Job Posting : 09/Apr/2021
Closure Date: 23/April /2021, 11:59:00 PM
Organizational Unit: Office of Emergencies and Resilience, OER
Job Type: Staff position
Type of Requisition: Professional Project
Grade Level: P-5
Primary Location: Italy-Rome
Duration: Fixed-term: one year with possibility of extension
Post Number: 2008437
CCOG Code: 1S01

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Organizational Setting
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is the specialized Agency of the United Nations (UN) leading international efforts to defeat hunger. FAO works in over 130 countries worldwide to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to high-quality food.
 
FAO's Office of Emergencies and Resilience leads the Organization's efforts to support Members in their endeavours to save agricultural livelihoods of people and communities and enhance their resilience in the face of disasters, crises and conflicts. The Organization strives to secure sustainable development gains while ensuring that all interventions to support agriculture and food systems are risk-informed and sustainably productive. Food crisis contexts require a well-organized, highly prioritized, and well-resourced humanitarian and resilience programme to play a meaningful role in the relevant fora at national, regional and global levels. To claim its rightful place and to contribute meaningfully to relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in food crises contexts, timeliness and speed in generating quality information and analysis together with agility in processes, partnerships, and delivery are central. In short, prevention and mitigation of disasters, whether related to natural hazards, plant and animal pests and diseases and/or conflict, together with being prepared and able to respond when disasters hit, require structured and agile system that is able to carry out effective processes of risk assessment and risk management.
The global Food Security Cluster (gFSC) is co-led by FAO and World Food Programme (WFP) and led by two Global Coordinators.

 
Reporting Lines
The Global Coordinator (Food Security Cluster) reports to the FAO Director of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER) and the WFP Director of Emergencies, and works closely with the Global Coordinator at WFP. He/she reports administratively to FAO.
 
Technical Focus
Supports to implementation of FAO's resilience agenda at global, regional, subregional and/or country level.
 
Key Results
Leadership and technical policy expertise for the planning, development and implementation of Division/Office Programmes of work, projects, products, services.
 
Key Functions
• Plans, manages, or leads highly specialized or multidisciplinary teams; leads, coordinates, and/or participates in Organization-wide committees and provides technical leadership on inter-agency committees, networks and international working groups;
• Contributes to and/or coordinates the planning, budgeting, implementation and reporting of the programme of work, team plans, the supporting policy, tools, standards and systems frameworks and collaborates with the Strategic Objective (SO) Coordinator in (i) the conceptualization of the SO programme; (ii) the supervision and evaluation of the SO contributors; (iii) the identification of resources; (iv) the development of networks and partnerships; (v) the implementation of advocacy and communication activities;
• Oversees and/or provides expert technical assistance to teams focusing on (i) humanitarian policy, inter-agency collaboration and mobilization of emergency resources (ii) response, food chain crisis, special operations, level 3 emergency preparedness, early warning and support to transition, and/or (iii) programming, integrating resilience into FAO planning at all levels, and the delivery of related products and services;  
• Promotes best practices and provides technical support/services and operational coaching to the Decentralized Office network, designates geographical focal points to facilitate emergency programming, resource mobilization and integration of emergency and development work in countries in collaboration with Regional Offices (RO), and provides capacity during critical phases of emergencies;
• Oversees ongoing operational emergency and recovery projects and programmes and related capacity development in countries and regional and subregional offices;
• Coordinates resource mobilization activities including corporate appeals, donor macro grants and Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)/Special Fund for Emergency Rehabilitation Activities (SFERA) submissions and collaboration with countries and ROs to facilitate resource mobilization through project and programme formulation; leads resource mobilization efforts for non-core functions and activities of the global cluster secretariat and country clusters, including standby partnerships (private sector, government agencies and NGOs);
• Oversees knowledge management activities including the maintenance and updating of 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.
 
Specific Functions
• Develops and enhances cluster vision in the context of the Inter-agency Standing Committee (IASC) humanitarian cluster approach;
• Ensures timely and effective interaction between the global Cluster Secretariat and country-level food security clusters and provides leadership towards the continuous improvement of country-level cluster support functions and services, including links with other clusters and cross-cutting topics;
• Represents the gFSC in relevant inter-cluster fora;
• Ensures timely reporting to the FAO/WFP Food Security Cluster management team and provides reports to global cluster partners, inter-cluster fora, other global clusters, donors and other relevant stakeholders;
• Advises the FAO Director of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience and the WFP Director of Emergencies on the roll-out, management and exit strategies of food security clusters at country-level;
• Co-leads, together with the WFP Global Coordinator, the implementation of the global Food Security Cluster (gFSC) Strategic Plans consisting of four results (i) effective food security coordination systems at country level, (ii) partnerships and global initiatives at global level, (iii) advocacy, communication, resource mobilization and humanitarian system policy and, (iv) programmatic approach to coordination action;
• Ensures that the global Food Security Cluster (gFSC) is fully engaged in the Global Cluster Coordination Group (GCCG) activities by leading the discussion on inter-cluster joint analysis;
• Manages, together with the WFP Global Coordinator, the delivery of global cluster support services and functions to country-level food security clusters, including: i) dissemination and development of tools and guidance; ii) short-term surge support to fill capacity gaps in sudden onset emergencies; iii) strengthening capacity of individuals and cluster members to perform core country-level cluster coordination and communication functions and to generate cluster-related knowledge; iv) support to information management and national and global advocacy efforts on behalf of country clusters;
• Develops and supervises implementation of a results-based work plan,  including leading preparations for semi-annual meetings of cluster partners; develops and supervises a staffing strategy and a financial plan for the global cluster secretariat; issues an annual report covering cluster accomplishments, management, finance and indicative plans for the coming year;
• Works with cluster lead agencies and partners to ensure early recovery is mainstreamed in cluster activities at the global and country levels and encourage effective inter-cluster coordination at the global and country levels, in particular with the Nutrition Cluster and other clusters where opportunities for synergy and collaboration exist;
• Performs other related duties as required.
 
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CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING
 
Minimum Requirements
• Advanced university degree (masters or equivalent), in economics, social sciences, agriculture, business, development studies and/or management;
• Ten years of relevant experience related to emergency and/or food insecurity crisis situations, including sudden-onset disasters, complex emergencies and/or protracted crises;
• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of a second official language of the Organization (Arabic, French, Chinese, Russian or Spanish).
 
Competencies
• Results Focus
• Leading, Engaging and Empowering
• Communication
• Partnering and Advocating
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement
• Strategic Thinking
 
Technical/Functional Skills
• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions is essential;
• Extent and relevance of experience in field operations in food emergency and/or food insecurity crisis situations with emphasis on coordination of emergency assistance;
• Extent of in-depth knowledge of key food security stakeholders in humanitarian crisis situations, including UN Funds/ programmes and/or specialized agencies, NGOs and Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement;
• Demonstrated success in building and maintaining partnerships with international and country-level partners, including proven negotiation skills, ability to balance competing interests and to broker consensus amongst partners and stakeholders;
• Comprehensive knowledge of humanitarian reform process, including the humanitarian cluster approach, policies, operational guidelines and their application;
• Excellent written and verbal skills and proven ability to represent and/or advocate on behalf of partners or cluster members in multistakeholder forums;
• Depth of knowledge of FAO's programmes and priorities is considered a strong asset.

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