Information Management Specialist for the Food Security Cluster

CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST – VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT: 2201638

Information Management Specialist for the Food Security Cluster

Posting Date: 17/Jun/2022

Closure Date: 01/Jul/2022, 11:59:00 PM

Organizational Unit: OER

Job Type: Non-staff opportunities

Type of Requisition: Consultant / PSA (Personal Services Agreement)

Grade Level: N/A

Primary Location: Various Locations

Duration: Up to 11 months

Post Number: N/A

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Please note that Closure Date and Time displayed above are based on date and time settings of your personal device

• FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture.
• Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and person with disabilities are encouraged to apply;
• Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO’s values
• FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination
• All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks
• All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality

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.

*This VA is to be included officially in the Food Security Cluster roster. Successful candidates will be eligible to be selected for deployment in various countries.

Reporting lines

The IMO reports technically to the Food Security Cluster Coordinator (FSC-CC) and responds to the FSC Membership’s needs for information. The FSC IMO is responsible for the day-to-day management of the FSC IM database and products, under the technical guidance and support of the IM team at the Global FSC (gFSC).

Technical Focus

The Information Management Specialist (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 HRP (and other response plans) and other set indicators

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 HNO preparation: work with the FSC-CC and members to calculate FSC PiN and severity; provide FS contributions for intersectoral analysis (based on JIAF) including participating in the analysis of the severity of needs and intersectoral PiN definition;
• Support the development, together with the FSC-CC and in consultation with cluster partners, of the FSC response plans, strategy and logframe (e.g. HRP), including definition of targets and financial requirement, and FSC HPC online system for project submission;
• Support in the periodic monitoring of the response against the FSC response plans, strategy and logframe;
• Develop and maintain database about FSC partners’ activities (both ongoing and planned), ensure accurate data processing, including data cleaning and beneficiary counting system
• Analyse the collected data, identify major gaps in terms of geographic locations, population groups (e.g., IPC phases) and well as levels of assistance (e.g., full vs partial rations). Ensure analysis of planned interventions to facilitate operational coordination and identify areas for increased advocacy and fundraising
• Ensure that the information and analyses are visualised and shared through appropriate IM tools and channels (e.g. static and interactive dashboards, bulletin / newsletter, sitreps, PPT for partners meetings and donor roundtables)
• Put in place a funding tracking system within the FSC, so as to have up-to-date and reliable information on funding of FS activities (on top of FTS data if / as needed)
• Develop a calendar of FS-related assessments, compile an inventory (registry and repository) of available assessments (from FSC partners) and provide FSC partners (and IPC/CH 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/CH);
• Responsible for FSC “admin”: create and maintain Contact directories and mailing lists, maintain updated FSC country and the FSC Humanitarian Response webpages with all relevant material; Create and maintain the country FSC SharePoint space; Assist in organizing FSC Meetings and working groups (if applicable), share agenda, produce minutes etc.
• Conduct capacity building for FSC partners on IM (e.g. on monitoring / reporting formats, indicators, project submission, excel use);
• Together with the FSC-CC, support gFSC initiatives, e.g. CCPM (Cluster Coordination Performance Monitoring), global cluster annual overview, global dashboards, etc.;
• Liaise with OCHA and IM Focal Points in other clusters, attend IM Working Group meetings or other relevant WG meetings; Support FSC-CC in coordinating with other clusters, highlighting joint responses in dedicated IM products if/as needed

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University Degree (mandatory for Consultants) or equivalent – preferably in Statistics, Economics, Data Management, GIS and other related fields;
• Minimum of 3 years of experience in data management and visualisation;
• Working knowledge of English or French or Spanish and limited knowledge of one of the other two for COF.REG. Working knowledge of only one language for PSA.SBS.;

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical Skills

• Strong knowledge of and experience in using advanced Excel for database management
• Knowledge of data visualization and mapping (e.g., ArcGIS, QGIS, or any other mapping tools, PowerBi, Tableau, etc.)
• Ability to present information in understandable tables, charts and graphs.
• Ability to maintain and manage website content for the cluster.
• Data storage and file management expertise.
• Experience in humanitarian context is mandatory and experience in food security-related topics is highly desirable;
• Willingness and ability to work in difficult environments, in often stressful time- critical situations;
• Formal training in Cluster IMO or previous Cluster experience is desirable.

Other Skills that are considered desirable:

Data analysis using statistical software (e.g., R, SPSS, etc.)

• Assessment, Survey, and Monitoring and Evaluation
• Information Technology for website management
• Control of working language in country of deployment

Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• FAO does not charge any fee at any stage of the recruitment process (application, interview, processing)
• Please note that FAO will only consider academic credentials or degrees obtained from an educational institution recognized in the IAU/UNESCO list
• 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 more information, visit the FAO employment website
• Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment, accreditation, any residency or visa requirements, and security clearances.