South Sudan: Food Security & Livelihood Advisor

Dec 5, 2016 | World Vision
View Original

World Vision is a humanitarian, development and advocacy organisation devoted to improving the lives of children, families and their communities around the world. Our 45,000+ staff members working in more than 90 countries are united through our ethos, mission and shared desire for all individuals, especially children, to overcome poverty, inequality and injustice.

This position will provide sectoral leadership in agriculture and food security programming across World Vision South Sudan's (WVSS’s) country program; including emergency response as well as resilience focused long term food security and livelihood programming. It will strengthen WVSSs position as a leading Food Security & Livelihoods (FSL) agency in South Sudan through cluster engagement, supporting resource acquisition and promoting technical excellence and capacity.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Define and develop the National Office (NO) Food Security strategy in alignment with the East Africa Regional Office (EARO) & Partnership agriculture strategy, project models and indicators.
  • Provide technical support in the areas of agriculture, food security and natural resources management towards development, adaptation and scaling up of specific project models that contribute to specific child well-being outcomes.
  • Advocate/influence donor strategies by working in partnership with other appropriate World Vision entities.
  • Work with the FSL Cluster to develop plans for collaborative implementation of the Soil/Savings/Water/Trees approach to building resilience in South Sudan with specific focus on states facing recurrent food crisis.
  • Support proposal writing design, submission and grant follow-up.
  • Work with HEA and FA in terms of food crisis prevention, mitigation, disaster risk reduction and preparedness strategy, linking potential emergency response to longer-term development programs that build household and community resilience and protects/restores agro-ecosystems.
  • Build capacity of Sector and Project staff to enhance grants acquisition & management in the food security field.
  • Provide day to day leadership and management to the National Food Security Portfolio.
  • Provide guidance and create conditions necessary for the effective execution of Strategy Implementation Plan in WVSS.
  • In collaboration with other technical units, RAM and QA, ensure that food security is adequately integrated within the secondary strategies, help build resilience and improve well-being of children in South Sudan.
  • Stay alert to potential funding sources that can contribute resources to the NO and the network, and advise appropriate staff on these opportunities.
  • Provide technical input to NO’s RAM Team in drafting and submitting proposals in alignment with the agriculture and food security strategy.
  • Work with SOs, and RAM to develop and maintain a regional and country level donors mapping and strategic direction and identify areas of alignment.
  • Developing consortia whenever necessary in preparation for upcoming opportunities.
  • Actively engage with other national organizations working in agriculture and food security. This would include research and academic organizations, NGOs and networks, to avail new technologies to NO.
  • Build capacity to ensure food crisis related prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response programming is integrated into ongoing development programs.
  • Ensure that Food Security Managers and Officers at NO are conversant with tools, methodologies and approaches necessary to provide appropriate and adequate support to Grant and ARP staff for the implementation of NO’s food security strategy.
  • Build relationships and credibility with donors, using previous success and documented best practices in grants management.
  • Identify key relationships to strengthen national and regional positioning and elevate WV’s profile with government, multilateral and private sector donors.
  • In conjunction with Communications department, develop key marketing material about National Office.
  • Work with and other National Offices, SO and collaborate with EARO and PST, CoP/SME, to maintain strong donor relationships at regional and country level, developing engagement strategies for each donor or a group of donors.
  • In collaboration with HEA and RAM teams, work on food crisis prevention, mitigation, disaster risk reduction and preparedness strategy, linking potential emergency response to longer term development and community resilience and protect/restore agro-ecosystems.
  • Ensure food crisis related prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response programming is integrated into ongoing development programs.
  • Identify capacity gaps at NO in Agriculture and Food Security program design and implementation and other factors leading to poor program implementation and work with SO and the EARO to address them.
  • Lead with the FSL Cluster, the roll out of the partnership Project Models and new initiatives.
  • Liaise with National and Regional Communication to document and disseminate Best practices.
  • Representation.
  • Ensure appropriate representation of WVSS at strategic forums that could lead to resource acquisition and enhanced programming collaboration.
  • Represent WVSS in the food security community of practice, forums (internal and external to WV).
  • Participate into Food Security and Livelihood Cluster (FSL) and Technical Working Groups.
  • Carry out additional responsibilities as assigned by the Supervisor, IPD and Program Director.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

Required:

  • A first Degree in Agriculture and a Master’s Degree in Agriculture, Development Studies, Business Management, Agricultural Economics, Monitoring and Evaluation, or related fields.
  • At least 7 years field experience with NGO’s in developing countries in the area of livelihoods, food security and economic development.
  • Experience in agriculture research, farmer extension and farmer adaptive trials.
  • Project management and design experience, including proven experience in proposal writing and the successful acquisition of grants.
  • Strong communication skills (oral and written).
  • Ability to communicate on Food Security topics with diverse groups: farmers, managers, bureaucrats, donors, etc.
  • Good understanding of Sphere relief standards.
  • Strong inter-personal skills and proven team-player.
  • Cross-cultural sensitivity, flexible worldview, emotional maturity and physical stamina.
  • Ability to work in and contribute to team building environment.

Preferred:

  • Ability to engage at a strategic level with regional stakeholders (donors UN agencies IO, INGOs, etc).
  • Excellent written and spoken English.
  • Able to solve complex problems and to exercise independent judgment.
  • Ability to travel within country regional and internationally.
  • Able to work in a cross-cultural environment with a multi-national staff.
  • Must be able to stand above denominational diversities.