Regional Deployable Food Security & Livelihood Specialist

THE ORGANISATION
Plan International is an independent child rights and humanitarian organisation committed to children living a life free of poverty, violence and injustice.
We actively unite children, communities and other people who share our mission to make positive lasting changes in children’s and young people’s lives. We support children to gain the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to claim their rights to a fulfilling life, today and in the future. We place a specific focus on children, especially girls and women, who are most often left behind.

MIDDLE EAST, EAST AND SOUTHERN AFRICA REGION (MEESA)
Middle East, East and Southern Africa region is prone to cyclical food insecurity, malnutrition and livelihood shocks driven by climate change, conflict and security threats. According to the Food security and nutrition working group and IPC reports, over 50m million people in MEESA are facing unprecedented levels of food insecurity including famine mainly in South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique. The situation is particularly acute in conflict-affected countries like Sudan, where a total of 25.6 million people are facing acute hunger, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). Plan International is responding to the hunger crisis by providing food and nutrition assistance for crisis affected children and their families through cash/in-kind, economic recovery, supporting livelihoods protection and promotion and building resilience for the most vulnerable. external engagement, and resource mobilization for the sector while monitoring and supporting anticipatory actions in less affected countries.

ABOUT THE ROLE
As the Regional Deployable Food Security and Livelihoods Specialist, you will report to the Head of Humanitarian Preparedness and Response based in MEESA. You are expected to deploy within 72 hours to provide technical, practical and thought leadership on food security and livelihoods both in MEESA and within the Federation.

The Regional Deployable FSL Specialist will be responsible to provide technical support to Plan International country teams in order to successfully design and integrate food security & livelihoods into programme interventions and support implementation through both surge and desk support. The role is expected to deploy within 72 hours of an emergency for up to 6 months to support the set-up of new humanitarian responses, provide capacity building / on the job training and support emergency preparedness.

The Regional Deployable FSL Specialist will be part of the MEESA Humanitarian team and will work closely with the Global Hub Hunger Response and Resilience Unit in the Global Humanitarian Team. The post holder will also work with technical teams in GH team, with other teams, departments, Country Offices, National Offices within the organisation to ensure that all Plan International’s work contributes to strengthening food security and livelihoods.
The Regional Deployable FSL Specialist is expected to travel for over 50% of their time to provide technical assistance to country offices. This position demands technical knowledge, training experience, and work experience in a wide range of humanitarian contexts.

ACCOUNTABILITIES
Technical Leadership & Programming (80%)
• Support Country Offices and Plan International’s National Organisations in real time to scale up food security, livelihoods and nutrition work especially in large scale emergencies.
• Lead the mapping of FSL programmes in the region and develop visual analysis/synthesis of the portfolio, building on existing portfolio mapping of ongoing programmes in food security, livelihoods, and nutrition, including youth economic empowerment initiatives in Plan’s Long-term programmes.
• Share Plan International’s FSL programmatic approach, with a particular emphasis on how FSL and nutrition contributes to protection and education outcomes, building on existing approaches.
• Work with the global FSL lead to guide and provide practise and thought leadership on Plan International’s food security, livelihoods and nutrition programmes in both chronic & acute food insecurity contexts.
• In collaboration with relevant technical sectors (child protection, education, Cash and Voucher Assistance, and Resilience) develop programme guidance and tools for Plan International Country Offices on integrated program approaches, with a particular emphasis on resilience, CP, GBV and school drop-out risk mitigation approaches.
• Support Country, Regional and National Offices to include and implement FSL & N within their respective strategies and to assess how food security can be used as a mechanism to promote and achieve child protection and education outcomes.
• Ensure all FSL & N interventions (including school meals programmes) within the region are contributing to gender transformative programming.
• Provide technical support in the development of stand-alone and cross-cutting FSL interventions to MEESA country offices through close coordination with COs.
• Lead and support COs in developing and implementing monitoring and evaluation tools for measuring food and economic security outcomes, ensuring alignment with other thematic areas.

Learning, Capacity Building & Information Management (10%)
• Identify and disseminate lessons learned from COs work on food security and livelihoods
• Map capacity building needs and conduct mentoring, training to COs.
• Identify and develop FSL training manuals, guidance documents, and toolkits, as required.
• Engage with relevant technical working groups within Plan International, particularly on resilience, youth economic empowerment, Cash and Voucher Assistance, child protection and education.
• Develop lead and manage a network of food security, nutrition and livelihoods in the region.

External Representation (5%)
• Represent Plan International at relevant regional food security and livelihood Networks and events
• Network with relevant UN agencies, multi-laterals, peer organisations in the region to develop strategic partnerships and raising Plan International’s profile.
• Develop regional technical articles for external release and profiling of Plan International’s experience and good practices, with a focus on food insecurity & girls.

Fundraising (2.5%)
• Support COs and national offices to generate funding opportunities to increase the portfolio of FSL & N with an emphasis on integrated approaches across technical sectors.
• Work with Business development and program teams in COs to develop and submit strong food security and livelihood proposals

Policy and Advocacy (2.5%)
• Work with the regional Communications specialist and Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy Unit to ensure that programme evidence on linkages between food security, resilience, protection and education good practice are shared in relevant external influencing forums.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Essential
• University degree in Agriculture, Agroeconomics or related field. Master’s degree in relevant field preferred.
• Experience of working in an international NGO, UN, multi-lateral agency or the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
• A minimum of 10 years’ experience in MEESA in a variety of humanitarian response contexts (protracted, complex, conflict & rapid onset)
• Expertise and substantial direct experience supporting humanitarian response with a focus on food security, livelihoods or nutrition.
• Up-to-date knowledge of food security and livelihoods programming approaches, and their integration with other sectors
• Proven experience of working in food security and livelihoods programming, especially from a girls’ rights perspective in a variety of contexts including acute & chronic food insecurity crises
• Highly competent with computer-based communications and information management technology
• Consistent decision making and sound judgement.
• Ability to work on a number or projects simultaneously and to manage competing demands and deadlines.
• Ability to network effectively and build good working relationships with colleagues across the organisation.
• Strong communication skills, with excellent written and spoken English.
• Knowledge and commitment to international humanitarian principles, codes, guidelines and cluster system.
• Ability to work independently, as a team member, and in culturally diverse settings
• Ability to effectively manage and prioritise a diverse workload.
• Child rights-based programming principles and approaches
• Demonstrated awareness and sensitivity to gender and diversity.
• An understanding of and commitment to Plan International’s mission and values

Desirable
• Training and facilitation skills
• Additional languages (Arabic, French or Spanish)

Click on the following link to access the full Job Description:

Regional Deployable Food Security & Livelihoods Specialist.pdf

Equality, diversity and inclusion is at the very heart of everything that Plan International stands for.

We want Plan International to reflect the diversity of the communities we work with, offering equal opportunities to everyone regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

Plan International is based on a culture of inclusivity and we strive to create a workplace environment that ensures every team, in every office, in every country, is rich in diverse people, thoughts, and ideas.

We foster an organisational culture that embraces our commitment to racial justice, gender equality, girls’ rights and inclusion.

Plan International believes that in a world where children face so many threats of harm, it is our duty to ensure that we, as an organisation, do everything we can to keep children safe. This means that we have particular responsibilities to children that we come into contact with and we must not contribute in any way to harming or placing children at risk.

A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Plan International’s Safeguarding Children and Young People policy. Plan International also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme. In line with this scheme we will request information from applicants previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Disclaimer: Plan International is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate applicants on any basis.
We also do not charge Job seekers any fees at any point of the recruitment process.