Livelihoods and Food Security Specialist

NRC has operated in Mali since 2013. From our four field offices; Gao, Menaka, Timbuktu and Mopti, NRC strives to meet the basic needs of people affected by violence and displacement. We provide education, shelter, food security, respond to protection needs and give people legal assistance. We also have a dedicated emergency response mechanism. According to the forecast of the 2022 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), as many as 12,9 million people are affected by the crisis, of whom 6,3 million now require emergency humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs. This is an increase of 6,8 per cent compared to 5,9 million in 2021. In the face of the worsening humanitarian situation, sectoral and cross-sectoral needs are particularly high.

NRC Livelihoods and Food Security (LFS) programme ensures that vulnerable conflict-affected persons (CAPs) in the Northern and Central Regions of Mali are food secure and are able to recover their livelihoods. NRC achieves these two objectives through the provision of food and non-food items in cash or in kind depending on the modality most suitable to affected people. Assistance can be provided through agricultural and livestock inputs, vocational training and start up kits as well as the provision of technical assistance to remove barriers and promote the inclusion of vulnerable individuals into major markets.

Responsibilities

• Compliance with and adherence to NRC policies, guidance and procedures
• Contribute to fundraising, develop and revise funding proposals, budgets and donor reports
• Identify trends technical standards and donor priorities
• Follow up on compliance with contractual commitments within the core competency; ensure high technical quality and synergies in project implementation
• Provide technical direction and project implementation support to the implementation team
• Ensure that key learnings are extracted from LFS implementation, and incorporate them in LFS and staff development processes
• Responsible for the development of country Food Security and Livelihoods strategy in line with global policies and strategies
• Develop proposals, project reviews and modifications, including budgets
• Support Area Managers, LFS Project Managers and LFS Project Coordinators to develop and follow work plans and spending plans
• Regularly visit project sites with LFS staff to assess quality and relevance of the response and to provide on the job learning to staff. As necessary, advise reorientation of activities and work plans to ensure that project objectives are achieved
• In coordination with M&E staff, design and implement appropriate M&E system, methodologies and tools (including baseline, mid-and end-evaluations) for livelihoods programming in order to measure quality programming and evaluate impact, cost-effectiveness and relevance of specific activities
• Develop and pilot tools and methodologies to support communication with beneficiaries and community engagement in the targeted areas

Professional competencies

• Masters in Engineering (or equivalent) Agriculture, agri-business, environment, socio and economics
• Minimum 4 years of experience within a humanitarian/recovery context
• Extensive experience in programming in complex and volatile contexts
• Minimum 2 years of documented experience working in Livelihoods and Food Security (as Specialist or Project Manager),
• In-depth knowledge and expertise in Food Assistance, Food production (agricultural livelihoods), Business and Employment, School Feeding and Gardens, VSLA
• Knowledge and skills in market analysis, cash-based interventions and market-based programmes
• Fluency in English and French is required, both written and verbal

Context/specific skills, knowledge and experience:

• Knowledge of the Sahel context specifically
• Experience with start-up or expansion of new programmes
• Experience in team capacity building
• Knowledge, experience and skills with market based programming, is required
• Knowledge and experience with both household food security and livelihoods analysis is required
• Experience in developing professional networks, partnerships and externally representation is required
• Experience designing relevant assessments and multi-sectoral needs assessments and analysis is required

To read the full job description, please click on LFS Specialist

What We Offer

Duty Station: Bamako, Mali

Contract Duration: 06 Month with possibility of extension

Grade: 09 of NRC salary scale

Travel: 30%

Start date : May 2022

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About Us

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee. We work in crises across more than 31 countries, providing emergencies and long-term assistance to millions of people every year. We stand up for people forced to flee, advocating their rights. NORCAP, our global provider of expertise, helps improve international and local ability to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from crises. NRC also runs the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva, a global leader in reporting on and advocating for people displaced within their own country.

Employment with NRC may lead to employment in or deployment to Regions, Countries, Areas or Offices that may be host to considerable health, safety and security risks. NRC takes this very seriously and we have procedures in place to reduce known risks, but will never be able to take away all risks.

NRC is an equal opportunities employer and aims to have staffing diversity in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, nationality and physical ability.