Exposure to emergencies in the international arena, by direct work for an international institution/organization; in particular WFP
• Fluency Spanish and in French would be an advantage

WFP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK

These are the common standards of behaviour that guide HOW we work together to accomplish our mission.

Leads by Example with Integrity Drives Results and Delivers on Commitments Fosters Inclusive and Collaborative Teamwork Applies Strategic Thinking Builds and Maintains Sustainable Partnerships Demonstrates and encourages others to uphold the WFP values, principles and standards

Delegates responsibly and provides appropriate support empowering others to deliver results

Seeks out, trusts and listens attentively to diverse views to capture, learn, build and share new perspectives

Communicates and fulfils WFP’s vision and operational outcomes to deliver meaningful solutions

Initiates and builds partnerships by identifying and promoting opportunities for mutual areas of interest and benefit

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Position: Regional Emergency Preparedness and Response Consultant

Number of openings: 1

Based in: Panama City, Panama

Type of Contract: Consultant (Level II)

Duration: 6 months (with possibility for extension)

Only short-listed qualified candidates will receive an acknowledgement.

“Successful candidates will be placed in a roster for 2 years.”

HOW TO APPLY

To apply, please create a personal account and fill out the profile form with your personal information at career opportunities. If you are internal applicant, apply through your E-Recruitment profile.

In the application form, ensure filling the mandatory sections, attaching your CV, answering the pre-screening questions and agreeing on the legal statement before submitting your application. Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis on account of potential and performance. All applicants will undergo a rigorous process which includes screening against job requirements, a technical test, and a panel interview.

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All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.

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Potential interview questions

Added 4 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: wfp.org