Senior Emergency and Rehabilitation Officer (Strategic Positioning/Advocacy)

The Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER) is responsible for ensuring FAO’s efforts to support countries and partners in preparing for and effectively responding to food and agricultural threats and crises by i) increasing the numbers of people reached in Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) 3 and above; and ii) increasing the numbers of people supported to move out of IPC 3 and above from a humanitarian caseload onto pathways of resilience and development. FAO has mainstreamed a humanitarian, development, peace nexus approach and a localization agenda throughout its strategic positioning and programmatic design and implementation at country and regional levels. In this organizational setting, OER is responsible for coordinating the development and maintenance of corporate tools and standards to enable Decentralized Offices (DOs) to assist Members to prepare for, and respond to emergencies as well as strengthen capacities of national and subnational institutions and partners for resilience and risk-informed development. OER ensures humanitarian policy coordination and knowledge, liaison with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee as well as with humanitarian resource partners, co-leadership with World Food Programme of the global Food Security Cluster, organizational preparedness, surge capacity and response to large-scale emergencies. OER supports food and nutrition security and sectoral/systems assessments, early warning activities related to emergency and humanitarian analysis and responses. OER plays a major role in the development and leadership of the Organization’s programme to increase the resilience of livelihoods to food and agriculture threats and crises of the Organization’s programme in areas such as risk governance and coordination, anticipatory actions, disaster risk reduction, early warning and response in agriculture and food chain crises.

The position is located in the Strategic Positioning Team of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER) at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

Reporting Lines

The Senior Emergency and Rehabilitation Officer (Strategic Positioning/Advocacy) reports to the Director, OER.

Technical Focus

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 divisional programmes of work, projects, products and services, in accordance with the FAO Strategic Framework.

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 divisional programme of work, team plans, the supporting policy, tools, standards and systems frameworks and in accordance with the FAO Strategic Framework.
• Oversees and/or provides expert technical assistance to Divisional 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.
• Coordinates FAO’s emergency needs assessment activities and related missions including food and nutrition security assessments and analyses, the coordination of in-country early warning alerts and further coordination with all partners.
• Promotes best practices and provides technical support/services and operational coaching to the Decentralized Office network, designates Division-wide geographical focal points to facilitate emergency programming, resource mobilization and integration of emergency and development work in countries in collaboration with Regional Offices, 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.
• Represents FAO on international committees and develops and maintains partnerships and inter-agency collaboration in support of FAO’s corporate co-leadership of the global Food Security Cluster (gFSC ) and with a range of other partners such as the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, WFP, UNHCR, UNICEF, NGOs and other humanitarian groups involved in emergency and recovery activities.
• Coordinates the monitoring and promoting of resource mobilization activities including corporate appeals, donor macro grants and the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)/Special Fund for Emergency and Rehabilitation (SFERA) submissions and collaboration with countries and ROs to facilitate resource mobilization through project and programme formulation.
• 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.
• Performs other duties as required.

Specific Functions

• Ensures FAO engagement at appropriate levels and consistent messaging in key humanitarian and resilience-related decision-making arenas, policies, and initiatives of relevance, including the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) and associated bodies, the Grand Bargain, pooled funds, regular and ad hoc interagency task forces and working groups, among others, at country, regional and global levels.
• Reports on relevant interagency discussions, humanitarian resolution development, UN Security Council discussions relevant to FAO’s humanitarian and resilience work, ensuring FAO management is fully aware of issues of concern, opportunities for engagement.
• Coordinates the development of advocacy strategies, briefing packages, talking points and strategic messaging around identified humanitarian and resilience priorities and processes, including global policy processes, etc.
• Leads strategic advocacy products demonstrating FAO’s achievements and impacts in food crisis contexts.
• Coordinates and provides strategic inputs to key interagency and FAO products, processes and events (e.g. UN Secretary-General Reports, Global Humanitarian Overview, Rome-based Agencies reporting, etc.).
• Liaises with relevant FAO colleagues based at headquarters, Liaison Offices, as well as Regional and Subregional and Country offices to ensure that FAO is duly represented in all IASC workstreams.
• Serves as the OER focal point for FAO Liaison Offices to ensure consistency of messaging, language and engagement in relevant humanitarian and resilience fora.
• Engages and works closely with partners to develop studies and reports demonstrating the impact of FAO’s humanitarian and resilience work, fully engaging FAO colleagues across headquarters and Decentralized Offices, as relevant.
• Ensures relevant humanitarian/nexus/resilience guidance and information emerging from interagency discussions is disseminated within OER and Country offices, as appropriate.
• Undertakes travel in support of FAO Decentralized Offices to provide support in interagency engagement and/or advocacy.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree in social sciences, advocacy, communications, media studies, journalism or in a related field.
• Ten years of relevant experience in public and/or private sectors related to interagency liaison, strategic positioning, advocacy and/or communications in food and agriculture.
• Working knowledge (proficient – level C) of English and limited knowledge (intermediate – level B) of another official FAO language (Arabic, Chinese, French, 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 interagency engagement and partnerships.
• Extent and relevance of experience in writing, editing and sourcing information for talking points and briefing notes.
• Extent and relevance of experience in contributing to advocacy efforts, particularly related to humanitarian contexts.
• Depth of knowledge of agricultural threats and crises.

Job Posting

08/Dec/2023

Closure Date

29/Dec/2023, 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: 1 year with possibility of extension

Post Number

2009977

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

The length of appointment for internal FAO candidates will be established in accordance with applicable policies pertaining to the extension of appointments

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

• 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 persons 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
• FAO staff are subject to the authority of the Director-General, who may assign them to any of the activities or offices of the Organization.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda through the FAO Strategic Framework by supporting the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.