Regional Technical Lead | Colombo, Sri Lanka | 2024

Chemonics seeks a Regional Technical Lead (RTL) to be based in Colombo, Sri Lanka for the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) 8 Decision Support (DS) project. The FEWS NET DS project maintains regional offices covering six regions (i.e. East Africa; Southern Africa; West Africa; Middle East, North Africa, and Europe; Asia; and Latin America and the Caribbean) that coordinate and oversee technical and administrative management of the country offices. Each regional office is composed of a cadre of technical experts and administrative staff led by an RTL, who serves as the technical analysis and administrative head of the region as well as the representative for FEWS NET in regional fora, including at the regional USAID Mission. In addition, the RTL is responsible for supporting and supervising country-level field offices in their respective region, including providing quality control for regional- and national-level project deliverables and ensures that activities and products for the region are delivered in a timely manner. Interested applicants must currently, and in the future, have legal authorization to work in Sri Lanka. We are looking for individuals who have a passion for making a difference in the lives of people around the world.

While the preference is for candidates to be based in Sri Lanka, highly qualified candidates who are based in other select countries in which FEWS NET 8 operates with legal work authorization may be considered. Countries are as follows:

• Asia region: Afghanistan, Burma, Nepal, and Pakistan

FEWS NET is an integrated set of activities funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is intended to provide timely, accurate, evidence-based, and transparent food security early warning information and analysis. The eighth phase of FEWS NET includes the Decision Support (DS) project which is charged with providing integrated monitoring and analyses of current and forecast acute food insecurity in countries worldwide to support the USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) policy and programmatic decisions. Based on an in-depth understanding of local livelihoods, FEWS NET DS Team monitors information and data on factors that affect food security, such as conflict, weather conditions and climate, crops, pasture, markets and trade, and nutrition. The work of the FEWS NET DS Team relies on close collaboration with international, regional, and national partners on food security data and information gathering and analysis. Major activities include joint monitoring and assessments, data sharing and exchanges, collaborative analysis and reporting, and technical capacity strengthening.

Responsibilities include:

• Oversee the fulfilment of monthly reporting requirements for countries in the region, including Food Security Outlooks (FSOs), FSO Updates (FSOUs), Price Watch, and key messages; contributing to Food Assistance Outlook Brief (FAOB) reports; and providing monthly briefings to USAID and other partners
• Ensure the integrated food security analyses (FSOs, FSOUs, FAOB input) classify and communicate the severity of acute food insecurity in line with the globally recognized Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) scale. Where IPC compatibility is not possible, the RTL will ensure analyses remain globally comparable
• Support the DS Team in meeting USAID’s expectations on timely delivery of decision support products, which include, but are not limited to: delivery of monthly reporting for all presence countries no later than 7 days after the last day of the month; responding to urgent questions on acute food insecurity within one day; providing briefings within one week of request; and assessing acute food insecurity in EGEW countries within one week of request
• Support field offices in the region in maintaining a knowledge base composed of, at a minimum, livelihood zone profiles, commodity trade flow maps, sub-national seasonal monitoring calendars, commodity price data, nutrition data, security monitoring, conflict data, migration, remittances, labor, humanitarian food assistance, and other technical data covering rainfall, agricultural production, population, etc., in collaboration with other FEWS NET 8 implementing partners, as applicable
• Develop and update regional seasonal monitoring plans and participating in regional acute food insecurity monitoring, as applicable
• Provide high quality and effective early warning of acute threats to food security in the region and supporting efforts to mitigate acute food insecurity and prevent food crises through effective communication of actionable food security analysis
• Provide strategic leadership in the planning and execution of technical activities in the region, including working closely with the FEWS NET 8 advisors and Senior Management Team (SMT) to develop annual workplans that ensure the regional and country teams are capacitated to carry out high-quality early warning analysis that produces IPC-compatible analyses
• As part of ensuring high quality decision support, the RTL will support collaboration with DS Team technical advisors and the other mechanisms of FEWS NET (e.g. Science Team, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), etc.), to improve the integration of thematic technical areas (e.g., conflict, markets and trade, livelihoods, nutrition and agroclimatology) into regular and ad hoc decision support (including briefings) and facilitate interaction among home, regional, and country office technical staff to further integrate sub-national, country- and region-specific technical and thematic analyses into decision support
• Coordinate with technical staff in the region to identify sectoral support needs and collaborate with HO- and PO-based advisors to coordinate support based on identified priorities
• Collaborate with regional and international partners in food security monitoring and analysis in the region, including through implementation of the IPC or Cadre Harmonisé (CH) protocols
• Develop and maintain strong collaborative regional relations, both formal and informal, with USAID Mission representatives, US Embassy technical contacts, UN agency representatives, government ministry staff, and key international, regional, and local NGO counterparts to facilitate technical exchanges, promote consensus-building, work to resolve technical disagreements, and facilitate joint, coordinated actions to mitigate food insecurity
• Support FEWS NET field offices in the region to collect, archive, analyze, and share food security data and information and to undertake network development activities
• Support FEWS NET field offices’ participation in early warning assessment team missions in rapid monitoring of emerging crises, as guided by the Washington D.C.- based technical team
• Support analysis of the expanded global early warning countries in coordination with the Washington D.C.-based technical team
• Collaborate with and coordinate FEWS NET DS Team field offices in the region to conduct regular independent and joint field assessments of food security conditions in areas of most concern
• Contribute to the development of other FEWS NET DS Team information products required regionally and by the Washington D.C.-based technical team
• Reinforce network development, capacity strengthening, and management at the regional level and supporting similar efforts at the national level
• Represent the FEWS NET DS Team at regular and ad hoc formal and informal meetings within the food security network for the region
• Supervise, mentor, and support the professional development and performance of Country Technical Leads (CTLs) in the FEWS NET field offices, and coordinate with relevant advisors to oversee administrative management of Regional Technical Senior Specialists in the region, as well as technical and administrative staff in the regional office
• Lead recruitment efforts for regional office technical and administrative staff, monitoring all recruitments in the region and, when necessary, participating in technical and administrative recruitments

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a discipline relevant to the work of FEWS NET, such as economics, agricultural economics, agronomy, nutrition, climatology, anthropology, or social geography is required; advanced university degree (Master’s degree or higher) is desirable
• Minimum fifteen years of relevant experience with a Master’s degree, or 17 years of relevant experience with a Bachelor’s degree is required. Relevant experience includes working on food security information systems, food security analysis, early warning, or other related fields; experience working with UN agencies and/or NGOs is desirable
• Demonstrated experience setting the strategic direction for or otherwise leading and managing a team of colleagues, including mentoring and coaching staff
• Excellent planning, organizational, analytical, and report writing skills
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with others at all levels, including an ability to effectively liaise with host governments, UN, NGO, and other relevant stakeholders and an ability to coordinate effectively with remote colleagues
• Willingness to travel regularly within the region, as well as both domestically and internationally as required, security permitting
• Excellent computer skills, GIS applications. and mapping skills are desirable
• Demonstrated leadership, versatility, and integrity
• Proficiency in written and spoken English is required; other local language skills relevant to the region are desirable

Location and Reporting

The RTL will be based in Colombo, Sri Lanka at the FEWS NET DS Team regional office and is directly supervised by the deputy chief of party-field operations (DCOP-FO).