Senior Food Security / Livelihood Adviser,

Transcription

1 JOB PROFILE Job title: Regional Food Security / Livelihoods Adviser, West and Central Africa Grade: 2 Reports to: Senior Food Security / Livelihood Adviser, Hunger Reduction and Livelihoods Team, London Child protection level: 3 Based: Dakar (or appropriate location in W/C Africa) Length of contract: 2 years Background Save the Children UK has embarked on an ambitious strategy to maximise beneficial outcomes for children. Hunger Reduction and Livelihoods is one of six strategic themes to help us achieve the strategy which aims to ensure that children survive, have access to education and are free from violence. The five other themes are: New Born / Child Survival, Education in Crisis, Child Protection, Accountability to Children and UK Child Poverty. Undernutrition caused by disease and a poor diet is the leading underlying cause of child deaths, so improving nutritional status will have an impact on children s ability to survive exposure to disease and to develop to their full potential. Improving the health of children, improving food security and preventing undernutrition require effective collaboration between sectoral themes. Our work in the Hunger Reduction and Livelihoods Team seeks to prevent undernutrition and provide treatment for it where it is necessary. In addition we believe that by improving the resilience of household livelihoods and the skills and opportunities open to youth, we are also able to lay the foundations to enable children to attend school and to avoid harmful child labour or other income led child protection risks e.g. early marriage, recruitment to armed militias etc. We work to reduce child poverty and deprivation improving the resilience of families to cope with disasters focusing on countries with a high burden of undernutrition and exposure to risk. The Team sits within a department dedicated to delivering programme policy and quality that demonstrates Save the Children UK s strong desire to deliver improvements in children s lives through our work and to demonstrate, with strong evidence, what works. Across the world Save the Children has completed a transition process with country offices now managed by Save the Children International. The role of the Programme Policy and Quality Department in Save the Children UK is to lead good quality design and support effective implementation of programmes, including signature programmes, in all aspects of the project cycle in conjunction with Save the Children International country teams. 1

2 For significant impact on child hunger and malnutrition at scale in West and Central Africa our approach recognises that wider changes in policy and societal practices are necessary. Policy, advocacy and wider mobilisation of the public at national and international levels are key requirements to achieve lasting change. In this exciting position you will play a key role guiding our food security and livelihoods programming in West and Central Africa, building new and innovative development programmes, supporting emergency responses where necessary and bringing strategic coherence to our work and setting the organisation s path in new areas. Job Purpose The purpose of this role is to support country offices in West and Central Africa to design and deliver high-quality food security and livelihood programmes that reduce child hunger and malnutrition (both chronic and acute malnutrition) and support access to education and protection. This position will play a critical role in raising new institutional funds and supporting the delivery of high-quality programmes with the potential to be scaled up by us and others. The post-holder will be a credible and authoritative voice in discussions about regional policy, situation analyses and response. He/she will provide support in programme development, fundraising, quality assurance, advocacy, recruitment, capacity-building, knowledge management and networking. This support will be delivered both from a distance and through regular country visits. The post-holder will be expected to work closely with a range of colleagues in country offices, the West and Central Africa Regional Office in Dakar (including technical advisers for other Save the Children members), colleagues in the Hunger Reduction and Livelihoods Team and other stakeholders in the London office of Save the Children UK. Key Accountabilities Support to Programme Development & Delivery (55%) Provide technical support to the design and implementation of Food Security and Livelihood programmes, ensuring they are based upon high-quality needs assessments and are in line with Save the Children s theory of change, national policies and international best practice Provide technical oversight of the Regional HEA Sahel project; a flagship Save the Children programme in the Region Support proposal development and review reporting on high risk grants for multicountry / regional programmes, in close coordination with country teams and regional and country portfolio officers Engage directly with donors as required, presenting approaches, concept notes and funding proposals in collaboration with national and regional offices With relevant TAs, contribute to the development of country offices advocacy strategies, including stakeholder analysis and message development, and support 2

3 them in the delivery of strategic advocacy towards government, donors and other key Food Security / Livelihoods and Nutrition stakeholders In cooperation with London and Dakar-based monitoring & evaluation and gender technical support from London, support the design and development of M&E systems that incorporate gender to enable country offices to demonstrate measurable outcomes and impact of their work, and facilitate the incorporation of programme findings into country and global programming and policy. In cooperation with the Emergency Food Security/Livelihoods Adviser, Resilience Advisor, and the regional staff, support country offices in the integration of resilience into programme development and support them to create Emergency Preparedness Plans, support better early warning mechanisms and achieve targeted response to food insecurity. Where agreed, directly support emergency responses in Food Security / Livelihoods theme. Work with country staff to ensure that proposal budgets adequately incorporate technical resource requirements to deliver on stated objectives and to ensure the maximum possible recovery of own posts costs through grant funding Significant cost recovery is a key part of long term sustainability of the post HR, Mentoring and Capacity-Building (15%) Support country offices in effective resource planning and management, including identifying and addressing technical capacity gaps Assist country offices in the selection and recruitment of senior technical staff Provide mentoring support to senior technical staff in country offices. Encourage the development of peer networks of senior technical staff in Food Security / Livelihoods, including among other Save the Children members and other international NGOs. External Networking & Representation (20%) Work closely with the Sahel /HEA project team and FSL Advocacy Adviser (TBC) to increase advocacy on the use of HEA with Sahel regional bodies Represent our work to, and work with, regional civil society organisations and networks to increase coordination and learning in the region and to support achievement of advocacy and policy objectives Represent our work to relevant regional bodies and forums, including clusters, working groups, task forces and donor meetings, and identify changes to their policies and priorities that may create opportunities or threats for the realisation of our objectives Engage with donors at regional and sub-regional levels in support of fundraising, profile-raising and scoping of opportunities, working in close collaboration with colleagues at Regional and Head office level Research and provide intelligence, in collaboration with the Business Partnership Manager, to country and regional offices and to Head Office Regional Portfolio teams 3

4 on regional funding trends and opportunities relating to Food Security and Livelihoods. Internal Networking and Cooperation (10%) Promote the sharing of good practice, global tools and learning in relation to Food Security / Livelihoods programming among country offices in West and Africa region, including country offices and technical specialists managed by other members of Save the Children International Work closely with the country offices, regional office and head office in London to ensure co-ordination across country offices and thematic activities, maximising synergies across programmes and thematic areas Advise the Regional Director, Country Directors, Programme Directors and other relevant colleagues on Food Security and Livelihoods related developments at country, regional and global levels Participate as a full member of the thematic team in London, attending all team meetings, coordinating work with other advisers and using shared knowledge management systems Participate in relevant Save the Children UK and/or Save the Children International professional networks and ensure regional perspectives are reflected Participate in regional or global meetings as appropriate Person Specification Essential Demonstrated commitment and an understanding of key programme issues in the field of Food Security / Livelihoods, including planning and budgeting at national and sub-national levels. Demonstrated experience (four years or more) in the design, implementation and management of Food Security / Livelihood programmes in an international development context with successful high-value proposal development, grant management, donor liaison and reporting writing. Internationally recognised qualifications relating to Food Security / Livelihoods, with strong analytical and conceptual skills and the ability to think and plan strategically Understanding of the Household Economy Analysis approach and Resilience debates Demonstrated experience of developing effective working relationships with senior stakeholders from government agencies, international organisations, donors, academics and opinion-leaders, including successful advocacy and influencing Excellent communication skills, including fluency in written and spoken English and French and strong inter-personal and advisory skills, including the demonstrated ability to guide and influence colleagues and others face to face and from a distance Understanding of and commitment to Save the Children s mission, values and programming approaches Commitment to integrate gender, diversity and other power-related issues into programme activities Willingness / ability to travel at short notice, occasionally to remote and insecure locations 4

5 Ability to work successfully with minimal administrative support IT skills (Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, Outlook) Desirable Experience in WCA Region Expertise in the Household Economy Analysis approach, including conducting HEA outcome analysis Experience providing training and/or technical support with food security / nutrition early warning and vulnerability analysis systems Demonstrated experience of emergency preparedness, planning and response. 5